Yet another obstruction

Mike Causer said:

Here's a new variation on the theme of making life difficult for cyclists,
and this time it's in the photo gallery offered by Cycling England --

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=2&pic=184&sf=0

That is without doubt the most evil-looking (official) barrier I've
ever seen. It should to be taken down quickly, before someone is very
seriously injured. It is so bad I'm having trouble convincing myself
it's unintentional. Some kind of malicious practical joke by an
anti-cycling engineer perhaps. What other rational explanation could
there be?

Maybe it's just me. Does anyone here think I'm over-stating the case?

--
Dave...

dkahn400 said:

What other rational explanation could
there be?

Maybe it's just me. Does anyone here think I'm over-stating the case?

I must admit, it looks pretty odd. And those reflectors; they are not
indicating the narrowest points of the passage at all! Could lead to some
nasty night-time njuries.

dkahn400 said the following on 03/04/2006 14:36:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=2&pic=184&sf=0

Quoted message said:

Maybe it's just me. Does anyone here think I'm over-stating the case?

No, I don't think so. Those solid-looking projecting bits look to be
just about head height for a child on a bike, or face height for a rider
on drops.

If you go up a page to http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/gallery.php?id=2,
it shows this as an example of a "cycle friendly barrier". I assume
this is meant as sarcasm. The mind boggles!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Simon Bennett said:

dkahn400 said:

What other rational explanation could
there be?

Maybe it's just me. Does anyone here think I'm over-stating the case?

I must admit, it looks pretty odd. And those reflectors; they are not
indicating the narrowest points of the passage at all! Could lead to some
nasty night-time njuries.

I have a vision of the paddles whomping the cyclist, TombRaider stylee,
as they cycle through.

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

Paul Boyd said:

dkahn400 said the following on 03/04/2006 14:36:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=2&pic=184&sf=0

Quoted message said:

Maybe it's just me. Does anyone here think I'm over-stating the case?

No, I don't think so. Those solid-looking projecting bits look to be
just about head height for a child on a bike, or face height for a rider
on drops.

If you go up a page to http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/gallery.php?id=2,
it shows this as an example of a "cycle friendly barrier". I assume
this is meant as sarcasm. The mind boggles!

It *is* cycle friendly, just not cyclist friendly. All other barriers
hit the bike. This hits the rider.

...d

David Martin said the following on 03/04/2006 15:04:

Quoted message said:

It *is* cycle friendly, just not cyclist friendly. All other barriers
hit the bike. This hits the rider.

Doh!!! Of course that's what they mean! :-)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

On 3 Apr 2006 06:36:55 -0700, "dkahn400" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Mike Causer said:

Here's a new variation on the theme of making life difficult for cyclists,
and this time it's in the photo gallery offered by Cycling England --

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=2&pic=184&sf=0

On the cyclepath that runs down from Caerphilly to Machen there are
barriers like the ones below. The handle bars pass the angled part
and the riders body through the vertical section. They let
bikes/tandems past. The higher/wider handle bars of motorbikes can
not pass. One of my bikes is a hybrid so my handle bars are a little
higher that a mtb and a little wider than drops on a road bike. So
here I am riding down the path for the first time. Thinking what have
we here? Ok ride through with care. Come to the next one ride through
smoothly. Getting the hang of these. Ride through the next one quite
briskly. Not such a bad design these. Then I approach a pair that
have been set a little closer together or lower. Approach slowly,
clang! Very difficult to get past. I had to lift the bike over the
top.

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Mike Causer said the following on 03/04/2006 14:10:

Quoted message said:

Here's a new variation on the theme of making life difficult for cyclists,
and this time it's in the photo gallery offered by Cycling England --

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=2&pic=184&sf=0

Mike

How about this for a smart idea?
http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=9&pic=141&sf=0

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=9&pic=144&sf=0 shows
why perhaps it isn't!

I happen to know that
http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=9&pic=169&sf=30 is
definitely not a happy place to be cycling - just behind the camera cars
turn left across across both the bus lane and the cycle lane. That ped
in the red jacket most certainly should not be where he is - in fact,
how and why did he get there?

Is this all meant to reassure the general public that lots of things are
being done to make cycling safer?

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

On 3 Apr 2006 06:36:55 -0700 someone who may be "dkahn400"
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Maybe it's just me.

No it's not.

Quoted message said:

Does anyone here think I'm over-stating the case?

No. My e-mail to them concluded with, "The best thing that could
happen to that obstruction is for the locals to remove it
immediately."

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

Paul Boyd said:

Mike Causer said the following on 03/04/2006 14:10:

Quoted message said:

Here's a new variation on the theme of making life difficult for cyclists,
and this time it's in the photo gallery offered by Cycling England --

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=2&pic=184&sf=0

Mike

How about this for a smart idea?
http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=9&pic=141&sf=0

seems better than not excluding cycles from the one-way restriction.
At least it isn't a shared use pavement

Quoted message said:

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=9&pic=144&sf=0 shows
why perhaps it isn't!

