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Looks to be in the UK. No idea if it's on private land but it looks to be almost criminally dangerous?
Sorry if it's been done before.
Warning, it make me feel a little sick watching this. Best not to read the comments btw as it reaffirms there are some right nasty people out there.
https://youtube.com/shorts/caQLMl6akFU?si=cCJuxW8fIze3BJ6Y
cynic-al
I am probably more on the “weren’t they looking?” camp.
Username checks out
........
It is grey, the road is grey, its basically blending into the the background.
The fact the camera is pointing at it means the house owner is aware its a problem and is not putting on some sort of bright yellow/red sign mainly for their own entertainment.
I'd be for going back at 2am and spraying hydraulic fluid all over their car.
I think there's a few things going on here. Looks to be a slope so riders carrying some speed. I can't tell for sure but I can't see any obvious sign that there is a high Vis paint or anything on the gate? Given they're isn't any on the visible side, there might not be on this other. The gate is galvanised I assume so very poor contrast against the tarmac. Then add in the fact that the gate might well be open most of the time and it's a perfect storm.
I'm guessing there are more people that have hit it in order for the resident to have positioned a camera too. If enough people are making the same mistake in the same place it's just not allowing enough margin for human error surely? It's bad by design at that point.
Given the innate vulnerability of cyclists (and those on e scooters, right or wrong) it just seems like a fatality waiting to happen.
I'm guessing someone on here might have some more details about it, or even live near it later today.
Edit: Dyna~ti summed it up better than me.
The fact the camera is pointing at it means the house owner is aware its a problem and is not putting on some sort of bright yellow/red sign mainly for their own entertainment.
The camera's pointing at their driveway, which seems pretty normal.
@dyna-ti I did say "initially" 🙄 and you might want to check a dictionary.
How you deduce i) the camera angle is. for that reason (who would do that? Looks like a generic home security set up to me), ii) the home owner has any responsibility for the path/lane gate? I can't see it being an official bike path.
Lots of unanswered questions (although sun is not in the cyclist's eyes) but calling me out has a taste of "atcha" about it.
thols2Full Member
They were going much too fast and not looking. I hope they weren’t seriously injured, but it they can’t see that gate, are they going to see a child walking along the path?
Too fast? Almost certainly but the slope makes it a more likely scenario that excess speed is being carried and so a better solution should be found. We all drive/ride at what we think are safe speeds but but statistically obviously many of us don't, some of the time at least.
As for looking, I agree but see the statement above about speed. We all think we look sufficiently well but statistically we obviously don't. Around my way, sharp bends in the road are well and truly flagged up multiple times no doubt in response to cars ending up in fields. It's possible to predict where errors of judgment occur to a degree and try to mitigate them in the best and safest way possible.
This gate seems like an insanely unforgiving way of letting a rider know they made an error. If similar we're to be adopted on our roads it would be absolute carnage.
A better calming measure must exist that would stop the potential death of a rider or a walking child. As it is, a child could still be hit before before the gate. Children ride bikes too of course. A child coming down that slope, no doubt with poor brakes and no crash helmet is also not likely to be body checked but have his or her head caved in.
I can't believe a hard body check of a low visibility steel barrier is the best way of making that stretch safer? It certainly isn't working for some cyclists that's for sure.
The camera’s pointing at their driveway, which seems pretty normal.
Potentially true but the owner is uploading the content to YT which makes me wonder at the positioning more than a little.
Hopefully someone local to the gate or being able to fill in some details will see this thread later in the day. 👍
I did say “initially” 🙄 and you might want to check a dictionary.
Just taking a little bit of humour from it, calm yourself 😉
Hopefully someone local to the gate or being able to fill in some details will see this thread later in the day. 👍
From the YouTube comments:
@paulpurdue5963
2 months ago (edited)
The gate is closed because just beyond the gate is a pedestrian area, when large crowds are there, the gate is closed. The gate was put in place because too many high speed cyclists were colliding with pedestrians. Now they collide with the gate.
Camera looks to me like its positioned to cover both drive and path, but not to capture cyclists hitting the gate, but scrotes approaching from that side.
Ah, some Sheffield riders on here might know the gate.
