Sydney Harbour Bridge Warning

[geoffs]

I was riding over the SHB yesterday after a nice ride with the Stanmore cycles group. I was out in front as we were riding single file along the path due to track work being carried out.
Anyone who has ridden over the bridge recently will have noticed the wire mesh that has been attached to each side to stop the people jumping in front of a train or off the bridge.
What you might not know is that these panels are on hinges and when morons dont secure them properly they swing open. They have a heavy steel frame that is unpleasant to hit at 30kms/hr. I thought I had broken a couple of fingers on my left hand but they are only badly bruised whith some skin missing. The direction I was going (south) meant that the panel was slammed shut when I hit it. If I had been going in the other direction though, it would most probably knocked me off the bike.
Pay extra attention when you are riding along there.

Cheers

Geoff

 

[TimC]

On 2006-09-03, geoffs (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
>
> I was riding over the SHB yesterday after a nice ride with the Stanmore
> cycles group. I was out in front as we were riding single file along
> the path due to track work being carried out.
> Anyone who has ridden over the bridge recently will have noticed the
> wire mesh that has been attached to each side to stop the people
> jumping in front of a train or off the bridge.
> What you might not know is that these panels are on hinges and when
> morons dont secure them properly they swing open. They have a heavy

Morons indeed.

> steel frame that is unpleasant to hit at 30kms/hr. I thought I had
> broken a couple of fingers on my left hand but they are only badly
> bruised whith some skin missing. The direction I was going (south)
> meant that the panel was slammed shut when I hit it. If I had been
> going in the other direction though, it would most probably knocked me
> off the bike.
> Pay extra attention when you are riding along there.

Be sure to let the council know.

How high is the mesh -- would you be hitting it with your full body,
or is there a chance you would topple over one?

--
TimC
[On being overcaffeinated...] Yes, this is possible - symptons include
the sun being too loud and grokking in full what Adams meant by
"unpleasantly like being drunk". -- Steed in ASR

 

[Donga]

TimC wrote:
> On 2006-09-03, geoffs (aka Bruce)
> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> >
> > I was riding over the SHB yesterday after a nice ride with the Stanmore
> > cycles group. I was out in front as we were riding single file along
> > the path due to track work being carried out.
> > Anyone who has ridden over the bridge recently will have noticed the
> > wire mesh that has been attached to each side to stop the people
> > jumping in front of a train or off the bridge.
> > What you might not know is that these panels are on hinges and when
> > morons dont secure them properly they swing open. They have a heavy
>
> Morons indeed.

>
> Be sure to let the council know.

You could take it up with the morons, too, though they might not be too
receptive after their jump!

Donga

 

[geoffs]

On 2006-09-03, geoffs (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
>
> I was riding over the SHB yesterday after a nice ride with the Stanmore
> cycles group. I was out in front as we were riding single file along
> the path due to track work being carried out.
> Anyone who has ridden over the bridge recently will have noticed the
> wire mesh that has been attached to each side to stop the people
> jumping in front of a train or off the bridge.
> What you might not know is that these panels are on hinges and when
> morons dont secure them properly they swing open. They have a heavy

Morons indeed.

> steel frame that is unpleasant to hit at 30kms/hr. I thought I had
> broken a couple of fingers on my left hand but they are only badly
> bruised whith some skin missing. The direction I was going (south)
> meant that the panel was slammed shut when I hit it. If I had been
> going in the other direction though, it would most probably knocked me
> off the bike.
> Pay extra attention when you are riding along there.

Be sure to let the council know.

How high is the mesh -- would you be hitting it with your full body,
or is there a chance you would topple over one?

--
TimC
[On being overcaffeinated...] Yes, this is possible - symptons include
the sun being too loud and grokking in full what Adams meant by
"unpleasantly like being drunk". -- Steed in ASR

The top of the panel was level with the top of my sti lever which was bent around by the impact. Somewhere round the 1100mm mark.

I've been searching on the net to try to find who I should send a letter of complaint to but no success so far.
Does anyone have any ideas on this?

Cheers

Geoff

 

[Artoi]

In article <[email protected]>,
geoffs <[email protected]> wrote:

> The top of the panel was level with the top of my sti lever which was
> bent around by the impact. Somewhere round the 1100mm mark.
>
> I've been searching on the net to try to find who I should send a
> letter of complaint to but no success so far.
> Does anyone have any ideas on this?

