NOTE -- MIDDLESBROUGH IS SPELLED INCORRECTLY.

A 78-year-old woman was left with a broken wrist, a black eye and concussion after tripping over a new bike lane marker in Middlesborough.

The separators, known as ‘Orcas’, form part of the newly installed cycle lane on the Linthorpe Road, which is due to finally be completed this month after a series of delays caused by adverse ground issues and supply chain issues.

Middlesborough Council says the protected bike lane (link is external), which was estimated to cost up to £2.4 million, will provide cyclists with a “quick and safe” route into the town centre while also creating a more pedestrian-friendly environment with improved road crossings.

However, the new low ‘Orca’ barriers – which, though designed to protect cyclists from motorists, have come in for criticism from those who say they aren’t large enough to deter drivers while still being of sufficient size to be a hazard for people on bikes – have unfortunately left a pensioner in pain weeks after she tripped and fell over one.

78-year-old Dorothy, from Stokesley, sustained a nasty gash to her forehead, a broken wrist, and multiple bruises in the incident, which occurred in late August.

Her husband Chris told Teeside Live (link is external) that, while the couple understands the need for the separators to protect cyclists using the bike lane, the council should do more to ensure the safety of pedestrians.

"It was a shock,” the retired civil and highway engineer said. “I dropped her off and she went to cross the road rather than using the crossing that was some way down. She was crossing the road section with two traffic lanes and cycleways outside, with raised black and white markers between.

“She tripped and banged her head on the road kerb and was badly injured, with a nasty gash to her forehead, [and was] bleeding profusely. [She] also had a mild concussion, many bruises, and a broken wrist.”

Referring to the separators, Chris said: “They are very low down and when you are looking for traffic you can’t see them. They shouldn’t allow pedestrians to cross where there are these hazards.

“I understand they are there to protect cyclists but there should then be a fixed barrier on both sides between the crossing points, and possibly even more crossings along the road.

“I don’t disagree with the bollards and there is no good campaigning to get rid of them, but there has to be fixed barriers.”

Responding to Dorothy’s unfortunate incident, a spokesperson for Middlesborough Council said: “The Linthorpe Road cycle lane has been designed and implemented in line with national safety guidelines and schemes in other towns and cities.

“Nevertheless, the scheme will continue to be monitored and we would recommend people use designated road crossing points which are located at frequent intervals.”

Orcas (and similar products known as Armadillos), such as those used on the new Linthorpe Road bike lane, have long been a target of criticism from those who believe they are dangerous for all road users.

Last year, Cardiff Council committed to using spray paint to increase the visibility of barriers protecting a two-way cycle lane in Roath, following reports of “dozens” of pedestrians injuring themselves after tripping over the markers.

In 2015, the North East Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) criticised the installation of Orcas on the Great North Road in Gosworth, claiming that the “obstacles” could result in someone’s death.

Katalina Ferguson, a spokeswoman for the group, said at the time: “It’s mad. In order to try and protect cyclists from cars they have sacrificed the safety of motorcyclists and scooterists by reducing their available road space and then throwing obstacles in their way. In Manchester, where these were trialled, even the cyclists are against them.”

https://road.cc/content/news/pensioner-trips-over-cycle-lane-separator-296003#comments

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> NOTE -- MIDDLESBROUGH IS SPELLED INCORRECTLY.
>
> A 78-year-old woman was left with a broken wrist, a black eye and
> concussion after tripping over a new bike lane marker in Middlesborough.
>
> The separators, known as ‘Orcas’, form part of the newly installed cycle
> lane on the Linthorpe Road, which is due to finally be completed this
> month after a series of delays caused by adverse ground issues and supply chain issues.
>
> Middlesborough Council says the protected bike lane (link is external),
> which was estimated to cost up to £2.4 million, will provide cyclists
> with a “quick and safe” route into the town centre while also creating a
> more pedestrian-friendly environment with improved road crossings.
>
> However, the new low ‘Orca’ barriers – which, though designed to protect
> cyclists from motorists, have come in for criticism from those who say
> they aren’t large enough to deter drivers while still being of sufficient
> size to be a hazard for people on bikes – have unfortunately left a
> pensioner in pain weeks after she tripped and fell over one.
>
> 78-year-old Dorothy, from Stokesley, sustained a nasty gash to her
> forehead, a broken wrist, and multiple bruises in the incident, which
> occurred in late August.
>
> Her husband Chris told Teeside Live (link is external) that, while the
> couple understands the need for the separators to protect cyclists using
> the bike lane, the council should do more to ensure the safety of pedestrians.
>
> "It was a shock,” the retired civil and highway engineer said. “I dropped
> her off and she went to cross the road rather than using the crossing
> that was some way down. She was crossing the road section with two
> traffic lanes and cycleways outside, with raised black and white markers between.
>
> “She tripped and banged her head on the road kerb and was badly injured,
> with a nasty gash to her forehead, [and was] bleeding profusely. [She]
> also had a mild concussion, many bruises, and a broken wrist.”
>
> Referring to the separators, Chris said: “They are very low down and when
> you are looking for traffic you can’t see them. They shouldn’t allow
> pedestrians to cross where there are these hazards.
>
> “I understand they are there to protect cyclists but there should then be
> a fixed barrier on both sides between the crossing points, and possibly
> even more crossings along the road.
>
> “I don’t disagree with the bollards and there is no good campaigning to
> get rid of them, but there has to be fixed barriers.”
>
> Responding to Dorothy’s unfortunate incident, a spokesperson for
> Middlesborough Council said: “The Linthorpe Road cycle lane has been
> designed and implemented in line with national safety guidelines and
> schemes in other towns and cities.
>
> “Nevertheless, the scheme will continue to be monitored and we would
> recommend people use designated road crossing points which are located at
> frequent intervals.”
>
> Orcas (and similar products known as Armadillos), such as those used on
> the new Linthorpe Road bike lane, have long been a target of criticism
> from those who believe they are dangerous for all road users.
>
> Last year, Cardiff Council committed to using spray paint to increase the
> visibility of barriers protecting a two-way cycle lane in Roath,
> following reports of “dozens” of pedestrians injuring themselves after
> tripping over the markers.
>
> In 2015, the North East Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) criticised the
> installation of Orcas on the Great North Road in Gosworth, claiming that
> the “obstacles” could result in someone’s death.
>
> Katalina Ferguson, a spokeswoman for the group, said at the time: “It’s
> mad. In order to try and protect cyclists from cars they have sacrificed
> the safety of motorcyclists and scooterists by reducing their available
> road space and then throwing obstacles in their way. In Manchester, where
> these were trialled, even the cyclists are against them.”
>
> https://road.cc/content/news/pensioner-trips-over-cycle-lane-separator-296003#comments
>
>

--
Spike

So "better than paint, but worse than paint"?

Mixed opinions myself, most I've seen present some kind of hazard. (Edinburgh has several generations, both armadillos / orcas and big rectangular lumps). Since they're low vis and people drive into or steal the wands they're not great at night. Not killed me yet though.
Most arrangements of them have gaps so you still find (parked) cars in them.. Despite quite a lot deployed during Covid they haven't produced mass cycling. Indeed I've heard as much negative from people on bikes as walkers.
However I've also spoken to one or two people who say they've allowed them to cycle some places they wouldn't before.

I suspect concrete block barriers with intermittent double-buggy sized gaps would be a better "UK level of cheap and makeshift" way to do this - less trip / wheel or pedal catching potential and more protective. But drivers would hit them and really complain...

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> So "better than paint, but worse than paint"?
>
> Mixed opinions myself, most I've seen present some kind of hazard.
> (Edinburgh has several generations, both armadillos / orcas and big
> rectangular lumps). Since they're low vis and people drive into or steal
> the wands they're not great at night. Not killed me yet though.
> Most arrangements of them have gaps so you still find (parked) cars in
> them. Despite quite a lot deployed during Covid they haven't produced
> mass cycling. Indeed I've heard as much negative from people on bikes as walkers.
> However I've also spoken to one or two people who say they've allowed
> them to cycle some places they wouldn't before.
>
> I suspect concrete block barriers with intermittent double-buggy sized
> gaps would be a better "UK level of cheap and makeshift" way to do this -
> less trip / wheel or pedal catching potential and more protective. But
> drivers would hit them and really complain...
…and doubtless so would cyclists…🙄

--
Spike

When they installed orcas locally, I wrote to the council about this very issue, especially as they are also a problem for cyclists who have to cope with coming out of the bike lane because it hadn't occurred to the designers that not all cyclists wanted to follow the whole route, for minor things like going to my own house, let alone having to leave the lane to avoid all the cars that appreciate the protected parking lane that clearly the council support as there is no enforcement.

So this is an entirely predictable problem. As it is foreseeable, the council should have liability.

After a year, the reflective coating dulls, with no means of cleaning (original cats eyes were designed to clean themselves and modern cats eyes get cleaned by traffic running over them) so they are invisible in poor light, that's when they aren't hidden by leaves because cycle lanes don't need clearing and also are a handy place for householders to pop the leaves they've swept off their gardens.

Here is what I wrote in December 2021

"8. The dividers are an obvious tripping hazard to pedestrians. Aside from the able bodied, any pedestrian of limited peripheral vision (or even a bi-focal wearer) who may otherwise be quite competent to cross the road, may not be conscious of the dividers at their feet, especially as they will be concentrating on the fast moving traffic."

