Bollard Posts from Hell

[Sparky731]

Bollards serve a purpose of keeping 4-wheeled vehicles off paths, but can be very nasty for bikers — and even distracted walkers/joggers.

We had a nasty accident in a group ride This past winter in AZ. A “bunch” of riders were riding abreast as they crossed a road to continue the trail on the other side. The leaders of the bunch all saw the bollard and split around it. A rider following did not see it and wrapped herself all the way around the bollard after landing directly on her head. No broken bones but 3+ weeks of recovery after a week of concussion after-effects.

I notified the City Parks & Rec Safety Dept. in case they kept statistics of safety hazards. They expressed their concern and elevated the issue. I hope to get back on that trail next winter to check for any changes.

Now all of us are extremely cautious for ourselves and others whenever we encounter those unyielding soldiers.

 

[fooferdoggie]

we have a lot of homeless that just drive around them.

 

[BlackHand]

Not all bollards are created equal. Good bollards are set far enough back from an intersection so that you don't have to navigate the bollards, intersection, and whatever other moving objects might be present all at the same time.

Bad bollards effectively reduce the usable trail and increase risk by forcing you deal with them and whatever hazards they are supposedly warning you about at the same time. These ones drive me crazy.

These pics are on the same trail 10 blocks apart.

 

[Sparky731]

Not all bollards are created equal. Good bollards are set far enough back from an intersection so that you don't have to navigate the bollards, intersection, and whatever other moving objects might be present all at the same time.
View attachment 122287
Bad bollards effectively reduce the usable trail and increase risk by forcing you deal with them and whatever hazards they are supposedly warning you about at the same time. These ones drive me crazy.
View attachment 122288
These pics are on the same trail 10 blocks apart.

The ones you show in the first picture are placed almost exactly to the bollard my friend crashed into.

 

[PDoz]

I was guessing about the bollard purpose, so I'm not sure. Again, it's definitely wide enough to ride a bike through, but not wide enough to allow much margin for error. The comments section from the linked article offer some other harrowing accounts from experienced riders.

I expect your guess is correct - restricting usage , plus hopefully slow traffic down for the intersection ( at least the females , and probably you as well now?)

I'd much prefer to have official / visible deterrents than vigilante wires at neck height.....so if we just need to learn to slow / take care whilst negotiating official obstacles that's a small price to pay IMHO . I've had a few terrifying close calls with vigilante deterrents over the years - neck burns from JUST stopping in time for wires across trails, a particularly scary stop when a wire at wheel height wrapped around my front wheel ( motorbike at high speed) . These were on trials that I was legally allowed on but someone decided they didn't want people like me there, I guess controlling usage may reduce aggro from other users and potentially reduce their intolerance????

 

[Mike_V]

You haven't lived until you fall and clang on that iron 'dawg

I thought you might have hit your head until I saw this extra large horse corral gate that no one could miss.
Just get off, yep, smell the wild roses, and catch your breath then proceed at will.

 

[Mike_V]

It might be the phone camera distorting the image, but those look too far apart to stop a motorbike?

Don't tell but it's quads at night nowadays while you're sleeping, Dozer
Quads keep right at the bollard, over top of that little bush,right by the cute sign.

 

[PDoz]

Don't tell but it's quads at night nowadays while you're sleeping, Dozer
Quads keep right at the bollard, over top of that little bush,right by the cute sign.

Our local rail trails pass through farming country - the farmers had used them for decades to travel between properties after they had been railways but before they became community pathways. We have a similar system with bollards to allow cautious cyclists / walkers / horses through, but also a gate that emergency vehicles / maintenance crew +/- the farmers can unlock and still get access. It works reasonably well - at least until one of the farmers forgets it's a shared path and blasts along at silly speed....or mr farmer decides to drive his truck along the path after some rain.

My wife was on the original rail trail committee so was involved in negotiations with the farmers - it was a fascinating insight into how people can percieve ownership of a community asset and then struggle to accept sharing it. Negotiating is a nice word for some of those struggles. I can't imagine having to negotiate with recreational quad users!!!

