jar546
CBO
I think we've all seen this happen, but in one case involving an innocent bystander, it really hits home. Should there be a standard for the protection of gas pumps?
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More Gas Pump Bollards?
- Thread starter jar546
- Start date
Yikes
SAWHORSE
But the first 40 seconds of the video show cars plowing right over safety bollards just like the ones proposed here; also smashing support columns and collapsing roof structures, etc.
This is the second time that a car took out the bollards....hit the wall and brought the gas station to a standstill. It will be a month getting back to selling fuel. The bollards are worthless because there is a bank of conduits in the way of a footing.
jar546
CBO
Design issue?
jar546
CBO
If they are not down in the ground, they are not useful bollards.
This is the second time that a car took out the bollards....hit the wall and brought the gas station to a standstill. It will be a month getting back to selling fuel. The bollards are worthless because there is a bank of conduits in the way of a footing.
The instance where the lady was killed would have been prevented. The rest of them would require a substantial barrier that will not likely be installed at the average gas dispenser.
Yikes
SAWHORSE
Check out this video. 20 mph crash test, typical concrete-filled steel bollard (looks to be about 4 or 5" diameter).
At around 2:40 you can see it shear the pipe; the failure was not in the footing design, but that the steel pipe just couldn't withstand the forces at play.
Towards the end of the video you can see a bollard that is much larger (8.86" OD according to their website. Could be quite the challenge to make a U-shaped version of that and still get customer access to all of the pump parts. Even then, the bumper has to first hit it, and not the pump. I'd be willing to best the panicked driver is trying to avoid the bollard with some magical thinking that tells them they can turn without hitting anything at all.
At around 2:40 you can see it shear the pipe; the failure was not in the footing design, but that the steel pipe just couldn't withstand the forces at play.
jar546
CBO
At a certain speed, not much will work, but a lot of the accidents are at a slower speed, such as the one the lady was pinned in. The above video about the bollards is actually very old, and I am surprised there has been no movement on this. Look at what happened last year in NY where an off duty cop was getting her nails done in a salon and was killed.
Should this be in the building code or a local ordinance?
Should this be in the building code or a local ordinance?
brokenkeys
Member
Probably a design error, if not it's a construction error. ASTM F2656 outlines bollard testing, design etc.
A K4 bollard is nearly the same cost as a standard in-ground bollard, and on the designers side it takes 10 seconds for them to add a note to their typical bollard detail that is copied into every project. There's no reason to use unsafe bollards.
A K4 bollard is nearly the same cost as a standard in-ground bollard, and on the designers side it takes 10 seconds for them to add a note to their typical bollard detail that is copied into every project. There's no reason to use unsafe bollards.
Yikes
SAWHORSE
Stopped at Costco for gas today, and I noticed their bollard system is a cast-in-place "tombstone" of oval-shaped concrete, painted blue:
steveray
SAWHORSE
Hence all of the blue dents on the cars....
Yikes
SAWHORSE
It seems like a lot of the high-speed pump crash videos occur at stations that have wide driveways along highways. At small gas stations in urban areas, cars often have to deliberately slow down and make 1-2 sharp turns to enter the pump area. At Costco, they first go through a throated entry, then a parking lot, then a serpentine queue before finally pulling up to the pumps.
In other words, the vehicle circulation plan may be a bigger safety factor than the bollards for high speed impact protection / prevention.
In other words, the vehicle circulation plan may be a bigger safety factor than the bollards for high speed impact protection / prevention.
jar546
CBO
Don't get me started on 'stroads' or I will get too cranked about with car-centric US.
TheCommish
SAWHORSE
I seen tractor trailer units at low speed tak out bollards thr size o 300 gallon oil tanks that were 2 feet in the ground