Separating busy roads from clear pedestrian zones is crucial to the successful traffic management within an area. Bollards and handrails are used in town centres to line pavements, station approaches and busy shopping streets. These protect pedestrians walking in busy city centres on crowded pavements from wayward vehicles.
Bollards also prevent accidental vehicle incursions on paved areas controlled exclusion zones can also be created by installing automatic or static barriers cordoning off entire streets/areas from any traffic creating a completely pedestrian-friendly zone. The bollards can be dropped if needed for emergency service vehicle access.
Systems used for this purpose have had a dramatic effect on city-centre traffic management. Vehicle entry to restricted zones reduced by up to 78%. General traffic delays and vehicle emissions were reduced by up to 18% and pedestrian and cyclist deaths were reduced dramatically.