How is vehicle access controlled on parks and school sites?

Vehicle exclusion sounds like a product selection and it is a set of competing requirements.

The barrier has to stop the vehicles nobody wants on the site, let through the ones that have to be there, and not obstruct the people the space exists for.

What the barrier is actually for

The answer changes the whole specification.

**Deterring casual access,** which is most park and school applications. A visible barrier that makes it clear vehicles are not permitted. A standard bollard does this.

**Stopping a vehicle under power,** which is a security requirement with a rated product, an engineered footing and a tested impact performance. Entirely different from a deterrent, and specified where a risk assessment calls for it.

**Preventing damage,** to turf, to a path edge, to a playing surface or to a building corner, where the issue is wheels in the wrong place rather than access.

**Channelling movement,** where vehicles are permitted and need to be kept to a defined route.

Specifying a rated barrier where a deterrent would do wastes money. Specifying a deterrent where a rated barrier is required does not meet the brief.

Fixed, removable or retractable

**Fixed bollards** are the most reliable and the least flexible. Used where nothing needs to pass.

**Removable bollards** sit in a ground socket, locked, and are lifted out for authorised access. The weak point is the socket, which fills with dirt and water and seizes. A drained socket with a cover is the detail that makes them still work in year five.

**Hinged or fold-down bollards,** which stay with the installation and cannot be lost. Usually the better choice than removable for exactly that reason.

**Gates,** where a wide opening is needed for maintenance plant or service vehicles, keyed to the site's existing system so the operator's staff and the emergency services can get in. The keying question is part of [security, CCTV and access control upgrades](/answers/security-cctv-and-access-control-upgrades).

**Kerbs, level changes and planting,** which exclude vehicles without any hardware at all and are frequently the most durable solution.

Who has to get through

This is where installations fail after handover, and the list is longer than it first appears.

**Emergency services,** with access to the whole site and a key or a breakable lock arrangement agreed with them rather than assumed.

**Grounds and maintenance plant,** including mowers, which need a wider opening than people expect. Relevant to the ongoing work described in [who does grounds maintenance and asset protection on NSW Crown land](/answers/who-does-grounds-maintenance-and-asset-protection-on-nsw-crown-land).

**Deliveries and waste collection,** to bin stores and loading points, per [bin stores and waste enclosures](/answers/bin-stores-and-waste-enclosures).

**Event and contractor access,** on a sports field or a park used for organised events.

Each of those is confirmed with the asset owner before the set-out is fixed, because a bollard line that blocks the mower is a bollard line that gets removed.

Spacing and accessibility

The gap between bollards has to pass a wheelchair, a pram and a mobility scooter comfortably, and the spacing is specified rather than eyeballed.

Too wide and a vehicle gets through. Too narrow and the accessible route is obstructed, which is a compliance failure on the path described in [pathways and accessible routes across a site](/answers/pathways-and-accessible-routes-across-a-site).

**Contrast and visibility** matter too. A low dark bollard on a dark surface is a hazard to somebody with low vision, and the luminance contrast requirements that apply to [signage and wayfinding in public facilities](/answers/signage-and-wayfinding-in-public-facilities) apply here as well.

**Reflective banding** where the bollards are near a trafficked area or used at night.

The footing

A bollard is only as good as what holds it, and the footings are the part most often under-designed.

A deterrent bollard needs a footing that resists being pushed over by hand and by a light nudge from a vehicle. A rated bollard needs an engineered footing, frequently a continuous beam rather than individual pads, and the design is specific to the rating.

Which means excavation, and excavation means knowing what is underground, per [service location and utility relocations](/answers/service-location-and-utility-relocations). A bollard line across an entry is exactly where services run.

Installing it on a live site

Bollard and gate installation happens across the entry points a site depends on, which are the points that cannot simply be closed.

So the works are staged entry by entry, with a temporary alternative open at each stage, under the controls in [traffic management and deliveries to a live site](/answers/traffic-management-and-deliveries-to-a-live-site).