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news
Broken bike (CC licensed image by garryknight, www.flickr.com)“Hostile” bollards on pop-up bike lane caused Edinburgh cyclist to crash
The base of a bollard described as “hostile” by a cycling campaigner in Edinburgh led to a cyclist needing surgery for a broken elbow after he crashed on a pop-up cycle lane in the Scottish capital.
Dean Loughton, aged 32, had swerved to avoid a pothole before hitting the base of a bollard on the emergency bike lane on Pennywell Road in the north west of the city on Monday evening, reports Edinburgh News.
Motorist Imran Hussain, who had moved out to give space to Mr Loughton before he came off his bike, told the newspaper that the consequences could have been much worse had there been a larger vehicle behind the cyclist.
Mr Loughton, aged 32, said he failed to see the base of the bollard due to snow and poor visibility.
“They are meant to be there for the safety of the cyclist but these things are outrageously dangerous,” he said.
“If they were luminous yellow it would be better but they are black and it’s really hard to see them at night.”
Councillor Lesley Macinnes, transport convener at Edinburgh City Council, said: “Since introducing our Spaces for People programme in May we’ve planned or delivered 39km of segregated cycle lanes across the city, providing safe, protected routes for people making essential journeys.
“Our ambitious approach has been welcomed by many people taking up cycling from the first time, families and more seasoned cyclists alike.
“Of course, our sympathies are with Mr Loughton and we wish him a speedy recovery. The type of cycle lane defenders we’re using, which include reflective strips for night time visibility, are industry standard for these kinds of interventions, and allow us to make such changes on a temporary basis.
“However, we’re always looking for feedback on these measures, and we’d encourage Mr Loughton to get in touch.”
Professor Chris Oliver, a retired orthopaedic surgeon at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and who is a member of the Lothian cycling campaign group Spokes, said: “The bases of the bollards are hostile to bicycle wheels if you collide with them at the wrong angle.
“The bollard bases should have a smooth confluent base with the roads surface to reduce the risk of throwing a cyclist off and causing a crash.
“Elbow fractures can be a nasty fractures and may lead to chronic long term disability with time off work. They often lead to costly litigation.
“As a car driver as well as a cyclist these bollards are also not visible enough and I’ve almost driven into one of the bollards myself whilst on Comiston Road,” he added.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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16 comments
I live just a few metres away from one of those popup lanes in Edinburgh, so have first-hand experience using them.
While I do feel sorry that the cyclist suffered an injury, I must say I don't think it's fair to blame the bollards. True, the base can be hidden by snow, but it is quite as visible as the kerb on the other side and one normally doesn't crash into the kerb. Also they have a big pole sticking out, so anybody who has seen these bollards in real life should really know where the base is. They are all the same size and spaced regularly, so it's kind of hard to understand how one can crash into them (although of course everybody can be distracted at times).
When we had a lot of snow for a few days, cycling was difficult (as was walking and driving) for many reasons. I slipped a few times just in front of my door, totally unrelated to bollards, and had to get off on some paths and push as it was too hard/risky in snow and ice. In those conditions one just has to be extra careful and take it slowly.
The base of these bollards is quite solid but I think this is actually a response to earlier experiences. The council initially installed a different kind of plastic bollards with a small round plastic base, but drivers regularly drove into them - I had to pickup and re-screw half a dozen or so every day in my neighbourhood. The stronger kerb-like base seems to be a much stronger deterrent to drivers than the plastic pole - haven't seen any damaged since they installed them. So they are indeed a much better protection for the bike lane.
By the way, the Evening News (where this article comes from) has a strong anti-cycling and anti-council agenda and regularly blows up anything that can be constructed as a problem of the Space for People programme totally out of proportion.
If the base poses a trip/slip hazard (eg it comes significantly out of the footprint of the bollard) it's a poor design.
Having the bases proud in the first place is poor, they could be sunk into the ground - anyone wishing to leave the lane into the road stands a good chance of coming a cropper
*Off topic*
The ones in Bristol have a round base about nine inches diameter which is (AFAICS) melted down onto the road surface, then the wand screws into it.
Motorists seem to have finally worked out how not to drive into them accidentally.
The problem I've encountered recently is where someone thinks, "So long as I don't knock over a wand it doesn't matter how close to either end of the cycle lane I park". Means you can't go into the 'open end' of the cycle lane, and you have to slow right down to thread between the wands into the lane halfway along. Usually with a line of cars backed up behind you.
