GB2299117A - Road safety bollards - Google Patents

Abstract

A road safety bollard is in the form of a hollow upstanding body (10) moulded from translucent plastics material and having a tubular stem portion (12) which is self-supporting under normal conditions. The stem has a part (20) near its lower end, conveniently of circular section, which is of bellow or concertina construction so that it will yield on collision or impact with other parts of the bollard to reduce the likelihood of permanent damage thereto. The part may have inherent resilience so that the bollard will tend to spring back to the upright position and/or may have a bending stiffness enabling the bollard to be restored to an upright position manually.

Description

ROAD SAFETY BOLLARDS This invention relates to safety bollards of the kind used for permanent or semi-permanent warning and/or giving direction or other indication to road traffic, particularly on roundabouts or other traffic islands, at corners, or other junctions, on centre reservations of dual carriageways, and the like.

The bollards are commonly illuminated for better nighttime visibility and they may incorporate or carry warning, directional or other road signs such as "keep left" or "pass either side" arrows and the like.

Due to their situation the bollards are frequently damaged by collision and for safety reasons they are now usually made so that they will yield fairly readily as by fracturing on direct impact, being formed of relatively lightweight material, typically hollow plastics mouldings, for economy, minimum maintenance, and weather resistance.

Most known patterns of bollard will be damaged beyond economic repair by even a relatively minor impact due to tearing or fracture of their substantially rigid stems or bodies necessitating scrapping and replacement by a new unit which is obviously costly both in terms of providing the replacement and in terms of on-site labour needed for installation, possible disruption of traffic while the work is being done, and danger to road users particularly at night if replacement is not promptly carried out.

The object of the invention is to provide a road safety bollard which is of simple construction, economical to manufacture and install, and which has a substantially increased service life in terms of reduced risk of permanent damage by impact or collision.

According to the invention there is provided a safety bollard including a hollow operatively upstanding body having walls which are translucent at least in part or parts and adapted to contain or be mounted on or over a light source in use; the body including a tubular stem portion at least part of which is of bellows or concertina construction maintaining the stem upright under normal conditions of use but capable of bending under abnormal lateral forces so that the stem will yield on collision or impact with upper parts of the bollard in use, whereby the likelihood of permanent damage to the bollard is substantially reduced and there is also reduced likelihood of serious damage or injury to road users in any collision therewith.

Said part of the stem portion may be designed to bend resiliently so that it will spring back automatically to or towards the upstanding condition after at least less serious collision or impact giving a bounce-back or self-righting ability, even if final straightening to make it completely upright has to be carried out manually, so enabling the bollard to continue in effective service without interruption. It is preferred that illumination will be effected by a light source at or below ground level shining up the stem so that there are no electrical components, light bulbs or tubes within the bollard itself which can suffer damage.

In some constructions said part of the stem portion will have little or no resilience but will have a bending stiffness enabling the stem to be restored manually to self-supporting upstanding condition following deflection, again enabling the bollard to continue in service without interruption as this simple operation can be carried out by road patrol personnel or, indeed, a member of the public if it is safe for them to do so.

Preferably at least the stem portion including the bellows or concertina part is formed as a plastics moulding. For some applications it may be of composite construction incorporating spring metal or other reinforcement elements.

Preferably at least said part is of circular cross section so that impact or collision at any angle will have the same effect but it is also contemplated that square or other straight sided cross-sections could be used.

An example of the invention is now more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawing being a vertical part-sectional elevation of an illuminated safety bollard installed and in use.

The bollard 10 is a hollow upstanding pillar formed from one or more mouldings of translucent plastics material. It comprises a tubular stem portion 12 which is self-supporting in straight vertical form under normal conditions of use, sufficiently rigid to withstand wind pressure and similar disturbance.

A very short lower part 14 of the stem includes or is secured to a base 16 which is in turn mounted in or on a road hazard such as a traffic island 18 to be delineated by the bollard.

Sunk below the surface of island 18 immediately beneath base 16 is a light source 19, typically a high output low voltage light of known kind in a weather-tight enclosure with a top lens or glass directing the light into and up the hollow bollard. There will also be the usual controls, not shown, for illuminating the bollard in conditions of darkness or poor visibility.

Immediately above lower part 14 is a circular section bellows part 20 of stem portion 12. This may take various forms as to its axial length, stiffness, and number of wall corrugations making up the bellows construction, in the example shown it has four or five corrugations, is some 200mm in diameter and some lOOmm in axial length in undeformed condition, the upper end where it merges with or is attached to the remaining part of stem portion 12, being around 250mm above ground level.

The remaining upper part 22 of stem portion 12 has walls which, in this example, diverge outwardly in the upward direction to merge with a topmost part of the bollard. The latter part is shaped to present one or more vertical circular faces 24 appropriately coloured and/or marked as warning or directional sign in the usual manner and as appropriate to the situation of the bollard, for example a "keep left" arrow as shown in the drawings which, as the walls of the bollard are translucent, will be illuminated when light source 19 is operating.

If a vehicle or the like should collide with bollard 10 with any substantial force, or it is subjected to impact, e.g. by an overhanging part of a vehicle as it negotiates island 18, it will readily yield to lateral forces acting against its upper part by bending of the bellows part 20 so that fracture or tearing of the bollard walls is much less likely than with conventional constructions.

The bellows part 20 is constructed to have inherent resilience so that it will spring back to or towards the upright condition once the lateral force is removed.

This spring-back or self-righting facility may be supplemented by provision of resilient reinforcing elements in the stem portion, particularly longitudinal spring metal or other elements within the bellows part 20 though for some applications these may not be necessary, the inherent resilience of the plastics material may be sufficient particularly if the upper part of the bollard is of low weight.

Even if the bellows part 20 does not have any or sufficient inherent resilience to be (completely) selfrighting it is a simple matter to restore an otherwise undamaged bollard to the upright condition merely by applying manual pressure to its top or upper part.

It is to be understood that a wide variety of shapes and sizes of safety bollard can incorporate the invention depending on requirements and the type of use to which they are to be put. Where no warning or indicating sign as such is required they can be simple uniform diameter or section vertical pillars or posts. Larger versions could incorporate directional or information signs for use at hazardous positions such as at or near road junctions.

Of course, no bollard can be designed to withstand every conceivable form of collision or impact such as being run over directly by the wheels of a heavy vehicle.

However, the use of the invention will greatly reduce the need for replacement of bollards which is at present made necessary due to the vulnerability of most designs used at present to fracture and breakage even under relatively minor impact.

Claims (8)

1. A safety bollard including a hollow operatively upstanding body having walls which are translucent at least in part or parts and adapted to contain or be mounted on or over a light source in use; the body including a tubular stem portion at least part of which is of bellows or concertina construction maintaining the stem upright under normal conditions of use but capable of bending under abnormal lateral forces so that the stem will yield on collision or impact with upper parts of the bollard in use.

2. A bollard as in Claim 1 wherein said part of the stem portion is resilient so that the body is automatically urged to or towards upstanding condition following impact.

3. A bollard as in Claim 1 wherein the stem portion has a bending stiffness enabling the body to be restored to self-supporting upstanding condition following deflection.

4. A bollard as in any preceding claim wherein at least the stem portion including the bellows or concertina part is formed as a plastics moulding.

5. A bollard as in any preceding claim wherein the stem portion incorporates spring metal or other reinforcement elements.

6. A bollard as in any preceding claim wherein at least said part of the stem is of circular cross-section.

7. A bollard as in any preceding claim adapted for illumination from a light source at or below ground level shining up the stem in use.

8. A safety bollard substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.