Anti-personnel gate

[Butterfly]

The one good thing, is that they are normally relatively easy to get things like panniers through!

But impossible to get a child seat through.

Some of the Canal ones have had me taking 4 panniers off to get through and even hanging over the canal whilst pushing my bike through a tiny gap . I still met a couple of motorbikes roaring around - they must have lifted them over.

A lot are a pain with a mountain bike and impossible with a trike or a child trailer or a bike seat or a pushchair or a wheelchair. So the people who most want to use a traffic free path then

[ScumOfTheRoad]

You have also got to ask how the Disability Discrimination Act applies to barriers like this.
As has been said above, in our ridiculous society when a few people cause trouble then the rest of us are made to suffer for it.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I would think the railings at the top of the hill are there to stop people driving cars up/down the hill onto/from the main road.

True, but railings are overkill if your purpose is to just stop cars turning into the road; a set of bollards 3ft apart will do that just as effectively but still allow cyclists/pedestrians the choice of crossing at that exact point. No dropped kerb will also discourage motorbikes from trying to sneak through too (although I've seen some just use the existing path to take the short cut).

I agree, they would, and I didn't mean to imply the railings were A Good Thing just because they stopped cars taking a banned turn. As for bollards, I've said in the past that replacing all kerbs with bollards would be a good idea because it would allow cyclists, prams, wheelchairs, etc, to easily get on/off - or rather into/out of - the pavement (or sidewalk or whatever we would call it when it's at the same level as the rest of the road), but prevent cars entering the pedestrian space more effectively than any kerb.

[Wobbly John]

I think you'll find there's four... there are two roads that are crossed with these barriers either side of each road.  

I still think there's 2  -  There's a bridge under the A47.   

[Valiant]

Not very wheelchair friendly are they? Nor easy for people on crutches or visually impaired with the sticks.

[TimO]

I guess the problem is, that anything which can effectively stop a motorbike, will also be problematic for a lot of other users, including us cyclists.

I can't really see how you can effectively stop motorbikes, which after all did evolve from bicycles with the addition of an engine, so are by definition subject to similar limitations in terms of manoeuvring.

The only real difference I can see between a pedal-bicycle and a motorcycle is that the motorcycle tends to be heavier, although you can't really build a barrier based on that since it'll almost certainly also inhibit people in wheelchairs etc.

And of course, even if it's possible to get a pedal powered bicycle through and not a motorcycle, invariably the barrier will block tricycles, recumbents, tandems, trailers, bicycle with panniers, wheelchairs, puchchairs and prams, and probably other things which I haven't thought of.

I'd love to see a design which just blocked motorcycles, but I'm damned if I can see how you can do it, short of a security camera and ANPR (defeated by blocking or removing the number plate of the motorbike).  Image recognition and an electronic gate ?

[David Martin]

Grub, a rocket launcher and a crusher.

That'll do it.

..d

[Butterfly]

Just accept that there will be some motor bikes. They are not likely to be on their own, and 2 lads can lift a motor bike over pretty much any barrier nad the rest would repect a ban or at least proceed with care. The challenge of getting in there is the main point I think. How many motor bikes do you meet on the Tissington trail or the Forest Way?  None or there abouts. Partly because the easy access (gates not barriers mostly) means that the paths are widely and constantly used, so they are not much fun for motor bikes.

[Wendy]

No problem on my 'bent - neither are traffic barriers.  I love the shock/amazement of people in Hyde Park as they realise I'm not going to slow down or go around when I zip underneath.

[nicknack]

Another one in Sittingbourne. I've walked through it loads of times. I always suspected I'd have trouble with the bike.

I got it through after removing the basket and a fair amount of cursing.

And, before anyone says you could have lifted the bars over the top, I should point out that this is the heaviest bike ever made and I don't think I could have done it without even more cursing and a possible hernia.

[Wendy]

I'd be able to ride through that one.

[Rhys W]

They should have those the other way around - narrow at the bottom, wide at the top. Then you could wheel a bike through almost vertical on its back wheel, motorbikes will be too heavy to lift. Just a thought.

[PaulF]

They should have those the other way around - narrow at the bottom, wide at the top. Then you could wheel a bike through almost vertical on its back wheel, motorbikes will be too heavy to lift. Just a thought.

Would be more of a problem for buggies and wheelchairs though - although I'm not sure how friendly that are to them at the moment.

[Rhys W]

A thought that wasn't thought through then! 

[andygates]

Anything that requires strength to get through is immediately a discriminatory barrier to a whole class of users: the disabled, infirm, weak, just plain tired, etc etc. 

These things aren't being invented by every council independently.  Some oik is selling them.  I wonder who that is..?

[TimO]

That sort of design is common enough.  You can get through it OK with a bike carrying no luggage, and probably more easily with drop handlebars.

Straight, and wider handlebars can be problematic, as can luggage, depending on how much you're carrying.  One pannier may fit through OK, but a pair of heavily loaded ones, may not.

How wide they spread out varies, as does the particular shape occasionally.

I bet you could get a lot of smaller mopeds through that gap OK (again, depending on handlebars).

[Cudzoziemiec]

That reminds me, I still have to grink S Glos about this one.

[TimO]

Yikes, that looks rather narrow.

[mcshroom]

What gets me about all the silly gating systems is that they inconvenience a large number of people to prevent an activity that in most places would be very unlikely in any case. I don't think stopping the occasional moped is worth getting in the way of the route's intended users.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I think in some cases they may be intended to stop horse riders too - but again, horses are not really a problem, whereas negotiating these barriers is.

[David Martin]

IMG_4601 by davidmamartin, on Flickr

There do seem to be a number. The ones locally are adjustable. I managed to get an agreement that they would open them fully, and then only close them down id there was a documented and persistent problem.

[Cudzoziemiec]

No adjustability to the ones I've seen round here. I was there again today, by chance at the same time as an elderly couple were trying to get through. One of them had straight bars and couldn't get through, the other had drops, which went through with care - but his shoulders got stuck. 

[fred the great]

Can you turn the bars slightly to get through?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Completely OT question to Yellowhammer: What's that little pack thing under your saddle? It looks very neat! Just the right size for some tools and a sandwich I guess?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Only if it's cucumber. And then I'd need Pims.