Bollard? You’re kidding

Locals spooked by bizarre road safety measure

Child-shaped bollards installed outside a school to slow down drivers have been branded “hideous and terrifying” by some residents.

The creepy looking statuettes, in the shape of “Billy” or “Belinda”, were placed on pavements as a road safety measure after they proved a success elsewhere.

Supporters said they would make drivers think.

But residents believe they are impractical – as well as spooky. Alison Major said: “They look awful, they should have been a normal traffic bollard. They will be knocked over in no time or defaced with graffiti.

“When people know it’s just a bollard they will just continue as normal as they get used to them – so when a child does step out, the potential for them to get hit is still there.”

Connor Mcginn added: “If I was a driver they would scare me into crashing – super creepy.” Another said they were “hideous”. The eight bollards were put outside Iver Junior School and Iver Infant School and Nursery, Bucks.

They cost £5,395, including installation, according to Iver parish council. It said it considered various options but found the dummies were the most practical measure and had worked elsewhere.

In a statement on its website, the council said “Anything that we can do to raise driver awareness that there’s a school in the vicinity and young children on foot is a good thing.”

The metal and plastic figures were installed in Leicester in 2009 and later Birmingham. They apparently worked, but one critic still compared them to the white-eyed kids in the film Children of the Damned

The AA welcomed the idea at the time, with a note of caution on possible vandalism, especially at night.

SCARE TACTIC Billy bollard put outside the school

TWIN FREAKS Billy and Belinda on sentry duty

DUMMY Belinda bollard