Warning, Olympic Road changes

[Penguin68]

A good friend was very severly injured when his bike collided with a newly installed Olypmic 'Zil' lane barrier - he was driving a route he knew well and had not 'registered' the barrier, I suspect only very recently installed. I believe this was a night-time accident, so visibility was possibly also not that good. Do be careful if you are on two wheels (or four) and keep alert to road changes.

Edited to say - No, the accident wasn't in ED, but many of us do go outside ED to travel in London; the injured man is local (SE Londoner).

[titch juicy]

While i'm sorry for your friend and hope he is ok, I suspect the barrier didn't jump out and surprise him.

I would've thought with a little care, any new road or traffic measures can be easily avoided.

[Penguin68]

The barrier may not have moved, but it did surprise him. Like most people he operates at least partly from a model of the world - we actually percieve (see) a very narrow amount - try holding your arms out to the side at eye level and bringing them round towards your nose - you'll be surprised at how long you have to ait to see your fingers, when you 'think' of the world with virtually 180 degrees of view, and act accordingly to that model.

He was driving a route he knew well, his model of that route didn't have a Zil barrier in it, by the time he was aware of that, it was too late to avoid it. We are actually less likely to have accidents in roads we don't know well, when we have to force ourselves to see 'everything'.

I wasn't making an excuse for him, but I know him to be a very experienced driver, so I was alerting readers to avoid the mistake he made. But then, I belong to a species which can make mistakes - I am so glad for you that you don't.

[DJKillaQueen]

The OP has a point though.....the layout and flow of many junctions and roundabouts changed overnight, eliminating some contra flow cycle lanes and there's no signage to indicate the new layout to cyclists. One example is coming off Westminster Bridge to Parliament Square. Buses and cycles had a seperate filter right turn lane. Now you have to go all the way around parliament square to come back on Whitehall. I got caught out by it last night. It seems as though olympic lanes and the flow of those has been given precedent over the safety of some road users.

[giggirl]

The traffic lanes outside my office are one way, except that, overnight, they're not any more. So you have to remember to look both ways before stepping out into the traffic and it doesn't come automatically after all these years of crossing that road. You have to have your wits about you because a lot of the roads that we use have changed overnight.

[Lowlander]

titch juicy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> While i'm sorry for your friend and hope he is ok,

> I suspect the barrier didn't jump out and surprise

> him.

>

> I would've thought with a little care, any new

> road or traffic measures can be easily avoided.

Which is why you often see big red signs with "traffic signal timings changed" or "new road layout ahead".

Yes, you'd think a barrier would be fairly obvious, but as others have stated it's not so straighforward!

[Loz]

Whilst I agree that the road layout changes are a pain, if someone cycles into a stationary barrier I think we can safely assume they aren't paying as much attention to the road as they should. Is anything ever a cyclist's fault?

[Penguin68]

I should have made it clear this was a motorcyle accident, on I think an orbital road. At speed. Hence the seriousness of the injuries.

[DJKillaQueen]

Loz Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Whilst I agree that the road layout changes are a

> pain, if someone cycles into a stationary barrier

> I think we can safely assume they aren't paying as

> much attention to the road as they should. Is

> anything ever a cyclist's fault?

That wasn't my point. Of course I was perfectly aware of the road around me last night but when you have travelled the same route for years, unless a sign tells you there's a new layout and the flow of it (which on Westminster bridge it doesn't, you are suddenly thrown as the brain tries to make sense of it for you. We know the lights have been rephased. We know there are Olympic lanes. They are easy to see. But there are a lack of signs showing the new layout of changes to junctions and roundabouts.....

[titch juicy]

I expect the people that have most trouble understanding the new systems are the same people that won't drive in bus lanes, even when you're permitted to. I had a feller wind down his window and argue with me when driving down the inside of him, using the bus lane (in permitted hours) on east dulwich road, where it meets peckham rye. I pointed out the sign to him, to which he replied, "it doesn't matter, it's a bus lane".

[DJKillaQueen]

There was an article in the times today titch, kind of endorsing what you are saying........that even though there are electronic boards saying when Olympic lanes are operational, many drivers are too scared to drive down them at any time for fear of a fine.