04-17-2015, 10:10 AM
(04-17-2015, 10:04 AM)clasher Wrote: Well a couple chains strung along steel posts aren't going to do the trick. Four foot iron picket fences are pretty easy to hop too so I can understand why safety people would recommend a 6 foot fence since there are less people that are going to try and climb over it. Since the only casuality of building a six foot fence would be a ruined view I am not sure why it is such a big deal, I mean there's already barb-wire chain link fence on the other side of this trail and it's pretty easy to plant some bushes and vines along that kind of fence to soften the "industrial" feel of such installations. Probably cheaper than building a really fancy wrought-iron style fence. The zoo fence looks okay when it's broken up with some shrubs and whatnot. Most people probably don't even notice it.
The rail industry gets a lot of flack every time someone is killed by a train so I can understand why they would recommend a bigger fence along a really busy pedestrian trail beside a busy section of track.
As I said, I think a six foot fence would be more dangerous not less, since people can still enter the tracks at pedestrian crossings and now they would be trapped if they start walking inside the fence.
Being no good reason to cross to the other side, I fail to see why ball and chain wouldn't suffice. I would have a very different opinion if there were large number of people on both sides. They might as well build a fence to keep polar bears out, since the likelihood of someone crossing the tracks halfway in Waterloo park is about to the same.