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San Jose is adding concrete barriers to bike lanes (cdn.imgchest.com)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/upliftingnews@lemmy.world
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[–] 47 points 5 months ago (5 children)

I've heard a rumour that someone in my town is suing the city because they put up one-meter tall concrete dividers for a bike lane, and they drove into one and flipped over their car. Total write-off

Like, you absolute buffoon, you drove into a wall. Where do you think the blame should lie?

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  • [–] 32 points 5 months ago (4 children)

    That is literally why the most you tend to see is plastic bollards or just a painted line. The cities don’t want to deal with the lawsuits from angry drivers that are more concerned with the damage to their cars than the life they just took.

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  • [–] 5 points 5 months ago

    There is a little more to it than that.

    A barrier has to start somewhere. The blunt end is considered a hazard for cars if it is too close to the lane, called the clear zone. That blunt end is considered very dangerous and either needs to be located out of the clear zone or have expensive and large crash cushions protecting the blunt end.

    It is going to be very difficult finding a civil engineer who will approve installing a blunt end right next to an active travel lane. That makes it useless if you're trying to protect a bike lane next to traffic.

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