Smartass drivers VS The Bollards!

Jon · Post by **Jon** » 2006-11-18 02:12pm

In the city in which I live, there are certain roads in the city centre which are not allowed to be used by anything but buses during the daytime, and have automatic raising bollards to keep cars out. This is because in the past, idiot drivers speeding around the city centre have caused many accidents and so the roads were partially pedestrianised and open only to the free bus which drives slowly and scoots people around.

But some drivers have to be smart arses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EyXEY88pLE

Enjoy. There's currently a bit of a debate about removing these bollards because of the 'danger' they present. To whom? Idiots who can't read no entry signs? Fuck em.

Tasoth · Post by **Tasoth** » 2006-11-18 02:36pm

Aside from the potential injury the idiots may or may not have inflicted on their child, that's pretty funny.

fusion · Post by **fusion** » 2006-11-18 02:41pm

That is funny that someone saw the post and then tried to follow a bus through them.
Make them out of a gaint airbag

Post by **Dalton** » 2006-11-18 03:07pm

This is fucking awesome. Fuck the assholes. I wish we had devices like that in America.

Post by **weemadando** » 2006-11-18 04:38pm

HAHA!

Its like watching people here trying to skive out of a 60c parking fee by tailgating out of a carpark. Only to have their windscreen smashed by the big heavy boom gate dropping like a rock.

I had seriously hoped that it would only be one driver in the movie. But then I forgot what a seriously large portion of humanity consists of retards.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2006-11-18 09:09pm

Although funny, this doesn't belong in AMP.

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2006-11-19 03:41am

Damn, they pop back up fast... Are they on a timer or is there some kind of sensor device that extends them as soon as the bus passes clear? I'm guessing the latter, given the different lengths of buses.

The only issue I see is that in the one impact, the car's rear end seemed to drift over towards the sidewalk where people were standing.

I wonder if those tire-shredders might be better? They could spring up just as fast and then you have people just needing to replace some tires if it's an honest mistake. The things popping up suddenly could potentially result in injuries, but perhaps that risk is minor.

Siege · Post by **Siege** » 2006-11-19 11:22am

We have one of those things over here as well, and although they do not rise nearly as fast as the one in that movie, the mother of a friend of mine managed to get her car actually lifted into the air by the bollard. Chassis got torn up, car was a total loss... 'Course it was a little Fiat, not one of those funky multi-ton SUVs, but still. Things can be real nasty to a car...

Vanas · Post by **Vanas** » 2006-11-19 11:35am

They need to make a display of wrecked car parts mounted on a pike by each one as a warning to the others.

Ubiquitous · Post by **Ubiquitous** » 2006-11-19 01:58pm

I saw this on the local news last week. Whilst it was funny, I have to question whether it is justifiable to cause so much damage to a vehicle when a simple ticket would probably suffice - give someone a £60 fine and three points by tagging their number plate, and I am sure they won't do it again. Breaking a car in this fashion could cause serious injury to passenger and members of the public nearby.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2006-11-19 02:12pm

Ubiquitous wrote:I saw this on the local news last week. Whilst it was funny, I have to question whether it is justifiable to cause so much damage to a vehicle when a simple ticket would probably suffice - give someone a £60 fine and three points by tagging their number plate, and I am sure they won't do it again. Breaking a car in this fashion could cause serious injury to passenger and members of the public nearby.

I don't think 3 points is a sufficient deterrent for anything. Almost everyone I know has multiple points on their license, and they still habitually break speed limits.

This kind of thing is the perfect deterrent to the kind of wanker drivers that seem to inhabit Britain's roads, perfectly sure that the law simply doesn't apply to them. If they fuck their car up, and it's so clearly their own fault through reckless driving that their insurance company can simply tell them to piss off, they're damn sure not to do it again.

Zed Snardbody · Post by **Zed Snardbody** » 2006-11-19 03:31pm

Ubiquitous wrote:I saw this on the local news last week. Whilst it was funny, I have to question whether it is justifiable to cause so much damage to a vehicle when a simple ticket would probably suffice - give someone a £60 fine and three points by tagging their number plate, and I am sure they won't do it again. Breaking a car in this fashion could cause serious injury to passenger and members of the public nearby.

Your bus lanes are clearly marked with do not enter signs, these things are probably common knowledge in the parts of the country where they're used. Its they're own damn fault. I just can't seem to muster the sympathy for anyone, save a brand new driver who may not know, but if they're driving properly, ie not following to closely, they should be fine anyway.

