Cycling in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

In what way are the metal bollards unsafe? They would increase safety for cyclists and pedestrians wouldn't they?

(This is a genuine question, not intended to be contradictory or confrontational - I read metal bollards and get happy, but I'm clueless about a great many things.)

If you drive into a fixed metal object with an infinitely small cross sectional area at the point of contact, it poses a massive safety risk to the occupant of the vehicle.

If a vehicle drives outside of the roadway area, it's going to be dangerous for someone.  Some traffic engineering manuals in the US have the concept of a "clear zone" where out of control vehicles should be able to safely fly through without risk of serious collision, these "clear zones" usually include sidewalks...because that's how traffic engineering is.

I don't know what our standards are, but they're sufficiently different from that, we have light poles, signs, etc. next to roads...so we already have obstructions, especially on a road like King..

That being said, I think the "danger" is greatly exaggerated. As you yourself pointed out, the bollards they would use would not stop a car.  They might cause some damage, but a car leaving the roadway in an uncontrolled manner will simply flatten a metal bollard, without harming the vehicle occupants--this is the case with the bollards in Kitchener, which are routinely hit. Other risks far outweigh the danger of hitting the bollard, for example, a vehicle hitting a flex bollard will not change direction, one hitting a metal bollard could be deflected slightly.  A driver hitting a metal bollard on the side is possibly more likely to swerve in a dangerous way (although I'm not convinced on that one).

The biggest difference is probably perception and maybe maintenance costs I think.