cycle barriers

[Andrew Chadwick]

On Thu, 3 Apr 2003 21:44:03 +0100, Danny Colyer <[email protected]> wrote:
> Most of the ones along the Bristol-Bath cyclepath were removed or modified about 16 months ago,
> but there are still plenty round here. Last weekend I started work on a web page devoted to dodgy
> cycle facilities, and I noticed that these barriers seem to be the main feature:
> http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/cycling/farcilities.html

This, and other sites like it are very wonderful things. I wonder if it'd be worth somebody putting
up a site collecting photo submissions from around the country.

There must be no shortage of daft cycling provisions in the country as a whole; there's demonstrably
no shortage in Oxford, at least. On Monday, I borrowed the work camera, and was able to snap the
mess outside the entrance to the Oxford University Science site:
http://swift.piffle.org/cycling/imped/

--
Andrew Chadwick <Secure beneath the watchful eyes

 

[Tony Raven]

Andrew Chadwick <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> There must be no shortage of daft cycling provisions in the country as a whole; there's
> demonstrably no shortage in Oxford, at least. On Monday, I borrowed the work camera, and was able
> to snap the mess outside the entrance to the Oxford University Science site:
> http://swift.piffle.org/cycling/imped/

What's the reasoning behind the mosaic-ed out cyclist?

FWIW it looks like standard Sustrans fare on the short bit of NCN1 I did the other day. Gave up
after a mile of threading myself through similar impediments and went back to the A road.

Tony
--
http://www.raven-family.com

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to
adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George
Bernard Shaw

 

[Danny Colyer]

Andrew Chadwick wrote:
> > http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/cycling/farcilities.html
>
> This, and other sites like it are very wonderful things.

Aw, thanks. I think the Glasgow site was one of the first (and very good it was too). Sadly Stewart
Russell, who created it, has emigrated to Canada and the site no longer exists. Of all the sites
that I've linked to, Warrington Cycle Campaign Facility of the Month has to be my favourite.

> I borrowed the work camera, and was able to snap the mess outside the entrance to the Oxford
> University Science site: http://swift.piffle.org/cycling/imped/

At least the barriers have got reflective tape, and I reckon they might just be high enough to get
my bent under. They still shouldn't be there though.

--
Danny Colyer (remove safety to reply) ( http://www.juggler.net/danny ) Recumbent cycle page:
http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/recumbents/ "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." -
Thomas Paine

 

[Andrew Chadwick]

On Thu, 17 Apr 2003 22:26:06 +0100, Tony Raven <[email protected]> wrote:
> Andrew Chadwick <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> There must be no shortage of daft cycling provisions in the country as a whole; there's
>> demonstrably no shortage in Oxford, at least. On Monday, I borrowed the work camera, and was able
>> to snap the mess outside the entrance to the Oxford University Science site:
>> http://swift.piffle.org/cycling/imped/
>
> What's the reasoning behind the mosaic-ed out cyclist?

The chap was just passing by, and decided to look at the camera t the instant I took the first
photo. He didn't ask to be in the photo, though when I pointed, grinned and explained wahat I was up
to, he didn't seem overly bothered. I got to play with the pixellate and feather tools in The GIMP.

Unfortunately I accidentally took the other two (rather better ones, after he'd wandered off) on
some kind of time-lapse setting and was unable to extract them to a proper computer. bugger.

> FWIW it looks like standard Sustrans fare on the short bit of NCN1 I did the other day. Gave up
> after a mile of threading myself through similar impediments and went back to the A road.

Yes. NCN5 (I think), from Oxford to Abingdon, has cattle grids, gates, and bizarre undulations
somewhat wider from trough-to-trough than the wheelbase of an average upright bike that make
progress an interesting experience.

--
Andrew Chadwick <Secure beneath the watchful eyes

 

[Andrew Chadwick]

On Thu, 17 Apr 2003 22:32:36 +0100, Danny Colyer <[email protected]> wrote:
> Andrew Chadwick wrote:
>> > http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/cycling/farcilities.html
>>
>> This, and other sites like it are very wonderful things.
>
> Aw, thanks. I think the Glasgow site was one of the first (and very good it was too). Sadly
> Stewart Russell, who created it, has emigrated to Canada and the site no longer exists. Of all the
> sites that I've linked to, Warrington Cycle Campaign Facility of the Month has to be my favourite.

Ah yes. I remember that one, had wondered where my link had got to. Duly bookmarked; cheers!

>> I borrowed the work camera, and was able to snap the mess outside the entrance to the Oxford
>> University Science site: http://swift.piffle.org/cycling/imped/
>
> At least the barriers have got reflective tape, and I reckon they might just be high enough to get
> my bent under. They still shouldn't be there though.

You might be able to -duck- under them on a small-framed bike without very upright bars. This
wouldn't put you in a great position for dealing with the junction, though.

