APRIL 2014
www.highwaysmagazine.co.uk
The Ranty Highwayman is a chartered civil engineer who works in a local authority highways department. In a series of articles for Highways Magazine he will give his thoughts and opinions on highways and transport in the UK
Barriers to access
Barriers which do a good job of stopping bike riders or scramblers will often do a perfect job of denying access to other people, and this is something which is often ignored by designers.
Those denied access to the simple right of being able to pass and repass along a section of highway may be using a wheelchair, mobility scooter or pushing a buggy. They may be partially-sighted and cannot cope with an assortment of ferrous obstacles. They may simply be plain intimidated – it must be an unsafe route if the authorities have had to put in barriers!
I wonder how some of these get installed in the fi rst place. It is often the case that they are installed because of “complaints from residents” where someone has been buzzed by a kid on a bike. Once. Use by illegal motorcycling is a genuine worry, although some of the perpetrators cut down their handlebars to beat the barriers.
Highway authorities are subject to the Equality Act 2010, so imagine the situation with an alleyway where a barrier is put in which prevents access to somebody using a wheelchair. This is direct discrimination because that user is treated less favourably than another. It doesn’t matter if the barrier was installed with the best of intentions, it simply denies access to the public highway to a whole group of users.
Making adjustments
For disabled people, there is a duty to make reasonable adjustments to remove barriers. This may be fi gurative for many situations, but in the context
It can often be that the cause of anti-social behaviour is one or two individuals who need to be dealt with, rather than denying access to users. In short, sticking in barriers is the lazy option.
of this article, I literally mean physical barriers. We can infer from this duty and the additional public sector equality duty that highway authorities should be proactive in their design and maintenance regimes in this regard.
The law is not suggesting that we all go out tomorrow and make changes, it is recognised that things take time, effort and funding. For highway operations, there are reasonable adjustments that can be made during maintenance works. If we are resurfacing an alleyway, the actual time, cost and effort of removing a barrier is tiny compared to the overall cost of the works.
Illegal motorcycling can be diffi cult to deal with and ultimately it will come down to working with the police and the local authority’s community safety team to ensure effective enforcement takes place. It can often be that the cause of anti-social behaviour is one or two individuals who need to be dealt with, rather than denying access to users. In short, sticking in barriers is the lazy option.
Of course, the design stage is where the success of schemes is won or lost. If there is concern that a new alleyway or path is going to be abused, can the risk be designed out? Perhaps not; so we may be back to enforcement. Rather than exclude cycling, why not design the route so that it can be safely used by people on bikes so that they won’t intimidate pedestrians?
Unauthorised use by vehicles can be an issue. Some routes may not be designed to take vehicles because of a structural or physical issue (lightweight bridges for example) or we simply don’t want people to drive on a path or cycle route because it is risky and threatening to users. Bollards are a better answer than barriers and they can be arranged to prevent unauthorised access, but not cause problems for others. Unsure how wide cars are? Well, here’s a handy table:
Make/Model Width mm (exc. mirrors) Smart Fortwo 1,559 Hyandai i10 1,595 Fiat 500 Ford Ka
1,627 1,658
Mini ONE 1,683
150mm bollards at 1,700mm centres will do the trick. Of course, bollards need to be positioned so they do not adversely affect legitimate users, including blind and partially-sighted people. I think we are trying hard to design and maintain inclusive highways, but we are very much let down by these barriers and I hope people out there can get things changed before the courts order them to be changed.
Follow me on Twitter @RantyHighwayman
Highway authorities must consider the access of a whole group of users when installing barriers or bollards
More information on the Equality Act 2010 and the Equality Duty can be found on the
gov.uk website:
www.gov.uk/equality-act-2010-guidance and on the Equality & Human Rights Commission website:
www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice- and-guidance/new-equality-act-guidance/equality-act-guidance-downloads/
The Ranty Highwayman is not writing on behalf of any organisation. The views expressed in this article are his own and not those of his employer or any organisations that he is a member of or affi liated to. All views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Highways Magazine.
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