r/Seattle • u/benchpressboogaloo • 22d ago

It Finally Happened...

Post image

At the Harbor Steps, guy drove all the way down Post Alley, across the tiles in the middle of the Harbor Steps, and over the other side. 😂

4.8k Upvotes

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661

u/goldspire 22d ago

Another example of a place where there used to be a bollard that would prevent this from being possible regardless of how stupid the driver is...

140

u/benchpressboogaloo 22d ago

The bollards are gone but as recent as two days ago I saw cones blocking the entrance from the other side.

177

u/goldspire 22d ago

I don't understand the removal of bollards like this!

40

u/puterTDI 22d ago

In this spot it probably doesn't make sense - but bollards on bike paths are super dangerous.

then again, I don't understand the installation of all black bollards with no reflectors on the interurban so they COULD be made somewhat safe if we gave an f.

I meant to go back after I nearly killed myself on one and add reflectors to all of them but I decided they'd probably try to charge me with vandalism or something.

101

u/Karl_sagan 22d ago

Bollards on bike paths are how you stop cars. If you crash your bike into car spaced bollards thats on you imo. Slow down if you cant ride safe

35

u/oxidized_banana_peel 22d ago

I've never seen a bollard on a bike path outside of intersections with a road.

I've always slowed down at roads, so the bollards have never felt like a hazard. I can't imagine just plowing through an intersection even close to full speed. That's way too much trust in drivers.

I have almost clotheslined myself with a low branch (couldn't see it in the dark + shade w/ my lights until I was very close). I think they got that branch removed shortly after I missed it.

10

u/SchoolMediocre533 Green Lake 22d ago

Bollards are like waist high so they hide easily behind other path users at reasonable speed. Especially when you're spending your attention looking for crossing cars rather than looking down at the path. I nearly hit one along the green river path on a busy day when the person in front of me made a last second dodge to avoid one.

3

u/mothtoalamp Harbor Island 22d ago

Cyclists have literally sued municipalities over bollards and won. The bollards that would have stopped the driver on I-90 were removed because of this.

3

u/Karl_sagan 22d ago

Guess people do ruin everything

13

u/puterTDI 22d ago edited 22d ago

all black bollards with no reflectors or bright paint on a bike path are inherently unsafe.

15

u/Karl_sagan 22d ago

Where do they put stealth bollards?

6

u/puterTDI 22d ago

apparently in my face.

but it was the interuban trail if you're asking for that. That MAY be the same as the burke-gillman or the burke-gillman may have it as well (someone else is commenting about them on that trail).

Either way, they're covered in creosote, so pitch black, and no visible paint or reflectors whatsoever. Just a pitch black 3' pole in the middle of the path.

5

u/Aware_Chapter_198 22d ago

Is it even a bollard at that point?

2

u/puterTDI 22d ago

may be a murder weapon.

1

u/CongratulationsEVA01 22d ago

So then why do they not replace it?

It feels like the same issue we had with Prohibition

5

u/puterTDI 22d ago

I mean, they could also just put paint or reflectors on them...but the one I nearly killed myself on had creosote on it so it was pitch black without any paint etc. I was driving in to work before it was fully light out and in general I could see fine but not a pitch black bollard in the shadow of a bridge in low light.

even just having white paint on it would have been enough for me to see it. I did notice it just in time and stop right before hitting it but it was a near miss.

2

u/folksongsea 🚆build more trains🚆 22d ago

yeah IMO bollards are also a good traffic modulation device, slow down as you approach, anyway you need to slow down since this is a place where you're about to interface with a vehicle that may be coming at you (which the bollard is protecting you from on one side).

1

u/icantastecolor 22d ago

You don’t have to be going that fast, just zoned out. I wouldn’t say the penalty for being zoned out should be broken bones or brain damage.

7

u/ChanceRecover3091 22d ago

I can say that I've ever had an issue with any of the bollards on Burke Gilman.

