Walkway menace

georgesgenitals said :

RUN OUT AFTER THEM WITH A BIG CHAINSAW REVVING UP AND SCREAM AND CUT THEM UP.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

+1

I assume that peple saying to put spikes in there are just joking.
Don’t do this as all it takes is a child stepping on it or even tripping over and falling on it to turn nasty.

MelonHead said :

DIY bollard for the corner blocks that people cut across: 6ft of heavy steel eg railway line, 6 or 7 bags of quick set cement, and a medium sized cardboard box.

That won’t all fit in the box. No, the box sits over the steel after the cement dries in the big hole you’ve dug in the path of unwanted vehicles.

Worked a treat many years ago for a friend in Belconnen.

Can you explain in more detail? I am trying to imagine how 6 feet of steel interact with a cardboard box…..
Intriguing.
I may or may not live on a corner block…..

When the cops or the court system can provide my wife with a new left leg we’ll be interested.

Aenveigh and myself have both had success with TAMs, again I encourage you all to make contact and express your concerns.

georgesgenitals said :

RUN OUT AFTER THEM WITH A BIG CHAINSAW REVVING UP AND SCREAM AND CUT THEM UP.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Sorry guys – my idiot house guest strikes again.

DIY bollard for the corner blocks that people cut across: 6ft of heavy steel eg railway line, 6 or 7 bags of quick set cement, and a medium sized cardboard box.

That won’t all fit in the box. No, the box sits over the steel after the cement dries in the big hole you’ve dug in the path of unwanted vehicles.

Worked a treat many years ago for a friend in Belconnen.

I’d definitely get onto TAMS re: bollard or similar. I’ve had a couple of issues dealt with in less than 4 weeks (one took only 12 days!) so they can clearly action something quickly. I find the trick is to do (as has been done here) write a succinct summary of what is happening, the risks/possible consequences, and provide a suggested (cheap and easy) solution.

The officer receiving the complaint then sees it as a no-brainer, and can easily tick off the item with minimal fuss – and does so. You’ve just got to imagine you’re at the receiving end of the complaint – the TAMS employees are rational people too – if you’ve articulated the problem well they will also see it, and the last thing they want is to have received a written complaint that they did nothing about, and then have an accident related to the issue subsequently…

niftydog said :

Mrs Nifty was knocked off her bike by a 4WD whilst riding on a footpath just three weeks ago. The driver seemed to have removed an obstruction at the end of a cul de sac and was driving around to the rear of his house to drop firewood. He was going too fast to avoid the collision as he rounded a blind corner.

Consequences:
The Driver; none (cops did not attend and could not do much after the fact, collision not on a public road, not a vehicular collision, no damage to his vehicle.)
Mrs Nifty; one broken leg, a lot of pain to deal with every day, months of rehab ahead, insurance claims, time off work, unable to drive, busted bike etc etc.

I contacted TAMS as I have had some success with similar requests in the past. Time will tell.

Last year after I reported witnessing a driver taking a pedestrian underpass as a shortcut they reassessed the area and installed a “vehicular restriction”. This all happened quite quickly, possibly in less than three months which is lightning fast for local government. Though coincidentally they were installing barriers in the area at the time, so perhaps it was just convenient. They made several phone calls to inform me of progress and I was frankly staggered at the excellent response I got.

Did you call the cops? The 4wd broke a number of laws and caused a collision, the Police would be VERY interested in that, Dangerous driving causing GBH or ABH – If you got the details of the driver and you still have the details you can still call them, I believe there is statute of limitations for that offence, but it is about 2 years – call them, don’t take no for an answer.

RUN OUT AFTER THEM WITH A BIG CHAINSAW REVVING UP AND SCREAM AND CUT THEM UP. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

niftydog said :

Mrs Nifty was knocked off her bike by a 4WD whilst riding on a footpath just three weeks ago. The driver seemed to have removed an obstruction at the end of a cul de sac and was driving around to the rear of his house to drop firewood. He was going too fast to avoid the collision as he rounded a blind corner.

Consequences:
The Driver; none (cops did not attend and could not do much after the fact, collision not on a public road, not a vehicular collision, no damage to his vehicle.)
Mrs Nifty; one broken leg, a lot of pain to deal with every day, months of rehab ahead, insurance claims, time off work, unable to drive, busted bike etc etc.

The cops are telling you bullshit. A person driving a motor vehicle illegally hit your wife resulting in serious injury. Keep making noise until the police get off their lazy donut-eating lard arses and do something.

