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Severe Safety Hazard at the Hwy 92 Bike Overpass
It’s good enuf for government work. You can’t make this stuff up.
What kind of nitwit would install barbed wire along a biking/skating path?
Update May 11: I learned that the county wanted to do the non-nitwit thing, but that the agency owning the land (San Francisco Water district) insisted on barbed wire. Since then, the SF district has relented, yet the county is paying for installation of non-barbed wire, the work only partially completed as yet. Sadly, there is no “negative feedback loop” whereby bureaucratic nitwits would suffer the consequences of their stupidity.
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On the other side of the freeway, there is a very steep descent where speeds can approach 30 mph. Imagine flatting unexpectedly or hitting a slippery spot, and hitting the barbed wire at speed. Shredded and maybe even killed (puncture an artery, game over). Or maybe just missing the sharp turn on the descent from the overpass (on bikes or skates). A wet patch in winter—whatever.
There can be only one use for the barbed wire: to injury anyone using the path, since it won’t keep wildlife out and there are no cows—it’s 100% pointless.
Since I took this photograph, the top two wires are now non-barbed, at least on this side of the freeway, but barbed wire remains on the lower tiers (as of May 2 2015). But even those metal poles could do serious damage to anyone hitting them. They should be set back at least twenty feet, not placed so close to the edge of the path. This is a brand-new installation; the old poles and wire were ripped out. The contractor ought to have refused to perform the work for such a dangerous idea.
This is a serious safety hazard, paid for by your tax dollars. Whoever is responsible should have their paycheck docked to fix this with their personal dollars. A summary firing would be even better—this kind of judgment for public works is fatally flawed.
Update 29 July 2015: the barbed wire is gone.