Apologies for the fail https://www.****/news/article-12762757/Metal-gate-leading-allotments-hurdle-far-cyclists-fallen-three-times-eight-months.html
Allegedly here https://www.google.com/maps/@53.378579,-1.4259128,17z/data=!3m1!1e3
Makes more sense when you realise the gate isn't normally closed.
Hang on, is that the Trans Pennine Trail? And if that location is correct, I'd have CCTV covering the path too.
If you can't stop safely in the distance you can see to be safe, you're going too fast.
Way too many cyclists and drivers are fixated with speed - we've all done it - but unless you're on a race track designed for speed, be prepared to be surprised.
I think they should put scaled up versions of those on motorways at random intervals just to check drivers aren't watching netflix. These sort of infrastructure things on cyclpaths really piss me off. Not so much as a pothole in a road or pavement is acceptable but on a cycle path a solid steel barrier or huge speed bump is.
I've watched a rider in our club do just that but fortunately at lower speed and Madame Educator was brought off her bike by an illegaly high speed bump we ride over regularly. Both were a case of attention being on other things.
In this case the riders' attention was probably the junction then further ahead and the grey barrier would get skipped.
Seen it before, the gate is not exactly the same colour, you can see from the video it sticks out, so i'd guess it's more people on autopilot commuting to and from work.
As above as well, speed was an issue with that first one, head down and going for it, seen it a few times on commutes down the Bristol to Bath, or Bristol Ring Road cycle path, cyclists head down and flying and everyone else having to make way, the scooter was just the usual e-scooter type, probably thinking about their tea or on the phone, or changing the song, they're a liability at the best of times round here!
I’ve watched a rider in our club do just that but fortunately at lower speed and Madame Educator was brought off her bike by an illegaly high speed bump we ride over regularly. Both were a case of attention being on other things.
Just an idea, but wouldn't cycling be much safer if riders focused attention on looking where they were going?
The lick they're coming down, they "know the road" right up until the point they don't because it's changed. I'm torn here, on the one hand if it's a dedicated cycle route then it's not unreasonable to expect it to be clear, on the other it could have been a baby robin's face or something.
an illegaly high speed bump
You have laws dictating speed bump height?
I find it curious* that the video is 'round two'.
There are multiple people in the video and obviously different days.
I do wonder what sort of mindset someone has to have to do nothing about the obvious problem that could easily be causing serious injury after round one. Wouldn't take much to make that grey gate blocking a grey path more visible.
* I'm not curious at all. The video is clearly making money.
Just an idea, but wouldn’t cycling be much safer if riders focused attention on looking where they were going?
The news article claimed 3 accidents in 8 months on a fairly substantial section of traffic free infrastructure. They are also dropping down from a bridge crossing the dual carriageway 50m or so to their right with associated traffic noise, and a road to the left which will be bringing in other bikes/walkers etc.
I'd argue that everyone makes mistakes, and it would be dangerous to assume mistakes wont happen. And that particular section of National Trail warrants some fairly basic traffic calming, probably in the form of fencing off the straight line forcing a left turn, followed by a sharp right back onto the line currently being taken. They'd then get to the 'occasionally' closed gate at a low speed.
The gate should also be painted.
There was a barrier like that at the bottom of a steep old road in Lerwick. Put in to stop cars and motorbikes iirc, but then similar happened to this video resulting in hospital iirc and it was then chained open,then eventually removed (cars actually had a legal right to use it anyway).
They are going fast I'd agree, but it's got no reflectors or hi-vis (it should) and could easily be essentially invisible against the back ground and when sight checking other directions when riding down. Your think locals might know to be more vigilant about it being open or closed, but not everyone is local.
Had something very similar nearly happened to me and my mate on a bike packing trip in Scotland with a rusty chain across an downhill earth track in woodland shade. Was very nearly very nasty.
Just an idea, but wouldn’t cycling be much safer if riders focused attention on looking where they were going?
Madame Educator was looking ahead but not at the ground. What do you focus on, the ground just in front of you or further down the road? If there's stuff going on around me that takes my attention my vision follows that and I tend to rattle through potholes because I'm not concentrating on steering around them.