DeadlySchnauzer said :

What the hell TAMS? There is a thing called a removeable/lockable bollard for exactly this kind of situation (grass cutter is given the key). They cost a couple hundred bucks. Google “lockable bollard” and send the results to TAMS. Then contact your local pollie… they love this stuff.

Spot on. They have done it in the median strip in Sydney Ave opposite Foreign Affairs and can easily organise it for you. Slackarse Stanhope lackeys! CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT NEEDED FOLKS!

Caltrops.

I get rather annoyed by bogan four wheel drive owners giver the rest of us a bad name.

dtc – CTP insurance claim already in the works.

niftydog: I agree with the comments saying that you should take this further – at the very least you should get your wife’s medical bills paid for. A broken leg is a pretty damn serious injury – it can be life-threatening – you don’t have to let them get away with it.

I also find that standing there with a clipboard and a pen when they drive on the path, obviously noting down a rego number, has often been enough to discourage the turds.

And as above, if TAMS aren’t interested, remind them of the road rules and the lielihood of bringing it to the attention of people futher up the chain.

Niftydog – you get hit by a car on a footpath after someone removes an obstruction in order to access the footpath – you are going to get a settlement offer pretty quick – not much ‘dragging’ is going to occur.

In fact, write a letter yourself to the NRMA with the licence plate number and accident details and ask it to accept liability for medical fees and cost of your bike etc (and dont sign any settlement documents until you decide whether to pursue something further). I gather there official legislated claim forms and stuff to fill in, don’t know the details of those. Although i think you only have 6 months to lodge a claim (not to settle it).

Or see a ‘no win no fee’ lawyer. Some are pretty good. Thats the safe option.

This is why insurance companies exist. Dont feel shy about it. If no one claimed, no insurance would be needed and what would happen to all those jobs – your claim feeds children!

Around our place the “take the rego number and report” doesn’t work, as they’re always unregistered dirt bikes (had a quad roar past the other day!).

Get down to Bunnings, buy a couple of garden rakes with sharp metal prongs, leave them lying prong upwards and let 4WDs experience that deflationary feeling

Star pickets = DIY Bollards

A 4WD with half a brain will not voluntarily drive over a half-buried picket. Cheap, easily replaceable, and untraceable. Just whack a bright picket cap on the top for safety.

We have the same problem of sorts at our house. We live on a corner block with quite a bit of median strip off to the side of us. This beatup old holden would regularly cut across this grass and straight across the front lawn about 1 metre outside our living room window. Good thing the kids were not playing on the lawn…. anyway some big rocks right down the side of the house has the problem fixed. Then again the driver might just be stupid enough to try….

I had similar problems:

http://the-riotact.com/?p=23556

Although people in this thread seem to realize more than those commenting in mine, that driving on pedestrian areas is a blatantly stupid idea. I lodged a complaint with the “Fix My Street” website, and was told that a job had been created with Parks & Wildlife, so far the broken car barriers are still broken and the erosion from trucks is increasing.

Thanks for your advice guys – unfortunately the police didn’t attend which makes matters complicated. Beside, we’re not convinced the effort of dragging it through the ACT legal system will be beneficial to us; We would much rather see direct action from TAMs.

The reason I brought it up here was to highlight that there are real consequences to driving in these places. The guy that hit her has probably accessed that area hundreds of times before without incidence; But it only takes one time to change someone’s life.

I am not surprised to find this morning that it’s a wide spread problem. I’d encourage people to contact Roads ACT and/or TAMs to voice their concerns – even if you don’t think they’ll do anything.

It is beneficial to make the complaint in writing by email through the TAMS website as the complaint will be forwarded to the correct area and they will also provide you with a written response as opposed to describing it over the phone and getting bounced around to get an untraceable verbal response.

On the subject of the 4wd driving on the footpath and causing an accident resulting in injury, the same laws apply as if it happened on the road. The police must attend all vehicle accidents that result in injury, the driver also must be fully licensed and his vehicle registered & CTP insured. The driver would need to provide you with his details for insurance purposes.

It is illegal under Australian Road Rule 288. It is likely to be illegal here unless the ACT Gov has an exception to the law as outlined in subrule C.

Get the numberplate, report the issue to crime stoppers online. If you believe the driver is also driving in a manner that is dangerous (ie: a speed that is anything over walking pace given it is a path) make sure you mention that as well.

