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Why do cars keep mounting barriers?

A motorist just absolutely biffed it in New York

A car on a barrier in New York Photo by: NYCBikeLanes
May 17, 2023
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Another day, another car mounting a barrier. It’s astonishing. How fast do you need to be going? How little attention must you be paying? Are people on their phones? Are they just really, really bad drivers?

The NYC Bike Lanes Twitter account posted a photo of a driver in New York that was completely on top of a barricade between a road and bike lane. It linked back to a Reddit thread, and pretty much everyone had the same reaction: WTF?

Worldly_Bid_2813 said, “How do people manage to do this? Like what is so important that you have to be in a rush like this when there’s literally traffic EVERYWHERE.”

“You actually don’t have to be going fast at all to do this, but you do have to be clueless about your surroundings,” freeradicalx pointed out.

It’s something that has happened several times in Canada as well. There was the famous event in Vancouver when a car did this, and a local radio host blamed the barrier…not the driver.

A motorist drove right over a giant barrier and Cycling Twitter ™ is having a field day

And more recently, in Toronto, a car was absolutely ramped on one.

Another vehicle has jumped a barrier, this time in Toronto

As much fun as it is to laugh at crappy drivers, it’s a much more serious issue. “If it wasn’t concrete, it’d be a cyclist,” Xrkny posted.

In fact, it could be any vulnerable road user. “It could also be pedestrians. This is really not a cyclist issue, this is an everyone issue. It’s endangering everybody from those who walk to those who drive,” Carpeteyes pointed out.