(There are an awful lot of people driving around on essential journeys this time around, aren't there?)
Of course, if it wasn't essential they wouldn't have taken their car....
They used that small-base type in Edinburgh initially but they have been replaced by the ones with the longer solid base because they got driven into by motorists all the time. I live just a few metres away from one of those popup lanes and I was out every day screwing half a dozen back into place. The "kerb-like" base of the new ones seems to hold off motorists much better as it's not just a plastic pole, so none of them have been damaged yet in my nieghbourhood.
Or why not have a continuous kerb, like on the pavement side? I don't see why a kerb is a problem on the one side but not on the other. Neither one is there to be travelled across, not by cars nor by bikes. Sure, paint it white. But to simply have it flush with the road surface, then it's reduced to a white line painted on the road, and we've been there already. Or did you think the plastic wands would save you?
Continuous kerb would indeed also be an option, although that would expose a second hard edge for folk to hit if they come off. If it's wide enough it's less of an issue - I think one of CyclingMikey's favurite haunts is like this - is it Regents Park?
Another option would be to raise the road surface, making the cycle lane separate to the road. Then you can remove the bollards allowing flexibility for riders to switch to the road as they see fit, but making it difficult (I know, not impossible) for drivers to enter the cycle lane. However, this makes the cycle lane more like a shared use path
Ultimately there are numerous solutions, each having its drawbacks.
The fact remains, to me the bollard footings are a poor design which contributed to this incident, although one possible reason to have them like that is to deter car drivers from hitting the bollard.
The problem with a continuous kerb is it makes it tricky (without bunnyhopping) to join and leave the lane except at specific locations.
Let's hope the cars can't bunny hop then.
Wow, silver bullets are like unicorns! Who knew?
I agree in principle that a cycle lane needs better design, but keep in mind that these are temporary measures that have to be installed very quickly, so they essentially have to be on top of the existing road surface. Anything sunk in the ground, or raised cycle lane, or something like that is just not feasible in short time.
Besides the actual construction effort, there's also the legal wrangling takes years or decades, especially in Edinburgh were we have a well-oiled opposition machinery of councillors and journalists who are, to put it politely, barking mad, but very efficient at throwing smoke screens.
Was this really worth publishing 2 days in a row? Cyclist not in control of his bike in snowy weather isn't a story..
Unfortunately, this does sound like "bloke cycling too fast for the visibility/conditions and had an accident". I sympathise with the cyclist but, when we have a driver who claims blindness due to a low sun as the reason why they hit a cyclist, we don't advocate painting any cyclists in luminous paint, but reason that the driver should have slowed to the appropriate speed for the conditions.
Ref:
"he failed to see the base of the bollard due to snow and poor visibility. [...]
“If they were luminous yellow it would be better but they are black"
I would have thought that most things in the snow become hard to see and luminousity would be a poor solution in any case. A combination of reflective coatings, bright user lighting and the appropriate speed would be a better fix.
Having cycled past these bollard bases, I have sympathy with the rider. The bases are quite hard to see at night, about a metre long and perhaps 15 cm wide and high, with slanting faces aligned with the direction of travel. So if you get your line wrong, you hit a hard ramp, bigger I'd say than a dropped kerb stone. The gap between the bases isn't much either - under a metre. It's not at all like wandering into screw-in wands, where you have time and space to correct.
Some of what look like cycle lanes are actually pavement extensions outside shops and schools, and have the same arrangement at the start of the corderned area, on a diagonal. All you can really see on approach is a single wand.
Yesterday Edinburgh council confirmed that they want to make the measures permanent subject to consultation: https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people/green-light-first-ste.... This is great, but the permanent infrastructure will need to be improved.
I agree - they're not the best design. I've attached a photo (stolen from Twitter) just to illustrate the bollards in question for those unfamiliar. And I also agree there are several places where it's not obvious whether the bollards are there to be a cycle lane or a pavement extension. In a couple of cases, it's both - i.e. within the road area enclosed by wands, there is both a cycle lane and walking lane, with just a painted line separating them.
Down my end of the city many are much closer together. The ones sealing off the footpath extensions are pretty horrible, but overall I'm in favour. We'll learn to avoid them and at least they are not going to drive straight at us...