Bicycler wrote:Motorcycle barriers are overrated for their purpose and a nuisance to all kinds of legitimate path users. They are usually installed to prevent a problem which doesn't exist and usually not implemented well enough to prevent local youths who know the area from accessing the route on their bikes anyway.
No barriers exist which allow cycle access but prevent motorcycle access. The handlebar height ones must block most mountain and hybrid bikes if they are going to block motorcycles, because mountain and hybrid bikes basically use motorcycle handlebars (600mm wide, 22.2mm diameter). The ground-level ones must block tricycles, trailers, cargo bikes and anything with a low bottom bracket if they are going to be narrow enough to block motorcycle tyres. The slalom ones must block tagalongs, tandems, trailers and cargo bikes if they are going to be tight enough to block scrambling motorbikes.
I feel that most barriers are installed because of councillor or officer bigotry and cycle-hatred rather than in response to problems. This is shown by installation like Bicycler describes, where there is no reported abuse by motorcycles, where it's possible to access the route by motorcycle avoiding the barrier (like the slalom example above) and where the barriers are installed at junctions to distract riders at a crucial point and cause injury, rather than in the middle of the long sections where motorcyclists would surely speed along and actually be a nuisance.
Credit to my colleagues at KLWNBUG and the responsive officers at Norfolk County Council - we're starting to get these crash hazards removed officially at last
http://www.klwnbug.co.uk/2014/09/11/gre ... portunity/ - I understand that in the past, some local riders had taken to cutting them off at ground level and patching the surface. We've also had some tracks re-widened with them being dug out by a mini-digger and surface patched after badly-cut-then-decomposed-then-acted-as-a-weed-bed encroachment. It is possible to get these problems fixed if riders persist in chasing them up.
There is still a minor "GET ON THE PATH" problem, despite the "Share The Road" junk coming out of NCC Road Safety, but
it's completely independent of whether there's even a cycle path or track, let alone whether the path is up to standard. One motorist actually felt incensed enough to write to the local newspaper a while ago complaining about riders not using the cycle path over one of the river bridges - but none of the bridges have cycle paths (although I'd very much like one of them to, because it would allow the choice of avoiding two right turns both on restricted-visibility 30mph corners).
I'd like to see highway authorities required to have to choose: meet the recommended widths and curves and so on in the guidelines, or use a different "substandard cycleway" marking to highlight the dangers to rides and to illustrate to non-cyclists just how much of everyone's taxes have been wasted building rubbish or allowing once-decent stuff to decay into rubbish.