They’re designed to make drivers slow down and proceed with caution.
The childlike bollards have been erected by Iver District Council, in Buckinghamshire, in a bid to improve road safety outside schools.
Known as Bill and Belinda, they are dressed like schoolchildren to warn drivers that they are close to Iver infant and junior schools.
They are two of eight bollards, costing the parish council £5,395, which campaigners hope will fool drivers into thinking a child is about to cross the road.
But while they may stop traffic, critics say they are distracting and potentially dangerous.
Known as Bill and Belinda, they are dressed like schoolchildren to warn drivers that they are close to Iver infant and junior schools
Resident 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 that 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.’
But Councillor Luisa Sullivan, behind the implementation, said she hoped the scheme would force drivers to be more considerate.
Resident 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’
RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said the bollards gave a clear message to motorists that children were in the area
‘Whilst they may not look pretty, they have minimal facial appearances as to not distract drivers, they are merely supposed to resemble school children and just make drivers think,’ she told The Telegraph.
‘We also have a number of parents who mount the curb at the school, and these bollards can act as a deterrent to this, maybe that is causing annoyance, but I think that if they make the school area safer they should only be seen as a good thing.’
RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said the bollards gave a clear message to motorists that children were in the area.
‘Regardless of their aesthetics, these bollards are likely to catch the eye of drivers and send a clear messages that young children will be walking in the area.’