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Those Posts on the Sidewalk? Their Specifications Are Actually Set by Law

Those Posts on the Sidewalk? Their Specifications Are Actually Set by Law
Those Posts on the Sidewalk? Their Specifications Are Actually Set by Law

There are short posts lined up along sidewalks. They are devices intended to prevent cars from driving onto the sidewalk.

But far more people have tripped over them or banged their shins on them.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety is accepting reports on these posts throughout August.

3-line summary
1. Bollard height and materials are set by law.
2. They must be 80–100 cm tall, with tactile paving 30 cm in front.
3. If you see one made of stone, it violates the specifications.

Even its name means “deterrent”

The official legal name is vehicle-entry deterrent post. A bollard originally referred to a post used to moor ships at a dock, but the term has now become established as the name for these posts on sidewalks.

The name is worth considering. It is intended to deter, not block. Rather than being a protective facility meant to physically repel a charging vehicle, it is closer to a signal that cars do not belong here.

That distinction determines the specifications. One of the requirements the law imposes on bollards is that they absorb impact when a person collides with them. In other words, the system itself is designed on the premise that people may run into them.

The numbers are already set

The specifications are set out in the Enforcement Rules of the 「Act on the Promotion of Transportation Convenience for Mobility Disadvantaged Persons」.

The height must be 80–100 cm. That is above an adult’s thigh. If it is lower than knee height, it may not enter a person’s field of view, making it easy to walk straight into it. That is why low-lying bollards are dangerous.

The diameter must be 10–20 cm, and the spacing should be about 1.5 m. Anyone who has pushed a wheelchair or stroller knows why spacing matters. If they are installed too densely to block cars, wheelchairs cannot pass along that sidewalk. Installation is based on locations where the effective sidewalk width is at least 2 m.

These requirements tend to be observed reasonably well. The next point is the problem.

Granite and marble fall outside the specifications

The material standard is a material capable of absorbing impact. Urethane-based materials are representative examples. Materials such as granite, marble, and stainless steel, which transfer the force directly to a person upon impact, do not meet this condition.

Yet a considerable number of bollards standing on the streets are made of stone. Squared granite posts are particularly common. They were widely used in the past because they look neat and last a long time, but they are rocks with sharp edges, and a collision can scrape a knee. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has identified these stone types as the first target of this cleanup.

Color and brightness are also subject to standards. Bollards must be light-colored and use reflective paint so they remain visible at night or on rainy days. Gray stone posts fail this requirement as well.

Tactile paving 30 centimeters in front

For people with visual impairments, bollards are a different kind of object.

That is why the rules require dot-type tactile paving within 0.3 m in front of a bollard. The aim is for a white cane to encounter the tactile paving before the post. A bumpy sensation underfoot signals that something is standing ahead.

A bollard without dot-type tactile paving becomes an obstacle that appears without warning. This issue has also been addressed in an actual court case.

There is a ruling in which a specification violation led to liability for damages

This was a case decided by the Daegu High Court on March 21, 2019 (2018Na23163).

A visually impaired person tripped over a bollard on a sidewalk near a subway station exit and suffered a fractured spine. The bollard was made of marble, had no dot-type tactile paving in front of it, and did not use reflective paint. It therefore violated three specifications at once.

The court found a defect in the installation and management of a public facility and recognized the local government’s liability for damages under Article 5, Paragraph 1 of the State Compensation Act. However, considering that the negligence of a person providing guidance and other factors overlapped in the circumstances of the accident, it limited liability to 60%.

What stands out to me in this ruling is its reasoning rather than its conclusion. The specifications in the Enforcement Rules were used not as recommendations that would be good to follow, but as grounds for imposing liability when they were not followed. This means that each stone post standing on the street can be assessed against those standards.

Reports are accepted through the app throughout August

On August 4, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that it would conduct a comprehensive inspection, together with local governments nationwide, of bollards that violate standards or are damaged. Throughout August, it will accept public reports and reflect them in its list of cleanup targets.

Reports can be filed through the Safety e-Report app. Open the app, select “Safety,” then go to “Select Type” and choose “Road and Facility Damage or Malfunction.” Then enter the location and the condition of the facility before submitting. Including photos speeds up verification.

Five types have been identified for cleanup: stone types that cannot absorb impact; those so low that they are difficult to see; those spaced excessively close together; those standing in the middle of a pedestrian path and obstructing passage; and those that are damaged, with exposed metal or a tilt.

The head of the Safety Prevention Policy Office at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety explained that this cleanup is “intended both to restore bollards’ essential function of protecting pedestrians from vehicles and to ensure pedestrian walking safety.”

What to check on the route you take today

Is it stone or not? That one question alone filters out half of them.

Then check two more things: Is it not lower than knee height? And is tactile paving installed on the ground immediately in front of the post? If even one of these three is out of line, it is subject to reporting.

There will likely be quite a few cases in which that post you have bumped into at least once while passing by turns out to fall outside the specifications. This month, the reporting channel for them is open.

References