Flexible road signs

[Professor]

Our regional ITV news programme reported today that one of our local
authorities is testing flexible (collapsible) road signs. They
showed a car that recently hit such a sign: damage to car minimal
whereas the sign went down. I don't think South & West Surfers have
tested out these signs yet.

Couldn't find a link on the ITV website, but here is an earlier BBC link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4587629.stm

Long overdue, IMHO! Surely Mr Toad would have appreciated
if the French road sign he encountered were bendy.

[Jelster]

They don't do them in France, ask Toady...

(Sorry Si...)

.

[Peter Henry]

There is a big campaign amongst the biking community here in Spain to get the existing metal armco that lines so many roads changed for a more "human impact friendly" version.

There is a plastic system that does the same job but without the dreadfull injuries the existing type can cause.

Hope he does not take it the wrong way but those terrible injuries that Big Ape suffered would have been nowhere near as serious if this system had been employed. :?

[Well Oiled]

Bendy signs? You'd soon have half the signs in the country flattened by vandalising young buggers with nowt better to do.

[Stig]

There is a big campaign amongst the biking community here in Spain to get the exiating metal armco that lines so many roads changed for a more "human umpact friendly" version.

There is a plastic system that does the same job but without the dreadfull injuries the existing type can cause.

Hope he does not take it the wrong way but those terrible injuries that Big Ape suffered would have been nowhere near as serious if this system had been employed. :?

Eye. :cry:

[SVeeedy Gonzales]

Yeha - do they make one that pops back up afterwards?

No point in the sign, say warning of the sharp bend ahead, going down and saving one person only to endanger or injure hundreds more because there's no longer any warning of the hazard... that's what a lot of the signs are for, ain't they!?

[Diveboy]

Did anyone see the 5th Gear test with the lamppost that was very good. A car drove into a post doing about 60mph with only a little damage. Same thing as the signs I would guess.

[Saint Matt]

I flew into a sign at about 30mph and nearly broke my back and winded myself. Hurt like feck it did. Stopped me going into a barbed wire fence though. I have mixed opinions lol.

[BillyC]

They don't really do them anywhere it seems... if they did, it would have possibly saved the life of a friend of mine, Chutz's and Coombest's. :(

[timwilky]

Sadly far too many bikers are killed by badly engineered roads. The list of poor engineering includes

Killer signs and barriers
Bollards on traffic islands that obstruct drivers views of oncoming LHS of the road.
Walls/hedges that obstruct visability on junctions
speed humps that deflect bikes sideways
Poorly maintained roads
Ironwork on road badly situated

Only once the road engineers start being prosecuted for poor design will things improve

[Diveboy]

Only once the road engineers start being prosecuted for poor design will things improve

Interesting point. I would like to see someone do that.

[Mr Toad]

They are bendy already ](*,)

You just need to apply the right amount of force to make 'em bend :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

[Professor]

They are bendy already ](*,)

You just need to apply the right amount of force to make 'em bend :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

:winner:

[454697819]

Only once the road engineers start being prosecuted for poor design will things improve

Interesting point. I would like to see someone do that.


its interesting to see that under the Construction Design Management regulations it is a fact that everyone in the design through to construction has a liability under H&S law to ensure at all time during construction and after the completed building is occupied that the risk to anyone is minimal and this Always starts at the design stage..

so y this does not extend to the highways i am not sure..

[sharriso74]

Did anyone see the 5th Gear test with the lamppost that was very good. A car drove into a post doing about 60mph with only a little damage. Same thing as the signs I would guess.

Saw that one, The bendy one folded over the car taking the force. Think the problem is there twice as expensive. So instead of having safe road signs we can have the Millenium Dome and the Olympics. Know which one would get my vote. :evil:

[Peter Henry]

Part of the problem here is that the armco barriers are commonly known as "Quita miedos" which basically means to remove fear. Thereby making car drivers feel more secure when travelling along mountainous roads. However it has been proven that the metal zinc coated barriers cause often more damage in car accidents as well as biking one's .The momentum for the campaign I mentioned is gathering pace across europe.

As far as signs are concerned I do not think that it is the material they are made of that is the problem, but more the positioning of them close to the road's edge. Perhaps altering them to have the upright pole much further from the roadside and then bent at right angles at a suitable height,(moving the actual sign itself closer to the vision of the road user) with the sign being clearly shown might be the way forward. :?: 8)

[Diveboy]

So instead of having safe road signs we can have the Millenium Dome and the Olympics. Know which one would get my vote. :evil:

Which one the Dome or Olympics. Come on spill the beans!!! :lol: :lol:

[Stig]

I think from personal experience, maybe they could be built so as NOT to allow a person (me) to get wedged in between them. It was the fact that I slid between and hit the upright that did the massive damage to my body.

Possibly, I may have not been so badly smashed up had I hit the barrier and continued to slid along the length of it, rather than the upright decreasing my speed of slide from 80ish to 0 immediately.

[K]

I seriously think that engineers only ever consider a road as a self-exclusive engineering project, not something that will actually be used by a variety of people and machines.


Kinda like fashion designers never actually seem to consider the 'wearability' of anything they make! :wink: