Removal of railings in London

curium

I commute, by bicycle, from SE to N London and I've noticed along my route that the railings along the edge of the pavement have been removed over large parts of my route.

Is this part of a new attitude to the roads from TfL?

Has anyone else noticed?

Headhuunter

Yes, I've noticed, it's been happening for a couple of years now. The railings that lined London Bridge were removed in 2010 I think for example. I think the intention is to make it safer for cyclists as there was a spate of accidents involving cyclists being rammed/squeezed up against railings by motorists, ifthere are no railings they may be able to escape onto the pavement at least. I find it a bit of a shame as I used to find them very convenient to lean against without unclipping at lights!

Gizmo_

I wonder whether their scrap value has made them tempting targets for the light-fingered...?

Headhuunter

Gizmo_ wrote:

I wonder whether their scrap value has made them tempting targets for the light-fingered...?

I doubt it! They're not made of copper or lead or some other high value metal, just some kind of plastic coated steel alloy which rusts so I shouldn't think they would be worth nicking

Gizmo_

Headhuunter wrote:

Gizmo_ wrote:

I wonder whether their scrap value has made them tempting targets for the light-fingered...?

I doubt it! They're not made of copper or lead or some other high value metal, just some kind of plastic coated steel alloy which rusts so I shouldn't think they would be worth nicking

A friend of mine has recently been plagued by thefts of large quantities of fibre optic cable from his work. That's the fibre optic cable which is famously made of glass.

curium

Apparently scrap metal prices are playing some part in their removal but mainly it's down to the fact that they are thought to be unnecessary in many places http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/20 ... -roadsides

flimflam_machine

I think there's been a policy over the last few years to remove quite a lot of street furniture. Making the streets more attractive is one motivation, and making things easier for pedestrians e.g., single stage crossings rather than double, staggered crossings. But I think the main reason is that it has been realised that railings are not going to stop a large percentage of pedestrians doing whatever they want with regard to crossing the road. Penning people in and attempting to physically prevent them from walking in particular ways is only ever going to be partially effective.

PO Paul

Nightmare along by Brixton underground station. There used to be railings in the middle of the road which stopped all but the athletic barrier jumping suicidal peds, but now all and sundry try and cross the road along that whole stretch.

Style over speed

PO Paul wrote:

Nightmare along by Brixton underground station. There used to be railings in the middle of the road which stopped all but the athletic barrier jumping suicidal peds, but now all and sundry try and cross the road along that whole stretch.

to be fair brixton high road is a town centre shopping street and bus depot cunningly disguised as a high speed dual carriageway… best thing is would be a 20 mph speed limit and removal of as much motor traffic as possible from it. at the moment its a highly unpleasant place to be thanks to speeding cars and far too many buses

Charles00

That's the fibre optic cable which is famously made of glass.

sagefly

Its a great thibng for the peds but really sucks when they cross the road in front of you without looking.

Ive hit 3 so far and been knocked off my bike once.

Pedestrians are a bigger danger the motor vehicles these days in London, maybe with the exception of traffic on the Mile End rd between Mile End and Aldgate.

Gizmo_

sagefly wrote:

Its a great thibng for the peds but really sucks when they cross the road in front of you without looking.

Ive hit 3 so far and been knocked off my bike once.

Pedestrians are a bigger danger the motor vehicles these days in London, maybe with the exception of traffic on the Mile End rd between Mile End and Aldgate.

I'm never riding Whitechapel Rd again. Never. It's lethal, badly surfaced and there's something about it which makes vans drivers charge along zig-zagging in and out. :shock: