New Bridge Closed After Mindless Vandalism
16 January 2012 by Hamst
North Linconlshire Council have had to close a new bridge just weeks after it was opened as mindless vandals put motorists lives at risk.
The council installed the bridge on Bridges Road in the towns Westcliff Estate on 21st December last year as part of the Sustrans Connect 2 cycle route that aims to provide a cycle network in Scunthorpe. The bridge was the first of two to be installed, a second bridge is due to be fitted over West Common Lane by Easter.
But vandals are going onto the bridge and throwing stones at oncoming cars causing damage and putting lives in danger.
The Safer Neighbours Partnership are set to install a camera on the bridge in an attempt to catch the culprits.
A North Lincolnshire Council spokeswoman said, "It is sad we have had to close the bridge especially when we have only installed it a few weeks ago. But our priority is to protect the motorists."
"We are trying to find a solution to the problem, in the meantime the bridge will remain close until further notice."
If you would like add your own news article to Visit Scunthorpe, Login or sign up, its free and easy and you can start publishing your own content here, straight away.
Comments
throwing objects at cars off a bridge is not mindless vandalism!
'Mindless' would suggest that the individuals throwing the objects are unaware of what they are doing. That is obviously not the case. whoever is throwing objects off the bridge are doing so knowing and wanting to cause damage to peoples cars and harm to the drivers.
Its pre-meditated!
It should be considered as criminal damage and attempted murder, because those are the only desired outcomes with respect to the individuals throwing the objects at the cars. They WANT to cause harm to others and they WANT to cause damage to property.
Since this has already occured its seems the best approach for the police on this matter would be to conduct a sting opperation to find and arrest who ever is committing this crime. A look out point with a manned camera and telescopic microphone monitors the bridge (while open of course) and if it looks like an individual is going onto the bridge with a brick or rock then the police send a car under the bridge (some form of windshield protection of course) and if the individual decides to throw the object onto the car then he can be arrested, prosecuted and sent to jail for a long time.
How is this not a course of action that is being taken? the bridge was constructed with public funds and needs to be open. The police need to be instructed to do their damn jobs and keep the public safe by catching these criminals. To close the bridge is to admit defeat.
This is not just a case of anti-social behavior. This is criminal behaviour and the poilces duty is to catch the criminals and present the evidence to a jury.
Its a great article Kev.
'Mindless' would suggest that the individuals throwing the objects are unaware of what they are doing. That is obviously not the case. whoever is throwing objects off the bridge are doing so knowing and wanting to cause damage to peoples cars and harm to the drivers.
Its pre-meditated!
It should be considered as criminal damage and attempted murder, because those are the only desired outcomes with respect to the individuals throwing the objects at the cars. They WANT to cause harm to others and they WANT to cause damage to property.
Since this has already occured its seems the best approach for the police on this matter would be to conduct a sting opperation to find and arrest who ever is committing this crime. A look out point with a manned camera and telescopic microphone monitors the bridge (while open of course) and if it looks like an individual is going onto the bridge with a brick or rock then the police send a car under the bridge (some form of windshield protection of course) and if the individual decides to throw the object onto the car then he can be arrested, prosecuted and sent to jail for a long time.
How is this not a course of action that is being taken? the bridge was constructed with public funds and needs to be open. The police need to be instructed to do their damn jobs and keep the public safe by catching these criminals. To close the bridge is to admit defeat.
This is not just a case of anti-social behavior. This is criminal behaviour and the poilces duty is to catch the criminals and present the evidence to a jury.
Its a great article Kev.
If they had routed the Cycle path roughly where the photographer was stood they would find a raised crossing area already in place thus negating the need for a bridge and the cyclist could keep that little bit fitter by going round, as for the police reacting to anything, a resident complaining of probably the mindless morons riding mini motos and larger motorcross bikes up and down the same grass banks in the photo in the early hours of the morning disrupting sleep - and this is their excuse - we will not under take a chase in case one of the riders was to have an accident and injure themselves, it took a very tired resident with a strong grip on a riders throat and a threat of further harm to end the night time riding. its about time the police MTFU and deal with issues instead of hiding behind elf n safety excuses.
Oh and following typical elf and safety ideals, if you cannot remove the possibility of harm then ban or remove the risk, either get rid of the bridge or practice birth control on the wayward society.
If you would like to leave a comment about this article, Login or sign up now
Please Note
Views expressed on this site are those of individual posters, who by making these posts indemnify Visit Scunthorpe and its operators of any legal responsibility or obligation.
Please respect the privacy of others, if someone gives you infomation that you use in your post, please don't identify them.
Visit Scunthorpe is North Lincolnshire's only truly independent, non commercial, community news web site.
Established in January 2010 we have lots of members with a wide range of views who all contribute
independently with articles of their own.
You won't find dozens of adverts covering our site, or some poor attempt to promote local business services under the guise of offering a community service.
Here on VisitScunthorpe we are interested in just one thing, building an online community which is representative of the people of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire and the surrounding area.
Paul. Founder Visit Scunthorpe.
How it Works
If you would like to have the ability to add articles and comments to Visit Scunthorpe then all you need to do is sign up with a valid email address for an account. This is free, your email address is confidential and we don't send out spam emails.
Once you've completed the sign up then you are free to post and comment on well... pretty much anything, we just have some basic civilised rules to prevent people from inciting violence, hatred or making individual attacks.
If you have a web site or directory which covers either independent news and blogging, or is related to North Lincolnshire or Scunthorpe then get in touch to set up a reciprocal link.
Reply Report