Anti-Cyclist Barrier

[Jezston]

There's a similarly annoying barrier on my long commute route, and it's part of the national cycle network route 6.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&s...d=axv-Q5Ew7esa4w6c5v-JCw&cbp=12,95.59,,0,18.8
(although with the current darkness I tend to take the long way round on road!)

I believe it was installed because they had a problem with people riding dirt bikes down it.

 

[ComedyPilot]

I am anti.

I am anti-pillock.

I am against the pillock who doesn't ride a bike, or understand the possible traffic on a 'LONG DISTANCE CYCLE ROUTE', having the say over the design of gates like these.

A simple gate with a wide bottom access hole and a thinner top would let cyclists, peds, prams and tourers through, at the same time being a royal PITA to a motorbike.

 

[Mad at urage]

But .. but that's designed specifically to allow bicycles to pass unimpeded!! What on earth are cyclists moaning about? After all, bicycles are those thin things that people swallow about on, only need about six inches of room to pass and that is obviously provided between those upright posts!!! In fact there are TWO six inch gaps (count them cyclists), that's in the unlikely event of there being two of you weirdos trying to pass each other in opposite directions.







Tut! These cyclists simply don't understand route engineering!

 

[addictfreak]

I might be wrong but I thought it was part of a signposted cycle route but I can't quite make out the post on the right.

Tried zooming in but still not very clear.

 

[Davidc]

This is a wonderful example near here on a heavily used pedestrian & cycle route which cuts a mile off many journeys.

It is supposed to stop cyclists riding straight into the main road.

In practice it is impassable to a bike with panniers, wheelchairs, pushchairs and buggies, walking aids, and just about anything else with wheels.

It has been queried by the LAT, in particular with the suggestion that the two barriers be moved further apart so that wheelchairs etc. can get through, but it's a safety measure and that is the recommended layout (by whom?) .

My response is normally to ride round the road, which is further but more practical.

 

[subaqua]

I don't detect a "them and us " mentality at all here . Apparently the barriers have been put too close together to get a 'bike through without at least hind-wheeling it, and (for the OP) potentially lifting it over: That is obviously (as others have said) a miscalculation when the original intention presumably is as you say "the occasional idiot cyclist riding through at great speed and injuring a pedestrian" - or indeed riding straight out into the road without looking.

Again as others have pointed out, barriers aligned such that a bike cannot be wheeled through them are also a (impassable possibly but certainly inconvenient) barrier to push-chairs, wheelchairs and shopping trollies. Rather than "Them and us" thinking, this thread has cyclists observing how inconvenient these barriers are for all of "us" .

Hmmmm

[quote name=comedy pilot]
Would the same planners put bollards on roads to stop cars getting through?

No?

Then why do it to bikes?

Oh yes, the people making those decisions don't ride bkes

[/quote]

at first glance would suggest different.

and i can give some great examples of bollards put in to stop car drivers where they make no sense at all. Wanstead is full of them !! lovely for me to cycle through though and thats in LB of Redbridge who "hate" cyclists so much there is hardly any decent cycle provision in the borough

how can he be sure a non cyclist designed/specified/installed them , after all people do make mistakes.



as CP says later on its pillocks who don't think that cause problems for everybody. at least the OP did something positive and the council seem to have given a positive reaction

 

[byegad]

A hired angle grinder would sort that one out. However you may be contravening some laws if you do. However if it stops mobility scooters it could be worth objecting on access for all grounds.

 

[thomas]

My understand has always been that they're to stop people on bikes from riding straight out onto the road - They force you to stop.

Obviously for pretty much everyone who reads this forum, they're not needed, and just a nuisance, but there are a lot of kids on bikes who might not have the same road sense.

I maybe wrong, but that's always been my assumption.

I think that's it. You wouldn't want people shooting around the corner without looking.

 

[Arch]

A simple gate with a wide bottom access hole and a thinner top would let cyclists, peds, prams and tourers through, at the same time being a royal PITA to a motorbike.

Unless like the one at the town end of the Stamford Bridge viaduct, the gate narrows too low and you can't get handlebars through without stopping and twisting the bars and lifting the front wheel to shimmy the bike through. My teeny Catrike and children's bikes are the only things that will get through without stopping.

That one in the OP looks like a perfectly sensible and understandable, if a little annoying, precaution, that has been planned and installed by a pillock.

If it blocks a bike so surely, it'll block a wheelchair. If the council don't care about cyclists, they bloody well ought to care about wheelchair users.

 

[Bman]

Here is one near me. I hate them.

I agree they are probably placed due to some cyclists riding out into the road/over the pavement without looking/stopping.

But they get in everyones way. Even pedestrians.

I think they would solve the issue much better if they gave it a proper junction layout, with curved curbs and road markings stating give way (the broken lines you get at all junctions)

Edit: That would also give pedestians the correct impression, "it is a cycletrack, the pavement is over there".

 

[Tigerbiten]

My main moan about this type of barrier is that most are only designed with standard bikes in mind.
Once you start going non-standard, like my trike & trailer, then getting passed them gets a lot more interesting.

The worst thing is that even if you can get on a track, the first time you go down it, you'll not know untill you get to the other end if you'll get off it or not.
It's the main reason I dont uses these type of cycle tracks, but stick to the roads instead.
I got bored of having to turn around and retace my route.

Luck .............

 

[slugonabike]

Unless like the one at the town end of the Stamford Bridge viaduct, the gate narrows too low and you can't get handlebars through without stopping and twisting the bars and lifting the front wheel to shimmy the bike through.

We've got a lot of those locally, I find them a particular problem as my bars are high. One set were so close together that we had to lift my bike over - I contacted our cycling officer about that one (but haven't been able to get back and see if anything has been done about it).

 

[Norm]

Would the same planners put bollards on roads to stop cars getting through?

No?

Then why do it to bikes?

Oh yes, the people making those decisions don't ride bkes.

On the contrary, they do put plenty of things in the roads with exactly the same purpose as those barriers.

They are called, amongst other things, speed humps, pinch points, width restrictions and traffic islands.

 

[PBancroft]

My understand has always been that they're to stop people on bikes from riding straight out onto the road - They force you to stop.

Obviously for pretty much everyone who reads this forum, they're not needed, and just a nuisance, but there are a lot of kids on bikes who might not have the same road sense.

I maybe wrong, but that's always been my assumption.

That's actually a very interesting point, and something I hadn't considered before. An inconvenience for many saving the lives of a few... OK, if that's the case I can live with it. Would need to talk to a few colleagues in environment to find out if that is the intent though.

Even if this is the case I do have to wonder if this means every road junction should have a sleeping policeman on it to prevent cars from heading out into oncoming traffic...

 

[campbellab]

Will just be a poorly designed used to stop motorvehicles/scooters etc through. Get quite a few mopeds going round some of the paths Bradley Stoke at times.