By now, most have seen the crashes. Whether it’s on the local news, national news or social media, footage and images from storefront crashes have become a normal part of the daily news cycle. 

But we’re not the only people paying attention to the carnage. 

According to several reports, the demand for safety bollards has skyrocketed all around the world: 

Earlier this year, two different terror ramming/stabbing attacks took place in London, England. Together, the two accidents claimed the lives of seven people and injured another 50 individuals. Both were horrific scenes that prompted London officials to quickly react. And now, according to Metro UK writer, Fiona Parker, new safety barriers have been installed overnight on three of the main bridges in London. 

London wasn’t the only city in England that decided to take preventative action against terrorist attacks after seeing what took place on the bridges earlier this year. To protect the public from potential attacks, bollards, planters and other barriers have been installed at the uber-popular Drake Circus Shopping Centre in Plymouth, England. 

After another terror ramming attack earlier this year that claimed the lives of six people, Australia allocated $10 million to the Victorian state budget to increase security measures around the state. Thanks to that, bollards and barricades have been installed in both Melbourne and Sydney. But that’s not all, as AU HuffingtonPost’s David Barden also mentioned that 16″ heavy-duty retractable bollards will be installed in Gold Coast in preparation for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. 

Melbourne and Sydney weren’t the only Australian cities to follow the barrier trend as, according to The West Australian’s Liam Croy, the City of Perth has installed 46 permanent stainless steel bollards around two of its most popular malls, and more could be on the way. Though some aren’t fans of the look, it’s known that the bollards are necessary after everything that has happened in England in recent months. 

Though some of the latest terrorist ramming attacks have only been overseas, cities in the United States are taking notice as well. That includes Buffalo, New York, which recently spent nearly $130,000 installing 160 new sphere bollards around Buffalo’s City Hall to stop potential attacks, according to WBFO’s Chris Caya. Each of these bollards weighs over 3,100 lbs, which should give City Hall employees and visitors a much easier feeling every time they visit the government building. 

After a fatal car-to-bike crash at the Hudson River Greenway in Manhattan, the New York DOT quickly moved to improve the bike lane riders and sidewalk pedestrians in the area. To do so, the DOT updated bike lanes, crosswalk markings, and installed bollards, according to DNAInfo’s Maya Rajamani. 

Not all of these bollard installations have gone smoothly, however. In Melbourne, the City Council added 206 temporary bollards in 10 different locations around the city. Though it sounds good, the bollards that were installed are just concrete blocks that are not fixed to the ground. And that’s an issue as, according to industry experts, a car traveling just 25 mph could hit and push these bollards up to 100 feet, which completely takes away from the entire purpose of a security bollard. 

Each and every day, safety and security bollards are being installed around the world. But it’s still not enough as the installation of these potentially life-saving barriers are still not required, by law, in most places. 

But that’s on its way to changing. 

Not only has California stepped up to introduce new legislation to make bollards mandatory in new commercial parking lots but New York looks like it’s on its way as well. 

According to AMNewYork’s Alison Fox, a new bill aimed at “preventing vehicles from mounting sidewalks” was introduced to the City Council. This move came in reaction to the horrific scene that took place in Times Square, when an 18-year old tourist was killed and 20 others were injured after a crazed terrorist attack. But this bill is more than just protection for Times Square: 

“The bill specifies that bollards should be installed annually by at least 50 schools and 20 priority intersections, which would be identified by the city’s Department of Transportation as crash-prone areas where pedestrians have been injured or killed, or have a high volume of traffic.

It also requires the bollards to be put up surrounding all pedestrian plazas.” 

While it’s too bad that it took a horrific terror attack to prompt such a bill, it’s good to see something is trying to be done. Hopefully every other pedestrian/tourist heavy city around the country and world follows suit and pushes for similar legislation and regulations to keep its people safe from both accidental and intentional ramming incidents. 

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If you’re a business owner, city official or an individual looking to learn more about installing bollards at your facilities, contact Ideal Shield today.

Our experienced, knowledgeable sales team will break down the differences between our schedule 40 and schedule 80 steel pipe bollard posts, as well as our very diverse array of plastic bollard covers to give your bollard posts a better, branded look.