On 8/30/2020 12:31 AM, Joy Beeson wrote:
On Sat, 29 Aug 2020 09:38:23 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote:

... I ran into a post on
the recreationway and fell off my bike. (I had also put the tomatoes
into grocery bags, and pulled the handles of the bags through the
wires before tying them elsewhere. And I bought only bite-size
tomatoes.)

I had met only one person on the recreationway, and that a mile back,
so I was lollygagging along thinking about everything except what I
was doing when I came to a "no motor vehicles execept ambulances" gate
and steered without thinking onto the narrow path around it.

The gates are put on wide spots, so that there is pavement left over
when they put in a gate wide enough to let a motor vehicle in.

Then I noticed that the edge of the pavement was a sheer drop-off into
a stone-filled ditch and my hands were nowhere near the brakes. I
instinctively twitched left and caught the top of the gatepost right
in the sternum.

The middle and ring fingers of my left hand were sore. The middle
finger stopped hurting on the way home; the ring finger got swollen.
It's quite sore, but doesn't mind typing much.

It did object when I scratched my head just now.

My chest is sore, but I haven't developed a mark yet.

Posts or bollards in paths are signs of an ignorant designer. AASHTO
standards have advised strongly against them for decades, yet they seem
to be the default choice for excluding motor vehicles.

One of our club's best riders crashed and was knocked out last year,
despite falling onto a crushed limestone trail and despite her magic
hat. She was swerving suddenly to avoid a bollard. I'm very aware of
them and call out warnings when riding with others.

You're lucky, Joy. It could have been much worse.
https://www.bicycling.com/news/a2003...arked-bollard/

--
- Frank Krygowski