288 Driving on a path
(1) A driver (except the rider of a bicycle) must not drive on a path, unless subrule (2) or (3) applies to the driver.
Offence provision.

(2) A driver may drive on a path if the driver is:

(a) driving on a part of the path indicated by information on or with a traffic control device as a part where vehicles may drive; or

(b) driving on the path to enter or leave, by the shortest practicable route, a road-related area or adjacent land and there is not a part of the path indicated by information on or with a traffic control device as a part where vehicles may drive; or

(c) permitted to drive on the path under another law of this jurisdiction.

Just what we were told – it comes down to your word against theirs in a civil action. If ambos were called or cops attended it could be a criminal investigation.

niftydog said :

Mrs Nifty was knocked off her bike by a 4WD…

Consequences:
The Driver; none (cops did not attend and could not do much after the fact, collision not on a public road, not a vehicular collision, no damage to his vehicle.)
Mrs Nifty; one broken leg, a lot of pain to deal with every day, months of rehab ahead, insurance claims, time off work, unable to drive, busted bike etc etc.

How is this not a vehicular collision?

Cops are supposed to attend to any accident in which a person it hurt. If the driver left before they attended they surely could be charged with leaving the scene?

….collision not on a public road….

Try driving around on the foot path in an unregistered vehicle for a while and tell the cops they can’t do anything…

Mrs Nifty was knocked off her bike by a 4WD whilst riding on a footpath just three weeks ago. The driver seemed to have removed an obstruction at the end of a cul de sac and was driving around to the rear of his house to drop firewood. He was going too fast to avoid the collision as he rounded a blind corner.

Consequences:
The Driver; none (cops did not attend and could not do much after the fact, collision not on a public road, not a vehicular collision, no damage to his vehicle.)
Mrs Nifty; one broken leg, a lot of pain to deal with every day, months of rehab ahead, insurance claims, time off work, unable to drive, busted bike etc etc.

I contacted TAMS as I have had some success with similar requests in the past. Time will tell.

Last year after I reported witnessing a driver taking a pedestrian underpass as a shortcut they reassessed the area and installed a “vehicular restriction”. This all happened quite quickly, possibly in less than three months which is lightning fast for local government. Though coincidentally they were installing barriers in the area at the time, so perhaps it was just convenient. They made several phone calls to inform me of progress and I was frankly staggered at the excellent response I got.

Park your car across the entrance in such a way as to allow pedestrian access but prevent cars,

or

Spike strips.

Ah yes, lets get the taxpayer to fork out for a barrier and locks, and inconvenience everyone.

A more simple solution is to log a few complaints to the police, then lob a brick through the offenders windscreen.

That makes the police turn up ever so fast.

And here I was thinking that “cars go on the road, not the footpath” was a concept that didn’t really need emphasis.

I would have thought that TAMS may investigate putting a barrier at one end like most other walkways in this situation therefore making unusable as a bypass yet still having access to it for mowing.
But i do own a 4×4 so where is it so i can have a turn 😉

We have the same situation in our neighbourhood. There’s one yahoo using the children’s park as a recreational 4WD area and using the footpaths to create shortcuts across streets. The same idiot rides his dirt bike on the footpaths with his two young children of about 8 and 10, all riding without a helmet.

Does anyone have an idea of who you can complain too?
The police take too long to respond and in most cases don’t bother responding at all.

I find it irritating that some 4wd aficionados seem to think that the ability to go off road implies the right to drive through parks, nature-strips, median-strips and pedestrian walkways.

It seems odd that it’s not possible to fix a barricade the mower can pass-through and a land-barge can not (Yeah, I know they use large ride-ons, I just didn’t think they were THAT large). The lane near my place has a left/right pinch-bar arrangement in it. It gets mowed in two sections (about 6 months apart, it seems).

Here’s a not very well thought out option: Take a photo of them in the act and send it to plod?

Call the boys in blue on 000 and report a crime in progress.

What the hell TAMS? There is a thing called a removeable/lockable bollard for exactly this kind of situation (grass cutter is given the key). They cost a couple hundred bucks. Google “lockable bollard” and send the results to TAMS. Then contact your local pollie… they love this stuff.

What do you expect TAMS to do?
Did you think about taking a number plate and reporting it to the police?
You’d be surprised how often it will be followed up with a knock on the offenders door.
Why not take a photo of the vehicle and present that to the police?