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> When they installed orcas locally, I wrote to the council about this very
> issue, especially as they are also a problem for cyclists who have to
> cope with coming out of the bike lane because it hadn't occurred to the
> designers that not all cyclists wanted to follow the whole route, for
> minor things like going to my own house, let alone having to leave the
> lane to avoid all the cars that appreciate the protected parking lane
> that clearly the council support as there is no enforcement.
>
> So this is an entirely predictable problem. As it is foreseeable, the
> council should have liability.
>
> After a year, the reflective coating dulls, with no means of cleaning
> (original cats eyes were designed to clean themselves and modern cats
> eyes get cleaned by traffic running over them) so they are invisible in
> poor light, that's when they aren't hidden by leaves because cycle lanes
> don't need clearing and also are a handy place for householders to pop
> the leaves they've swept off their gardens.
>
> Here is what I wrote in December 2021
>
> "8. The dividers are an obvious tripping hazard to pedestrians. Aside
> from the able bodied, any pedestrian of limited peripheral vision (or
> even a bi-focal wearer) who may otherwise be quite competent to cross the
> road, may not be conscious of the dividers at their feet, especially as
> they will be concentrating on the fast moving traffic."
>
>

I’ve just looked up these Orcas.

If a cyclist can’t manoeuvre around these, then they shouldn’t be riding a
bike.

I recall the Cycling Proficiency test, it included basic manoeuvring and
control tests - including riding between ‘pucks’ without hitting them or
taking your feet off the pedals, riding between two long planks about 5”
apart, maybe 25 yards long, again without hitting them, keeping feet on
pedals etc. Children of 11 could do this after minimal tuition / practice
and you are whining about huge lumps placed somewhere people should expect
them.

As for pedestrians, these things are HUGE compared to the ‘Normal’ trip
hazards due to uneven pavements etc.

Yep - lots of these founder on "some idiot drove into it / parked their car on top of it - ergo it's a hazard and needs removed!"

I'm waiting for the campaign to remove rail bridges, bollards, houses built on corners..

Funny how no one ever gives a sparrows fart about people tripping up on all the broken pavements caused by vehicles being parked on them, or having to walk in the road because footway blocked by vehicles.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> Yep - lots of these founder on "some idiot drove into it / parked their
> car on top of it - ergo it's a hazard and needs removed!"

> I'm waiting for the campaign to remove rail bridges, bollards, houses built on corners..

Rather in the manner of cyclists demanding this, demanding that…at someone
else’s expense.

🙄

--
Spike

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> Funny how no one ever gives a sparrows fart about people tripping up on
> all the broken pavements caused by vehicles being parked on them, or
> having to walk in the road because footway blocked by vehicles.
Broken pavements have been around for the millennia - since pavements were
invented. Cycling infra is a very recent menace.

--
Spike

One problem I have is with oncoming cars where there are obstructions on their side. They perceive the cycle lane as enterable (regardless of the white line) as the orcas aren't obvious and assume that you will move aside into it and so don't give way but pull out road the obstruction - and then are faced with a mirror-clipping close encounter as the driver with priority has been assuming the oncoming car will concede and the closing speeds require emergency action.

I have seen cars get trapped in panic in the cycle lane - they swerve to avoid the oncoming car then possibly having hit an orca, panic and don't seem able to judge the gaps to get back out.

On 19/09/2022 08:55 am, Spike wrote:

> swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

>> Funny how no one ever gives a sparrows fart about people tripping up on
>> all the broken pavements caused by vehicles being parked on them, or
>> having to walk in the road because footway blocked by vehicles.

> Broken pavements have been around for the millennia - since pavements were
> invented. Cycling infra is a very recent menace.

There were uneven and broken paving stones in the terraced street where
I grew up.

Needless to say, it was not caused by parked vehicles. No-one had a car
and the only motor vehicles the street ever saw were milk floats, bin
lorries and the occasional late night taxi.

I have seen uneven paving stones in Pompeii and on the Via Appia in SE
Rome.

Perhaps Prince Del Boy can tell us how many vehicles the Romans and
Pompeiians had to park on them.

On 19/09/2022 11:46 am, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> One problem I have is with oncoming cars where there are obstructions on their side. They perceive the cycle lane as enterable (regardless of the white line) as the orcas aren't obvious and assume that you will move aside into it and so don't give way but pull out road the obstruction - and then are faced with a mirror-clipping close encounter as the driver with priority has been assuming the oncoming car will concede and the closing speeds require emergency action.
>
> I have seen cars get trapped in panic in the cycle lane - they swerve to avoid the oncoming car then possibly having hit an orca, panic and don't seem able to judge the gaps to get back out.

It is a STUPID approach - perhaps the stupidest ever - to highway
engineering.

