Albanian and Italian bollards have a black top with a red and grey reflector. The bottom is painted white.
The Andorran bollard has an orange reflector and can be occasionally found on the main highways.
NOTE: This bollard can also be found in Spain.
Austria uses white bollards, with a black top. The colour of the reflector is (dark) red or dark grey.ย
Many bollards also feature a small nipple-shaped black cap on the top. Bollards sometimes have a snow pole on top.
NOTE: Slovenia and Montenegro use the same bollards, but with bright red reflectors instead of grey or dark red. Germany uses simple white bollards with grey reflectors.
Belgium uses white bollards with a yellow rectangular reflector on the front and white on the back. A second type of bollard is dark brown with two red stripes at the top. Occasionally, other bollards can be seen.
NOTE: Denmark uses similar white bollards, but they have a red stripe at the top and the reflector is not rectangular. The dark brown bollard with two red stripes can also be seen in the Netherlands.
Bollards are generally fairly rare in Bulgaria.
When you see them, they almost always have this somewhat generic design, which is relatively similar to the bollards found in Croatia and Hungary. They have a red reflector on the front, and a white one on the back. The design isnโt terribly consistent: sometimes they are thinner, and the shape of the reflector varies.
Croatian bollards are white with a black rectangle and red or white reflector. From the top, it is shaped like a triangle.
NOTE: Hungarian and Lithuanian bollards look similar, but have more rounded edges compared to Croatiaโs sharper edges. Lithuanian bollards will also have an orange reflector.
Bollards in Czechia and Slovakia have orange double reflectors on the front and a single white reflector on the back. There are also rarer blue and red variants.
Denmark has a very recognizable white bollard with a yellow reflector and a dark orange stripe. This bollard is unique to the country. You may also find this green variant.
NOTE: Belgium has bollards that may look somewhat similar. However, it will never feature the orange stripe.
Estonian bollards have a round, baton-like shape.
They have a rectangular reflector on the front and two circular reflectors on the back. The reflectors can be white or orange.
NOTE: Latvian and Lithuanian bollards look different.
Faroese bollards are small wooden sticks that are mainly painted yellow and sometimes red on the top.
Finland has long black-and-white bollards with a rectangular, white reflector on the front and two dots on the back. They can be either round or thin and curved. The black strip is typically diagonal.
NOTE: They can look somewhat similar to bollards found in other Northern European countries.
The French bollard is extremely recognizable and appears very often. It is a round white post with a pointed top and a reflector band going all the way around. The band can be grey or red. Some rare variations have a fully red top.ย
NOTE: A bollard that is commonly found in Scotland looks similar, but has a blunt top instead of a pointed one.
A different round white bollard, with two reflective indented bands, is unique to France.
You can also find this design in other colours like green or yellow.
Less common wedge-shaped bollards with wide rectangular white reflectors on both the front and back are also unique to France.
Germany uses these black and white bollards, with white and light-grey reflectors. The reflector will be orange on bollards next to intersections. They sometimes have plates containing the road number, and potentially other useful information. Many bollards also feature blue attachments on the side.
NOTE: Many European countries have similar bollards, however most will have different coloured reflectors. Luxembourg uses almost identical bollards, but they have 3 bolts instead of 2 on the reflector.
Greek bollards are wedge-shaped with almost square reflectors, being red on the front and white on the back.
Hungarian bollards are black-and-white, wedge-shaped, and typically have a red reflector at the front, and a white reflector at the back. Blue reflectors are also somewhat common.
NOTE: Croatian bollards are very similar. They do, however, typically have the reflector closer to the top, and appear somewhat thinner than in Hungary.
Iceland has unique yellow bollards with a white reflector. These bollards are extremely common and can be found throughout the country on almost every section of rural road.
These green and white bollards can be a good clue for Ireland. They are not entirely unique to the country, but they are especially helpful in 50-50s with the UK.
Bollards are superficially similar to Turkish bollards, with a red reflector at the front and a white one at the back. However, unlike Turkish bollards, they are not flat but rather triangular, with a slanted top.
