Using Bollard Cover Height to Raise Visibility & Awareness
Most bollards fall into an above-ground height range of 36 to 52 inches, which is sufficient for many locations and general traffic conditions. However, in today’s environments where pickup trucks, commercial vans, and semi-trailers dominate a large share of vehicle traffic; even a 36-inch bollard may fail to provide adequate visual warning. Lower bollards often disappear behind the tall front ends of modern vehicles, reducing their effectiveness as a visual cue. This is where bollard covers become invaluable. By selecting a cover that is taller than the actual steel pipe, property owners can immediately retrofit existing bollards to create a more prominent vertical presence and dramatically increase visual height awareness without replacing the underlying infrastructure.
Vehicle Height Trends are Increasing, Necessitating Taller Bollard Covers
Across the U.S., vehicle design trends support this need for increased height visibility. The average hood height of new pickup trucks has risen more than 20% over the past two decades, and many full-size trucks now stand 48 to 55 inches at the front grille. With these elevated cab and hood lines, objects below roughly 40 inches can fall into a visual dead zone. Even the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has noted that higher-profile vehicles reduce a driver’s low-level visibility, which contributes to increased blind spots around obstacles, pedestrians, and structural elements. Increasing bollard height through taller covers directly counters this issue by lifting the visible portion of the post into the driver’s natural forward sightline.
Visual awareness is an important factor that helps prevent accidental damage around storefronts, loading docks, parking lots, distribution centers, and pedestrian walkways. Drivers often rely on quick recognition of color, shape, and height to identify hazards. While a bollard’s structural purpose is to provide impact resistance, its visual purpose is arguably more critical because the sooner a driver notices the bollard-protected area, the less likely a collision becomes.
When bollards are not tall enough, drivers won't see them. Use Bollard Covers to increase visibility!
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Extending the height of the bollard cover brings the bollard higher into the natural scanning zone of approaching drivers, making it easier for them to see and react in time. Studies of low-speed collision data show that visibility-related impacts like scrapes, bumper damage, and glancing hits account for a large portion of property damage incidents in commercial parking areas, underscoring the importance of improving visual cues.
The visual benefits of added height are also magnified in busy or complex areas. For example, at gas stations, taller pickup trucks can obstruct shorter bollards from the driver’s peripheral view. At warehouses and loading docks, the elevated cab height of semi-trucks shifts the driver’s line of sight higher than that of standard passenger cars. In these cases, a standard 36- or 42-inch bollard may be visually lost, while a taller cover ensures the protective barrier is recognized early. Early recognition is essential for safe maneuvering, especially in tight or high-traffic locations where reaction time is limited. In fact, transportation safety research frequently cites that increasing the conspicuity of fixed objects (via height, color, or reflectivity) significantly reduces the likelihood of low-speed collisions during vehicle approach.
The Best Bollard Cover Installation Method for Increasing Height & Visibility
Post Guard bollard covers use the preferred method for securing bollard covers to bollards: foam-pieces. This also works extremely well when increasing the height of the bollard by using a taller bollard cover, allowing property owners to raise visual awareness without modifying the steel pipe underneath. By extending the cover above the original bollard height, the protective post becomes more prominent and noticeable in a driver’s line of sight; this is especially true for pickups, vans, and semi-trucks with elevated cabs. The ability to retrofit height in seconds without new concrete work or pipe replacement makes taller bollard covers one of the most practical and cost-effective visibility improvements available for any commercial site.
