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UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
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to upset cyclists

Telegraph pole left in middle of Cambridgeshire cycle path

Cyclists in Cambridgeshire have been urged to “be aware of hazards and obstructions when using cycle paths” after a cyclist hit a telegraph pole left in the middle of a new one.

Andrew Fowler, 52, of Shepreth, came off his bike on Friday morning on a newly-widened path near Foxton.

He said he used the path because the road was dangerous. “Instead, I hit a telegraph pole,” he said.

The county council said the pole had warning tape on it and would be moved.

Work on the £300,000 scheme to widen and resurface a 1,300 yd (1.2km) dedicated cycle way along the A10 between Frog End in Shepreth, and Foxton Bottom began earlier this month.
‘Bit of tape’

Mr Fowler, the manager of a cleaning company, fell foul of the pole while cycling to work at about 00:15 GMT on Friday, when he had been “pretty much blinded by on-coming headlights”.

“The pole has always been there, but it was on the grass verge, and now the path has been widened it’s right in the middle of it,” he said.

“My pride hurt more than the bump and bruise I ended up with.”

Mr Fowler said council workers had put “a bit of reflective tape” on the pole, which he had not seen.

More had been added since his accident he said, as well as two cones.

A county council spokesperson said: "The pole was an existing one which will be moved to a location within the grass verge before the final surface of the cycle path is laid.

“We are working with the utility company responsible for it to organise its relocation as soon as possible.”

He urged cyclists to be aware of any potential hazards when using pathways.

Mr Fowler, however, maintained the telegraph pole should have been moved before the path was widened.

“There must be something wrong with the planning process that allowed this to happen,” he said.

“It needs a proper barrier around it, because it’s going to be there for quite a while before BT can move it.”

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ca … e-25090489

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Are you saying that ‘Poles’ :wink: can be dangerous ? :laughing:

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Seems more like where there’s blame, there’s a claim to me. Headlights or not, if you knew the pole was there and now the paths been widened, take a bit of care. He probably didn’t hit it anyway

4

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a cycle path to be free of obstructions, though. Or would you say the same if they widened the M6 and left a telegraph pole in the new lane?

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I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a cycle path to be free of obstructions, though. Or would you say the same if they widened the M6 and left a telegraph pole in the new lane?

Really you can’t avoid that whilst on a bike? what is it you cyclist says to us You shouldn’t have a licence well I would say that if they made it law you should have one but you really shouldn’t be on a bike if you can’t see or move around a static Pole how the hell do you avoid pedestrians or moving cars?
What is it us pig headed motorist have to do… oh that’s it drive to the condition and travel at a speed safe to handle any hazards what crop up

and for the above case if your driving down the road and blinding by headlights what does common sense suggest you do slow down or stop till you can see again

I don’t there should be any hazards on the road like roadworks, pedestrians crossing, cyclist, speed ramps etc though crap though we have to deal with it so should you lot pedestrians should be kept well away from cyclists mind as they have absolute priority (except motorways) but you you reckon you can’t avoid a pole what chance does a old lady walking have

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Rhythm Thief:
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a cycle path to be free of obstructions, though. Or would you say the same if they widened the M6 and left a telegraph pole in the new lane?

Someone left a car in the southbound, outside lane, under J7, Great Barr, this morning. I managed to miss it, held me up for about 20 minutes though ! Lol !

7

Rhythm Thief wrote:
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a cycle path to be free of obstructions, though. Or would you say the same if they widened the M6 and left a telegraph pole in the new lane?

Someone left a car in the southbound, outside lane, under J7, Great Barr, this morning. I managed to miss it, held me up for about 20 minutes though ! Lol !

We should take the cyclist approach you should of hit it then cry and whined to the police and council the roads are a dangerous place for us trucks and we need our own lane which we won’t use but built by tax payers expense and it wasn’t your fault you hit it you had your head up your own arse and wasn’t paying attention to the hazards in the road but it was the cars fault for been there and we’ve got more rights to be there then the car as were transporting goods to keep the country going (different pull on the green angle lol)

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K5Project:

Really you can’t avoid that whilst on a bike? what is it you cyclist says to us You shouldn’t have a licence well I would say that if they made it law you should have one but you really shouldn’t be on a bike if you can’t see or move around a static Pole how the hell do you avoid pedestrians or moving cars?
What is it us pig headed motorist have to do… oh that’s it drive to the condition and travel at a speed safe to handle any hazards what crop up

and for the above case if your driving down the road and blinding by headlights what does common sense suggest you do slow down or stop till you can see again

I don’t there should be any hazards on the road like roadworks, pedestrians crossing, cyclist, speed ramps etc though crap though we have to deal with it so should you lot pedestrians should be kept well away from cyclists mind as they have absolute priority (except motorways) but you you reckon you can’t avoid a pole what chance does a old lady walking have

I imagine it’d be a good bit harder to see in the dark … if you read the accompanying article, you’ll note that the incident happened at just gone midnight. Anyway, it’s not a case of “us lot” or “you lot” … as I’ve always said, I’m a road user, and I’m the same bloke whether I’m in a truck or on a bike. Are you seriously trying to tell me that if you came across a telegraph pole accidentally left in, say, the inside lane of the M6, you’d just accept it as one of the hazards of being on the road? You don’t have to be a cyclist to see that this isn’t the place for an obstruction.