It may not be clear from the photo, but the things are staggered, and theoretically have a clear
passage for cyclists. If you're prepared to, or able to ride in a path approaching a "Z"-shape, that
is. Twice. Good luck doing that on a 'bent, or indeed anything longer than a unicycle.

--
Andrew Chadwick <Secure beneath the watchful eyes

 

[Robert Goodman]

"Andrew Chadwick" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> There must be no shortage of daft cycling provisions in the country as
a
> whole; there's demonstrably no shortage in Oxford, at least. On
Monday,
> I borrowed the work camera, and was able to snap the mess outside the entrance to the Oxford
> University Science site: http://swift.piffle.org/cycling/imped/

I'm having trouble figuring this out and would've appreciated another photo with a view
perpendicular to that one. Is that a bldg. entrance to our right? Or a narrow passage between
bldgs.? I mean, are those barriers to keep cyclists from knocking down unsuspecting pedestrians
emerging from a bldg. or from a narrow passage such that neither could see the other?

Or -- horrors -- is this structure actually supposed somehow to be of HELP to cyclists?

Robert

 

[Dave Kahn]

"Robert Goodman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...

> I'm having trouble figuring this out and would've appreciated another photo with a view
> perpendicular to that one. Is that a bldg. entrance to our right? Or a narrow passage between
> bldgs.? I mean, are those barriers to keep cyclists from knocking down unsuspecting pedestrians
> emerging from a bldg. or from a narrow passage such that neither could see the other?
>
> Or -- horrors -- is this structure actually supposed somehow to be of HELP to cyclists?

Along with the despair comes a little joy. This lies in trying to fathom the reasoning behind these
atrocities. It looks as if these barriers were put up to protect motor traffic entering and leaving
the site from the inconvenience of having to watch out for cyclists. Conversely it may have been to
protect cyclists from the motor traffic, or maybe a bit of both. It's reasonable to assume there had
been problems with conflicts between the 2 streams of traffic at this junction, which serves to
illustrate just how dangerous cycle paths can be when they cross a road behind the give way lines.

To avoid both the conflicts and the barriers the answer, of course, is simply to stay on the road.

--
Dave...

 

[Daniel Auger]

On Thu, 17 Apr 2003, Andrew Chadwick wrote:

> There must be no shortage of daft cycling provisions in the country as a whole; there's
> demonstrably no shortage in Oxford, at least. On Monday, I borrowed the work camera, and was able
> to snap the mess outside the entrance to the Oxford University Science site:
> http://swift.piffle.org/cycling/imped/

Not knowing Oxford that well, is the beautiful building to the left Keble?

--
Daniel Auger - [email protected] (Please remove Granta to get a valid address.)

 

[Dr]

"Andrew Chadwick" <[email protected]> wrote
> Danny Colyer <[email protected]> wrote:

> > Most of the ones along the Bristol-Bath cyclepath were removed or modified about 16 months ago,
> > but there are still plenty round here. Last weekend I started work on a web page devoted to
> > dodgy cycle facilities, and I noticed that these barriers seem to be the main feature:
> > http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/cycling/farcilities.html
>
> This, and other sites like it are very wonderful things. I wonder if it'd be worth somebody
> putting up a site collecting photo submissions from around the country.

This might be one candidate.

http://www.17beechroad.freeserve.co.uk/WarringtonCycleCampaign/index.htm

David Roberts

 

[Andrew Chadwick]

On Fri, 18 Apr 2003 19:24:10 +0100, Daniel Auger <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Thu, 17 Apr 2003, Andrew Chadwick wrote:
>> I borrowed the work camera, and was able to snap the mess outside the entrance to the Oxford
>> University Science site: http://swift.piffle.org/cycling/imped/
>
> Not knowing Oxford that well, is the beautiful building to the left Keble?

It is: <http://tinyurl.com/9tpi>, <http://tinyurl.com/9tpx>. The major road is Parks Road, the minor
road to the right is Sherrington Road inside the Science Area <http://tinyurl.com/9tqg>.

--
Andrew Chadwick <Secure beneath the watchful eyes

 

[J-P.S]

On Thu, 17 Apr 2003 22:20:14 +0100, Andrew Chadwick scrawled: ) I borrowed the work camera, and was
able to snap the mess outside the ) entrance to the Oxford University Science site: )
http://swift.piffle.org/cycling/imped/

Ah! Finally, somewhere to point to when discussing this patronizing, hastily-assembled
ridiculousness of a climbing frame. I was going to blag someone´s digital camera to take photos of
the very same place.

J-P
--
"A knife is the mooo nei-igh-igh, the most woof, the most Buzz Lightyear of all of synecdoche. [...]
the quack is a universal means of in the red corner all moooo, and the path of metonymy synonymy
lies along the discourse of a knife -- the ouh-ouh-ouh of the mind without hee-haw." - Yevgeny
Quackquack