ukdodger wrote:Am I just lucky or have all of the barriers I've been through not been those you've been through. I mean how hard is it to get a bike past one. Or is it that what you're really saying is that anything at all that gets in your way is all wrong and shouldnt be allowed.
No, that's not what I'm saying, although if we want to encourage cycling, it probably shouldn't be made more dangerous than necessary.
Have you really never been through any barriers like the pictures posted above? Or these evil things which I was just writing about:
How hard are they? Well, I think the narrowest gap at handlebar height I've measured is 620mm - if any are accidentally left slightly wider at 675mm, then even a Honda Goldwing can get through! If the barriers are set to DfT's recommended width (1.2m in LTN2/08 - the more recent LTN1/12 flatly discourages them) or Sustrans's (1.5m in their latest guide), then most motorcycles wouldn't even need to stop. So, one more time, how can any of these barriers logically ever stop motorcycle access?
Anyway, the most common width of bike flat handlebars is 600mm. Not much scope for wobbling and still fitting through a 620mm gap, but I think you'd make it 99 times out of 100... but if these are on your commuting route, 50 weeks working 5 days, 99% success would mean 5 crashes a year, assuming you don't injure yourself or damage the bike too badly to ride. What would happen if roads were designed so typical driving commuters will each suffer 5 car crashes a year?