PETER Evely, City of York Council's head of highways regulation, told the Evening Press last Tuesday that six people had been injured in Pavement in the past three years.

Since installing the automatic bollard on Stonebow, three drivers have been hurt in two weeks. That, we are asked to believe, is progress.

Action was pledged after the second accident, which left a driver hospitalised when his car and the rising bollard came to blows. A flashing warning light was subsequently installed to highlight the device.

But even that failed to alert the third victim to the bollard. Motorists are simply not expecting to something to emerge from the road, how ever many warning signs and lights are erected.

No one is suggesting drivers should do as they please. York is an ancient city with narrow streets. It is vital that traffic flows are minimised wherever possible.

We would not condone the motorists who have blatantly flouted the Stonebow restrictions for so long.

But the punishment of a damaged car and an aching head is out of all proportion to the crime.

The rising bollard was first deployed in Cambridge, another tourist city battling the traffic. It proved unpopular there, and the same problems were always likely to be repeated in York.

If a physical obstacle is the only way to stop drivers entering Stonebow, the council should have installed a falling barrier. That has one advantage over the bollard: you can see it at all times.

The automatic bollard is an experiment that failed. Now is the time to ground it for good.