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K5Project:

Rhythm Thief wrote:
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a cycle path to be free of obstructions, though. Or would you say the same if they widened the M6 and left a telegraph pole in the new lane?

Someone left a car in the southbound, outside lane, under J7, Great Barr, this morning. I managed to miss it, held me up for about 20 minutes though ! Lol !

We should take the cyclist approach you should of hit it then cry and whined to the police and council the roads are a dangerous place for us trucks and we need our own lane which we won’t use but built by tax payers expense and it wasn’t your fault you hit it you had your head up your own arse and wasn’t paying attention to the hazards in the road but it was the cars fault for been there and we’ve got more rights to be there then the car as were transporting goods to keep the country going (different pull on the green angle lol)

I like the way that, even in a story about an obstruction bang in the middle of a “cycle lane”, we’re still seeing people trotting out the “why won’t they use cycle lanes?” thing. :laughing: Would you really just accept it if you hit a piece of infrastructure that had been carelessly left in the road?

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K5Project wrote:
Rhythm Thief wrote:
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a cycle path to be free of obstructions, though. Or would you say the same if they widened the M6 and left a telegraph pole in the new lane?

Someone left a car in the southbound, outside lane, under J7, Great Barr, this morning. I managed to miss it, held me up for about 20 minutes though ! Lol !

We should take the cyclist approach you should of hit it then cry and whined to the police and council the roads are a dangerous place for us trucks and we need our own lane which we won’t use but built by tax payers expense and it wasn’t your fault you hit it you had your head up your own arse and wasn’t paying attention to the hazards in the road but it was the cars fault for been there and we’ve got more rights to be there then the car as were transporting goods to keep the country going (different pull on the green angle lol)

I like the way that, even in a story about an obstruction bang in the middle of a “cycle lane”, we’re still seeing people trotting out the “why won’t they use cycle lanes?” thing. :laughing: Would you really just accept it if you hit a piece of infrastructure that had been carelessly left in the road?

Well if I had enough space like that one to fit next to it so I could go around it with out leaving my lane no… council would just call it a traffic calming measure.

Living in Scotland I tend to avoid fallen trees in winter, deer & other random stuff left in the middle of the road also missing man hole covers too its called driving to the conditions but some accidents can’t be avoided

11

martinviking:

Rhythm Thief:
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a cycle path to be free of obstructions, though. Or would you say the same if they widened the M6 and left a telegraph pole in the new lane?

Someone left a car in the southbound, outside lane, under J7, Great Barr, this morning. I managed to miss it, held me up for about 20 minutes though ! Lol !

So thats what it was saw the traffic and went thro west brom to the m5, traffic was all the way back down the black Country route lol

12

It seems some really bad planning to create a lane and not organise moving street furniture at the same time. It’s not as if a load of workman turned up and made a path ne night, I’m sure there would have been some sort of survey.

If you read the article the guy was riding his bike late at night, it looks like an area that doesn’t have street lights and there were cars coming towards him. The light of a car would have made the area outside it’s light seem even darker to somebody looking towards them, loss of night vision. And a lights of a bke is hardly going to compete with them.

And as rhythm thief said we’ve got to get away from this them and us, there are good road users and bad ones, regardless of what type of way they use the roads.

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muckles:
It seems some really bad planning to create a lane and not organise moving street furniture at the same time. It’s not as if a load of workman turned up and made a path ne night, I’m sure there would have been some sort of survey.

If you read the article the guy was riding his bike late at night, it looks like an area that doesn’t have street lights and there were cars coming towards him. The light of a car would have made the area outside it’s light seem even darker to somebody looking towards them, loss of night vision. And a lights of a bke is hardly going to compete with them.

And as rhythm thief said we’ve got to get away from this them and us, there are good road users and bad ones, regardless of what type of way they use the roads.

This is ‘Council Planners’ we’re talking about.
We’ve got a really good cycling initiative called the Redways, Cycle paths run all over Milton Keynes & they are great for getting around on.

Only problem is- most are invisible from the road & the Scumbags come out to play in the dark, so very few people will use them at night, there are very few footpaths that follow the main roads as well, so pedestrians tend to walk along the verge or on the road.

If you create a Perfect World away from the ‘Not so Perfect’ World you create a ‘Scumbag UnderWorld’ for them to hide in. It’s been known for these Said Scumbags to lay traps for unsuspecting cyclists, I even know a bloke whose brother spent time inside for Manslaughter after he put a fallen tree across a Redway for a ‘Laugh’ & a cyclist rode into it knocking him off, killing him !!!
I bet that was a Scream !!!