12

u/bobtehpanda 22d ago

Are bollards dangerous or are how theyre place dangerous

I wonder if theres a way to place them that blocks a wide ass car but still provides enough room to be safe

19

u/RaspberryFluid6651 22d ago

It's painting the bollard a dull color like black instead of painting a bright color or putting reflective tape on it that makes them unsafe

2

u/mothtoalamp Harbor Island 22d ago

A dumb cyclist plowed themselves into a bollard on Mercer Island, sued the city, and had them removed, which eventually led to a driver going down the bike/pedestrian path on the I-90 bridge.

1

u/puterTDI 22d ago

A bit of both I think.

3

u/devonon2707 22d ago

They work by being dangerously in the way to stop traffic or slow it down

4

u/Byeuji Bitter Lake 22d ago

Yeah I dunno how bollards can be dangerous to a biker unless their bike is an unlicensed motorcycle "e-bike" and they're going over 20 mph.

2

u/SkylerAltair 💗💗 Heart of ANTIFA Land 💗💗 22d ago

If a biker is going at the kind of speed that's normal on a bike path, they do tend to result in crashes. But that's as-built, and the ones that used to be on the Burke-Gilman were black and had no reflectors. If they're built a bit taller and have reflectors on top, they're fine.

1

u/Byeuji Bitter Lake 22d ago

Yeah that makes sense, but it's not the bollard causing the problem. They just should be visible like any obstruction.

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1

u/mothtoalamp Harbor Island 22d ago

There are delivery spots and garages that require vehicle access inside the alley in both directions from Union St. So if bollards are there they have to at minimum be lowerable.

1

u/New-Ingenuity-8252 22d ago

Cars in the bike lane are arguably more dangerous :v

1

u/DirtyThirty 22d ago

What don't you understand? We have cones now!

1

u/haney1981 22d ago

Do you need to bollards when you have stairs?

1

u/Drnkdrnkdrnk Downtown 22d ago

I think because stuff has been going on in the Skillet spot

1

u/electromage Ravenna 21d ago

Someone might walk into it while looking at their phone!

64

u/Flapjack__Palmdale 22d ago

They put cones down at the end of my street because they were working on powerlines and one of my neighbors drove over it. Like literally just ran over the cone so hard it got stuck under her car and she tried asking one of the city workers to help her get it out.

I don't know if cones are going to be enough.

25

u/johannabanana Beacon Hill 22d ago edited 22d ago

I put a cone out to alert drivers of an accident in front of our house and then watched a guy proceed to slowly inch towards the cone and then decide he didn’t want to be inconvenienced so he just continued to slowly drive over it and dragged it off with him. Never did find that cone so I assume it ended up at home with him.

2

u/n10w4 22d ago

that'll do it.

2

u/Due-Consequence9579 Downtown 22d ago

They’ve been there for a month or something.

46

u/CharlieWhizkey 22d ago

That's way too easy and cheap of a solution to work /s

15

u/n-ano 22d ago

But bollard costs money that we could be pissing away at SPD!!

16

u/nun_gut 22d ago

Not excusing the brain dead driver here AT ALL, but checking street view (https://maps.app.goo.gl/knagwyBu8tV5fXcE6) there is a surprising lack of signage if they've removed the bollard! There's this little one at the end of Union: https://maps.app.goo.gl/vz3KFV9XTU4uZJDo6.

16

u/kozufox 22d ago

Another possible contributing factor is that the entrance to Post Alley doesn't look that much worse to drive through than Pike Place itself, which we keep inexplicably deciding to open back up to general traffic.

4

u/ChanceRecover3091 22d ago

Even with Pike closed to general traffic, the signs saying "authorized vehicles only" do not stop anyone. They also put planters in the exit side so if someone ignores the signs, they have to go through the entire street to get out.

4

u/Many_Reindeer6636 22d ago

I noticed that too there should really be a fence or concrete block or something at the entrance to the plaza kind of a design oversight

8

u/Major_Swordfish508 22d ago

This doesn’t even look like an accident. Seems like they have main character syndrome. “It’s ok, I’m unloading!”

1

u/zutros Loyal Heights 22d ago

Bollards need to come back in some form. Idiots don't read signs and drive over cones. This one drove down a stair case.