Concerned reader "A" has written in to us:
"The driver of the black SUV WP07CCE travelling along Barton Hill Road decided to overtake on the blind corner where it meets Barrow Road while I was cycling to join the Railway Path. This was despite the fact that I had taken the lane to round the corner to discourage such a dangerous manoeuvre. It being a blind corner he couldn't see the cars coming around the corner towards us from Barrow Road and swerved back in towards the curb to avoid them, very narrowly missing crushing me. All this so that he could pull up and wait at the red light around the corner.
As his window was open while he queued at the red light I took the opportunity to very calmly and nicely ask him to please not do that again to anyone as he could very easily kill or injure someone. That is all I wished to say and I started to cycle away.
His response was to shout that I "shouldn't be in the middle of the road" and should "keep to the edge". When I explained that I had moved to the centre of the lane to discourage anyone from overtaking on a dangerous blind corner his reply was that I had to keep to the side unless I was going to "pay tax to use the roads" and that was within his rights to pass so close as he pays to use the road. When I replied that I also own and pay duty on a car (as I think that is what he was suggesting) his reaction was to shout "you're not in it today though are you you f***ing pr**k!" and then put his foot down and ran the red light to get away."
Well A, it's not often that we like to admit to agreeing with anything a cyclist says here at Bristol Traffic, but in this case we feel you have a slightly valid point.
While we don't think it right to criticise the motorists driving skills (as he's really just doing his bit to fight the war on motorists) we do feel that his reasoning needs some working on. As motorists we are finding it increasingly difficult to rely on the old dependable catch phrases of "you don't pay road tax" and "you should be at the side of the road" as unfortunately we have to admit that we do now know that roads are now paid for out of general taxation and council and government endorsed Bikeability lessons do encourage cyclists to take lanes to discourage dangerous manoeuvres from drivers around them. In fact we're actually even slightly disappointed that one of our own fellow drivers is still attempting to employ such over used clichés.
We can however suggest that the best option in this scenario would have been to adopt the new methods of simply pointing out that by choosing to cycle on such car packed roads the cyclist is obviously a freak, probably smells and point out the direction of Glastonbury for him so he can join all the other hippies.
It's probably also best to avoid repeat situations on this particular corner too as there is always the danger that if it happens regularly then the authorities might do something silly like adjust the road layouts or speed limits to calm traffic to protect cyclists. A bit unlikely though. Our research does show though that this isn't the first time that something like this has happened on this corner, although the following footage seems to have been filmed while travelling in the opposite direction around the corner and the car Y117GNY manages to get at least slightly in front of the cyclist and isn't confronted by unexpected traffic coming the other way as he overtakes on the blind corner rather than taking the whole corner directly alongside him and performing the emergency "squash the cyclist to the curb" manoeuvre to avoid unexpected oncoming traffic as WP07CCE allegedly did.
Showing posts with label barrow-road. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barrow-road. Show all posts
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Readers Letters
The Bristol Traffic mail room has been flooded recently with an unprecendented amount of letters, postcards and telegrams from readers in response to a recent post, with most correspondance expressing how underwhelmed readers were with the synchronised van display.
One reader writes in to say that not only did she find it unimpressive, but she also feels she can do better! "What's so special about parking up the pavement? I do it every day! So does everyone! I don't see why those vans should get to have their photos on your website. How do I get a photo of my skills on your website? I've enclosed a couple in case you can show them. I think they're rather special and as you can see from the windscreen so do the authorities in charge of the awards. Not only have I got all the way up the pavement but I've done it in an area that will gain maximum attention from pushchair users. Hope you can show off my talents too, Shirley Parker RK06 TZG"
Well Shirley, although your skills are obviously impressive enough for an award, we have to say that your display is still not on a par with the vans. One area you are lacking in is stamina. While you managed to hold your position until just before teatime, the vans held strong for almost a whole week without flinching once. We do feel that your attempts deserve recognition though for good effort.
We noticed too that you have used the often favoured pavement outside Playspace on Barrow Road in St Philips. We know that if your display was being judged by our panel then points would definitely be deducted for lack of originality. Although it has to be said, displays of pavement parking are become a rarer occurence here after partons of Playspace expressed a dislike of the parking methods, details of which were passed on to the management, who have obviously launched quite an effective awareness campaign to stop people parking in such a manner, as can be seen in the photo below.
A radical difference I'm sure you'll agree. Although driver WN56FTO didn't agree pointing out that unloading her child into a pushchair to get from the car to the building she was greatly inconvenienced by the extremely inconsiderate parking of driver WM06JFX which stopped her being able to get her pushchair and child along the pavement and they had to go around on the road to get past.
