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OPINION

Promoting peace, harmony and shared use

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 It's always good to make the best use of your shared spaces. So if you've got a nice pedestrian bridge that's nice and wide, why not PUT A BLOODY GREAT BIG FENCE ACROSS ONE END SO EVERYONE HAS TO GET THROUGH A THREE FOOT GAP?

Honestly, what is the point of this? There were bollards there to stop cars anyway, it won't stop the motorbikes that cut through (which aren't a danger because they always seem to be careful and the path is the width of a road) and it'll just make conflicts where before there were none.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. It's enough to make me want to fire up the angle grinder and dig out the hacksaw.

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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dave atkinson | 14 years ago
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Barrier update: Bath Chronicle picked up the story, read it at http://tinyurl.com/d7l57x

also, read angry malcolm's comments for a laugh. honestly, the boy's very confused. this 'narrow footbridge' is the width of a road. and we shouldn't be bleating about this because he's encountered conflict with cyclists in the past so we can't ask for anything. The barrier makes the conflict more likely, dumbass. think it through.

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dave atkinson | 14 years ago
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incidentally, on the topic of motorbikes i'm a little bit on the fence. it's a pretty obvious cut through on a motorbike, motorbikes are better for cities than cars, and there is (there was) loads of room provided everyone was sensible about it which it seemed they were – although like t1mmyb, i wouldn't want to encourage lots of motor traffic. maybe the most practical thing would be a similar thing to the severn bridge path over the old bridge: mopeds are allowed but not motorbikes (basically bikes that aren't allowed on the motorway), and there's a speed limit of (i think) 10mph

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dave atkinson | 14 years ago
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brill. i'll bring my nice wide trailer down then  1

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t1mmyb replied to dave atkinson | 14 years ago
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Genius! As will I  1

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dave atkinson | 14 years ago
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update: i've asked the councillor responsible for his comments and they've promised to get back to me some time in the next fifteen days. oh, the well oiled gears of local government. anyway, when they do i'll let you know what they were thinking.

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t1mmyb replied to dave atkinson | 14 years ago
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As posted on the Bath Cycling Campaign list, there will be a photo-op at Victoria bridge for the local paper (The Bath Chronicle) at 1pm on Wednesday April 15th.

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dave atkinson | 14 years ago
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panniers: just about. trailer? not without a real fight, and possibly not at all, depending on the trailer.

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t1mmyb | 14 years ago
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I'd seen motorbikes riding across there a few times. While they weren't a problem as such, it sends the wrong message to those on motorbikes who might ride less carefully.

If that's the problem they were trying to solve, however, they've gone about it the wrong way.

Incidentally, an improvement rumoured to be on the cards was better access to the riverside path from Victoria Bridge Road (it's just some fairly narrow & steep steps at the moment). The barriers will only make this less attractive as a link between both sides of the bridge and the riverside path.

Edit: three-foot gap, eh? Can you get through with a trailer, or panniers?

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John_the_Monkey | 14 years ago
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Most of these things are designed by folk whose only experience of cycling is a week or so at centerparcs, I think.

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Flo K | 14 years ago
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Couldn't agree more, you may as well stick cars on it and call it a car park!

The Town Planners must be mad!

Flo

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