The courts?

Pls don't flame me for this US-like mentality.
--

 

[TimC]

On 2006-09-03, Artoi (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> geoffs <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> The top of the panel was level with the top of my sti lever which was
>> bent around by the impact. Somewhere round the 1100mm mark.

Seems rather stupid to me. Can't you jump over something that's waist
height?

>> I've been searching on the net to try to find who I should send a
>> letter of complaint to but no success so far.
>> Does anyone have any ideas on this?
>
> The courts?

Yeah, but who do you sue? Take it to Sydney city council, and follow
to where they pass the buck. If they claim it's the contracters
fault, remind them that they set the contract, so it's their
responsibility. They can sue the contracter in turn.

> Pls don't flame me for this US-like mentality.

It's justified IMNSHO.

--
TimC
"The Write Many, Read Never drive. For those people that don't know
their system has a /dev/null already." -- Rik Steenwinkel, singing
the praises of 8mm Exabytes

 

[Dave Hughes]

On Sun, 03 Sep 2006 11:54:05 +1000, geoffs wrote:

> I've been searching on the net to try to find who I should send a
> letter of complaint to but no success so far.
> Does anyone have any ideas on this?

The RTA has responsibility for the bridge and therefore the cycleway.

There's a complaints form online, or you could mail something to the
addresses at http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/contactus/administration.html

--
Dave Hughes | [email protected]
That's why I love VoIP. You don't get people phoning up to complain
that the network is down.- Peter Corlett, in the Monastery

 

[Zebee Johnstone]

In aus.bicycle on Sun, 3 Sep 2006 11:54:05 +1000
geoffs <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
> I've been searching on the net to try to find who I should send a
> letter of complaint to but no success so far.
> Does anyone have any ideas on this?

The Bridge is the RTA's problem. So start at their switchboard and go
from there. If you've had the bike damaged then you should take pics,
too bad you couldn't at the time, but such is life.

Zebee

 

[Artoi]

In article
<[email protected]>,
TimC <[email protected]> wrote:

> On 2006-09-03, Artoi (aka Bruce)
> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> > In article <[email protected]>,
> > geoffs <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >> The top of the panel was level with the top of my sti lever which was
> >> bent around by the impact. Somewhere round the 1100mm mark.
>
> Seems rather stupid to me. Can't you jump over something that's waist
> height?
>
> >> I've been searching on the net to try to find who I should send a
> >> letter of complaint to but no success so far.
> >> Does anyone have any ideas on this?
> >
> > The courts?
>
> Yeah, but who do you sue? Take it to Sydney city council, and follow
> to where they pass the buck. If they claim it's the contracters
> fault, remind them that they set the contract, so it's their
> responsibility. They can sue the contracter in turn.

I was half joking when I said that. It would be a tragedy if our society
keep going down the litigious way of the US. Putting that aside, those
US lawyers always seemed to be able to find someone for their target,
and typically it's the one who has the money.

> > Pls don't flame me for this US-like mentality.
>
> It's justified IMNSHO.


--

 

[TimC]

On 2006-09-03, Artoi (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> In article
> <[email protected]>,
> TimC <[email protected]> wrote:
>> On 2006-09-03, Artoi (aka Bruce)
>> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
>> > In article <[email protected]>,
>> > geoffs <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >> I've been searching on the net to try to find who I should send a
>> >> letter of complaint to but no success so far.
>> >> Does anyone have any ideas on this?
>> >
>> > The courts?
>>
>> Yeah, but who do you sue? Take it to Sydney city council, and follow
>> to where they pass the buck. If they claim it's the contracters
>> fault, remind them that they set the contract, so it's their
>> responsibility. They can sue the contracter in turn.
>
> I was half joking when I said that. It would be a tragedy if our society
> keep going down the litigious way of the US. Putting that aside, those
> US lawyers always seemed to be able to find someone for their target,
> and typically it's the one who has the money.

I disagree. We are not allowed to ride across the bridge as we should
be -- as legal road users.

They force us onto an unsafe, inadequate lane with steps at the end.
It is at least their duty not to *add* to the unsafe aspects of the
path. You shouldn't have to expect to dodge any old peice of
inadequately secured scafolding as it becomes ejected with normal
levels of wind.

