CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

Potentially lethal straps...

(32 posts)

  1. neddie
    Member

    ...across George Square:

    Untitled by Ed, on Flickr

    I presume they are there to protect the many pedestrians from drivers using vehicles to create attacks.

    Viewed from the other direction at night, the straps on the right hand side of the picture (with the cones underneath) are virtually invisible, as they present with the thin edge towards the viewer.

    Cyclists have been killed in the past by similar chains across paths/roads like this.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  2. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Anti-terrorist string?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  3. neddie
    Member

    Cyclist decapitation string.

    Also found on George Street:

    https://twitter.com/Lollercake/status/897076394819289088

    Posted 6 years ago #
  4. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Certainly puts the Magdalene Bricks in perspective. That stuff is lethal.

    It wouldn't be a surprise if somebody cut them for safety's sake.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  5. Stickman
    Member

    @iwrats Already done on George St:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/lollercake/status/897922230029504512

    Posted 6 years ago #
  6. piosad
    Member

    Completely unclear. They put them in and out, and they do the same with one way signs trying to prohibit eastbound traffic on the north side. In general there is this year again zero thought about how cyclists coming from the Meadows are meant to get to/from the north/east side of George Sq at Festival time. Some of us still have to work don't they know.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  7. Stickman
    Member

    Lesley Macinnes on the case: should be removed imminently.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  8. Klaxon
    Member

    @edinhelp reply to Lesley: Police say shut up because terrorism.

    May have paraphrased.

    https://twitter.com/edinhelp/status/898906546276630528

    Posted 6 years ago #
  9. Klaxon
    Member

    edited

    Posted 6 years ago #
  10. dougal
    Member

    Police: now proven to not know anything about safety either.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  11. chdot
    Admin

    Irrespective of 'safety', were the G St. ones across the obligatory cycle lane?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  12. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Can two cargo straps really stop a loaded speeding van? If so makes you wonder what all this junk in front of the airport is for.

    Given the twisted and bent state of the city's bollards we'll soon find out I suppose.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  13. gembo
    Member

    Where are the terrorists coming from at that end of George sq? The access is at the other end?

    Yarn bomb the straps?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  14. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @gembo

    Alarm bells are ringing in Cheltenham mate.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  15. gembo
    Member

    Oops, should have encrypted that. Was watching the film The Prestige the other night. Christian Bale writes in a code and the key is Tesla. Nikolai Tesla is played by David Bowie. Then yesterday at work I was proposing a theory about borderline personality disorder and multiple personalities. But then I said. Wait, I have to tell you I was watching the Prestige last night. The others at the meeting accepted this and said it was a good Fillm.

    Cheltenham ladies college ready to yarn bomb?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  16. Frenchy
    Member

    @chdot - I don't think so - I think there was space to the side of the concrete block for cyclists.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  17. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @gembo

    I once appeared on Reporting Scotland talking about yarn bombing and MI5 won't leave me alone now.

    My brother's an expert on personality disorders if you need help with that theory?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  18. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Thinking about these 'block and ratchet strap' arrangements I'll bet they were invented by squadies short of concrete in Iraq.

    Put them in front of a checkpoint and you have a lightweight improvised barrier where you can shoot anyone trying to undo the ratchet prior to an attack.

    Hopefully that's not the arrangement here.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  19. dougal
    Member

    @IWRATS It's exactly same, replacing 'shoot' with 'flyer'.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  20. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    I've perfected a look of unhinged disdain that seems to protect me from flyering, even in the High Street.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  21. Kim
    Member

    As cars are such a risk, surely the most sensible thing Police Scotland could do is to ban them from the whole city during the Festival ...

    ... then forget to let them back in...

    Posted 6 years ago #
  22. Stickman
    Member

    Lots of bins removed at stations etc, so there is precedent...

    Posted 6 years ago #
  23. gembo
    Member

    Cars, vans and lorries are mass weapons of destruction. Can be hired with one piece of photographic I D The number of deaths caused by drivers per year is somehow acceptable. However, jihadi drivers might be unacceptable and might lead to things like the centre's of cities being car free.?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  24. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    That would be a strange way to bring about city centre pedestrianisation but you may be right. I fear they would just switch to unprotected targets.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  25. cb
    Member

    For comparison, last year there was a loosely slung metal chain in the same place.

    I only remember this as, when passing one day, a young chap tried to nonchalantly leap over it before getting his feet tangled in the chain and falling flat on his face.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  26. piosad
    Member

    This morning the straps were coiled neatly away but there was a no entry sign, ignored not just by me (because really?) but also by the delivery lorries coming up the slope. So really if I were up to no good I would just have to wait for a delivery to come through, because deliveries are king.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  27. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    It's security versus théâtre de sécurité as ever. Like at airports where all the mass shuffling, banter prosecution and shoe-removing is designed to give an impression of action rather than to actually prevent anything.

    If you've ever been subject to actual security it looks nothing like the theatrical version and is frightening rather than tiresome.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  28. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    The lower string has now been replaced by a chain and a couple of traffic cones, so all is well and we are safe.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  29. Tulyar
    Member

    Indeed proper security is completely invisible and avoids all this daft pantomime

    Posted 6 years ago #
  30. fimm
    Member

    There are also free-standing crash barriers behind some of them - not to stop anything but does make them more visible... one of the straps has also gained a small strip of bunting!

    Posted 6 years ago #

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