It's starting to feel like I fell heavily and hit my head on a rock yesterday.
Possibly because I fell heavily at hit my head on a rock yesterday.
I've often commented about the fact that the Townsville City Council seems to be trying to kill me, but now they're getting better at it. We have an underpass going from the Western Campus of the university to the residential area on the other side of the highway. It passes under two roads and it's the only place where one can cross these roads for a couple of kilometres in either direction. It also doubles as a drain, and it seems to be fostering a lovely culture of grey-green algae wherever the sun hits the water (at both entrances and a longish stretch between the two roads).
Turns out this is incredibly slippery when wet. Slick, actually. I had slowed on approach to try to glide through the "rough" patch, but my tires started slipping sideways, so I put a foot down to stop myself from moving before things got out of control.
The algae was so slick that my foot shot out from under me and I came down pretty hard. My helmet has a lovely dint in the side of it from where it came between me and a rock. Good thing I always wear one. Of course, now I'm going to have to buy a new one. Every time a helmet does its job you have to replace it.
The annoying thing is, the Townsville City Council knows that this underpass is dangerous when it acts as a drain. I know they know this, because about a month ago an email was sent around to the members of the Bike Users' Group warning about the underpass and saying that the council had been informed. This was shortly followed by another email saying the council was looking into it and had erected barriers to stop people using it.
Now, of course no one was ever going to pay attention to those barriers. It's the only place to cross the road for kilometres in either direction. But there was supposed to be some sort of warning or indication that it wasn't safe.
When I approached the underpass, I noticed there were no warnings or barriers. If I had, I would have taken a different route. I'm one of those crazy people who prefer to go a little out of my way rather than get hurt. I assumed the lack of warning meant the council had fixed the problem enough to decide it was safe. Apparently, they just don't care.
Then again, they never have. If they had, they wouldn't have made the cycle/pedestrian underpass double as a drain in the first place. I mean, it isn't safe for people travelling on foot. It's downright hazardous for cyclists, and any kid crazy enough to try to skate or run through it? Someone is going to get seriously hurt. Hell, if I hadn't been wearing a helmet, I would have been seriously hurt.
This whole damn town is riddle with things that are intended for us to use, but not designed for us to use safely. In short, the council is quite clearly trying to kill us.
Pretty soon it's going to work.
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