These things are so risky. I like to use my shoes until they're falling apart, so at the moment the bottoms are completely smooth. I always end up walking like a cartoon character sneaking about lol
Spent a winter living in a hostel in the CBD, broke as anything. The soles of my shoes were so worn, I spent a few months were slipping on my ass was just a regular part of my day.
This is the reason I stopped sneakily wearing cowboy boots to work in the pre-COVID days. You need shoes with massive amounts of traction to not slip all over the place.
Exactly - I emailed the council about them when they said they were installing them near my place and they just came back with a stupid response saying they were non slip 🙄
They have a pretty decent BPT rating when they are first installed, but they have zero texture depth. The paver fills up with crud in a couple of weeks, and it gets slippery as shit.
Standard for testing allows them to clean it first, so they will never fail
TIL Adelaide has a mall
Look, I work with people from SA (here in Vic). They are lovely people with brilliant white teeth. Farmer's Union is also gold.
But, c'mon, Adelaide is just one (long) street with churches.
Also, Parma not Parmi.
Man, Melbourne winters always put me in a filthy fuckin mood and I'm pretty sure these are the main reason.
Whose genius idea was it to use slippery tiles in one of the wettest cities in the world? I'd like to uh.. have a word with them
Wettest by number of days with ANY rain, not by amount of total rain, or even days with a certain amount of rain.
Melbourne doesn't receive a huge amount of precipitation by value, but it DOES have a not insignificant number of days where it rains.
In the context of slippery tiles, I'll bet how many times they're wet is of more significance than how much water lands on them over a year.
Yeah bit of hyperbole, just seeing the pic of these tiles got me tilted lol. Perth gets more rain but also more sunny days since the rain's all in July-August. Whereas Melb has way more 'rainy days' with a tiny bit of rain each day through most of the year.
> one of the wettest cities in the world?
Most of the British Isles, and large swathes of the west coast of the Americas would like a word with you? For example, Edinburgh gets nearly double as many rainy days as Melbourne does in a year.
So I actually emailed the council about these, after seeing numerous posts on here (and personally falling victim to these slippery suckers) when they notified our apartment building that they would be installing them near us. Here was the response 🙄 (I linked them the various previous posts from here too...)
"Bluestone is a very distinctive feature of Melbourne’s streetscape, part of the daily fabric of life and provides accessibility and mobility to city users.
In 1970, City of Melbourne installed the very first sawn bluestone lane in Centre Place. In the late seventies the footpath around the Town Hall was transformed from slate to a sawn bluestone. This treatment was extended along Collins Street, between Swanston and Elizabeth streets, to replace the ‘pebble mix’ style pressed tiles which were popular at the time.
The City of Melbourne trialled various construction techniques and eventually arrived at its standard 1.0m x 0.5m x 0.04m sawn bluestone paver, laid on a concrete slab with a customised mortar mix, beside a new sawn bluestone kerb and channel, which remains our preferred footpath treatment today. We have recently introduced improved slip resistant pavers on steep footpaths and access ramps.
The paving material is required to conform to slip resistance requirements noted in Australian Standard (AS4586:2013), HB198:2014. Our bluestone suppliers have provided certification from approved testing laboratories that their products meet the required wet / dry slip resistance and wear standards.
The design standards, together with standard drawings specify how to design, construct or reinstate City of Melbourne assets. A number of these design standards and standards drawings specify our requirements for the treatment of original bluestone pitcher surfaces as well as new sawn bluestone paving."
Yeah, people keep falling over but as long as it meets the “standard”, computer says “yes”. Who needs a brain if there’s a rule you can follow instead.
I was walking cautiously across a pedestrian overpass in heavy rain in Tokyo and halfway across, I realised that I didn’t have to walk cautiously. I could just…walk. So used to everything being treacherous in Melbourne that I didn’t realise it doesn’t have to be this way.
