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Toilet plungers are being used to create guerrilla bike lanes and highlight crap infrastructureToilet plunger (source Screwfix.com).PNG

Toilet plungers are being used to create guerrilla bike lanes and highlight crap infrastructure

Plumbing tool pressed into service in Wichita, Kansas at junction where motorists encroach on cycle lane
by Simon_MacMichael
Thu, Mar 02, 2017 01:46
12

We’ve seen cycling campaigners deploy paint and traffic cones in their efforts to persuade city authorities to roll out decent cycling infrastructure, but here’s a first – an existing cycle lane that has been given soft segregation from motor traffic with the help of toilet plungers.

They appeared in the city of Wichita, Kansas, either side of a cycle lane that is in the centre of the carriageway with motor traffic on either side, but according to KSN News, no-one knows who put them there.

The toilet plungers, covered with reflective tape and similar to the type of soft segregation known as ‘wands’ that are often used to help protect cycle lanes, were spotted by local cyclist Tom Ramsey, reports Nextcity.org.

He said that even though motorists are not allowed into the bike lane, which is delineated by solid white lines, they often move into it ahead of turning at the junction – a likely explanation for why activists decided to put the guerrilla infrastructure in place.

As a story we reported on from San Francisco last year showed, such initiatives can force those responsible for roads to take steps to improve the safety of people on bikes.

> San Francisco authorities respond to guerrilla bike lanes ... by making them permanent

A group calling itself the San Francisco Transformation Agency (SFMTrA) installed first traffic cones, then soft-hit posts – similar to wands – on a bike lane on the city’s Folsom Street as a means of highlighting that greater protection was needed.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) which is responsible for the city’s streets and had earlier removed the cones, said it would leave the posts in place and eventually install its own.

Last year also saw the Aussie soap Neighbours run a plotline involving guerrilla bike lanes when, in response to a hit-and-run collision involving a child on a bike, longstanding character Dr Karl Kennedy painted his own cycle lane on the street, mirroring initiatives that have been undertaken by campaigners in the real world.

> Aussie soap Neighbours runs guerrilla bike lane plotline

An episode of the long-running show depicted Dr Kennedy broadcasting on social media, where he said: “Normally I would not condone guerrilla action, but the cyclists of Erinsborough – both old and young – deserve to be safe.”

Cycle lane
bike lane
guerrilla bike lane
Wichita
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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12 comments

Avatar
ColT | 7 years ago
4 likes

Meh. I think you need to see this:

https://www.facebook.com/redduckpost/videos/610223172505080/

 

Avatar
StraelGuy | 7 years ago
0 likes

Screwfix and B&Q are essentially the same company which makes you wonder why Screwfix is a third the price of B&Q for the same things. Explains the plunger anyhow. 

Avatar
Anthony.C | 7 years ago
7 likes

That's a B and Q sink plunger in the picture not a toilet plunger, I just bought one !  Before you ask, my sink is now unblocked.

Avatar
gunswick replied to Anthony.C | 7 years ago
2 likes
Anthony.C wrote:

That's a B and Q sink plunger in the picture not a toilet plunger, I just bought one !  Before you ask, my sink is now unblocked.

I also have one, and can inform you, it also works great on toilets!   4

Avatar
Andrew Southard replied to Anthony.C | 7 years ago
0 likes
Anthony.C wrote:

That's a B and Q sink plunger in the picture not a toilet plunger, I just bought one !  Before you ask, my sink is now unblocked.

It even credits Screwfix in the photo caption. Maybe available at other DIY stores, but I doubt it's B&Q own brand.

Avatar
Grizzerly | 7 years ago
6 likes

They're marking lines in Witchita...

It should be perfectly obvious who put them there.

Avatar
Man of Lard replied to Grizzerly | 7 years ago
2 likes
Grizzerly wrote:

They're marking lines in Witchita...

It should be perfectly obvious who put them there.

Except he was concerned with electricity

Avatar
DrG82 replied to Man of Lard | 7 years ago
1 like
Man of Lard wrote:
Grizzerly wrote:

They're marking lines in Witchita...

It should be perfectly obvious who put them there.

Except he was concerned with electricity

 

I thought it was telephone lines, hence the lyric "I hear you singin' in the wire"

 

Avatar
Man of Lard replied to DrG82 | 7 years ago
0 likes
DrG82 wrote:

I thought it was telephone lines, hence the lyric "I hear you singin' in the wire"

 

 

Nah, electricity - "Searchin' in the sun for another overload" - telephone cables don't get overloaded. I assumed the singing in the wire was the noise they sometimes make in the wind...

Avatar
The _Kaner replied to Man of Lard | 7 years ago
0 likes
Man of Lard wrote:
DrG82 wrote:

I thought it was telephone lines, hence the lyric "I hear you singin' in the wire"

 

 

Nah, electricity - "Searchin' in the sun for another overload" - telephone cables don't get overloaded. I assumed the singing in the wire was the noise they sometimes make in the wind...

T'was indeed the old "dog and bone"...

Jimmy Webb's inspiration for the lyric came while driving through Washita County in rural southwestern Oklahoma. At that time, many telephone companies were county-owned utilities, and their linemen were county employees. Heading westward on a straight road (arguably Country Road 152) into the setting sun, Webb drove past a seemingly endless line of telephone poles, each looking exactly the same as the last. Then, in the distance, he noticed the silhouette of a solitary lineman atop a pole. He described it as "the picture of loneliness". Webb then "put himself atop that pole and put that phone in his hand" as he considered what the lineman was saying into the receiver

Avatar
whobiggs replied to The _Kaner | 7 years ago
0 likes

 

DrG82 wrote:

I thought it was telephone lines, hence the lyric "I hear you singin' in the wire"

 

 

Nah, electricity - "Searchin' in the sun for another overload" - telephone cables don't get overloaded. I assumed the singing in the wire was the noise they sometimes make in the wind...

[/quote]

T'was indeed the old "dog and bone"...

J

[/quote]

 

I always thought it was a railway line like we had linemen or lengthmen

 

Avatar
brakesmadly replied to Grizzerly | 7 years ago
3 likes
Grizzerly wrote:

They're marking lines in Witchita...

It should be perfectly obvious who put them there.

Thanks for the earworm! laugh

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