Dont know if anyone else has spotted this:
As published in the Mahurangi & Nothern Matters:
Motorcyclists oppose ‘cheesecutter’ barriers
The installation of wire rope barriers alongside State Highway One south of Wellsford has brought the “cheesecutter” issue close to home for local motorcyclists.
The barriers hit the news recently when a 21-year-old crashed his bike at high speed on Auckland’s southern motorway and was cut in half by the wires. Motorcycle groups around the country are asking for a moratorium on the use of the barriers, which they say not only dismember bikers but can also slice through car pillars and kill the occupants.
Automotive journalist and motorcycle enthusiast Peter Callen, who was part of a group visiting the Puhoi Pub recently, says the barriers are a budget solution to the problem of head-on crashes.
“Transit is taking a cavalier attitude to people’s lives,” he says. “When it comes to cars they will prevent a few head-ons, but everyone I speak to on two wheels is one hundred percent opposed to those cheesecutters.”
Transit New Zealand’s northern operations manager, Joseph Flanagan, says the Dome Valley has one of the highest crash rates in the country through vehicle loss of control. The flexible wire rope barriers are used on the sides of the road not because they are cheaper, but because they contain vehicles more effectively than semi rigid barriers, preventing them from bouncing back onto the road and potentially causing a head on crash with more severe injury consequences.
“There is no evidence of wire rope barriers posing any more of a danger to motorcyclists than other barriers,” Mr Flanagan says.
“Motorcyclists are likely to sustain similarly serious injuries if they were to crash into another type of barrier or, if the barrier was not there, into oncoming traffic or a roadside hazard.”
Mr Flanagan says Transit continues to exchange ideas and experience with its colleagues overseas and is keeping a watching brief on trials of products aimed at making barriers more forgiving if hit by a motorcyclist.
“We’ll also be looking for opportunities to meet with motorcyclists to hear their concerns and share information with them.”
Hundreds of motorcyclists took part in several protest rides last month, and a petition is circulating asking for a moratorium on the construction of wire-rope barriers until officials examine the international evidence and develop traffic barrier options that are safer for bikers. To find out more visit www.cheesecutters.co.nz.
So i now have a choice if a car crosses the middleline. I hit the car or aim for the Wire Barrier.....
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Originally Posted by MadDuck
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