By suing the contractors, even for small amounts (suing doesn't have
to be for millions of dollars -- it could just be for the cost of
repairs to the bike and any medical checkups), you force them to take
more care next time, so that they aren't the cause of further
injuries.


It's the occasions when you can sue based on your own negligence that
we have to worry about. If a reasonable person can expect that diving
into waters they haven't checked out any danger to, yet (come on, we
were taught not to jump into waters that we can't see where the bottom
is, when we were in primary school!), then they shouldn't be able to
sue the council for not putting up warning signs. But a reasonable
person does not expect a bridge to fall apart in the wind around them.

--
TimC
You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull
his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you
understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send
signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that
there is no cat. -- Albie E. on radios.

 

[Artoi]

In article
<[email protected]>,
TimC <[email protected]> wrote:

> I disagree. We are not allowed to ride across the bridge as we should
> be -- as legal road users.

Ok, so some wants to sue, others against... I dive for cover.
--

 

[geoffs]

In article
<[email protected]>,
TimC <[email protected]> wrote:

> I disagree. We are not allowed to ride across the bridge as we should
> be -- as legal road users.

Ok, so some wants to sue, others against... I dive for cover.
--

My hand is fine apart from the chunks of skin missing.
I have no intention of sueing, my concern is that someone else who didn't have my mass, would be knocked off their bike by hitting one of these panels. Even worse would be hitting it from the other direction.
The guy's who are working on the bridge would have to comply with the Work Safety Method Statement that would have been put in place to manage safety issues while they are at work. They have obviously made this pissy goat track that cyclists have to put up with a more dangerous place than it needs to be. I've sent a letter to tha address Dave provided and I have some contacts that I will ring tomorrow.

Cheers

Geoff

 

[Fractal]

"Zebee Johnstone" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In aus.bicycle on Sun, 3 Sep 2006 11:54:05 +1000
> geoffs <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>
>> I've been searching on the net to try to find who I should send a
>> letter of complaint to but no success so far.
>> Does anyone have any ideas on this?
>
> The Bridge is the RTA's problem. So start at their switchboard and go
> from there. If you've had the bike damaged then you should take pics,
> too bad you couldn't at the time, but such is life.
>
> Zebee

The high mesh fencing was put in (on one side only) last year for security
reasons- ie terrorism threat to the adjacent railway I guess- and also to
provide space for a narrow walkway on top of the old fence next to the rail
line for rail workers to access the rail line without having to walk on the
cyclepath. Some sort of OH&S thing maybe with the rail workers. It was done
without consultation with cycling groups. The RTA and State Rail just
announced we are going to narrow the cyclepath, no argument. It only narrows
the cyclepath by about 30 cm or so but seeing as cyclists can meet at about
40-50 km/h relative or more on the downhill sections any narrowing is bound
to increase risk of a head on or a handle bar clip and a fall. And now they
leave the access gates loose. I noticed some pretty nasty steel angles on
the western side of the path at about face level as well, if you did come
off, but dont complain about them or they might narrow the path even further
with another mesh fence.

fb

 

[Artoi]

In article <[email protected]>,
"Fractal" <[email protected]> wrote:

> "Zebee Johnstone" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > In aus.bicycle on Sun, 3 Sep 2006 11:54:05 +1000
> > geoffs <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> I've been searching on the net to try to find who I should send a
> >> letter of complaint to but no success so far.
> >> Does anyone have any ideas on this?
> >
> > The Bridge is the RTA's problem. So start at their switchboard and go
> > from there. If you've had the bike damaged then you should take pics,
> > too bad you couldn't at the time, but such is life.
> >
> > Zebee
>
> The high mesh fencing was put in (on one side only) last year for security
> reasons- ie terrorism threat to the adjacent railway I guess- and also to
> provide space for a narrow walkway on top of the old fence next to the rail
> line for rail workers to access the rail line without having to walk on the
> cyclepath. Some sort of OH&S thing maybe with the rail workers. It was done
> without consultation with cycling groups. The RTA and State Rail just
> announced we are going to narrow the cyclepath, no argument. It only narrows
> the cyclepath by about 30 cm or so but seeing as cyclists can meet at about
> 40-50 km/h relative or more on the downhill sections any narrowing is bound
> to increase risk of a head on or a handle bar clip and a fall. And now they
> leave the access gates loose. I noticed some pretty nasty steel angles on
> the western side of the path at about face level as well, if you did come
> off, but dont complain about them or they might narrow the path even further
> with another mesh fence.