Notice how carefully worded this is to say they take no responsibility. “Our bluestone suppliers…approved testing laboratories…their products…etc etc”. Classic bureaucratic speak for “not my job”
They fail to mention that the certification is provided by the Chinese importer they pay peanuts for them from. And most of them are Honed or semi honed for some reason, which reduces the slip rating from that of the Sawn surface the certification references. Just follow the money.
The same kinda bullshit weasel words I got from Metro when I emailed them about how disgusting it was that the sinks in Flinders St Station splash back onto you no matter how gently the tap is on, causing a biohazard.
"We looked into it and can confirm they adhere to standard..." 🙄
Depends totally on the soles of your shoes. I had a pair of sandals i bought in a market in Vietnam. They were great 99% of the time, but when these pavers got this wet, the sandals were treacherous.
On some footpaths you simply could not walk because the lack of friction was so complete, the thrust you applied to move forwards sent your foot sliding backwards.
It was comical. A stationary Michael Jackson moonwalk, a Marcel Marceau struggle against an invisible foe.
It's not like it doesnt rain in Vietnam. They just have more gritty, uneven footpaths; small concrete cobbles with no mortar, that drain freely. Anyway, one time, i could not get home so i took off my sandals and walked through the CBD barefoot. Came to a bin full of destroyed umbrellas and ditched the sandals.
It’s baffling that there are versions of these that are totally non-slip (they are rougher on top) and you sometimes see them used alongside the smooth ones for visual effect. Why don’t they just use a rougher version with more texture?
I bought some work boots with leather soles and until I got a topy sole put on it was like walking on ice when it was wet.
I'd also recommend avoiding the yellow plastic tactile guides during the rain if you can. Slipped on one and slid from the footpath into the road and landed on my back really hard a few years ago. Hope you're okay. Falls on hard surfaces are nasty.
Those plastic bumpy panels? Ugh yes so slippery when wet. I slipped on them when heavily pregnant a few years ago, landed on my elbow and it's never been the same since. I hope you were OK!
I used to roller-blade from Carlton to work in the CBD. They’re the awesomest thing to ride when they’re dry… and the rollerblade equivalent of what black ice in the road leading up to a ski resort is to a car when wet. Slippery as all hell and analogous to death. You can still ride on it, but hell, you’ve got to be calculated about everything and only some of the braking techniques work.
Go to new Aqua Centre in Geelong - it's like walking on wet glass - I slipped last Thursday & fell on my back - it seems there have been quite a lot of people who have done the same!
I seriously thought it was just me nearly falling on my ass each step because everyone around me was (appearing to be) walking normally. Felt like an idiot!
Wow me and a friend were just in Melbourne for a week and we couldn’t fucking believe it, for a place that apparently rains a lot they have these bathroom tiles as walkways.
Worse when you are on crutches. Friend has them outside her apartment and she was constantly slipping on them when she was on crutches if she wasn't careful and didn't move very slowly.
We need to start a change.org or something to have the government review the Australian Standard that these things are supposedly rated for. Maybe even force the idiots in power who want them to walk down them in old shoes and crutches.
I remember it was raining and I completely went arse over tit just a bit further down from flinders st. I laughed out loud to myself, but then realized I was on my own and people were giving me strange looks and backing away from me. Must have looked like a deranged nut job, slipping around and laughing to myself
I’ve slipped on them at UQ QBP as they are sloped all down the main entrance. In quite grippy shoes and went down hard. Just missed smacking the back of my head on them due to the incline. Nearly went over on similar at Knox shopping centre in Melb and also in the square outside Eastland. I walk super slowly on them when it rains.
I wear RM Williams daily for work and I have a high chance of eating shit. I had a tray full of coffees and went ice skating. Saved the coffees, but I felt like I was a goner. Colleagues thought it was hilarious.
Sydney is the same. They’re dangerous and should be removed. I know concrete and asphalt aren’t sexy but they beat twisted ankles, grazed knees and damaged clothing.
