After reading the article and the comments, I noticed there weren't statistics backing up either the article or many of the comments. In one of the comments the author of the article states their proposed solution would to put two bollards on each corner at an intersection. Considering the unkind descriptions of engineers abilities, I hoped their argument would be well thought out. You can judge for yourself.

https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/road-users/pedestr...

According to this webpage in 2021 there were 7522 pedestrian deaths on public roads.

The first statistic to standout was only 23.6% or about 1775 actually occur at an intersection.

The next statistic I found interesting was that only 18.63% of fatalities occur during the daytime. This strongly suggests the issue is visibility and not drivers cutting corners or plowing into corners.

Alcohol was involved in 43% of accidents and 24% of that the pedestrian was the only one drunk.

From my very short look at statistics, I believe bollards would have almost no effect on pedestrian safety. It's pretty easy to realize that it is people that are in the street already and aren't being seen. There isn't an epidemic of cars on sidewalks.