 

[Doggyman1202]

I am sorry for your crash. But this is not a real issue. Practice. It is like a sour note on the piano. Not the piano's fault.

I be the man, and I be the klutz. I never blamed the bike (or piano, to follow your analogy). I've logged thousands of miles without getting hurt until now though.

An earlier encounter last summer with one of these bollards might be a more universal example of why I believe these iron posts present more danger than safety: I approached the left-side posts routinely, and slowly. A family with little kids off the trail to the right, without looking, darted left across the trail and gathered right in front of the crossing. I hit the brakes and swerved out of the way. My left hand got jammed on the iron pole/post. Ouch!...but no real damage done. I shook it off and rode away a minute later, although cursing the f-ing pole. In that scenario, I felt my avoidance maneuver was pretty adept (maybe not as agile as the young hot dogs on the YT video you linked, but any thoughts of trick riding on my bike or horse left my head long ago). Arguably, it was my fault for trying to ride through in the first place, but the damn iron post didn't do anybody any favors, and could have contributed to a more serious injury to myself or one of the young pedestrians.

Your earlier point about mirrors is very well taken though. I kick myself hard for extending the mirror. This was intended as a 24 mile trail ride round trip, and I didn't bother extending the mirror until I started to head back, which turned out to be a costly mistake. I actually never rode with a mirror until I bought my first e-bike in 2019. Even though I live in a rural area, I still feel more comfortable knowing what might be approaching from behind on open roads, but I won't be extending the mirrors again on rail trails with bollard crossings. That's for sure. As you pointed out, it's not really necessary.

Again, I'll advocate a point I made yesterday. If these posts are deemed essential for safety reasons (which are still mainly lost on me) then at least install the collapsible kind, and save the iron bollards for protecting store fronts (the principal reason these posts are manufactured) or restricting vehicle access to alleys and so forth.

BlackHand:

Bad bollards effectively reduce the usable trail and increase risk by forcing you deal with them and whatever hazards they are supposedly warning you about at the same time. These ones drive me crazy.

Thank you. I tried to make this point in my first post. There's no fool-proof safe option here.

 

[PedalUma]

You know those spherical red concrete bollards in front of Target stores? It would be fun to take a photo of someone riding a bike in front of a Target with one of these. It is a yoga ball.

 

[Kayakguy]

unpopular opinion: there is a range of widths for a bicycle which make it appropriate to ride in bike lanes, cycle tracks, mixed use paths, etc. bars (or bars with accessories) should not be so wide that two such bikes can’t safely pass each other, or a bike can’t go through the space of a pair of bollards, etc. that said, our bollards aren’t that high except in very special cases. not sure why on earth they’d be needed like that on a rail trail.

the only close calls i ever have with other bikes are with mountain bikes on the golden gate bridge, whose riders/owners seem to think they’re entitled to 2/3 the width of a narrow two way path. it would be like driving a 10’ wide car and expecting everyone to make way for you.

I've imagined someone like Hummer making a vehicle twice as wide as a normal car. It would take up 2 lanes, and anyone coming toward you on a 2 lane highway would be SOL.

Some might say this would be impossible, but with a sufficiently huge bribe to corrupt officials, almost anything can be done. What else is a billionaire going to do with all that money? I heard about a rich guy driving his Hummer on snow blocked mountain roads when his rig slid sideways into a half-frozen lake. So the guy used his cell to call for help, and a helicopter came and lifted his Hummer out of the lake. A really big, powerful helicopter, I think.

 

[Roamers]

New path. I don't believe they didn't install posts.

One person is dead in I-74 bike path crash, SUV driver faces reckless homicide charges, Rock Island County state's attorney says

An SUV drove onto the I-74 bridge pedestrian/bike path around 2 a.m. Sunday and struck and injured three pedestrians.

qctimes.com

 

[dodgeman]

We went to that area last fall and rode the bike paths. We rode by the bridge on the Illinois side and my memory is it was closed at the for the bike and pedestrian traffic. It’s a beautiful area and a shame it happened. I couldn’t figure out how someone didn’t figure out they were on the path then I saw the dui.

