Originally Posted by
freeranger
Total agreement that many(most?) are placed by officials who don't ride. Not too long ago my wife clipped a bollard. It is at the beginning of a 90 degree turn onto a straight and coming the other direction, is at the end of the turn, where the mup goes straight. After falling, we stopped at a nearby kiosk to look her and the bike over. Neither she nor the bike were badly hurt. But a few riders at the kiosk saw her fall and were concerned if she was ok (she was). Several said they had crashed on it also. Contacted the administrators of the mup--nothing has changed.
There's a couple of these on the Nashua River Rail Trail in Pepperell MA, located a few feet from where someone would do a 90 degree turn from the street onto the path. One of them is especially hazardous as the road is both busy and on a slight descent, so people tend to take the turn fast. I was recently going straight on the path across the intersection when a cyclist in front of me turned off of the road into my lane with what should have been plenty of clearance, but then she had to slam the brakes when she realized the bollard was right in her path. It was not a particularly close call for me (it was for her), but she was very apologetic to me. I actually complimented her on her last-second adjustment to a deceptively tricky turn as she obviously had no way to know the bollard was there before she actually turned (parked cars obscure its view from the road).