Don't hit these in the Westfield..

[Tubs]

Regardless of warnings, surely any system that puts people at risk and does serious damage to cars can't be a good one?  

I heard that some of those traffic calming concrete triangles you get in the middle of the road were removed in certain areas due to accidents.

This is surely much worse because you observe another vehicle driving forward without a problem and simply follow on.

A swinging barrier or some sort would have to be better than hitting what is effectively a brick wall!.

It may even be the case that you had been allowed to use those routes for years.Plus if we are honest, how often do you travel a route and remember every single sign.Near my parents place for example, on one corner the only way you can read all the signs is to pull over and stop, there are so many of the poxy things.

I honestly doubt those people were simply hoping they would "make it" over those bollards.Surely they must know they could be caught on camera anyway if that was a route they were warned not to use.

At least with this system they are only putting their own / passengers' lives / cars at risk whilst the same attitude with a standard traffic light puts the lives of other people and their cars at risk.  

One of the reasons I gave up cycling to work every day was the number of times cars ran red lights and put my life at risk.

SBC

[pistonbroke]

Serves em right as far as i can see , how can any one be so stupid .

Bollards to em all  

[Boomy]

Maybe they should make them pointed and use the same sort of pressure they use in those systems that fire out of the bottom of cars to flip them over during stunts.

I honestly can't believe that anyone thinks driving along a road that is supposed to be for buses, delivery vehicles and post etc should result in your car being smashed to bits.

They know not everyone is observant behind the wheel and are often on auto pilot etc, hence people get fined and crash day in day out.

Yet despite knowning this, they use a system like that.

What next, razor sharp exit barriers at the NCP?

[Tomcat]

I'm with you on this one Boomy - not everyone is as perfect/observant a driver as some claim to be (otherwise no insurance would pay out if you were at fault) and the penalty would seem a little dangerous! I just imagine my kids in the car and it puts a "real" perspective on it for me!

[Boomy]

One of the reasons I gave up cycling to work every day was the number of times cars ran red lights and put my life at risk.

SBC

With the greatest of respect, i can't remember the last time i saw a car etc jump a red light (well, maybe the odd car at temp road work lights), yet i have lost count the number of times i see cyclists treat lights as though they do not apply to them.

I'm sure they do so because they can simply put a foot on the ground at any time or jump off and try to appear totaly innocent if they need to.

When i used to drive to London every day, it was an almost guaranteed event.

I know if they hit a car it won't be the same as a car hitting them of course, but it's not very nice for drivers to suddenly have a cyclist appear out of nowhere.

Jumping lights obviously happens though, i have no doubt of that and your experiences at whatever sets of lights you needed to use were obviously pretty grim.

[Boomy]

I'm with you on this one Boomy - not everyone is as perfect/observant a driver as some claim to be (otherwise no insurance would pay out if you were at fault) and the penalty would seem a little dangerous! I just imagine my kids in the car and it puts a "real" perspective on it for me!

I just find it amazing that the government and councils around the country do all they can to stop us crashing, yet they are happy to watch cars get smashed up, air bags be deployed and booster seats be put to the test over a bus lane.

[Yobbo]

Did you see in the first piece of film that the airbags had deployed yet the driver got out holding his head as he had obviously hit it pretty hard. Not sure that these should have gotten past the risk assesment phase  

[Boomy]

Did you see in the first piece of film that the airbags had deployed yet the driver got out holding his head as he had obviously hit it pretty hard. Not sure that these should have gotten past the risk assesment phase  

Also, pause the clip around 1.15 seconds and look at the road ahead plus how 'open' the bollard area is.

It looks quite normal and has cars parked at the side.

All you would have to be doing is looking ahead for a possible space and watching that nobody was about to walk into the road (no barriers at all around the bollard area) and the next minute you are headbutting the sun visor.

[moomin]

QUOTE

With the greatest of respect, i can't remember the last time i saw a car etc jump a red light (well, maybe the odd car at temp road work lights), yet i have lost count the number of times i see cyclists treat lights as though they do not apply to them.

I was just about to say that. There is a hell of a lot of this, as well as a few rising bollards, in Cambridge. Loads of bikes without lights, running traffic signals, using the pavement, turning left out of junctions without stopping...  

Sure, it's not everyone. When I'm cycling I follow the rules of the road, you can still make good progress.  It's as if some people have never experienced it from behind the wheel - maybe they haven't, bl00dy students  

moomin

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

Lifes tough on the mean streets of Manchester  

[Boomy]

Reminds me of this clip!

http://www.atgaccess.com/FifthGearBollard.wmv

[pistonbroke]

What do you expect when they get knob heads like prescot in charge  

The people in the movie probably thought it was the  entrance . to thick to realise buses dont use multi story parking  

Obviously visitors from outer space  

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Reminds me of this clip!

http://www.atgaccess.com/FifthGearBollard.wmv

That test is astonishing! The forces generated in the act of stopping that truck in such a short distance are going to be astronomical.

As far as the vehicles trying to run the bollards in Manchester are concerned, well, it is Draconian, certainly, but they really must be blind or stupid not to see the warnings and the liklihood of actual injury are slight, surely. The vehicles can only be going at two or three mph because they have to follow the legitimate vehicle and that's just started away. The biggest risk is getting their mobile 'phones jammed in their ears by the impact.  

[DanB]

Yeah, how dare local government put things in the road that might damage the cars of brain-dead motorists.  Bollards - if you run into them because you're too stupid to notice they're there, your car will get damaged.  And as for lamp posts, they cause real damage if you run into one.

And what about level crossings?   The gate might come down on top of your car!  And all there is in the way of warnings is lots of signs and large flashing lights (in the same way as there are with rising bollards).  Clearly, if a driver's too dopey to notice them, it's obviously not his/her fault.

Sheesh...

[v7slr]

I'm all for them. Ignorance is no defence, particularly when the signs seem so clear. Unobservant drivers (if that's the defence) are the ones most likely to run down a pedestrian. Whose fault then?

It's also clear that the drivers are tailgating the buses to get through.

Their fault, at their cost. I hate people who always try to buck the system.

And to all those who think it's extreme that your car gets smashed up in such a circumstance, what would be your response to someone running a level crossing? The potential for disaster there is much greater. Is that the fault of the people installing the barrier, the council or the train driver?.. or just maybe the driver of the car?

Just desserts.