Keep Left. Bollards!

The real ‘Red Tape Challenge’ concerns professional attitudes, not the ‘regs’ we like to blame

John Dales

15 July 2011

If there was no keep left bollard, would you drive straight into that traffic light?

This beauty is (a) unnecessary and (b) makes it technically illegal to drive north over Waterloo Bridge!

Look: no bollards! Amazing what can be achieved with just a little thought

Question one (a nice, easy one to get you mentally limbered up for what follows): On which side of the street (or road) do we drive/cycle in the UK?

It’s a while since I took my driving test, but I’m pretty sure no one passes it without knowing that we drive on the left over here. This being the case, I fell to considering question two: Why the blazes are so many of our streets plastered with such a large number and wide variety of bollards carrying signs that instruct us to do the...

John Dales

John Dales MSC BSC MCIHT CMILT Director, Urban Mov

John Dales is a streets design adviser to local authorities around the UK, a member of several design review panels, and one of the London mayor’s design advocates. He is a past chair of the Transport Planning Society, a former trustee of Living Streets, and a committee member of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety. He is director of transport planning and street design consultancy Urban Movement.

j.dales@urbanmovement.co.uk
+44 (0)7768 377 150
www.johndales.com

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