Shirley shows why it is a perfectly feasible idea. I might have opted
to cycle further out to force the oncoming traffic to stop but it is
not obvious that this is not what has happened anyway. This could
cause problems for a novice cyclist

Quoted message said:

I happen to know that
http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=9&pic=169&sf=30 is
definitely not a happy place to be cycling - just behind the camera cars
turn left across across both the bus lane and the cycle lane. That ped
in the red jacket most certainly should not be where he is - in fact,
how and why did he get there?

I presume it is that ring road in bristol that goes across the end of
whatever the M32 ends up being (with the M32 behind the camera). Not
sure where the ped might be heading or /why/he ended up there but there
is not any reason why he /should/ not be there. I can imagine the road
could be intimidating to cycle on at times but from picture I would say
this wasn't one of them

Quoted message said:

Is this all meant to reassure the general public that lots of things are
being done to make cycling safer?

best wishes
james

dkahn400 said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=2&pic=184&sf=0

That is without doubt the most evil-looking (official) barrier I've
ever seen. It should to be taken down quickly, before someone is very
seriously injured. It is so bad I'm having trouble convincing myself
it's unintentional. Some kind of malicious practical joke by an
anti-cycling engineer perhaps. What other rational explanation could
there be?

Maybe it's just me. Does anyone here think I'm over-stating the case?

No. Meet that unexpectedly in the dark, when your feeble lights
illuminate only the two retroreflectors on the support posts...

R.

However, it is a nice wide lane, it doesn't have to share with buses, it has
taken road space from car traffic not pedestrians ... the real issue is how
to deal with the left turns across it.

"Paul Boyd" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

snip

Quoted message said:

I happen to know that
http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=9&pic=169&sf=30 is
definitely not a happy place to be cycling - just behind the camera cars
turn left across across both the bus lane and the cycle lane. That ped in
the red jacket most certainly should not be where he is - in fact, how and
why did he get there?

Is this all meant to reassure the general public that lots of things are
being done to make cycling safer?

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Tony Raven said:

I have a vision of the paddles whomping the cyclist, TombRaider stylee,
as they cycle through.

Actually they made me think of the old Lemmings computer game. A
blocker cyclist is needed to make all the cyclists behind him ride
round in circles until ramp-building cyclists have constructed a safe
way over the barrier. Anyone trying to ride through gets squished as
the paddles slam together.

--
Dave...

in message <[email hidden]>, Simon Bennett

(') said:

dkahn400 said:

What other rational explanation could
there be?

Maybe it's just me. Does anyone here think I'm over-stating the case?

I must admit, it looks pretty odd. And those reflectors; they are not
indicating the narrowest points of the passage at all! Could lead to
some nasty night-time njuries.

I honestly don't understand what the designers are trying to achieve?
While I agree they're dangerous, I just don't see what the point is.
What's worrying is the it looks as if Cycling England actually approve of
these.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
; ... of course nothing said here will be taken notice of by
; the W3C. The official place to be ignored is on www-style or
; www-html. -- George Lund

Mike Causer said:

Here's a new variation on the theme of making life difficult for cyclists,
and this time it's in the photo gallery offered by Cycling England --

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=2&pic=184&sf=0

Here's an example of a place where cyclists turning left do not have to stop at
lights.

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=5&pic=83&sf=0

A few more of those and the critics who say that cyclists always ignore red
lights may at last start to be silenced.

Tom Crispin said:

Here's an example of a place where cyclists turning left do not have to
stop at lights.

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=5&pic=83&sf=0

On the face of it, that Keep Left bollard applies to all traffic, even
those too wide to fit....

Mike

"Mike Causer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Here's a new variation on the theme of making life difficult for cyclists,
and this time it's in the photo gallery offered by Cycling England --

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=2&pic=184&sf=0

Mike

The photo is credited to a Gordon Maclay - who used to be the cycling
officer for Harrogate Borough Council (I think he's left).

It does look kind of awful. On the other hand, it does look wheelchair
accessible...

Peter

dkahn400 said:

Tony Raven said:

I have a vision of the paddles whomping the cyclist, TombRaider stylee,
as they cycle through.

Actually they made me think of the old Lemmings computer game. A
blocker cyclist is needed to make all the cyclists behind him ride
round in circles until ramp-building cyclists have constructed a safe
way over the barrier. Anyone trying to ride through gets squished as
the paddles slam together.

They made me think you'd get a free dose of electro-convulsive therapy
as you passed through. Also, on the caption, they appear to have made a
typographical mess of "Narrow gate".

JimP

--
Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable, let's prepare to
grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after
all. - DNA

On Mon, 03 Apr 2006 17:16:44 +0100 someone who may be Tom Crispin
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Here's an example of a place where cyclists turning left do not have to stop at
lights.

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/imageviewer.php?id=5&pic=83&sf=0

There does not appear to be a line for motorists to stop at. Are
they exempt, or is this one of the early York ASLs where there is a
separate traffic light for motorists?

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54