No more turning – driveway secured with three bollards

A wide, neatly paved driveway in front of a house has one disadvantage that nobody thinks about when building: it invites people to turn. Here, half the village turned every day – cars, delivery vans, even larger vans manoeuvred on the property, often right up to the carport and garage. For the drivers it was a matter of course; for the owners a constant annoyance: tyre marks in the paving, strangers' vehicles outside their own front door and repeated near misses when someone reversed towards the parked cars.

Open, bright, without fence or gate – that is how the property was to stay. The three bollards draw the boundary exactly where the private paving begins.

Why not a gate or a chain

The obvious solution would have been a gate across the full width. But that would have closed off the open front with carport and garage, and nobody keeps getting out, unlocking and locking up again in the long run. In our experience, a chain or a “Private property – no turning” sign achieves little: anyone who wants to turn quickly in the street does not read signs, and a chain has to be unhooked and hooked up again by hand every time.

Retractable bollards solve this differently. When raised, three stainless steel cylinders stand in a line that no vehicle drives over and none drives around. When lowered, only the lids lie flush in the paving, and nothing more of the system can be seen. The driveway looks as before – only nobody turns there any more.

Three bollards across the full width

The three bollards stand at the property boundary, where the dark paving of the driveway meets the light-coloured public paving. The spacing between them is chosen so that no car fits through, while pedestrians and bicycles pass unhindered. Each bollard sits in its own installation sleeve deep in the ground; when raised, it engages via a locking bolt and can neither be pushed down nor pushed aside. A vehicle that drives into the bollard anyway gets no further – the barrier holds.

In the evening, the three red LED rings shine far into the street. Anyone who wanted to turn here sees the boundary before they are on the property.

Red LED rings: visible before things get tight

Each bollard has an LED ring under the lid, here in red. The colour was chosen deliberately: every driver understands red as stop, even in darkness, rain and fog. The rings show from the street where the property begins, and the residents can see immediately on returning home whether the bollards are up or down. As a side effect, the driveway looks elegantly lit in the evening – a bonus the owners had not expected. The colour of our bollard lights can be chosen freely; with the RGB bollard light it can even be changed via an app.

Open at the push of a button, closed again in seconds

When the residents want to drive in or out themselves, the three bollards lower completely into the ground at the push of a button within a few seconds, without anyone having to get out. Afterwards they rise again and the driveway is closed. Depending on who uses an access and how often, we control our bollards by radio transmitter from the car, key switch, keypad or number plate recognition; for exiting, an induction loop in the paving can be added that lowers the bollard automatically. Which combination fits is shown in our guide Bollard control: radio, GSM, smart home.

Pneumatics: nothing in the ground that water can harm

Our retractable bollards are made of stainless steel V4A (1.4571) and are pneumatically driven. The only thing in the ground is a stainless steel cylinder with a mechanical lock – no motor, no circuit board, no limit switches. The compressor and valves stand dry in the house. The bollards are sealed to IP69, the seals are designed for temperatures down to −35 °C, and because there are no electronics in the ground, the system needs neither a heater nor a drain. Rain, frost, road salt and leaves in the sleeve do not affect operation. Overall, the system is very low-maintenance; should a valve or the compressor need replacing after years, this is done in the house on quick-release couplings without opening the paving.

The result

Since the installation, nobody has turned on the property. No tyre marks in the paving, no strangers' vehicles in front of carport and garage, no tricky situations when manoeuvring. The owners summed it up to us like this: “Only our driveway now.” At their request, we do not give their name or the location.

Is your driveway also a turning area?

We know the pattern well: the wider and more inviting the driveway, the more strangers' vehicles turn on it. A sign changes little; a bollard does – without you having to fence in your property. What to consider when retrofitting is covered in the guide Retractable bollards for the driveway; we have compared the alternatives in Bollard, barrier or sliding gate?. How a larger courtyard was secured against turning traffic is shown in the reference Granite-paved courtyard entrance with six bollards.

Send us a photo of your driveway via WhatsApp to +49 172 4544485 or call us on +49 40 226390411. We will tell you how many bollards you need, where they should stand and which control system fits. You will find all models and prices in the overview retractable bollards made of stainless steel V4A. Everything is manufactured at our site in Seevetal near Hamburg.