Italian bollards are triangular in shape, and white with a black top. They have a red front and a white rear reflector.
NOTE: Albania uses the same bollards.
Latvian bollards have a thin, slightly curved shape.ย
They have a rectangular reflector on the front, and two circular reflectors on the back. The reflectors can be white or orange. The black strip is slightly angled. Bollards often have numbers below the front reflector.
NOTE: Estonian and Lithuanian bollards look different.
Liechtenstein uses black-and-white cylindrical bollards with a white or grey reflector and a rounded top. They also often have a blue attachment on the side.ย
When attached to guardrails, they will use the wedge design instead
NOTE: Switzerland can use almost identical bollards.
Lithuanian bollards are wedge-shaped.
They have an orange reflector on the front, and a white reflector on the back. Both reflectors are rectangular. You may find this thin version as well.
NOTE: Estonian and Latvian bollards look different.
Bollards are black and white. They are wedge-shaped and have grey reflectors. Some have a distinctive indent in the lower half.
NOTE: They look more or less identical to German bollards. The most notable difference is that the reflectors on German bollards have two bolts, while in Luxembourg they have three.
The bollards of Belgium, the Netherlands and France look very different.
Madeira commonly uses small and unique stone bollards with a red reflector. They are either cuboidal or cylindrical in shape.
The most common bollard is white with a red reflector on the front and a white one on the back. The bollard also has a black top.
NOTE: These bollards are also found in Slovenia.
The Netherlands has a simple, white bollard with a red reflector.
NOTE: On rare occasions, you can find round French-style bollards with a red band and a pointed top. A difference with French bollards is that the red wrap usually does not go all the way around the bollard.
North Macedonia uses two types of bollards. One is rounded and very thin, while the other one is wedge-shaped. They both are white and have red or white reflectors, typically on a black surface.
NOTE: Croatia uses the same wedge-shaped bollard. Hungary has a similar wedge-shaped bollard but with more white space above the black rectangle.
Norway uses thin, curved rectangular bollards with the reflector inside of a black parallelogram.
Polish bollards have a red strip that wraps all the way around the bollard. This strip has a red reflector on the front (sometimes hard to see), and a white reflector on the back. Bollards sometimes have numbers on them.
NOTE: The same design can be found in Zakarpattia Oblast in Ukraine.
Portuguese bollards are either wedge-shaped with a noticeably thin white top, or flat with a wide reflector. While most reflectors will be white, you may also find orange reflectors. These are noticeably darker than the yellow reflectors in Spain.
Russia has three main types of bollards: a very thin type being attached to a stick, one with a black top section and a red vertical reflector below and a German-style bollard.
Serbia has a few bollard designs, however most of them will have an off-centred reflector. The bollards are usually flat, with no depth to them.
Slovenian bollards are white with a black top. The front reflector will typically be bright red, while the back reflector will be white.
NOTE: Austrian bollards have the same design, but with a dark red front reflector and a black or grey back reflector. Montenegrin bollards also have a very similar design, also with a red and a white reflector.
The standard Spanish bollards have a yellow-orange reflector on the front and two white dots on the back (though the back can also be blank). They are typically hollow.
NOTE: Very close to Andorra, you can find a slightly different bollard, which is also used in Andorra itself.
Swedish bollards are black-and-white, typically with a grey reflector. Reflectors by intersections are commonly orange instead. They can be either wedge-shaped, round, or thin and curved.
Swiss bollards are black-and-white with white or grey reflectors. They can be either wedge-shaped or cylindrical with a rounded top.
NOTE: Liechtenstein uses almost identical round bollards.
Turkish bollards have a simple design: rectangular, plain white, and with a red reflector on the front. They are thin when seen from the side.ย
NOTE: Romania has similar bollards. However, bollards are relatively rare in Romania.
The most common bollard in the UK looks like this. It has a rounded shape, with a red reflector on the front and a white one on the back. The base and top are black, with a white stripe in the middle.
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