I do wonder if some flashing light or sign could operate to warn of them rising?
There are red and green lights showing when the bollards are going up and down and when it is safe to continue. In addition, in order to have got as far as the bollards, the driver will have driven past / ignored / failed to see signs not too dis-similar to these.....(there are a few more but these are the nearest)
There are red and green lights showing when the bollards are going up and down and when it is safe to continue. In addition, in order to have got as for as the bollards, the driver will have driven past / ignored / failed to see signs not too dis-similar to these.....(there are a few more but these are the nearest)
Thanks for the pics, but static signs are not what I am on about and some of the signs you show make no mention of rising bollards. Any pics of flashing signs/lights to warn of imminent rising? Thanks.
...but static signs are not what I am on about and some of the signs you show make no mention of rising bollards. Any pics of flashing signs/lights to warn of imminent rising? Thanks.
Let's be realistic. At the moment people that drive into the bollards blame all kind of things, including not seeing the signs. If you install flashing lights people will still try to run them (just watch the youtube videos of people running red lights at rail crossings), and they'll just blame something else. Indeed, when the bollards were installed people blamed the signage. The signage was changed, but people still blamed the signage.
Of course, it could just be that they're not from around here, and that absolves them of responsibility when it comes to road signs that they are obliged to follow in any other part of the country.
Let's be realistic. At the moment people that drive into the bollards blame all kind of things, including not seeing the signs. If you install flashing lights people will still try to run them
Of course, it could just be that they're not from around here, and that absolves them of responsibility when it comes to road signs that they are obliged to follow in any other part of the country.
I hope that you never make an error in a strange part of the country. Me, I used to drive 40,000 miles a year, but I remember two errors. Going the wrong way down a one way street in London and driving in a buses only zone in Cardiff. None of us is perfect.
Me, I used to drive 40,000 miles a year, but I remember two errors. Going the wrong way down a one way street in London and driving in a buses only zone in Cardiff. None of us is perfect.
Yep, I have made the one-way street error before. Entirely my own fault. The signage was there. What I didn't do afterwards was complain that the signs were inadeqaute/too high/too low/not lit up and flashing. At the time my job was to travel to customer sites from Oxford to most places on the south coast. Most of the time this was to places unfamiliar to me. That didn't give me an excuse not to obey the road signs in those places I went to.
And that's my beef with the "out of town" defence. It's not that much of a defence considering that the same signs could be found anywhere in the country and would still require you to obey them.
The majority of the time though, I'm convinced the "hits" we get at the bollards are people trying their luck. In exactly the same way that people do with rail crossings, and in exactly the same way that people do every day at regular traffic lights by running red lights. But, as I've said before, the easy way to tell is to plant a CCTV camera on the bollards and watch what happens.
I think what you say it true, but I also think that it is unlikely that anyone does chance the bollards knowing they will become unstuck. My view is, most people don't notice the signage, but when they do, they get confused as to what to do and precede in the hope the bollards will not start to rise when they move forward. The signage is plentiful, indeed, maybe too plentiful, but it is also rather ambiguous to the unfamiliar. Signage with nothing but No Entry, or One Way street, is unambiguous, but a speed limit sign on a street that you are not meant to use does give a mixed message the first time you see it, and only for a second or so at most.
Yep, I have made the one-way street error before. Entirely my own fault. The signage was there. What I didn't do afterwards was complain that the signs were inadeqaute/too high/too low/not lit up and flashing.
You didn't end up with your car smashed to %$%& either though did you?
Signage with nothing but No Entry, or One Way street, is unambiguous, but a speed limit sign on a street that you are not meant to use does give a mixed message the first time you see it, and only for a second or so at most.
The speed limit could easily be extended to the end of Wharf Street (junction with Wharf Road) which would move the signs and reduce the confusion at the bollards.
Watched a car come up Bartholomew Street from Clocktower end. About 1.00 on Friday. The road was really busy as the kids had broken up. There were no buses or other vehicles, so he must have gone on the wrong side of the road to get past the bollards. He then crossed the bridge on a red light. A police van then made him turn around and go back. Wrong side of the road, driving in a pedestrian area, driving through red lights. Cannot think of any excuse you can make for him. Didn't see the massive signs or an out of towner doesn't really wash.
You didn't end up with your car smashed to %$%& either though did you?
Nope, but had there have been a car coming the other way it may have been a different story, and I still wouldn't have been able to blame anyone other than myself. If that had happened should I have blamed the relevent council like people do here?
As I understand it, the bollards are there to stop cars from entering the pedestrian zone. While I am sure that some people find themselves up against the bollards unintentionally (ie they took a wrong turn but decided to try and carry on through), there will be others (the majority in my opinion) that think that they can get through before the bollards rise, because they either want to be able to drive right into town, or cut through it, or any other number of selfish reasons. It's these people who only give a toss about themselves that are the danger to others, and these are the people that need to be physically prevented from driving through town.
If there were fixed penalty system in place then that would save the cars of those who claim to have not seen the signs or arrived there unintentionally, but it would also mean that people who try to "jump" the bollards because they want to drive through town would be able to do so and only pick up a FPN for their trouble. Many of those people, I'm sure, wouldn't give a toss about a £30 fine. If it were a fine and points on licence scenario then that might be more of a deterrent, but again, it's a retrospective action and does nothing to protect those people using the pedestrian area at that time which is surely the primary task for the bollards in the first place.
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