[lyledriver]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwvwmgIrEYc&eurl=

This is a really cool idea for lane control if you ask me.

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[cc_rider]

Those suckers are fast.
Feel a little sorry for the second vehicle. They took some real damage.

Thanks for the entertainment. :D

[noisebeam]

I dunno, looks possibly like a poor implementation, but I don't know how prominient and clear the signage is either.

What does this have to do with cycling advocacy anyway, or is making fun of (possibly stupid or impatient, but that is not clear) motorists cycling advocacy? This seems more like Foo to me.

Al

[lyledriver]

What does this have to do with cycling advocacy anyway
This is a really cool idea for lane control if you ask me.

Report it to a mod if you feel it needs to be moved?

[noisebeam]

Report it to a mod if you feel it needs to be moved?
I don't mind one bit actually. ;)

Also I was asking a question with an implied assumption that I was willing to be corrected about.

Al

[ghettocruiser]

Hmm. Maybe not advocacy, but there may have been some safety issues in there.

Like "always allow enough room for the car in front of you to deflect off a bollard" or something.

[genec]

Personally I feel it shows two things... the level of intelligence of some (hopefully few) motorists out there... (there is a bright flashing sign to the upper left as the motorists approach, telling them this is a special parkway for authorized vehicles only). Especially stupid is the driver of the little silver car first shown... they got out of their vehicle, examined the entire arrangement, then got back in and pulled back, awaiting an "authorized vehicle." They then tryed to sneak in off angle to get by the bollards they knew were there. (regular "rocket scientists," eh?)

Second, wouldn't you love to see this type of device at the stop line for all stop lights? No one (except cyclists... ha ha) could then run a stop light.

[noisebeam]

Personally I feel it shows two things... the level of intelligence of some (hopefully few) motorists out there... (there is a bright flashing sign to the upper left as the motorists approach, telling them this is a special parkway for authorized vehicles only). Especially stupid is the driver of the little silver car first shown... they got out of their vehicle, examined the entire arrangement, then got back in and pulled back, awaiting an "authorized vehicle." They then tryed to sneak in off angle to get by the bollards they knew were there. (regular "rocket scientists," eh?)

Second, wouldn't you love to see this type of device at the stop line for all stop lights? No one (except cyclists... ha ha) could then run a stop light.
Interesting. I watched the video twice before I posted my fist comments above and didn't put together what the first part of the video and the later had to do with each other.
I admit - I didn't see the flashing warning signs nor the bollards! Part of it is due to angle and poor video quality and part is because I was watching the red circle in the middle of the intersection (for some reason I thought it was going to move or pop up) and the car turning right. Only after Gene posted did I look again and see that this was the same bollards from a different angle. Talk about missing the gorilla on the basketball court!
Al

[fordfasterr]

The link does not seem to work for me, I usually don't have trouble with youtube, can someone re-post the entire link ?

[PsySal]

This system seems super dangerous to me. I hate it as much as anybody when drivers break traffic rules, endangering others, but that seems a bit too much like judge jury and executioner to me. Not really what we need in a civil society (and the more civil society is, the better it's going to be for everyone, particularly us cyclists...)

Also, the black SUV or minivan with the guy's family in it, well, there was also a woman with a baby-stroller about to cross who just about got smashed by him, so this guy is a triple-******* (two times for endangering others plus his biological one...)

[SamHouston]

those things are really well marked. idiot elimination at its best, great video.

[CrosseyedCrickt]

yeah, no one accidentally hits these things unless they atre blind AND stupid
bollards are an awesome implement I think, but when I was in europe last, many years ago, I don't recall them being so tall

[San Rensho]

The bollards are clearly marked and you can see that alll three cars are intentionally, closely following, the buses in order to skirt the law. Its not a case of inadvertance, or stupidity, its deliberate conduct. The guy (or woman) in the the van with the kid in it should be prosecuted for intentionally endangering the child.

[The Human Car]

Second, wouldn't you love to see this type of device at the stop line for all stop lights? No one (except cyclists... ha ha) could then run a stop light.

Funny I thought about the same thing. Another idea I thought of was on some bridge crossing that just have cars lanes they could temporarily close a lane so a cyclist can cross protected by bollards which would go back down after the cyclists got across.

[genec]

Funny I thought about the same thing. Another idea I thought of was on some bridge crossing that just have cars lanes they could temporarily close a lane so a cyclist can cross protected by bollards which would go back down after the cyclists got across.

While not using bollards, I did notice bridges and tunnels in Oregon which had cyclist activated push buttons which activated stop lights for motorists, so that the cyclist could use an entire lane unencumbered by motorists while trasitioning the bridge or tunnel. Now that is forward thinking.

