Pedestrian protection bollards

What is it?

What are pedestrian and shopfront protection bollards?

Pedestrian protection bollards are posts placed between vehicle areas and places where people walk, wait or sit, to stop cars that are parking, reversing or mis-driven from reaching them. They are used along walkways, at the ends of parking bays facing shop entrances, at forecourts and around seating areas. Products range from unrated steel posts to bollards tested against low-speed impacts under PAS 170-1.

Vehicle incidents involving pedestrians at retail parks, supermarkets, petrol stations and drive-thrus tend to happen at low speed: a driver presses the accelerator instead of the brake, misjudges a reverse or creeps forward while distracted. The consequences can be serious because people are standing close by, often at glass frontages, trolley bays or outdoor seating. A line of well-placed posts stops the car before it reaches them.

Protection bollards are not hostile vehicle mitigation; they are about everyday mistakes rather than attacks. That changes the decisions. The important questions are where cars stop, how far bumpers overhang, where people queue and how to keep routes open for wheelchairs and buggies. Our installation crews, working under our management, set out lines to match how the site is actually used.

Where pedestrian protection make sense

• Shop entrances facing nose-in parking bays
• Walkways through supermarket and retail park car parks
• Drive-thru lanes and order points next to seating
• Petrol station forecourts and kiosk frontages
• Outdoor seating at cafes, pubs and restaurants
• School and hospital drop-off zones
• EV charging points and trolley shelters

How it works

A car that mounts a kerb at low speed carries enough energy to break glass, crush street furniture and seriously injure anyone in the way. A protection bollard resists that impact by being firmly founded and of sufficient section; a concrete-filled steel post root-fixed in concrete is the usual unrated choice. Where an owner, insurer or designer asks for proven performance, products tested under PAS 170-1 give a known result against low-speed impacts.

Position is where most schemes go wrong. Cars parked nose-in overhang the kerb by a fair distance, so bollards placed right at the kerb edge get nudged daily and gradually work loose. Set them back too far and they eat into the walkway. The right setback depends on the bay layout and the kerb height, and it is set on site rather than taken from a standard drawing.

Gaps between posts need to stop a car but let people through. In practice that means a clear opening that takes a wheelchair or a double buggy, with posts that are easy to see against the background. At drive-thrus and order points the geometry is different again: vehicles are moving slowly but continuously beside a queue of people or a seating area, and the line usually needs to follow the curve of the lane rather than a straight kerb. Corners, where drivers misjudge the turn, deserve the closest spacing.

Options and finishes

Typical specification

How we install it

Ground, foundations and buried services

Car park edges and walkways tend to be built quickly over shallow hardcore, and their kerb lines often carry lighting cables, drainage channels and ducts for EV chargers or signs. Positions are scanned and hand-dug before committing, and foundations are sized for the ground found rather than a fixed hole size. Where bollards protect a shopfront, the building's own foundations and any canopy columns may sit close to the line, which limits how deep and wide each base can go. Raised kerbs also change the picture: a high kerb slows a wheel but does not stop a bumper, so the post still needs to sit within reach of the overhang rather than behind it. Reinstatement keeps walkways level and flush, because a trip edge around a new post in a busy car park creates the very hazard the posts are meant to reduce.

Rules and checks before you order

• Keep clear gaps of typically at least 1,000–1,200 mm and keep main walkways wide enough, referring to Inclusive Mobility guidance.
• Use contrasting bands so posts are visible to partially sighted people, and avoid linking chains across routes.
• Record why posts are where they are in the site's risk assessment, especially at drive-thrus and seating areas.
• If a tested product has been requested, confirm PAS 170-1 or another stated standard and install to the tested foundation.

See rules and standards by nation for highway consent, accessibility and security standards.

Maintenance

Protection bollards take the knocks they are there for, so inspect them regularly and after any reported strike. A post that leans or rocks has lost much of its value and should be re-bedded or replaced. Touch up chipped coatings, renew faded bands, and check the surface around each base for cracks that suggest movement. If one post keeps being hit, look at the bay layout or add a wheel stop rather than replacing the same post repeatedly. Keep a simple note of strikes and their locations; over a year it shows which parts of the car park drivers find awkward, which is useful when the site is next resurfaced or re-lined. Damaged posts near entrances should be dealt with quickly, as a bent post with a torn edge is a hazard in its own right.

What affects the price

• Number of posts and length of line
• Unrated steel or PAS 170-1 tested products
• Ground conditions and services along kerb lines
• Finishes such as stainless or decorative posts
• Reinstatement of tactile paving and walkway surfaces
• Working around trading hours and live car parks