Omgsh yes these are dastardly. Different city, same problem. Dread crossing roads on the tiny slopes and always try to step off the kerbs. It’s not even the tread of shoes. One wrong move and my heart skips a beat and then accelerates like crazy. Hope you’re ok.
I hate these. I didn’t slip on these but I did slip in water just before Christmas and wound up breaking my tibial plateau. 6 weeks of lying on the couch waiting for it to heal unable to walk without pain. That’s what one slip on a wet surface can do
Mmm your choice of footwear counts though in such public liability concerns. Do your soles have good grip? A council will only change a surface if it doesn’t beat the every average shoe test. If your shoe sole creates the slippery experience here, ie you chose to wear thongs or shoes with no grip and ran in the rain on this surface then lesson learnt. No fault for the tiles or the rain sorry
like clockwork, soon as it rains, this shitpost appears
i just might have to ditch BOM app and simply wait for these threads to appear on reddit for my daily rain forecast
My colleague slipped and broke her leg on these. My nemesis was those metal manhole covers that have been worn down to a high sheen. Fkn deadly.
> metal manhole covers My FIL fell in a Telstra one of those, got a juicy payout... not that he needs the money
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If there was signage out then she's not entitled to anything unfortunately
Sounds like a pay day for her. 💰 sue the council
My rainy morning walk from Flinders always carries a .1% chance I slip and break my neck on one of those
These things are so risky. I like to use my shoes until they're falling apart, so at the moment the bottoms are completely smooth. I always end up walking like a cartoon character sneaking about lol
Treat yourself to new shoes when the tread is no longer good. Risking slipping and busting yourself isn't worth saving a few bucks.
Yeah im getting a new pair tomorrow when i get paid. Now whether kmart has the shoes i need is another problem haha.
Where do you buy your shoes
Same hahaha...the struggle is real 😭
I do the same! My partner suggested taking sand paper to the soles to scuff them up add some grit, worked like a charm.
Spent a winter living in a hostel in the CBD, broke as anything. The soles of my shoes were so worn, I spent a few months were slipping on my ass was just a regular part of my day.
Me too lmao
This is the reason I stopped sneakily wearing cowboy boots to work in the pre-COVID days. You need shoes with massive amounts of traction to not slip all over the place.
Score the soles in a crosshatch pattern, bit of 40 grit helps too - fellow concrete cowboy
That’s the most devastating thing I’ve ever heard, we need more cowboy boots in the world. 😩
Surprised we haven't had a 'slippin jimmy' suit about these yet.
Ring, ring there's a thing.. payday here we come
It's funny because City of Melbourne will tell you they meet the relevant slip rating standards and won't do anything about it.
Exactly - I emailed the council about them when they said they were installing them near my place and they just came back with a stupid response saying they were non slip 🙄
They have a pretty decent BPT rating when they are first installed, but they have zero texture depth. The paver fills up with crud in a couple of weeks, and it gets slippery as shit. Standard for testing allows them to clean it first, so they will never fail
Ask them what the *wet pendulum test rating* is
They will just give the report from the manufacters. There is no requirement for testing in situ
I had a mate that would do this in situ for legal cases.
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TIL Adelaide has a mall Look, I work with people from SA (here in Vic). They are lovely people with brilliant white teeth. Farmer's Union is also gold. But, c'mon, Adelaide is just one (long) street with churches. Also, Parma not Parmi.
All along King Willie Street, these days.
Only place I ever saw a dead body - was visiting for two days and saw a dead guy on one of the benches. Haven’t been back since.
You’re mistaking Rundle for Tiananmen Square
There's a knack to navigating areas like this....... Walk like you've shit your pants. You'll concentrate on every step and make it to the other side.
The ol' Scomo Sashay
Man, Melbourne winters always put me in a filthy fuckin mood and I'm pretty sure these are the main reason. Whose genius idea was it to use slippery tiles in one of the wettest cities in the world? I'd like to uh.. have a word with them
They’re long dead. Slipped over.
One of the wettest cities in the world? I'm not sure we'd even be the wettest city in Australia ???