[Identity Crisis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwvwmgIrEYc&eurl=

This is a really cool idea for lane control if you ask me.

Woah! You can see the air bag deploy on the second car!!! (Mercedes SUV?) Looks like some of the occupants got a bit of neck pain from that.

That's almost as fun as watching a car blow a red light (I had the green) in the snow turning left in front of me, they saw me, hit the brakes and slid right into a 2 foot concrete divider. <crunch>

[KnhoJ]

On the last one, watch the windshield ahead of the driver. Somebody wasn't wearing his seatbelt. Ouch!

[SingingSabre]

My favorite thing about the stupidity of the Merc SUV one is that the occupants probably got some nice whiplash. SUV's have no crumple zones so all the shock of a sudden, forceful stop goes right into your back and neck. Suckas!

Great video. I'd love to see them installed at lights. That'd be beautimous.

[August Spies]

Nothing in this is more priceless than the windshield wipers going off after the accident.

Seriously though, I'd be really worried about this type of thing, especially for my axles. Those things aren't just barriers, they raise, and therefore can avoid the clearance of a front bumper and any number of parts of the underbody to get shmucked. I'm guessing those accidents weren't cheap.

[Cadfael]

As regards missing them... the bloke in the first car knew they were there... that is for sure. He backed away to take up possition behind the next bus, he got what he deserved. The second car I am not so sure about, did he know they were there?

[joejack951]

Nothing in this is more priceless than the windshield wipers going off after the accident.

Seriously though, I'd be really worried about this type of thing, especially for my axles. Those things aren't just barriers, they raise, and therefore can avoid the clearance of a front bumper and any number of parts of the underbody to get shmucked. I'm guessing those accidents weren't cheap.

The axles could probably take the beating. Kiss your radiator, oil pan, a/c compressor, power steering pump, or any other low hanging component goodbye though. If you made it far enough over before they raised, those bollards would be aimed right at your gas tank. Not sure how amusing that would be. A rally car style skid plate up front would have helped these clowns but my guess is that if you are dumb to drive over a bollard like that then you wouldn't have thought to add the skid plate first.

[genec]

As regards missing them... the bloke in the first car knew they were there... that is for sure. He backed away to take up possition behind the next bus, he got what he deserved. The second car I am not so sure about, did he know they were there?

At the very beginning of the video it shows the approach to the area with the bollards... off to the upper left is a bright flashing sign to tell folks that it is a special use area.

I can't read the sign due to the quality of the video, but it flashes pretty brightly and is slightly ahead of the bollards themselves.

Here is a screen capture of the situation. You can see all this for yourself if you go to youtube.com and search for bollards... there are several videos of this.

[unkchunk]

I've seen more ninja cyclists and pedistrians at night that are more visable than those bollards and their accompanying signage. Sorry, but it's a law suit waiting to happen and could affect a cyclists worse than an automobile.

[genec]

I've seen more ninja cyclists and pedistrians at night that are more visable than those bollards and their accompanying signage. Sorry, but it's a law suit waiting to happen and could affect a cyclists worse than an automobile.

You need to check out the actual videos... that sign is bright and flashes rapidly... If you can't see it you have no business behind a wheel of a car.

Go to youtube and search for bollards... read some of the comments there too...

This video shows the approach for a bit... the flashing sign on the upper left is pretty hard to miss even in this low quality video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIqlkPhDfwM

[deathintransit]

Wow.

I love it.

[trackhub]

Funny, Thanks. I can see things like that happening in the Boston area, where resourceful Boston drivers are always looking for techniques to beat the system.

We don't have the "severe tire damage" spikes that are commonly used in the warmer climates to control traffic in parking lots. The reason is that the chambers where the spikes retract would fill up with ice and snow in the winter and freeze. The result: drivers (frequently mommy types on cell phones) routinely enter parking lots at the exits, that are clearly signed "exit only". This causes fender benders, and can totally scew up less experienced cyclists, who aren't expecting a mini-van to suddenly turn into the exit.

If they ever did start using those spikes around here, or the posts shown in that video, all hell would break loose.

[Cadfael]

At the very beginning of the video it shows the approach to the area with the bollards... off to the upper left is a bright flashing sign to tell folks that it is a special use area.

I can't read the sign due to the quality of the video, but it flashes pretty brightly and is slightly ahead of the bollards themselves.

Here is a screen capture of the situation. You can see all this for yourself if you go to youtube.com and search for bollards... there are several videos of this.
Oh absolutely the bollards were well signposted, but that does not mean the driver noticed them... we bikers know how observant drivers can be. Either way, it does not excuse him, he had a kid in the car so he should have been more carefull if he DID NOT see them... or shot at dawn if he did and STILL put his kid at risk.

