Protection against attacks with the use of vehicles

• Author: Vasilis Karlos - Martin Larcher
• Pages: 56-70

56

4!Protection against attacks with the use of vehicles

4.1!General

Terrorist attacks and other malicious acts often target critical infrastructures and public spaces which are

characterized by limited protection measures. A tendency has recently appeared to target these unprotected

places by means of ramming vehicles that are either deliberately driven at high speed against the public to

maximize human casualties or are used for transporting an improvised explosive device (IED) close to a facility.

An effective physical perimeter protection strategy of a site aims to minimize the threat of unauthorized vehicle

access and set a minimum stand-off distance between the asset to be protected and its perimeter.

Over the last decades, various physical protection measures against unauthorised vehicle access have been

developed and applied in public spaces, around buildings and critical infrastructures. Nevertheless, these

measures have not always been selected based on a structured approach, designed to take into consideration

the unique characteristics of each potential target, but largely depend on practices adopted by the local

authorities and the availability of specific solutions. Clearly, traffic rules do not apply to drivers with malevolent

intentions, so there is a growing need for designing and implementing an approach that supports the selection

of simple, tailor-made and effective perimeter protection measures. This selection procedure can be used by

premise owners, building designers, security officials, technical experts or other interested professionals. The

proposed framework is graphically demonstrated in Fig. 31.

Figure 31. Selection approach for anti-ramming vehicle barrier selection.

For the purposes of this document, vehicle barriers are devices or other structural obstacles that allow the

controlled access of vehicles to an area designated as protected. These barriers should be specifically designed

and c apable of stopping an ill-intentioned vehicle that attempts to breach the security perimeter. A proper

layout of barriers may also be adopted that aims at reducing the speed of threat vehicles to render them

incapable of provoking victims and destruction. They are placed across roadways and passages and can be

active or passive, permanent or temporary and come under various technical and commercial names as bollards,

wedge barriers, beam barriers, concrete Jersey barriers, ha-ha barriers etc. Moreover, they can even take the

form of concrete sitting benches, flower planters, artistic elements, sculptures etc.

The material that is presented in the current document focuses on vehicle barriers that are mainly utilized for

security and not safety purposes. The distinction between the two categories is a challenging task as they both

share many common characteristics and they can satisfy different protection needs. Safety barriers are used

for preventing and/or mitigating the results of an accident (errant vehicle) that can result in life loss, injuries or

environmental destruction. On the other hand, vehi cle secur ity barr iers are adopted f or creati ng a phys ical

obstacle against unauthorized entry and other form of relevant attacks, aiming at protecting human life and

damage of property.

In light of the rising debate on effective solutions that could reduce and/or mitigate the risk from a vehicle-

ramming attack and protection against vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED), the current guidance

highlights the steps that should be followed towards the design and selection of appropriate tailor-made

physical security barriers. In this chapter only the part concerning the site survey and the available protection

measures is presented, as the risk asses sment process has already been presented in Chapter 2.

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Recent attacks

Modus operandi

Propaganda

magazines etc.

Attack routes

Site geometry

Vulnerabilities etc.

Vehicle size

Vehicle speed

Road geometry etc.

Bollards

Fences

Security by

design etc.