Bike "facilities", you gotta love them, at least for the giggle

'So perhaps what's needed is education and publicity campaigns from the bike lane people, saying "By the way, our bike lanes can get you killed."' -- Frank Krygowski

I was thinking kind thoughts of you on Tuesday, Franki-boy. Not a normal thing for me to do, but I wasn't in a normal situation. I was on foot, waiting for my driver outside the Cork University Hospital, studying bike lanes painted on a six lane highway, with bus lanes as well, thinking that you would have an apoplectic fit at the incompetence of this lot.

What I will now describe lies between two major campuses of tertiary education and on several school routes too, and is surrounded by dense residential areas, and flanked by the most important hospital in the region and a major mall, all places to which one would ideally like to encourage bicycle traffic.

From the city side, the 30 inch narrow bike lane runs alongside the sidewalk until it dead-ends in a bus stop zone, from where, if a bus pulling in to the stop hasn't rearended the cyclist, the bike lane then suddenly continues between two lanes of motor traffic on the far side of a lane. There is no indication of how the cyclist is supposed to get from the end of one bit of cycle lane to the next bit. Supposing the cyclist then survives crossing the lane of fast-moving traffic, only twenty yards further is set of lights. Good luck to the cyclist trying to turn into the hospital gates from the centre of several lanes of traffic, and across several lanes of traffic traveling the other way (which is why I assume the lane is placed so awkwardly). After the lights the cyclist, in his own narrow lane before the lights, is in -- limbo: the cycle lane has now moved back across two lanes of fastmoving traffic, collected from four entry points to this section of the road, to adjacent to the sidewalk again. Dunno how the cyclist is supposed to get there.

Junior doctors inside the hospital, whose main gate is marked by the lights, call cyclists "organ donors". I'm not surprised.

These particular cycle "facilities" have the bike racks in my town, whose installation was a big deal with me pontificating on national TV and the minister basking in the rosy glow of approbation but in which I've never seen a single bike parked because they're in entirely the wrong place, beaten hollow for stupidity.

Andre Jute
Bike "facilities", you gotta love them, at least for the giggle

Andre Jute writes:

What I will now describe lies between two major campuses of tertiary
education and on several school routes too, and is surrounded by dense
residential areas, and flanked by the most important hospital in the
region and a major mall, all places to which one would ideally like to
encourage bicycle traffic.

Bike traffic to a hospital is neither expected nor encouraged around
here. I've ridden to the local hospital a few times, mainly for
scheduled lab work or scans. No bike racks anywhere, I just lock it to
a handrail. Once, at the end of a ride, to clean up some road rash on
my forearm. I would have been fine rinsing it off and putting on a
bandage, but my riding partner, an orthopedic surgeon, insisted on
stopping and doing it right. He doesn't fool around---the cleaning was
way more painful than the crashing.

--
Joe Riel

On 7/31/2014 4:31 PM, Joe Riel wrote:
Andre Jute writes:

What I will now describe lies between two major campuses of tertiary
education and on several school routes too, and is surrounded by dense
residential areas, and flanked by the most important hospital in the
region and a major mall, all places to which one would ideally like to
encourage bicycle traffic.

Bike traffic to a hospital is neither expected nor encouraged around
here. I've ridden to the local hospital a few times, mainly for
scheduled lab work or scans. No bike racks anywhere, I just lock it to
a handrail. Once, at the end of a ride, to clean up some road rash on
my forearm. I would have been fine rinsing it off and putting on a
bandage, but my riding partner, an orthopedic surgeon, insisted on
stopping and doing it right. He doesn't fool around---the cleaning was
way more painful than the crashing.


The twist in that story is you're much more likely to
contract MERSA or c.diff or some other heinous creeping crud
in a hospital than from a roadway.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...nfections.aspx

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

AMuzi writes:

On 7/31/2014 4:31 PM, Joe Riel wrote:
Andre Jute writes:

What I will now describe lies between two major campuses of tertiary
education and on several school routes too, and is surrounded by dense
residential areas, and flanked by the most important hospital in the
region and a major mall, all places to which one would ideally like to
encourage bicycle traffic.