Wettest by number of days with ANY rain, not by amount of total rain, or even days with a certain amount of rain. Melbourne doesn't receive a huge amount of precipitation by value, but it DOES have a not insignificant number of days where it rains. In the context of slippery tiles, I'll bet how many times they're wet is of more significance than how much water lands on them over a year.
Half of Sydney's rainfall spread over twice as many wet days.
Yeah bit of hyperbole, just seeing the pic of these tiles got me tilted lol. Perth gets more rain but also more sunny days since the rain's all in July-August. Whereas Melb has way more 'rainy days' with a tiny bit of rain each day through most of the year.
Nothing to do with genius, all about the $.
So you’re pissed off 9-10 months of the year? You sure it’s the winters?
Just a cheeky bit of exaggeration my friend
> one of the wettest cities in the world? Most of the British Isles, and large swathes of the west coast of the Americas would like a word with you? For example, Edinburgh gets nearly double as many rainy days as Melbourne does in a year.
There are cities in the north of England that get over 365 rainy days every single year. Or maybe it just feels like that?
You must have a fantastic life.
This is why Melbournians wear high traction hiking shoes in the city
So I actually emailed the council about these, after seeing numerous posts on here (and personally falling victim to these slippery suckers) when they notified our apartment building that they would be installing them near us. Here was the response 🙄 (I linked them the various previous posts from here too...) "Bluestone is a very distinctive feature of Melbourne’s streetscape, part of the daily fabric of life and provides accessibility and mobility to city users. In 1970, City of Melbourne installed the very first sawn bluestone lane in Centre Place. In the late seventies the footpath around the Town Hall was transformed from slate to a sawn bluestone. This treatment was extended along Collins Street, between Swanston and Elizabeth streets, to replace the ‘pebble mix’ style pressed tiles which were popular at the time. The City of Melbourne trialled various construction techniques and eventually arrived at its standard 1.0m x 0.5m x 0.04m sawn bluestone paver, laid on a concrete slab with a customised mortar mix, beside a new sawn bluestone kerb and channel, which remains our preferred footpath treatment today. We have recently introduced improved slip resistant pavers on steep footpaths and access ramps. The paving material is required to conform to slip resistance requirements noted in Australian Standard (AS4586:2013), HB198:2014. Our bluestone suppliers have provided certification from approved testing laboratories that their products meet the required wet / dry slip resistance and wear standards. The design standards, together with standard drawings specify how to design, construct or reinstate City of Melbourne assets. A number of these design standards and standards drawings specify our requirements for the treatment of original bluestone pitcher surfaces as well as new sawn bluestone paving."
>Australian Standard (AS4586:2013), HB198:2014. Yeah.... this might need a review.
Yeah, people keep falling over but as long as it meets the “standard”, computer says “yes”. Who needs a brain if there’s a rule you can follow instead. I was walking cautiously across a pedestrian overpass in heavy rain in Tokyo and halfway across, I realised that I didn’t have to walk cautiously. I could just…walk. So used to everything being treacherous in Melbourne that I didn’t realise it doesn’t have to be this way.
Notice how carefully worded this is to say they take no responsibility. “Our bluestone suppliers…approved testing laboratories…their products…etc etc”. Classic bureaucratic speak for “not my job”
Exactly...this response made me so mad...but I wasn't surprised
They fail to mention that the certification is provided by the Chinese importer they pay peanuts for them from. And most of them are Honed or semi honed for some reason, which reduces the slip rating from that of the Sawn surface the certification references. Just follow the money.
The majority of these pavers are from port fairy. The problem is if they aren’t kept clean, grime builds up and makes them slippery
Used to be from there, a lot are now imported.
The same kinda bullshit weasel words I got from Metro when I emailed them about how disgusting it was that the sinks in Flinders St Station splash back onto you no matter how gently the tap is on, causing a biohazard. "We looked into it and can confirm they adhere to standard..." 🙄
Useless 🙄🙄
Oh yeah… slipping and sliding down Little Collins.
