[BikerB]

Hi,

 

Today i fell in to a slot on a grate whilst cycling my road bike. The bike dropped a significant amount causing me to fly over the handle bars. I’ve smashed up the shifters (still works), slightly buckled my front wheel. and scuffed a couple of things up. Scuffed myself up slightly too.

 

Here is an image of my bicycle with the rear wheel put in the slot – http://s17.postimg.org/9shgd2w1r/2016_04_06_23_26_43.jpg

 

I plan to tell the council about this because it’s pretty dangerous. Other than this is there anything else that i can do? Anything that i can do to squeeze money from somewhere to repair the shifters and the cost of truing the wheel? I’ve had a bike locked up with a d-lock stolen a couple of weeks ago – i really can’t afford for such repairs.

I accept that i was the one who cycled in to the slot and i should have paid more attention but i’ve been cycling on roads nearly everyday for the past 8 years and never had such an issue before or even had to be concerned for such an issue. After my incident i looked at every grate that i passed and no such slot is present on any of them.

 

Thanks

Bobby

 

Topic

[Rapha Nadal]

Peowpeowpeowlasers wrote:

Rapha Nadal wrote:

You might want to factor in the cost of an eyetest and/or glasses as that drain cover is blatantly obvious and you had the rest of the cycle path to use.  Begs the question; why were you riding so close the the edge?

Congratulations, you win the “stupidest post of the day” award.  Your prize is to be told by other posters that it isn’t possible for a rider to see every little hazard there is, and that the people responsible for the roads are expected not to install rubbish like this.

But this will come as a shock to you, what with being perfect.

I’m afraid that drain grate is very visible and appears to be in close proximity to a street light.  We’ll assume that OP was using bike lights in addition to the street lighting. The grate is inside the yellow line which is there to draw attention to things yet the OP choses to ride that close to the edge.

No excuses really.

[fenix]

Out running today I began to
Out running today I began to look out for the grids by me. Quite a few are there with the slats running parallel to the road. Never noticed before whilst cycling but I’d not be riding that close to the kerb.

I’m sure they should be done differently but also we should be looking where we are going.

That said a local driver managed to claim (and complain) when he’d driven into a newly modified sticky out pavement. Personally I think he should have been charged with careless driving.

[fenix]

Out running today I began to
Out running today I began to look out for the grids by me. Quite a few are there with the slats running parallel to the road. Never noticed before whilst cycling but I’d not be riding that close to the kerb.

I’m sure they should be done differently but also we should be looking where we are going.

That said a local driver managed to claim (and complain) when he’d driven into a newly modified sticky out pavement. Personally I think he should have been charged with careless driving.

[Anonymous]

BikerB wrote:

Thank you to the people who gave great advice! I appreciate it! 

Butty wrote:

This should help: http://www.standardsforhighways.co.uk/dmrb/vol4/section2/ha10409.pdf

Para 5.4 page 5/1 confirms how gully pot grates should function.

That’s a great find! Thanks for your time finding it.

 

 

Rapha Nadal and le Bidon, leave your opinions and assumptions at the door.  I’m asking for advice – not for a war with keyboard warriors.

 

Ta. It didnt take much time to find the highways spec as it was related to bit of work I did some time ago regarding sewers.

As for the haters, if the grate was covered in leaves at the time then I bet you’d be full of sympathy. 

Regardless of circumstances, street  ironworks has to be installed correctly to avoid the potential of injury.

Worn manhole covers can cause just as much damage as a pothole to a human, so report them as well.

[BikerB]

Thank you to the people who

Thank you to the people who gave great advice! I appreciate it! 

Butty wrote:

This should help: http://www.standardsforhighways.co.uk/dmrb/vol4/section2/ha10409.pdf

Para 5.4 page 5/1 confirms how gully pot grates should function.

That’s a great find! Thanks for your time finding it.

 

 

Rapha Nadal and le Bidon, leave your opinions and assumptions at the door.  I’m asking for advice – not for a war with keyboard warriors.

[dave atkinson]

I think the point to take

I think the point to take home here is not, “people need to look where they’re going” and rather “people with responsibility for highways shouldn’t introduce dangers when it’s simple, and best practice, not to”

Someone installed the drain cover the wrong way round and you fell off your bike as a direct result. it’s not like a pothole where the council can counter-claim based on a bunch of mitigating factors and a maintenance schedule. it’s just been done wrong. that’s pretty clear cut to me and i’d seek legal advice.

[Accessibility for all]

Rapha Nadal wrote:

You might want to factor in the cost of an eyetest and/or glasses as that drain cover is blatantly obvious and you had the rest of the cycle path to use.  Begs the question; why were you riding so close the the edge?

Congratulations, you win the “stupidest post of the day” award.  Your prize is to be told by other posters that it isn’t possible for a rider to see every little hazard there is, and that the people responsible for the roads are expected not to install rubbish like this.

But this will come as a shock to you, what with being perfect.

[le Bidon]

Clearly, the grate does pose

Clearly, the grate does pose a certain amount of danger. Get some advice, it may be worth pursuing. However – without trying come across as a prick, though perhaps succeeding – there isn’t much to distract at night, so stop whistling and looking off into the distance as you pootle home.

[Rapha Nadal]

You might want to factor in

You might want to factor in the cost of an eyetest and/or glasses as that drain cover is blatantly obvious and you had the rest of the cycle path to use.  Begs the question; why were you riding so close the the edge?

[Anonymous]

Butty wrote:

Looks from the photo like the grate has been laid incorrectly. The gap is required for the hinge to work unimpeded when emptying the gully pot, but is normally orientated to be nearest the kerb.

Irownworks often get lifted during road resurfacing or relaying and may have been re-instated wrongly.

 

This should help: http://www.standardsforhighways.co.uk/dmrb/vol4/section2/ha10409.pdf

Para 5.4 page 5/1 confirms how gully pot grates should function.

 

Seconded – that grate is the wrong way around.  Check-up at the doctor’s and talk to an injury solicitor.

[wycombewheeler]

I think I remember a similar

I think I remember a similar case where a cyclist got trapped in a small gap at the edge of a grate and in that case the council denied there was a defect.

does the white line to the left of the bike in the picture denote the edge of a cycle lane?  If so the slot in the grate seems to be pretty close to the centre of the cycle lane and therefore in a position likely to be used.

I would report to the highways and then claim for damages in the same way as cars damaged by pot holes., nothing to lose really?

[Anonymous]

Looks from the photo like the

Looks from the photo like the grate has been laid incorrectly. The gap is required for the hinge to work unimpeded when emptying the gully pot, but is normally orientated to be nearest the kerb.

Irownworks often get lifted during road resurfacing or relaying and may have been re-instated wrongly.

 

This should help: http://www.standardsforhighways.co.uk/dmrb/vol4/section2/ha10409.pdf

Para 5.4 page 5/1 confirms how gully pot grates should function.

[Author]

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