The barrier the club rider hit is just after a bend, just as this one is just after a junction. I wonder if the house owner has found that he gets more victims if he leaves his gate open because riders' focus and attention is distracted to that?
https://www.autoblog.com/2014/10/17/naked-breasts-billboards-cause-517-accidents/?guccounter=1
It's dangerous infrastructure and victim blaming, you couldn't design a better trap if you tried.
MoreCashThanDash
Full Member
If you can’t stop safely in the distance you can see to be safe, you’re going too fast
but they believe they can see the path to be safe, that’s the issue here. If they could see that there was a reason to slow to a safer speed I’m sure they would.
Who’s local and going to get a sick edit of the ride to the gate?
I do wonder what sort of mindset someone has to have to do nothing about the obvious problem that could easily be causing serious injury after round one.
How do you know they haven't reported it already. And that the body responsible for the path have simply failed to act for whatever reason?
The lick they’re coming down, they “know the road” right up until the point they don’t because it’s changed.
If you're aware of the gate and it's usually open, you'd expect to treat it with extreme caution. If the gate is newly installed then that's maybe a bit different.
on the one hand if it’s a dedicated cycle route then it’s not unreasonable to expect it to be clear
I don't know, gates are very common on routes like this. On one hand you could say drivers would be up in arms if you installed a gate in the middle of the road, and they'd be right. But then gated roads aren't entirely uncommon in very rural areas. Some local knowledge might shed light on it but the speeds carried in the video look careless for the stretch of path and it's difficult to place blame elsewhere.
At the same time, it's clearly causing injury so it should probably be changed in some way. I'm sure painting the gate is cheaper than treating people in A&E.
I'd be astonished if the home owner had any responsibility.
Tbh, I had 5, I've reported it to Sheffield council.
on the one hand if it’s a dedicated cycle route then it’s not unreasonable to expect it to be clear
The comment from the YouTube video above suggests it's not a dedicated cycle route. It may be open for use by cyclists, but it's used by a lot of pedestrian traffic. If those cyclists can't see a gate across the path, they aren't going to see a kid wearing dark clothing either. Those riders were going much too fast for a fairly narrow shared path.
His house drive gates, wait4me, the open house gates are a distraction as the rider has to make a decision about where the path goes. I reckon that if the gates were closed the riders would be less distracted. The house gates are open in each crash.
I think folk are making a few excuses for cyclists who weren't paying attention, the video clearly show the gate, it's not invisible to the naked eye, 3 incidents in 8 months tells me that 99.99% of riders don't cycle right into it, just those who aren't paying attention, same as going down the road and going into the back of a parked car, it happens every day, it's not the car drivers fault, maybe partially if it's parked in a cycle lane, but it's up to the cyclist to pay attention to the road/path ahead of them, i've been daft and gone into a temporary sign before, head down as it was windy, just never lifted my head enough to know what was ahead.
As for its location, the other side has bollards, this side has a gate, which tells me they need access for the allotment and whatever else, so bollards couldn't be used, i'd hazard a guess that cyclists have gone into those bollards as well over the same period, but no camera so no issues being raised.
His house drive gates, wait4me, the open house gates are a distraction as the rider has to make a decision about where the path goes
The speed they're going down there, much more likely they ride the route frequently and are used to just charging down flat out without looking. If they were doing that speed on an unfamiliar route that they are finding confusing, they are an accident waiting to happen.
I pass this regularly, it's been painted so it's easier to see, the gate is also usually open.
The comment from the YouTube video above suggests it’s not a dedicated cycle route.
Mixed use national Trail. As far as I can see.
[url= https://i.postimg.cc/wxnLYVgV/Screenshot-20240329-084502-Samsung-Internet.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/wxnLYVgV/Screenshot-20240329-084502-Samsung-Internet.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
https://www.transpenninetrail.org.uk/cyclists/
I don't think there would have been any problem if a car had been parked in front of the barrier, a car is easy to see.
You don't know there were only 3 incidents.
None of those riders is head down.
Edit: thank you, Podge.
I think folk are making a few excuses for cyclists who weren’t paying attention, the video clearly show the gate, it’s not invisible to the naked eye, 3 incidents in 8 months tells me that 99.99% of riders don’t cycle right into it
could be open for 99.99% of the time.
Mixed use national Trail. As far as I can see.
