Rising bollards set for a fall

	In Manchester last month similar devices tore through a woman's car, narrowly missing her nine-month-old daughter

The future of rising bollards - the UK's most aggressive traffic-calming measure - is in doubt following new Government guidelines suggesting they breach official safety rules.

The poles, which allow through some vehicles - for example buses - but not others, have caused hundreds of write-offs and injuries since they were introduced into UK city centres 14 years ago.

Last May, a 63-year-old motorist in Nuneaton, Warks, died of "natural causes" after crashing into a metal rising bollard in Cambridge, and in Manchester last month similar devices tore through a woman's car, narrowly missing her nine-month-old daughter.

That incident has caused officials in the city to consider scrapping the poles, after a Department for Transport (DfT) leaflet was issued to councils. It said the units should not be capable of rising underneath a passing vehicle, and that driver safety should take priority over traffic calming.

Some experts are now consulting makers to see whether their systems need to be modified. Cambridgeshire County Council has posted a warning on its website that motorists risk car damage by passing rising bollards illegally, but drivers have complained that in-situ warning signs do not spell out the dangers clearly enough.