London Bridge

cyclopsbiker

anyone know why the railings have been taken off of London Bridge? we now have suicidal pedestrians able to wander out all willy-nilly!!! :roll:

the_hundredth_idiot

It's to prep cyclists for when they get to the south side. If we have a few stepping out on us on London Bridge, we'll be more alert for the lemming pedos stepping out en masse all the way down Tooley Street.

_Brun_

It's to stop you getting squished against the railings by buses etc. Drivers can now force you off your bike safe in the knowledge that you're only going to fall onto the pavement. It's happening all over London at the moment.

Wonder what Boris is doing with all the metal?

cyclopsbiker

_Brun_ wrote:

It's to stop you getting squished against the railings by buses etc. Drivers can now force you off your bike safe in the knowledge that you're only going to fall onto the pavement. It's happening all over London at the moment.

Wonder what Boris is doing with all the metal?

maybe he's gonna melt all the metal and use it to fill in all the enormous pot holes that have appeared with the freeze/thaw action!!

the_hundredth_idiot

_Brun_ wrote:

Wonder what Boris is doing with all the metal?

My vote goes for melting it down and creating an "Angel of the South" to be placed at Crystal Palace (or, maybe, Alexandra Palace if you're a north London type).

always_tyred

Wouldn't the angel of the south have a man bag and an iphone?

prj45

cyclopsbiker wrote:

anyone know why the railings have been taken off of London Bridge? we now have suicidal pedestrians able to wander out all willy-nilly!!! :roll:

Slow down then!

will3

Ha ha in the country we fence in the animals not the people.

Fireblade96

....... is falling down.

ashleymp777

I thought they'd taken them down so they could build more BT Twin bikes! :-)

Headhuunter

cyclopsbiker wrote:

anyone know why the railings have been taken off of London Bridge? we now have suicidal pedestrians able to wander out all willy-nilly!!! :roll:

I noticed that! Bloody annoying. I had the same thoughts, how long's it going to be before someone tries to run across the road under my wheels. Annoyingly they have also taken away railings at the top of London Bridge at the traffic lights, they were great at stopping peds cutting though the traffic/across the ASL when crossing the road (and therefore straight under my wheels) and also good to lean against whilst the lights were red, meaning you could stay clipped in an get away quickly on green before that bus/cab/minicab/moped etc was able to accelerate through and left cut you.

The Chingford Skinhead

There is a policy to remove guard rails across much of the TfL road network and to encourage councils to do the same. This is very good news for both cyclists - who tend to get crushed against them by large turning vehicles and for pedestrians who were previously herded by them to prevent any disturbance to the great God traffic.

As Ghandhi says on the current LU posters - there is more to life than going faster. If you want to avoid hitting peds then you'll have to do what motorists should do to avoid hitting cyclists - look and slow doen.

deptfordmarmoset

Good points, Chingford Skinhead. Two cyclists died on the Woolwich Road last year and at both places there simply wasn't anywhere for the cyclist to go once the HGV turned left. I'm not saying they should have been there in the first place, but they were and now they aren't. Better to end up inelegantly sprawled across the pavement than under the wheels of an HGV.

Headhuunter

The Chingford Skinhead wrote:

There is a policy to remove guard rails across much of the TfL road network and to encourage councils to do the same. This is very good news for both cyclists - who tend to get crushed against them by large turning vehicles and for pedestrians who were previously herded by them to prevent any disturbance to the great God traffic.

As Ghandhi says on the current LU posters - there is more to life than going faster. If you want to avoid hitting peds then you'll have to do what motorists should do to avoid hitting cyclists - look and slow doen.

I can see what you're saying but London Bridge is a long straight stretch, no turning traffic! As for slowing down, peds will wander into traffic without looking and get hit no matter what speed you're doing. I have experience of it on many of London's roads.

the_hundredth_idiot

Always Tyred wrote:

Wouldn't the angel of the south have a man bag and an iphone?

Funnily enough, it turns out there is such a plan ... and the plan is for a horse.
BBC

And it's partly made of metal (i.e. London Bridge railings) as well.[/url]

brushed

I saw a perfect example of why this a good idea yesterday.

The bus I was on overtakes cyclist just before a bus stop.

When he is halfway past the cyclist the bus driver sounds his horn to let the cyclist know of his presence and pulls in and stops.

Cyclist has to jump onto pavement to save his skin.

Unbelievable.

199 bus to Greenwich - watch out for professional morons.

Headhuunter

I see yuor point I have to say though, I have far more problems with smaller items of "traffic" like motorbikes/mopeds, cabs and minicabs and peds wandering into the road than I ever have with buses.

Porgy

I'm very pleased to see the barriers go - I've wanted this for over 20 years. The most important road user of all is the pedestrian - and they should really have priority over everyone else. I'm more than happy to slow down as necessary.

Shame the barriers on Woolwich Road that killed cyclists haven't come down yet.

Soul Boy

Porgy wrote:

I'm very pleased to see the barriers go

+1 Down with barriers, and hello to shared use and greater awareness (I hope).