Is there a speed limit on the bridge cycle way? Iron Cove bridge's cycle
path is probably even worse in terms of width and passing another
cyclist. Hate riding on that. One accident could land you b/n the
trusses and on the road for a meat mince...

I think there should be a railing on the Iron Cove bridge to prevent
that exact occurrence.
--

 

[Theo Bekkers]

"Artoi" wrote

> Is there a speed limit on the bridge cycle way? Iron Cove bridge's
cycle
> path is probably even worse in terms of width and passing another
> cyclist. Hate riding on that. One accident could land you b/n the
> trusses and on the road for a meat mince...
>
> I think there should be a railing on the Iron Cove bridge to prevent
> that exact occurrence.

You need a railing to protect yourself from your own stupidity?

Theo

 

[Fractal]

"Theo Bekkers" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Artoi" wrote
>
>> Is there a speed limit on the bridge cycle way? Iron Cove bridge's
> cycle
>> path is probably even worse in terms of width and passing another
>> cyclist. Hate riding on that. One accident could land you b/n the
>> trusses and on the road for a meat mince...
>>
>> I think there should be a railing on the Iron Cove bridge to prevent
>> that exact occurrence.
>
> You need a railing to protect yourself from your own stupidity?
>
> Theo
>
>
The path is so narrow I think cyclists do take it cautiously- havent heard
of any accidents there, and unless you were on a recumbent I dont think youd
go through the gap in the girders onto the road. A kid might tho, or a
pooch.. Some years ago the RTA decided it was too expensive and difficult
to fix and there were other priorities on that route - I tended to agree at
the time. Actually the road lane city bound is fairly wide, have seen a
few cyclists use the road, but it doesnt feel safe with all that steel
nearby and the fast traffic on Vic Rd.. I sometimes brave it, both ways.
Pedal like mad and die on the other side. The RTA has done a design for a
new bridge I hear, but havent got the funds so far. Maybe a few letters from
cyclists might help? What about Gladesville Bridge too, its hard to get
onto and off, particularly on the north side.

fb

 

[Artoi]

In article <[email protected]>,
"Theo Bekkers" <[email protected]> wrote:

> "Artoi" wrote
>
> > Is there a speed limit on the bridge cycle way? Iron Cove bridge's
> cycle
> > path is probably even worse in terms of width and passing another
> > cyclist. Hate riding on that. One accident could land you b/n the
> > trusses and on the road for a meat mince...
> >
> > I think there should be a railing on the Iron Cove bridge to prevent
> > that exact occurrence.
>
> You need a railing to protect yourself from your own stupidity?

No, a railing to protect all users from being bumped by others onto the
roadway!
--

 

[Artoi]

In article <[email protected]>,
"Fractal" <[email protected]> wrote:

> The path is so narrow I think cyclists do take it cautiously- havent heard
> of any accidents there, and unless you were on a recumbent I dont think youd
> go through the gap in the girders onto the road. A kid might tho, or a
> pooch.. Some years ago the RTA decided it was too expensive and difficult
> to fix and there were other priorities on that route - I tended to agree at
> the time. Actually the road lane city bound is fairly wide, have seen a
> few cyclists use the road, but it doesnt feel safe with all that steel
> nearby and the fast traffic on Vic Rd.. I sometimes brave it, both ways.
> Pedal like mad and die on the other side. The RTA has done a design for a
> new bridge I hear, but havent got the funds so far. Maybe a few letters from
> cyclists might help? What about Gladesville Bridge too, its hard to get
> onto and off, particularly on the north side.

They did spend some money and upgraded that elevated western lane not
too long ago. but I just think the pedestrian/cycle path is an accident
to happen. With the speed of vehicle driving on the left lane and the
obstructed view by the trusses, there'll be no reaction time for the car
driver when objects fly onto the roadway. The gaps are large enough and
it won't take much of a bump to go through it.

I haven't ventured onto Gladesville bridge yet, will do that at some
stage.
--