Exactly, it's not dedicated to cycling. Cyclists have to expect to encounter pedestrians and horses and ride accordingly.
almost criminal?
yip - I think you are probably correct this is at the level Parliament intended when they included wanton and furious cycling in the offences against the person act in the 19th century and s29 of the RTA… but the former requires injury to another person and the latter applies on a road - so only almost criminal.
it’s been painted so it’s easier to see
👍
To add, the YouTube comments are balls, there are allotments further on, the gate is so people can drive up to them, nothing to do with big crowds of pedestrians.
It is a designated cycle route but in typical cycle route and Sheffield style they've just smashed it in wherever without any though on how suitable it is, really it should take a longer gentler route around the hill.
It's at the bottom of a short but steep hill & due to the angle of the path and the bush there isn't a great line of sight despite what it seems from the CCTV.
In conclusion, people should look, it's shit design, a few people out of LOTS have crashed, most people on the internet like talking bollox.
None of those riders is head down.
The first one looks head down to me. The second one looks to me like he's in a MTB attack position.
Now that's sorted, can we all just take a moment to appreciate the place name "Corker Bottoms"
thols2
Full MemberFrom the YouTube comments:
@paulpurdue5963
2 months ago (edited)
The gate is closed because just beyond the gate is a pedestrian area, when large crowds are there, the gate is closed. The gate was put in place because too many high speed cyclists were colliding with pedestrians. Now they collide with the gate.
Always worth taking a comment from an unknown with a small pinch of salt, whatever they allegedly know.
I've just looked at the bike trail on Google maps. The reason for"large crowds" is an allotment. I can't find anything online that confirms any pedestrians have been hit either?
I'm kind of surprised that people are so relaxed about a gate being seemingly arbitrarily shut across a cycle route when it's obviously causing an accident hot spot and potential for an horrific accident on a cycle route. However, this is STW!
Let's hope this gate doesn't make the news again in the future as it finally kills some poor sod out for a ride or on his commute for the lack of a bit of reflective paint and signage that drivers on the road take completely for granted...
The gate isn't shut across a cycling path, it's shut across a road and the (really poorly designed) path goes round the gate.
I’m kind of surprised that people are so relaxed about a gate being seemingly arbitrarily shut across a cycle route when it’s obviously causing a hot spot for a potentially horrific accident on a cycle route but this is stw after all.
They're nationwide, we have loads down here, they stop cars and motorbikes using them, they've not been chucked up to annoy cyclists, this one appears to be at the end of a road, so stopping access both ways (one bollards, one gate for access), down here there are a few that have been put up to stop fly tipping, and anti-social behaviour with bikes and so on, you just have to pay due care and attention on any shared path, it's not rocket science.
I pass this regularly, it’s been painted so it’s easier to see, the gate is also usually open.
End of thread
Well this is all a bit dramatic - hope you never ride in the countryside and come across gates that evil farmers open and close on a random basis!
I just lifted this from cycle chat.net
According to Sheffield CC, there are 70 sites in the city and reading a few of the minutes of the Allotment Advisory Group the main issue is with fly tipping / trespass so they close the gates - the few causing problems for the many. Surprised no-one has made a claim on the council's insurance policy or perhaps there is too much evidence of people not looking.
So some poor sod on a ride might sustain life changing injuries due to a poorly signed and randomly closed gate designed to stop unauthorised trucks/cars from fly tipping.
I pass this regularly, it’s been painted so it’s easier to see, the gate is also usually open.
Before or after these incidents?
We had a similar barrier next to our factory and when opened it was even more dangerous as it was just a 1 foot grey square pointed towards the cycle path. We had the post moved so it was no longer pointing into the cycle track and had the end painted bright orange. The gate was already painted and had a reflective strip along it. This should be common practice really.
Galvanised steel is actually very hard to see against tarmac. You won’t often see it placed in the middle of roads (not sorry), but around here in Cambridgeshire the county council have gone back and added retroreflectives in contrasting colours where they used it on (flat) cycle infrastructure because it was so frequently collided with.
Chuff knows how to upload a vid (or sensible sized photos) so you're getting screenshots...
From the top of the hill, the gate is open so its hard to see what it was like but you can just about make out the posts.
. From the bollards...
