Accident prone: [Dutch] Cyclists want rid of posts in bike lanes

Interesting article, thanks for posting.

Pic they've used to illustrate it does appear to show one of the situations in which a bollard may be justified though - stopping motorists from using it as a rat run.

On the trail sections of our group rides, we're constantly having to call out "post" so someone doesn't hit one. On the other hand, we don't really want cars on the trail.

A friend of mine hit the one you can see here on the adjacent trail. He went off into the wood and was very banged up, with huge cuts on his shin that took weeks to heal.

https://goo.gl/maps/qx9fGqZ73k5dGqQ96

There are quite a few on our routes locally which are a bit of a worry. As they are either tarmac grey metal or faded grey wood - which is also remarkably similar in colour to tarmac, the visibility is always a worry.

Mind you the local posts separating the cars from the madatory bike lane on our local Warwick Road are supposed to be reflective, but they've been driven over so many times they are now invisible in the dark - and so get driven over even more. 

It's a very good idea.  I believe that their standards have been advising doing this for a while now.

In the UK many of the "protective" posts are one or more of:

• Pointless - because motorists are extremely unlikely pass that point / can get round them anyway / the main danger is from motorcycles of some kind (e.g. unlicenced or even stolen ones).
• Inconvenient - obviously but some mean you have to slow / weave round them.
• Dangerous - they're obstacles in the path.  Some installers go further by putting them in particularly unhelpful places.
• Illegal - by restricting access to people using mobility vehicles of various kinds.

However ... this may be one of those things where we can't immediately get to best practice (NL) from where we are.  (Example - Utrecht has now removed cycle tracks in some places because cycling volumes were so high it made sense to convert the entire street into a cycle street).  Motoring may have to become less dominant and/or cycling a LOT more popular and accepted first.