Ubiquitous · Post by **Ubiquitous** » 2006-11-19 04:15pm

I am not sure whether the road in question is even a bus lane. If memory serves, the road is open to all traffic between 2300-0700 when the bollards are lowered. Business vehicles use the road to deliver goods to the dozens of shops inside the zone, including M & S, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. The road in question is also not the type that people would use frequently, as it is located in the very centre of town. On a few occasions when I first started driving I became hopelessly lost in the morass of busy roads, one way systems and traffic calming measures in Manchester city centre. It is easy to see how any driver could become confused and end up going down the 'wrong' road. If trailing a bus, the bollards and warning can easily be blinded, particularly if one is paying extra attention to the road with all those shoppers around.

In response to Vendettas point - I am the exact opposite and I know hardly anybody with a single point. Anyone who does not respect penalty points is a moron, or a rich brat who has no concept of money and thus can ignore the penalty brought upon by the points. With the six points and your out scheme for all young novice drivers, three points on their license would be a severe problem, not to mention the increase in insurance costs that this would instigate. For an experienced driver, three points is a quarter of the way towards a ban that could destroy their career, their hobbies and their social life.

It is not the governments job to destroy private property in order to get its point across. Put a camera up, bust anyone that goes down the road [also a nice revenue raiser for local government] with three points and the standard £60 fine. Don't destroy someone's car for what may have been an honest mistake.

Jon · Post by **Jon** » 2006-11-19 04:50pm

The thing is though, the bollards aren't there to cause damage to vehicles like that, this is just what happens when smart arses try to get over them before they're back up. It's not like they installed them and thought 'Great, now we can fuck up any cars that try to pass' on purpose, it's just a side effect of the bollards raising and idiots trying to follow buses through.

Given you know the area Ubiq, aye I do believe that these are the bollards at the St Annes Sq entry, which indeed are down between 11PM-7AM, but as the video clearly shows, when they are in operation during the daytime there are highly visible no entry signs. But I'd say before the bollards were in, cars coming off Deansgate, a very busy through centre road as I'm sure you know, often shot up there trying to shortcut through the centre. In both cases in the video where cars get caught, they're both well aware of what they are doing, not accidently following the bus and being caught off guard. The first driver backs up and waits for a bus to come and tries to follow it through, the second arsehole comes flying down there and gets caught as they raise- it's pricks driving at that speed in the city centre that caused so many accidents on those roads in the first place. As for the van at the end, that may well have been a mistake on the driver's part given he follows another van through.

The only bad thing about them I'd agree with others is the danger presented to innocent bystanders, in which case perhaps an automatic gate would be better or something, but no matter what was there you'd still have people trying to get through. The camera/fine deterrent is an interesting idea though- Bring on congestion charging.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-11-19 05:43pm

Ubiquitous wrote: In response to Vendettas point - I am the exact opposite and I know hardly anybody with a single point. Anyone who does not respect penalty points is a moron, or a rich brat who has no concept of money and thus can ignore the penalty brought upon by the points. With the six points and your out scheme for all young novice drivers, three points on their license would be a severe problem, not to mention the increase in insurance costs that this would instigate. For an experienced driver, three points is a quarter of the way towards a ban that could destroy their career, their hobbies and their social life.

That rich brat better like taking his test again or having a chauffeur, because money does not make points go away, unlike simple fines.

It is not the governments job to destroy private property in order to get its point across. Put a camera up, bust anyone that goes down the road [also a nice revenue raiser for local government] with three points and the standard £60 fine. Don't destroy someone's car for what may have been an honest mistake.

I have no sympathy for idiots. Only idiots do things like that. An honest mistake is backing up into a bollard when reversing into a parking space, not trying to access an area for authorised people only.

Yeah, they have these near the Arndale Centre in Manchester, though they're a lot slower going up and now one really tries to go through that road anyway. They also have lights telling you they're rising. You'd have to be truly simply to ride over one rising at maybe 5 cm/s and incur damage.

Still, great video. Honestly, these people think they can run these bollards when they're no different to barriers at car parks. You're an idiot if you think you can tailgate and rush past them in time.

tim31 · Post by **tim31** » 2006-11-19 07:00pm

How do they operate? Do the bus drivers have a transponder or proxy device that they scan?

I'm totally in favor of this, I want to see them in Australia. We have a massive problem with parking at work- I'm the night manager of a large hotel, and with no carpark-porter on during the night, people will park wherever they want, even when there are no spaces left, even though we tell them that if there aren't any spaces left, we give them free parking at a very-nearby secure 24 hour multistory.

The problem is, people are so used to getting where they want to go in their cars, they don't want to walk any further than they could possibly have to.