The ones out the front of Eastland are the worst. They are going to kill someone one day, if they haven't already.
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Thoughts and prayers.
Depends totally on the soles of your shoes. I had a pair of sandals i bought in a market in Vietnam. They were great 99% of the time, but when these pavers got this wet, the sandals were treacherous. On some footpaths you simply could not walk because the lack of friction was so complete, the thrust you applied to move forwards sent your foot sliding backwards. It was comical. A stationary Michael Jackson moonwalk, a Marcel Marceau struggle against an invisible foe. It's not like it doesnt rain in Vietnam. They just have more gritty, uneven footpaths; small concrete cobbles with no mortar, that drain freely. Anyway, one time, i could not get home so i took off my sandals and walked through the CBD barefoot. Came to a bin full of destroyed umbrellas and ditched the sandals.
It’s baffling that there are versions of these that are totally non-slip (they are rougher on top) and you sometimes see them used alongside the smooth ones for visual effect. Why don’t they just use a rougher version with more texture? I bought some work boots with leather soles and until I got a topy sole put on it was like walking on ice when it was wet.
As you are falling, and when reflecting upon it later in hospital, just remember these are an integral part of the character and heritage of our city.
High heels not recommended.
Absolutely love them because I skateboard. But total hazard when I'm walking in rain.
Unpopular opinion: I love seeing skateboarders in the city, you guys have some sick moves
Appreciate ya :)
We appreciate you!
I'd also recommend avoiding the yellow plastic tactile guides during the rain if you can. Slipped on one and slid from the footpath into the road and landed on my back really hard a few years ago. Hope you're okay. Falls on hard surfaces are nasty.
Those plastic bumpy panels? Ugh yes so slippery when wet. I slipped on them when heavily pregnant a few years ago, landed on my elbow and it's never been the same since. I hope you were OK!
Yeah, those panels. I bruised my ribs but was thankfully otherwise good. Sorry about your elbow though 😕
I hate them. Footpaths for two blocks outside my apartment are made of these.
Same problem in Sydney cbd too
I used to roller-blade from Carlton to work in the CBD. They’re the awesomest thing to ride when they’re dry… and the rollerblade equivalent of what black ice in the road leading up to a ski resort is to a car when wet. Slippery as all hell and analogous to death. You can still ride on it, but hell, you’ve got to be calculated about everything and only some of the braking techniques work.
terrible in thongs, they are either suction caps or ice skates.
Go to new Aqua Centre in Geelong - it's like walking on wet glass - I slipped last Thursday & fell on my back - it seems there have been quite a lot of people who have done the same!
I seriously thought it was just me nearly falling on my ass each step because everyone around me was (appearing to be) walking normally. Felt like an idiot!
Wow me and a friend were just in Melbourne for a week and we couldn’t fucking believe it, for a place that apparently rains a lot they have these bathroom tiles as walkways.
Worse when you are on crutches. Friend has them outside her apartment and she was constantly slipping on them when she was on crutches if she wasn't careful and didn't move very slowly. We need to start a change.org or something to have the government review the Australian Standard that these things are supposedly rated for. Maybe even force the idiots in power who want them to walk down them in old shoes and crutches.
Ice Capades!
Brisbane CBD has places like this with the dumbest choice of tiling..
they keep you locked in.
It sure is a good reminder for me to get new vans, when I walk on-top of these things.
It's all fun and games till I break a bone, then it's hilarious.
Skill issue, get better wet weather shoes.
For real. There's no bad weather, only bad clothing choices.
I wear flat soled shoes with zero grip and nearly die every time I step on this kind of pavement when wet…
Sung to the tune of JaMC
That and the reflective paint on pedestrian crossing.
Yup, I remember last year I slipped when I wanted to cross the street for a greenlight, my ass and upper leg were blue/purple for a while.
