Nevermind the bollards

[Vorpal]

A fun look at visibility...
https://waronthemotorist.wordpress.com/ ... the-roads/

[meic]

My first on road motorcycle crash was hitting one of those bollards, yes I had seen it and knew it was there.

[Bmblbzzz]

TBF a lot of those are victims of drunken sprees rather than motorists. And none of them are actually fluorescent, though many of them are fluorescently illuminated. None of which should undermine the visibility vs conspicuity vs taking-any-notice message.

[mjr]

TBF a lot of those are victims of drunken sprees rather than motorists.

That's a frequent claim but there's often not much evidence for it - drunks don't usually leave paint and rubber on bollards or have enough force to uproot bolts and paving slabs as shown in many of the examples. Even where a drunk may have delivered a coup de grâce, there are the marks of previous motorist abuses visible. Blaming drunk revellers seems like a last-ditch attempt to avoid attributing the costs of damage to motoring.

[Cyril Haearn]

Maybe both explanations are right

[Tigerbiten]

As I was cycling along a perfectly straight bit road on my bent trike-trailer rig towards a gap between the curb and a traffic island.
I heard a car from behind which didn't sound like was slowing down, so I expected it to go the wrong side of the traffic island.
WRONG.
The car didn't go the wrong side of the island, it went straight over it instead ........

RIP two bollards ........

The plastic from them doesn't half fly around when hit by a car doing around 30 mph.

[Cyril Haearn]

They are flimsy just like the posts carrying signs so not much happens if motons hit them

Might be better and cheaper to use some sturdy boulders

[meic]

Might be better and cheaper to use some sturdy boulders

Hospital bills, lifelong disability benefits and care are not cheap. Taxpayer pays either way.

[mjr]

Might be better and cheaper to use some sturdy boulders

Hospital bills, lifelong disability benefits and care are not cheap. Taxpayer pays either way.

So say the motorist's insurer pays if they're considered liable and have comprehensive insurance, otherwise the motorist pays? Yes, comprehensive premiums will go up, but shouldn't the costs of motoring reflect its, well, costs, instead of all the non-motorists paying for any mistakes we make?

[Mick F]

As pedestrians, we seem to be plagued with bollards at groin height.
Walk through the town in company with loads of shoppers/revellers/crowds etc, and you can't see these 3ft high stainless steel posts or black cast iron ones until they hit you in the delicate parts.

Here's one, just up from Plymouth North Road Station.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.37622 ... 312!8i6656

Here's another, at a pedestrian crossing.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.36975 ... 312!8i6656

[rjb]

During the miners strike the pickets used to build a snowman to while away the time. Every morning a police car would demolish it on purpose. Until they built one around a concrete bollard.

[meic]

Might be better and cheaper to use some sturdy boulders

Hospital bills, lifelong disability benefits and care are not cheap. Taxpayer pays either way.

So say the motorist's insurer pays if they're considered liable and have comprehensive insurance, otherwise the motorist pays? Yes, comprehensive premiums will go up, but shouldn't the costs of motoring reflect its, well, costs, instead of all the non-motorists paying for any mistakes we make?

But "we" have already paid all of our accident insurance, through taxation (mostly NI contributions).

If it is injury to oneself, that is the reason for withdrawing paid for rights, there are far better groups to target than those through misadventure like those who take drugs, drink and dont care for their bodies. As a society we have decided to pay for all citizens' health care. There needs to be a higher bar to exclude one group of society and as they constitute a significantly large proportion of voters, there is no chance of making an exception of them.

[Tigerbiten]

If you think bollards are bad, try the 11'8" bridge -> http://11foot8.com/
There's a main railway line above and main sewers below, so they cannot raise the bridge without spending silly money.
There have been 124 trucks recorded hitting the bridge.

[thirdcrank]

The use of collapsible bollards to protect so-called "pedestrian refuges" seems to me to be a pretty clear sign of the misguided priorities of highwaymen.

[Si]

End of my road, at the traffic lights, not only have they replaced the bollards with spring loaded ones, theyve even made the ped refuge top the same height as the road surface...removed the kerbs etc. To me it seems a sad admission that they've given up trying to get people to drive properly and are just trying to reduce the cost of repairing the 'inevitable' damage.