Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on July 12, 2011 at 12:45pm

As Always, never trust these temporary plates as this often happens.  They can't be overlapped very well and when the big trucks run over them they can shift slightly.  

 

+1 for the good pictures.  Hopefully people reading will see and remember.  We are pretty much on our own out there. 

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Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on July 12, 2011 at 12:46pm

Holy gap Batman!

 

No doubt the work of some joker (or massively incompetent imbecile), Ryan.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Korn on July 12, 2011 at 1:00pm

That kind of stupid BS happens all the time.  Here's a picture from the Halsted bridge over the Congress circle "spaghetti bowl" from way back in 2004 (shown with tall bike for extra danger):

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Permalink Reply by Ryan L on July 12, 2011 at 1:20pm

I've never seen plates laid down like this before so this is a first for me. Surprised that if this situation is that common someone hasn't invented a way to fill the gap.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan L on July 14, 2011 at 1:45am

Went back last night on my way home too check on the status of the plates. Why the hell they couldn't do this from the start is beyond me. Glad it was fixed but I wonder how many man hours were wasted on this not to mention how many people fell into the gap before it was fixed. What a joke.

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Doom on July 14, 2011 at 2:33am

At least they took care of it. A couple of years ago there was a pothole maybe three feet in diameter and two feet deep in 53rd Street after a botched paving job. I had an orange traffic cone for some reason, so I stuck it in there and called 311. The traffic cone stayed there for about three weeks before the hole was fixed.

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Permalink Reply by Joel on July 14, 2011 at 2:43am

The gap wasn't big enough for a car tire to fall through, and that's all they are thinking about.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on July 14, 2011 at 3:12am

I'm glad it got fixed relatively quickly.  Thanks for making that call.

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Permalink Reply by dan brown on July 14, 2011 at 3:18am

nice job ryan. thanks for looking out for all the two-wheelers. I shudder at the ugliness that would undoubtedly ensue should an unsuspecting cyclist encounter that; tire gets stuck in the crack; bike

goes down, cyclists gets hit and injured (or worse?) by a motor vehicle; cyclist sues the city, the driver of the vehicle; and also the (outsourced ?) repair 'crew' that created the problem in the first place, yada yada yada.

 

For those that remember "The Immortal Class" there is a similar story where a very tragic bike accident

occurred as a result of similar moronic stupidity (DuPage county to be exact) and I remember reading

something to the effect of : "...since bikes are not the ___intended users___ (WTF is up with that)   (i.e. they are *allowed* but not *intended*. can you second class citizens???)

of the road the county did not need to take measures to ensure bike safety. what a confederacy of dunces we are dealing with...sheeeesh.

 

nice job calling 311...thanks again

 

DB

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Permalink Reply by Ryan L on July 14, 2011 at 3:43am

Exactly! My first thought was that there was zero consideration for bicycles but it's "good enough for automobiles" and that was the only concern. That tells me either the workers are not trained to think about bicycles which is an internal policy issue or they simply don't care. Active Trans should jump on this issue and find a way to make sure the construction crews responsible for this kind of thing consider the safety of bicycle travel as well as automobiles.

 

BTW, can you imagine what would have happened if someone died from this? Their family would be able to sue for millions and where would that money come from? Taxpayers. Good thing the economy is thriving right now. Oh wait......

Joel said:

The gap wasn't big enough for a car tire to fall through, and that's all they are thinking about.

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Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on July 14, 2011 at 9:48am

Motorcyclists call those suicide plates.  I learned just how dangerous they are as a younger man and now have a knee that will never be right.

 

They are dangerous as hell when wet and tend to move around after they are laid down creating gaps; I've seen gaps large enough to catch a motorcycle tire.  I try to avoid them as much as possible when I see them and dislike riding over them when I have to. 

 

Usually when I see a gap like that I find something to put over it to call attention to it.  Not everyone pays as much attention as they should.

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on July 14, 2011 at 11:04am

I think they are even more dangerous to motorcycles than they are to bikes.  Bikes are more maneuverable and if the rider is paying attention instead of texting on his phone, should be able to see and move around any cracks or just avoid the plates altogether.  Motorcycles are pretty much stuck by law in the traffic lane (at least here in the US outside of S. California),  are moving at higher rates of speed, tend to follow too close to the car in front of us (bad, but if you leave too much gap Chicago idiot drivers will smash right into it with no more consideration than they do to bicycles) and have a much greater PSI on the tire contact patch so the slippery bare metal is even more treacherous. 

 

The damn plates really tend to creep up on you in traffic on a motorcycle even worse than they do for bicycles.   This is why I don't bother to ride in town unless I'm leaving tow or coming home.  It's just not worth it.  A bicycle is more convenient. 

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