From right in front of the thing...
Coming the other way, this is where the "large crowds of pedestrians" would be...
And lastly its only been painted on one side so I presume its a concerned local not anyone in authority because Sheffield council would have probably written "**** cyclists" on it and mounted a Gatling gun.
Columbo can now sleep easy after all you armature detectives have massively failed to establish what's going on.
Its been painted for ages, that vid has been doing the rounds for years.
Its hard to tell but looking at the traffic going up the Parkway in the last shot I suspect the vid has been sped up to make it look like the cyclists were going faster than they really are, people do razz up that road but it looks slightly unnatural, however both my pics and the vid do flatten the hill out and it is easy to get up a lot of speed in a short time there.
Thanks for taking the time to upload that podge. Whatever my earlier protestations, I'm glad to see that someone took it upon themselves to paint the more dangerous side of it at least. 👍
I still can't see even a hint of yellow on the periphery of that gate and posts from the admittedly poor CCTV angle though?
So some poor sod on a ride might sustain life changing injuries due to a poorly signed and randomly closed gate designed to stop unauthorised trucks/cars from fly tipping.
There's has to be an element of personal responsibility here. It's quite easy not to crash into large static objects when you make the effort.
If it's happening on multiple occasions though, there may be one, or a number of factors contributing to it. As per one of the comments above, it looks like a badly designed cycle route if anything.
The bollards in the picture above look worse to me. What a mental place to put them.
Both, bollards and gate, clearly pose a risk in the event of a brake failure. Which is going to happen to somebody at some point.
I still think the gate and posts weren't painted at the time of the accidents of I'm honest.
From podge (thanks again):
From the CCTV:
Even from the differing angles you can see the right hand post was grey, the left was indeed black but had the remains of hiviz tape stuck round it.
Id put a tenner on those guys hitting the gates before the yellow paint was applied.
On that note, I know when it's time to leave a thread before poopscoop hunting season is officially here.
As I say, that vid and a longer one has been doing the rounds for years, highly likely they predate the paint. I've been going that way for years but not until recently on a regular basis so couldn't say when things changed, I also tend to go out of the city that way and return a different way so wouldn't have noticed the paint anyway.
The bollards in the picture above look worse to me. What a mental place to put them.
To be honest I'd have thought something around about where they are that forced cyclists to slow significantly (some sort of chicane type furniture maybe) would be ideal. Aside from the cyclists self harming on the gate issue with those houses there you really don't need gravity fed bikes interfacing with kids playing out etc.
Asked up thread. Speed bumps max height 100mm.
https://www.theaa.com/breakdown-cover/advice/speed-bumps
You assume any kind of thought was put into it. There's a really good chance there's five different schemes from five different time periods all totally unconnected to each other going on here.
Coming the other way, this is where the “large crowds of pedestrians” would be…
It doesn't have to be a crowd, it just needs to be one person walking wearing dark clothing. Or, it just needs to be one cyclist riding the opposite direction and you have a potentially fatal head-on collision. If those riders in the video couldn't see the gate, they are probably not going to see a kid or a cyclist coming the other way either. Those cyclists in the video were just going much too fast for safety. That's why they crashed.
they are probably not going to see a kid or a cyclist coming the other way either.
Absolute rubbish, but carry on.
My tuppence worth. The top bar of the gate lines up nicely with the edge of the path. The lower strut mimics the turn of the path to the right. Not saying it’s difficult to see but it could be that the visual context helps to camouflage it.
Here's a thought, what if they're not going fast but the prevailing conditions mean an unpainted, non-reflective gate is all but invisible until the last moment?
I've been caught out like that before, it's not fun. Wasn't going unreasonably fast either.
If that was an industrial setting industrial safety would be crawling over that as its not painted up to be easily visible. The key term here is 'reasonably practicable'. Thats a very obvious fail.
So some poor sod on a ride might sustain life changing injuries due to a poorly signed and randomly closed gate designed to stop unauthorised trucks/cars from fly tipping.
This stuff is never properly thought through though, and you can never stop antisocial behaviour without also inconveniencing larger numbers of legitimate users. See also discriminatory barriers that stop people on non-standard bikes using ‘cycle routes’ because of youth on scrambler bikes.
