Paul Jakma's Blog

Glasgow City Council have acted on my previous complaint to them, on the part about a bollard with a strange bit of jagged, rusty metal on top at the access to the quiet side road off the Broomielaw/A814, by having their cycling officer inspect it. The officer has found that it’s safe – sufficiently at least that no action will be taken it seems. I’ve taken photos of it, to see if anyone else might agree with me…

Here’s the bollard:

Jagged, rusty metal on bollard, at side-road access on A814

Part of the problem with it is that the row of bollards here run parallel with the A814, rather than being more square across the entrance and to the A814. This means that any cyclist who is coming down the A814 (e.g. because they don’t fancy the shared-use path that forces cyclists to slow to a crawl for deliberate obstacles, which is there because of a potentially dangerous car-park entrance), which usually has to be at speed to placate the many terribly impatient motor vehicle drivers out there, and who wishes to enter that quiet side-road has to try negotiate a very tight angle between this rusty, jagged bollard and the light post:

View of the angle between the jagged metal bollards and traffic-light-post, on approach from A814

Every time I go through there, I worry that if I brake too hard on the A814 to prepare for the turn, that the motorists behind will plough into me. Then I worry I’m going to get caught on that nasty bollard as I go through there.

So, is the council right to leave this apparently broken & disused bollard in place?