Did you ever crash into a gas meter?

I performed an inspection in Nesconset, NY yesterday, and the house had a damaged gas meter on the side of the house. It looed as if a car crashed into the meter, but the seller did not bother to call the gas company. Apparently, when the driveway was installed along the side of the house, no one though to install bollards in front of the gas meter.

Bollards are those large steel pipes (usually painted yellow and filled with concrete) you see at the strip malls protecting the gas meters so cars, if someone looses control of one, cannot crash into these meters. My mother crashed into a Blokckbuster video 2 years ago, so these things do happen.

Any gas meter in a driveway, or heating equipment in garages, should have these steel bollards in front of them to avoid serious and expensive damage, and sometimes gas explosions.