The gate shown up here came down and hit me smack on the helmet as I stopped
On April 22, I left work and the Capitol Police decided to test my helmet. I wrote the message below to one contact and started to make an official complaint, but the process is more trouble than it is worth, in my view. These barriers built into streets have always made me nervous, and apparently for good reason.
Yesterday I left the Madison garage at about 5:15 pm. I usually turn right, but I was going to the ball park and turned left. I stopped immediately and talked to someone on the sidewalk for a few minutes, then I proceeded in the regular traffic lane down the hill. As I approached the intersection, the gate was up, the plate was down in the ground, the light was green and the pedestrian walk signal showed 20+ seconds. I was traveling between 15 and 20 mph in the center of the right side traffic lane.
As I approached the intersection in full view in the middle of the traffic lane the arm was activated and lowered. The plate thankfully did not come up. I managed to stop just as the arm hit me right on my head (not by intention, that is just how it worked out), but since I was wearing a bike helmet, I was mostly just surprised and not injured. I pulled over about 50 feet from the observation post where I guess the person operating the arm is located (although I don’t know for sure). Two police officers were outside talking and one eventually asked if I was OK.
I did not stop to talk to the police further about this at that time. I felt both foolish and angry and the police didn’t seem interested in any event.
In short, be careful.
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