We'd like to offer a solution and show an example of the parking configuration the following day.
Although it looks remarkably similar the configuration of cars in the above photo is actually subtly different from the previous day. Whereas the cars were previousley arranged with one at the front and two at the back, they are now the opposite way around. Having WR53 ZVN and WF53YWN arranged next to each other at the back means that R869 DTG at the front has clear access to the entrance without having to risk the road and everyone is happy. Subtle yes, but it's amazing what a difference a small change and a bit of common sense can make.
Of course there is also the option of parking over the road on the other side, and while it will involve crossing the road it's a danger and sacrifice that some people are willing to make, because they're selfless and kind like that. Driver YG58HXX has not only parked over the road but also a few yards down the road meaning they'll have to endure some serious walking to get to their destination too. But that's ok becuase if it means putting other peoples safety and convenience first then they're all for it.
Not only are they going out of their way for others, they are also letting unobservant cyclists know that the dedicated cycle path that passes under Barrow Road helping cyclists avoid having to cross over the Barrow Road / St Philips Causeway crossroads, has well and truly come to an end at this point.
So it's not all just about winning, it's also about due consideration for those around you as exemplified by YG58HXX. After all life's not a race. It's not about reaching the finish line the quickest, but enjoying the scenery on the way.
As the famous saying goes, If you don't stop to smell the flowers once in a while, you'll probably spend less time standing on the pavement next to them and statistically be less likley to be in the way of someone who needs to park on it.
One reader writes in to say that not only did she find it unimpressive, but she also feels she can do better! "What's so special about parking up the pavement? I do it every day! So does everyone! I don't see why those vans should get to have their photos on your website. How do I get a photo of my skills on your website? I've enclosed a couple in case you can show them. I think they're rather special and as you can see from the windscreen so do the authorities in charge of the awards. Not only have I got all the way up the pavement but I've done it in an area that will gain maximum attention from pushchair users. Hope you can show off my talents too, Shirley Parker RK06 TZG"Well Shirley, although your skills are obviously impressive enough for an award, we have to say that your display is still not on a par with the vans. One area you are lacking in is stamina. While you managed to hold your position until just before teatime, the vans held strong for almost a whole week without flinching once. We do feel that your attempts deserve recognition though for good effort.
We noticed too that you have used the often favoured pavement outside Playspace on Barrow Road in St Philips. We know that if your display was being judged by our panel then points would definitely be deducted for lack of originality. Although it has to be said, displays of pavement parking are become a rarer occurence here after partons of Playspace expressed a dislike of the parking methods, details of which were passed on to the management, who have obviously launched quite an effective awareness campaign to stop people parking in such a manner, as can be seen in the photo below.
A radical difference I'm sure you'll agree. Although driver WN56FTO didn't agree pointing out that unloading her child into a pushchair to get from the car to the building she was greatly inconvenienced by the extremely inconsiderate parking of driver WM06JFX which stopped her being able to get her pushchair and child along the pavement and they had to go around on the road to get past.We'd like to offer a solution and show an example of the parking configuration the following day.
Although it looks remarkably similar the configuration of cars in the above photo is actually subtly different from the previous day. Whereas the cars were previousley arranged with one at the front and two at the back, they are now the opposite way around. Having WR53 ZVN and WF53YWN arranged next to each other at the back means that R869 DTG at the front has clear access to the entrance without having to risk the road and everyone is happy. Subtle yes, but it's amazing what a difference a small change and a bit of common sense can make.Of course there is also the option of parking over the road on the other side, and while it will involve crossing the road it's a danger and sacrifice that some people are willing to make, because they're selfless and kind like that. Driver YG58HXX has not only parked over the road but also a few yards down the road meaning they'll have to endure some serious walking to get to their destination too. But that's ok becuase if it means putting other peoples safety and convenience first then they're all for it.
Not only are they going out of their way for others, they are also letting unobservant cyclists know that the dedicated cycle path that passes under Barrow Road helping cyclists avoid having to cross over the Barrow Road / St Philips Causeway crossroads, has well and truly come to an end at this point.
So it's not all just about winning, it's also about due consideration for those around you as exemplified by YG58HXX. After all life's not a race. It's not about reaching the finish line the quickest, but enjoying the scenery on the way.As the famous saying goes, If you don't stop to smell the flowers once in a while, you'll probably spend less time standing on the pavement next to them and statistically be less likley to be in the way of someone who needs to park on it.
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