It is important to know the crash resistance of a product before it is purchased and installed in order to protect people and property, particularly at a site like First Responders Park in Hilliard Ohio, near Columbus. Dedicated to the first responders and decorated with artifacts of stone and steel from the World Trade Center, the park is busy with bike riders and pedestrians and is beautifully laid out and designed.
Unfortunately, it is not well protected.
This was proven last night when a DUI driver in a small passenger car drove into the line of decorative bollards and sheered off or shattered four of them. A small passenger car hitting four proper steel bollards would have been stopped cold and the bollards maybe slightly damaged; these decorative bollards had no impact resistance whatever; they failed to stop the car and will now have to be replaced.
See video coverage of the park and damage to the decorative bollards HERE.
ASTM, the worldwide standards organization is in the final stages of completing a new test standard (WK 13074) which will provide engineers, architects, developers, property owners, and municipal or other governmental end-users with a clear and specific qualification for products and manufacturers of safety barriers for low speed (30 MPH) applications. Vehicle incursions, whether accidental or deliberate, put people at risk every day; more than sixty such crashes happen in the US every day, with thousands injured and hundreds killed every year.
Specifiers, you need to be on notice -- if your intent is to separate people and property from inept or drunk or violent drivers; if you are going to install barriers in order to protect people where they live, work, play, or shop; if you want to comply with the emerging standard AND have a safer result for your project; if you want to protect yourself from future liability -- remember that "decorative" is for pretty, not for safety. The public sees decorative railings or pretty bollards such as the ones at this park and they make a presumption of personal safety, a presumption that is NOT based on the actual vehicle stopping capabilities of the product.
There is plenty of good product out there that looks beautiful and has actual crash resistance -- your clients and your projects and your customers are depend on you to make better choices.
Unfortunately, it is not well protected.
This was proven last night when a DUI driver in a small passenger car drove into the line of decorative bollards and sheered off or shattered four of them. A small passenger car hitting four proper steel bollards would have been stopped cold and the bollards maybe slightly damaged; these decorative bollards had no impact resistance whatever; they failed to stop the car and will now have to be replaced.
See video coverage of the park and damage to the decorative bollards HERE.
ASTM, the worldwide standards organization is in the final stages of completing a new test standard (WK 13074) which will provide engineers, architects, developers, property owners, and municipal or other governmental end-users with a clear and specific qualification for products and manufacturers of safety barriers for low speed (30 MPH) applications. Vehicle incursions, whether accidental or deliberate, put people at risk every day; more than sixty such crashes happen in the US every day, with thousands injured and hundreds killed every year.
Specifiers, you need to be on notice -- if your intent is to separate people and property from inept or drunk or violent drivers; if you are going to install barriers in order to protect people where they live, work, play, or shop; if you want to comply with the emerging standard AND have a safer result for your project; if you want to protect yourself from future liability -- remember that "decorative" is for pretty, not for safety. The public sees decorative railings or pretty bollards such as the ones at this park and they make a presumption of personal safety, a presumption that is NOT based on the actual vehicle stopping capabilities of the product.
There is plenty of good product out there that looks beautiful and has actual crash resistance -- your clients and your projects and your customers are depend on you to make better choices.
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