 

[Roamers]

my memory is it was closed at the for the bike and pedestrian traffic.

Just had the ribbon cutting last week. Been open for a few weeks; haven't been on it yet but lots of use when we go by it.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Just saying, helmet-mounted mirrors are far superior to bar mirrors.

Bike Peddler Take A Look Mirror | REI Co-op

This cyclist's mirror features pivots in three planes to provide you a clear view without straining your eyes.

www.rei.com

 

[CodyDog]

There are a lot of permanent obstacles that need to be dealt with when riding. Why waste energy and concern on something that can't be changed?Just learn how to ride properly when faced with permanent obstacles such as bollard post. I guess after years of mountain biking, I don't feel the pain of such simple things to deal with!

 

[Kayakguy]

Just saying, helmet-mounted mirrors are far superior to bar mirrors.

Bike Peddler Take A Look Mirror | REI Co-op

This cyclist's mirror features pivots in three planes to provide you a clear view without straining your eyes.

www.rei.com

The best helmet mirror I've found is the "Safezone Helmet Mirror." It attaches semi-permanently to the helmet, and has a stem of plastic ball-and-socket joints which allow adjustment, yet is stiff enough to maintain position and not vibrate. The mirror is broad, about 2" which gives an excellent rearward view. But that does slightly block your vision forward to the left, which means regular bobbing of your head to overcome the blind spot. I had to use 3 or 4 cable ties to solidly attach it to my Bern helmet. Sort of ugly, but it works really well.

 

[Doggyman1202]

The 38-inch separation between posts is certainly wide enough for kids, racing, and a lot of road bikes. With a bar end mirror (which ironically is on for safety) I have about 6'' clearance, which was enough the first couple of hundred times I rode through.

It was good for my first couple of hundred times too. I got a little distracted by a stop sign posted 10 feet away and directly in front of the bollard post opening. (10 feet is about a second when riding).

My main beef though is about the necessity of having them altogether when there is already a gate present to prevent what happened in that I-74 crash referenced above. In some cases, walking through isn't a viable option either since that would require stopping on the roadway (such as the 2nd picture that BlackHand posted above).

I might try the helmet mirror again. I didn't like the first one I tried. As I recall, there was a lot of vibration, and perhaps because I'm a little far-sighted, it never seemed to present nearly as clear a view as the bar end mirror.

 

[Kayakguy]

It was good for my first couple of hundred times too. I got a little distracted by a stop sign posted 10 feet away and directly in front of the bollard post opening. (10 feet is about a second when riding).

My main beef though is about the necessity of having them altogether when there is already a gate present to prevent what happened in that I-74 crash referenced above. In some cases, walking through isn't a viable option either since that would require stopping on the roadway (such as the 2nd picture that BlackHand posted above).

I might try the helmet mirror again. I didn't like the first one I tried. As I recall, there was a lot of vibration, and perhaps because I'm a little far-sighted, it never seemed to present nearly as clear a view as the bar end mirror.

I am very impressed with the EVT Safezone Bike Helmet Mirror. It doesn't vibrate, isn't easily knocked out of alignment, and has a generous size mirror. But also ugly and $40. I attached it to my Bern helmet with 3 or 4 cable ties. Amazon has them, though I found mine at my LBS.

 

[Sparky731]

I am very impressed with the EVT Safezone Bike Helmet Mirror. It doesn't vibrate, isn't easily knocked out of alignment, and has a generous size mirror. But also ugly and $40. I attached it to my Bern helmet with 3 or 4 cable ties. Amazon has them, though I found mine at my LBS.

It’s ugly and is attached with cable ties? Wow! That must be some fine mirror.
If you crash does the mirror penetrate the helmet and your head? Hope not!
Maybe you could show pictures? Reminds me of the reasons hood ornaments were removed from cars.