Bike traffic to a hospital is neither expected nor encouraged around
here. I've ridden to the local hospital a few times, mainly for
scheduled lab work or scans. No bike racks anywhere, I just lock it to
a handrail. Once, at the end of a ride, to clean up some road rash on
my forearm. I would have been fine rinsing it off and putting on a
bandage, but my riding partner, an orthopedic surgeon, insisted on
stopping and doing it right. He doesn't fool around---the cleaning was
way more painful than the crashing.


The twist in that story is you're much more likely to contract MERSA
or c.diff or some other heinous creeping crud in a hospital than from
a roadway.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...nfections.aspx

Another teammate I was riding with also crashed (different ride, much
later) and had a similar amount of road rash. Coincidentally he, too,
is a doctor (anesthesiologist). Don't know how he treated it, but he
did get a nasty flesh-eating bacterial infection. Was out of action for
a while. I assumed it was from the road, but maybe he had it with him
(work related).

--
Joe Riel

On Thu, 31 Jul 2014 14:31:11 -0700, Joe Riel wrote:

Bike traffic to a hospital is neither expected nor encouraged around
here.

They built a recreationway close enough to our hospital campus that I
often see medical personnel taking a walk on the boardwalk. No bike
racks, but I usually find a flagpole when I'm going in for tests. Been
a while; I had bruised ribs when my elective X-ray came due last fall,
then the weather turned nasty, then I forgot all about it.

Most of my visits, I'm passing by and stopping to leave old magazines
in the waiting room, so I just lean the bike on the wall under a
window. (When I go to the emergency room for real, I go by car -- and
have a novel in my purse.)

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

Op donderdag 31 juli 2014 23:31:11 UTC+2 schreef JoeRiel:
Andre Jute writes:



What I will now describe lies between two major campuses of tertiary

education and on several school routes too, and is surrounded by dense

residential areas, and flanked by the most important hospital in the

region and a major mall, all places to which one would ideally like to

encourage bicycle traffic.



Bike traffic to a hospital is neither expected nor encouraged around

here. I've ridden to the local hospital a few times, mainly for

scheduled lab work or scans. No bike racks anywhere, I just lock it to

a handrail. Once, at the end of a ride, to clean up some road rash on

my forearm. I would have been fine rinsing it off and putting on a

bandage, but my riding partner, an orthopedic surgeon, insisted on

stopping and doing it right. He doesn't fool around---the cleaning was

way more painful than the crashing.



--

Joe Riel

Just the the other way round here (The Neterlands). When I'm going to the hospital for donating blood going by bike is much easier. With a car you are first in sort of a traffic jam, then you have to park your car way back and have to pay for that (it's is refunded by the blood organisation). After you are finished you have to walk back to your car and wait in line for the ticket machine. With your bike you can park within 50 m from the entrance:



It is all about choices.

Lou

On Thu, 31 Jul 2014 21:34:54 -0300, Joy Beeson
wrote:

On Thu, 31 Jul 2014 14:31:11 -0700, Joe Riel wrote:

Bike traffic to a hospital is neither expected nor encouraged around
here.

They built a recreationway close enough to our hospital campus that I
often see medical personnel taking a walk on the boardwalk. No bike
racks, but I usually find a flagpole when I'm going in for tests. Been
a while; I had bruised ribs when my elective X-ray came due last fall,
then the weather turned nasty, then I forgot all about it.

Most of my visits, I'm passing by and stopping to leave old magazines
in the waiting room, so I just lean the bike on the wall under a
window. (When I go to the emergency room for real, I go by car -- and
have a novel in my purse.)

"When I go to the emergency room for real, I go by car -- and
have a novel in my purse."

You give "Disaster Preparedness" a whole new meaning :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Thu, 31 Jul 2014 17:13:20 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

The twist in that story is you're much more likely to contract MERSA
or c.diff or some other heinous creeping crud in a hospital than from
a roadway.

True, which is one of the reasons that hospital stays are shortened as
much as possible. At home you're just surrounded by the germs you
already have and those haven't killed you. In the hospital they have
new and improved germs.

http://303cycling.com/evan-semon-cyc...ielder-gallery

Per Andre Jute:
..the bike racks in my town... in which I've never seen a single bike parked because they're in entirely the wrong place, beaten hollow for stupidity.

They need to learn from the employers I have worked for here in the USA:
the proper placement for bike racks is out behind the building -
waaaaaay behind the building where the dumpsters are and as far away
from the entrance as possible.
--
Pete Cresswell