Effect of Bollard Arrays on Pedestrian’s Sense of Safety

Abstract

Bollards are sidewalk poles that can control vehicle entry and convey a sense of safety to pedestrians. Bollards’ shapes and sizes have often been determined by their landscape and use applications because no rule determines their shape. This study examined the sense of safety that bollard arrays give to pedestrians. It aimed to gain useful knowledge about planning bollards’ installation suitably for their location. The experiment was conducted using immersive virtual reality (VR). Our subjects experienced a virtual environment including bollard arrays near the boundary between a sidewalk and a roadway with cars. In each trial, participants had to adjust the bollard arrays’ height to convey a sense of safety when the car passed in front of them. One of our key findings from this experiment was that the bollard height necessary to make subjects feel safe increased as the gap between bollards widened.