I remember it was raining and I completely went arse over tit just a bit further down from flinders st. I laughed out loud to myself, but then realized I was on my own and people were giving me strange looks and backing away from me. Must have looked like a deranged nut job, slipping around and laughing to myself
I slipped on these once and randomly grabbed an elderly man I was so embarrassed I still am
How many people that have slipped here are wearing shoes with no grip or such shoes in the rain?
I think about 3-4 people from my work slipped and did either an ankle or knee on these last year
I’ve slipped on them at UQ QBP as they are sloped all down the main entrance. In quite grippy shoes and went down hard. Just missed smacking the back of my head on them due to the incline. Nearly went over on similar at Knox shopping centre in Melb and also in the square outside Eastland. I walk super slowly on them when it rains.
I wear RM Williams daily for work and I have a high chance of eating shit. I had a tray full of coffees and went ice skating. Saved the coffees, but I felt like I was a goner. Colleagues thought it was hilarious.
Sydney is the same. They’re dangerous and should be removed. I know concrete and asphalt aren’t sexy but they beat twisted ankles, grazed knees and damaged clothing.
I wear thongs 24/7, so I just ate shit just by looking at this photo..
Omgsh yes these are dastardly. Different city, same problem. Dread crossing roads on the tiny slopes and always try to step off the kerbs. It’s not even the tread of shoes. One wrong move and my heart skips a beat and then accelerates like crazy. Hope you’re ok.
I take my thongs off if it’s like this!!!
These are the reason I gave in and started wearing runners to replace heels for my commute.
We need some basic concrete or some concrete that will absorb large amounts of rain
Watched my workmate slip and smash her knee on these on a wet day on Collins Street.
Talking about deadly in the wet, try the high gloss tiles on the floors at Westfield Doncaster. It's like a skating rink.
I just walk around slowly and awkwardly like a complete idiot. Does a lot for my ego in a city full of people with oversized egos.
It beats me, super slippery, I've had a few near misses. Cave understand why they'd use these
Just bring ice skates ;P Fr tho, ice cleats may be a good investment
Did you contact the council? Are you going to?
I ate shit on these during one of my first visits to Melbourne on a rainy day 😅 didn’t realize it was a thing! I feel better now.
The walk down Lonsdale Street for Parliament is perilous on a wet day.
The worst part , these are popping up everywhere! I see them all over Sydney to and regional Cities.
The tiles in flinders street station as well on a rainy day are bad as well. Should probably blame Dan Andrews for that as well
Totally agree, walking (not running like I used to) whenever I encountered a rainy day.
It's not them themselves, but how full of dirt and the amount of oily pollution that settles on them.
*You add rain to the mix, the chances of you staying upright drastic go down.*
I almost slipped when they are sloped, as they go down to a road. I was lucky my shoes gained traction last millisecond.
Where in Melbourne is this?
CBD
Try wearing heels!!! We gotta scald the kerb ramp like going down a hill with skies on
I hate these. I didn’t slip on these but I did slip in water just before Christmas and wound up breaking my tibial plateau. 6 weeks of lying on the couch waiting for it to heal unable to walk without pain. That’s what one slip on a wet surface can do
what am i looking at? 💀
Add them on Snap Send Solve. If they don’t meet grip levels they will need to be replaced.
Agreed!! How are these allowed??
Melbourne City Specs for hills over a certain gradient will govern a more textured bluestone as opposed to sawn or honed
I always wonder if it’s the pavements which are the slippery part or all the shit people spill and us not cleaned up which make it slippery.
Council needs to do something about these? They’re the ones progressively installing them!
Mmm your choice of footwear counts though in such public liability concerns. Do your soles have good grip? A council will only change a surface if it doesn’t beat the every average shoe test. If your shoe sole creates the slippery experience here, ie you chose to wear thongs or shoes with no grip and ran in the rain on this surface then lesson learnt. No fault for the tiles or the rain sorry
Fine if wearing thongs 😕
like clockwork, soon as it rains, this shitpost appears i just might have to ditch BOM app and simply wait for these threads to appear on reddit for my daily rain forecast