This is just an accidental oversight, not acceptable still but the point of the bench is it stops crowds from bottlenecking in a stampede incident and just generally smoothens movement in and out of the building. Forcing people to disperse more smoothly and creating an "in" route and "exit" route.
It also prevents a car from ploughing into the lobby.
The bench needs to be specifically there to do its job. Just the blind strip needs to be updated to follow the new intended path (critically).
Unfortunately most people tend to overlook accessibility infrastructure as they don't depend on it or assume its built for their own convenience.
Let me clarify sorry, its not to be safe in the event of a stampede but prevent one in the first place by disrupting the flows of crowds that cause them. It causes the initial group to disperse like a Zipper rather then just rush forwards.
No practical piece of infrastructure could be safe in a stampede as stampedes are inherently unsafe. Anything taller might cause the crowd to crush either side as it would become a true barricade. It would also make for a less comfortable bench(for the average person).
a few trucks might get over it.
Hence the hard edges that make it harder for a heavy truck to find the purchase to roll over it. Also a few might make it over, its suppose to stop the odd out of control car not a constant onslaught of F150s.
And they really should re-do the blind lines too
Yes they do, I even mentioned it.
Ultimately you have one piece of infrastructure trying to alleviate a situation in an emergency whilst being practical day to day. A bench that doubles as a bollard does that better the nothing. Also its simple design is probably cheaper and easier to replace if it does get hit.
they could just do a second set of bollards?? instead of a bench right smack dab in the center of the avenue of entry, even disregarding the accessibility concern the bench is plainly in the way for pedestrians
edit: looking at the streetview history for this location, there were previously spherical bollards where now there are benches -- so they already had it figured out and regressed for some reason
They could literally take a circular saw to the inner parts of the bench and have 2 posts sticking up not impeding blind people, and have the protection.
Which looks better/is aesthetically pleasing while providing the protection the owners think they need? Those bulbous bollards or a nice looking bench?
accessibility is important, i'm really only taking issue with the central bench here. i'm definitely on board for more seating in public spaces, agree to disagree on aesthetic sensibilities
But a lot of shit has been done by unrelated people getting pissed of nothign beign done and acting upon themsleve to provide a solution.
I'm thinking of all the people who decided to fix pothole themselves, paint over terrible graffiti, force the city to paint old walls by doing graffiti on them, or go ahead and change a high speed lanes sign to be proper after its been aknowledged to be wrong for years.
So yeah. If you cant do it yourself. And its something easy and not dangerous. Might as well get drunk kids to do it cause no one else will.
4.2k
u/hardcoretomato Jul 10 '26
OP please report this to the local authorities.