Originally Posted by
tyrion
At first I thought this was gratuitous danger porn, but a solid pole like that in dappled light could be a killer. I wish the article provided more info like maps and photos from different angles to help us learn how to avoid making hazards like that. It's a learning process, and as we promote bicycling we need better analysis of these kinds of problems.
The path I frequent had a pole just like this that I suppose was to divide traffic near a small bridge 42 years ago. I don't know when it was removed but I'm glad it was. Hopefully it didn't take a serious accident like in the OP to warrant its removal. There was another one about a half mile from it to keep motor vehicles off the path and it was removed in the last 10 years or so. On that one, they left a couple of inches of pipe sticking up that presented a whole new set of problems for just not cyclists, but runners and walkers as well. I understand that in remote areas of rails to trails where some numbskull will try to take a motor vehicle down the path something is needed, but for the most part these things are more harmful than helpful IMHO.