Better protection coming for cyclists
Cyclist almost impaled himself Tony Reddrop
Replacement of safety railings on Palmerston North’s Fitzherbert Bridge is coming almost too late for a cyclist who nearly came to grief on a broken upright.
A stretch of guard rail was destroyed in a truck crash in August and will finally be repaired next week.
Regular cyclist to Massey University Tony Reddrop said he saw another rider have a lucky escape.
Two cyclists appeared to have bumped as they passed each other, travelling in opposite directions.
The one closest to the traffic fell through the orange netting and on to an exposed metal upright and ‘‘almost impaled himself’’.
‘‘If he had hit hard, he would have been cut to shreds.’’
Reddrop said after witnessing the incident, he felt compelled to persist with getting the city council to do something.
Road planning team leader David Lane said it had taken so long to arrange permanent repairs because the railings had been custom made and replacements could not be ordered off the shelf.
They had to be made to match the originals, which were purposemade about 20 years ago.
That had been done and installation was scheduled to start on Monday.
Lane said the council believed the safety risks were low during the wait for repairs and had not heard of any other accidents or near misses.
‘‘I would have hoped cyclists were exercising due care.
‘‘We do not like to see anybody getting hurt.’’
But he said keeping the pathway open throughout carried fewer safety risks than closing it.
Cyclists and pedestrians would have had to use the raised lane on the upstream side of the bridge instead.
Lane said it would have been dangerous to see people crossing the traffic to use the lane on the other side, which he suspected they would have done rather than taking the long way around using the underpass.