Metal studs in the pavement

[oyster]

They are all around London. What are they for?

[elanfan]

Probabbly junctions and crossing points for the blind.

[elster]

Have them all over York too.

Also some plastic mini half spheres, I learnt these were for the audio tours.

[oyster]

elanfan said:

Probabbly junctions and crossing points for the blind.

No that's the nobbly bits of pavements near to the road. These are metal studs in the paving slabs, usually in lines but with no apparently obviously pattern.

[onlynik]

We have them in Aberdeen. AFAIK they are to let blind folk know where they will be crossing the road.

However they are lethal when wet.

[oyster]

And while I'm at it, what are those 'archery target' thingies on the front of London taxis?

[hadenough!]

If they're around the perimeter of a building they mark where the buildings demise ends and the public area starts.

Phill

[oyster]

hadenough! said:

If they're around the perimeter of a building they mark where the buildings demise ends and the public area starts.

Phill

Hmmm that could be what they are.

[shoggoth1]

onlynik said:

We have them in Aberdeen. AFAIK they are to let blind folk know where they will be crossing the road.

However they are lethal when wet.

I think that's how they let blind people know they've come to a road - they suddenly find themselves on their backside - especially in the wet when a cars stopping distance is detrimentally affected, no stepping out suddenly.

[BEN66]

onlynik said:

We have them in Aberdeen. AFAIK they are to let blind folk know where they will be crossing the road.

However they are lethal when wet.

Indeed, partcularly on Belmont Street on a rainy Saturday night.....

[rpguk]

hadenough! said:

If they're around the perimeter of a building they mark where the buildings demise ends and the public area starts.

Phill

Yup, used to ensure chairs and tables outside cafes are within the right area. I've only noticed them fairly recently though so I think they must be a new thing.

[rpguk]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

[Ray Singh]

All not right.

They are survey markings, so that a surveyor can put his theodolite up in the same place again.

[hugo a gogo]

Ray Singh said:

All not right.

They are survey markings, so that a surveyor can put his theodolite up in the same place again.

I was scrolling to the end there thinking I'd be the smart who knew the right answer, and there you are

[Los Palmas 7]

oyster said:

And while I'm at it, what are those 'archery target' thingies on the front of London taxis?

I'd like to know that too.

And why do some corners in Londinium have half-bells on them?

[schmalex]

Ray Singh said:

All not right.

They are survey markings, so that a surveyor can put his theodolite up in the same place again.

Weren't they those poor people born in the early '70's with no arms & other problems?

[sadako]

hugo a gogo said:

Ray Singh said:

All not right.

They are survey markings, so that a surveyor can put his theodolite up in the same place again.

I was scrolling to the end there thinking I'd be the smart who knew the right answer, and there you are

I was going to say the same thing. I've watched them do it since I was a kid growing up thanks to the water company needing to spend years planning for and then digging a huge feckoff drainpipe into the middle of the road thanks to the culvert installed to drain water from the lake they decided to fill in to build on not being up to it. This was in the 80s before they blamed floods on climate change instead of all the flood plains and lakes they built on...

[DrTre]

schmalex said:

Ray Singh said:

All not right.

They are survey markings, so that a surveyor can put his theodolite up in the same place again.

Weren't they those poor people born in the early '70's with no arms & other problems?

Triff

Edited by DrTre on Friday 19th June 15:47

[matchmaker]

hugo a gogo said:

Ray Singh said:

All not right.

They are survey markings, so that a surveyor can put his theodolite up in the same place again.

I was scrolling to the end there thinking I'd be the smart who knew the right answer, and there you are

Beat me to it too!

[WorAl]

Braille?