Safe Speed Forums

Found this video on another forum. Given it involves an AA van I presume it's from the UK

http://www.break.com/usercontent/2009/1 ... 41639.html

Short version: AA van towing a car buys a ticket for whatever the bollards are restricting access to, the car he's towing, which has someone inside steering, gets lifted up (and probably written off since it's a Rover) by the bollards.

I know most people here are already against these things, but here's some more ammunition.

What is the legal implication of this though? not sure what is being controlled here but surely the car counts as a trailer, or does it count as a car and thus need a second ticket?

I think that, as far as the machine is concerned, it is a second car because there is a clear gap between the two vehicles. But the timing is extremely tight, presumably to stop un-ticketed cars sneaking through behind a ticketed one.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

A better solution would be to spray the offending vehicle with raw sewage at high pressure. Nothing would get "written off", but it would be a foul job to scrape the shit out of the radiator grill.

A better solution would be not doing anything at all to the trailer attached to the AA van!

As I have said before,

Were I to install potentially lethal booby traps in my own private driveway/house and a trespasser was injured or killed I suspect I would end up in prison! (even if I had put up warning notices)

By what mechinisim are local authorites legal responsibility towards "trespassers" waived to allow them to install stuff like this.

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

According to the person who posted this video on the other forum, it's privately owned and deals with the exit to an office.

It'll be interesting how it turns out, providing the poster keeps us updated as to what happens (he's not personally involved in any way)

Well, that makes it even more interesting!

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

Why do they have enough force to be able to lift up a car anyway?!

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Andrew.

I still think a pair of gates functioning as a 'lock' would be more appropriate. If you are let through the first you then can't get out until it has closed behind you.

Until the boss orders a limo to pick up an important customer or something. If you were making a system like that you'd need to base it on the maximum length for a UK car which is pretty long IIRC.

If anyone wants to follow the original thread and see if there's updates, check here. Sorry Dusty I borrowed your post to use there

I think the point in this case is that it was a car being towed behind a van, so quite long...

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Andrew.

And my point is it's just monitoring the exit to a private car park (apparently by Heathrow so I can see why they want this system) so there probably isn't going to be room to accommodate that system.

Must admit didn't follow the top link, but the famous Manchester bollards had to accommodate buses, so would need a large gate for them.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... s&x=7&y=11


Put the whole page with the history as link


Recently .. fire engine and bus got damaged.

Something very wrong in Manchester as Cambridge.. Oxford and Durham have these to first hand knowledge. None report the incidents as Manchester.

I will warn Manchester councillors .. if the settings have malice aforethought in settings - you will be in serious trouble.,

Make sure the settings are correct as all evidence to date and compared with other areas suggests something is very .. very wrong here.

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All the systems I've seen use induction loops in the road surface to detect the vehicles going over them, in this case it's likely the detection was lost as the drawvat of the trailer went over so the bollard came up. SO long vehicles that are one continuous unit would get through OK.

You certainly have an appropriate soubriquet.

The ones they had near Newborough Sands (they were more like ramps) didn't go up as high, nor
were they as strong. An old Ford can crush them down, to park
for nothing. To stop people like me, you need a really strong system, and these
hydraulic pistons certainly do the trick.

Get them to use my SewageSpray system. It works like a normal car wash. If you are a valid user, your vehicle gets a free shine. But if you are not, the pumps switch to raw sewage.

Seriously for a minute: there has to be a system that is less heavy handed than this. It's not even cheap to implement. Who has a better idea for stopping cars using bus lanes etc?

With current thinking being that street furniture should be designed to absorb impact, eg sacrficial sign and lamp posts, or deflect cars from each other/pedestrians eg barriers, these bollards seem a deliberate attempt to maximise carnage, the fact they rise from the ground so are hidden from view as a driver approaches only adds to the effect. The thinking seems to be to create damage as a primary motive and prevent access as a secondary.

A simple pivoting gate would prevent access, while being far more visible and predictable, and more forgiving if impact should occur. I'm sure damaged bodywork and smashed wingmirrors is enough to prevent motorists from chancing it, you don't have to write the cars off completely, unless you have malicious prerogative thats more important than road safety and sensible effective traffic management.

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Fear is a weapon of mass distraction

The good things about those bollards are
a) they are hard to vandalise
b) they are hard to break
c) they are unlikely to crush walkers/bikers/prams etc.

Gates can come down on you head, or crush your bones etc. Or get busted by yobs.
I can see some value in these bollards, but they seem to be too tough. How could they
by turned down a bit, without letting the yobbos barge through?