Tbh I would like to see the standard roadside railings used to protect cycle lanes. Though as a must it would have a wheelchair or double pushchair sized gap between each panel of railing which would probably save a bit of funds too.

Edit: to clarify I mean the railings that act as plasters to stick on a road when too many pedestrians get in the way and die, not the low long strips used on motorways that will actually stop a car (after several meters

JNugent <jenningsandco@mail.com> wrote:
> On 19/09/2022 11:46 am, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> One problem I have is with oncoming cars where there are obstructions on
>> their side. They perceive the cycle lane as enterable (regardless of the
>> white line) as the orcas aren't obvious and assume that you will move
>> aside into it and so don't give way but pull out road the obstruction -
>> and then are faced with a mirror-clipping close encounter as the driver
>> with priority has been assuming the oncoming car will concede and the
>> closing speeds require emergency action.

>> I have seen cars get trapped in panic in the cycle lane - they swerve to
>> avoid the oncoming car then possibly having hit an orca, panic and don't
>> seem able to judge the gaps to get back out.

> It is a STUPID approach - perhaps the stupidest ever - to highway engineering.

When it comes to cycling and its incessant demands for ever more infra, why
does sense and good engineering go somewhere else?

--
Spike

On Sunday, September 18, 2022 at 9:04:07 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
> Funny how no one ever gives a sparrows fart about people tripping up on all the broken pavements caused by vehicles being parked on them, or having to walk in the road because footway blocked by vehicles.

No they just don’t get it. It is an illness. It is also the ‘I will just be a minute’ brigade. 4x4 completely blocking the path not across but parked up in the direction of the path parallel to their house. 3rd time I saw it, had a few words to say & so far hasn’t happened again.

On Sunday, September 18, 2022 at 9:04:07 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
> Funny how no one ever gives a sparrows fart about people tripping up on all the broken pavements caused by vehicles being parked on them, or having to walk in the road because footway blocked by vehicles.

I had the misfortune of spraining the same ankle three times within mere years of each other- the culprit?

Guess...

ALL of the paving slabs in front of the driveways on my road are broken, ALL of them.

So now if I run, it would be on the road, just like a cyclist!

DO THESE SELFISH MORONS PAY FOR THE DAMAGE THEIR CARS CAUSE? - SJM

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sunday, September 18, 2022 at 9:04:07 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
>> Funny how no one ever gives a sparrows fart about people tripping up on
>> all the broken pavements caused by vehicles being parked on them, or
>> having to walk in the road because footway blocked by vehicles.
>
> No they just don’t get it. It is an illness. It is also the ‘I will just
> be a minute’ brigade. 4x4 completely blocking the path not across but
> parked up in the direction of the path parallel to their house. 3rd time
> I saw it, had a few words to say & so far hasn’t happened again.

But people *do* give a sparrow’s fart about tripping up on all the broken
pavements, because they sue Local Authorities for all that luvverly compo
so beloved if a certain type of cyclist.

--
Spike

On Monday, September 19, 2022 at 5:01:32 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Sunday, September 18, 2022 at 9:04:07 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Funny how no one ever gives a sparrows fart about people tripping up on all the broken pavements caused by vehicles being parked on them, or having to walk in the road because footway blocked by vehicles.
> I had the misfortune of spraining the same ankle three times within mere years of each other- the culprit?
>
> Guess...
>
> ALL of the paving slabs in front of the driveways on my road are broken, ALL of them.
>
> So now if I run, it would be on the road, just like a cyclist!
>
> DO THESE SELFISH MORONS PAY FOR THE DAMAGE THEIR CARS CAUSE? - SJM

Or trucks like this?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FdCFyNVX0Akfp5e?format=jpg&name=medium

HRH Prince Del Boy <swldx...@gmail.com>, speaking to himself, again, wrote:

> On Sunday, September 18, 2022 at 9:04:07 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

>> Funny how no one ever gives a sparrows fart about people tripping up on all the broken pavements caused by vehicles being parked on them, or having to walk in the road because footway blocked by vehicles.

> No they just don’t get it. It is an illness. It is also the ‘I will just be a minute’ brigade. 4x4 completely blocking the path not across but parked up in the direction of the path parallel to their house. 3rd time I saw it, had a few words to say & so far hasn’t happened again.

Ooh!

I bet you're scary when you're riled, Your Royal Highness!

PS: That non-sweating disease you have (just like your obvious kinsman,
the Duke of York)... have you sought treatment for it?

On Monday, September 19, 2022 at 5:46:03 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> >
> > DO THESE SELFISH MORONS PAY FOR THE DAMAGE THEIR CARS CAUSE? - SJM
> Or trucks like this?

No wonder the pavements get smashed to bits and made into trip hazards.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FdChm7eXgAAoGAv?format=jpg&name=small