I live close to Manchester where these are used, and I can tell you just how daft the drivers can be there, they very often run Pelican Crossings just to save a few seconds. Pelicans are pedestrian crossing, so you can imagine the fun that can cause.

[sgtsmile]

My favorite thing about the stupidity of the Merc SUV one is that the occupants probably got some nice whiplash. SUV's have no crumple zones so all the shock of a sudden, forceful stop goes right into your back and neck. Suckas!

Great video. I'd love to see them installed at lights. That'd be beautimous.


Wrong, they have crumple zones. The days of the ladder frame truck suv IN THIS CLASS are long gone. Some American ones still work like that I believe, but not a Mercedes.

[Wogsterca]

Wrong, they have crumple zones. The days of the ladder frame truck suv IN THIS CLASS are long gone. Some American ones still work like that I believe, but not a Mercedes.

In this kind of collision though, crumple zones, present or not, make very little difference, you have the bollard rising from beneath, so whatever that bollard makes contact with, underneath, causes the vehicle to stop. In most cases this will probably be a frame member or cross brace, if your lucky, it's a cross brace that can be replaced, if it's a frame member, it would write the vehicle off.

[sgtsmile]

In this kind of collision though, crumple zones, present or not, make very little difference, you have the bollard rising from beneath, so whatever that bollard makes contact with, underneath, causes the vehicle to stop. In most cases this will probably be a frame member or cross brace, if your lucky, it's a cross brace that can be replaced, if it's a frame member, it would write the vehicle off.

I am aware of that:) I was, however, correcting a misconception that a SUV has no crumple zones and therefore has no ability to soak up energy in a crash.

[mlts22]

I like the idea of retractable bollards. Near where I live, there is a one-way street near an elementary school, where people go the wrong way on it on purpose because its a shortcut, even when there are kids letting out. I know people who live on that street who get hit head-on, and invariably, the offending driver tries to drive off and risk a hit/run charge than deal with being "caught" going the wrong way on a street with obvious "do not enter" signs. I don't know about traffic, but having a metal detector which retracts the bollards when traffic going the right way approaches an intersection would save hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, and perhaps lives. Obviously, emergency vehicles would have some RFID transmitter to lower these when in range.

I'd like to see retractable bollards deployed in more places. They are simple, allow pedestrian and bicycle traffic through unimpeded, and stop the morons cold.

[unkchunk]

You need to check out the actual videos... that sign is bright and flashes rapidly... If you can't see it you have no business behind a wheel of a car.

Sorry dude, but I ride a bike. And one of those things has the potential of hurting a bike rider more than any car driver. And if I was behind a big bus I couldn't very well see any flashing signs on the other side of that big bus could I? If you can't understand that... maybe you should post in the Advocacy & Safety forum.

[unkchunk]

I'd like to see retractable bollards deployed in more places.

Yeah, like in your neighboorhood. So one day you can be riding behind a bus and have a bollard pop up in front of you and immediately get face planted into the pavement. I read all these "I like the idea" posts and seriously question if you all even ride bikes.

[Cadfael]

Yeah, like in your neighboorhood. So one day you can be riding behind a bus and have a bollard pop up in front of you and immediately get face planted into the pavement. I read all these "I like the idea" posts and seriously question if you all even ride bikes.

What you are seeing in that video is only one of the many warning signs, there is also one across the road. There are also warning signs further down the road, the large red circle in the road is also a warning and a cue to make a turn to avoid the bollards.. whilst I agree like a driver a cyclist 'could' miss the warnings, this is still a case of not being observant... and that is important whatever you are doing, either walking, cycling or driving.

Speaking for myself, I would never be so close to the back of a bus that that I would not have time to react to his stops, or to make him obstruct my view of the road immediately in front of me. But that is me... I was in London last week and I was totally amazed at some commuting cyclist just how close they came to traffic... but they did seem to know what they were doing.

[unkchunk]

Ahh, you all are sidewalk riders.

[genec]

Sorry dude, but I ride a bike. And one of those things has the potential of hurting a bike rider more than any car driver. And if I was behind a big bus I couldn't very well see any flashing signs on the other side of that big bus could I? If you can't understand that... maybe you should post in the Advocacy & Safety forum.

Personally I avoid being that close to motor vehicles, as I don't enjoy their exhaust fumes.

But if you want to ride blindly behind a bus, I am sure bollards won't be your only surprise.

[Feldman]

Great! But then, I like anything that disregards the rights and limits the freedom of motorists.

[genec]

Great! But then, I like anything that disregards the rights and limits the freedom of motorists.

Uh, what "rights and freedoms," I don't recall any constitutional or other "rights" being granted to users of motor vehicles... in fact I do recall driving being considered a "privilege" not a right. A privilege that in fact requires a license... unlike typical "rights."