Crossing not in use

Classic anti-pedestrian scenes on Gloucester Road on a Saturday morning.

The gas digging has stopped, but the crossing not in use signs have been left up all weekend. Why? These people on foot are not important. Not even to the shops

Important people drive to the shops, even if the only place to park is by another crossing, as the Range Rover 284RAF is doing. But by doing so it ensures that no cyclists sneak up the inside lane and run the red light, so the woman barely visible pushing her child across the road is safer.

On this topic, just think how much parking space is wasted by pedestrian crossings of one kind or another! It probably takes up more space than all the cycling city improvements. This is yet another argument in favour of removing traffic lights in the city: every pedestrian crossing we take away not only saves time, it provides more parking opportunities!

A touch of rouge

We're gathering data on Whiteladies Road, especially the various pedestrian and zebra crossings. Obviously, we don't walk or cycle ourselves, but we are paying a student to be a cycle courier for us. They think they are carrying blood plasma which has to be rushed across the city -in reality it's just water which we fill up their panniers before sending them to sprint up the hills. We are buying their suffering, while they film for us.

This morning, here is the Whiteladies Gate pelican crossing, on a weekday.

Notice how at 08:15 the pedestrian traffic includes schoolkids getting off the buses (or the train which arrives in a few minutes) who then walk up the infamous Cotham Hill to school. Note also the bicycle which slows down a bit and then rides straight through the pedestrian crossing.

Clearly this cyclist is exceedingly fit, as he does not even need to stop for a rest when presented with an opportunity.

Note also, before the lights change, the vehicles heading down the hill. Less than 25% of the inbound vehicles are turning left into Cotham Hill, and bicycles can travel down the wide road alongside the cars.

We hear of some plans to redesign this junction, along with others, which is why we are collecting our own data on how this junction gets used.

The Polis come to Bemmy

We welcome a new contributor, "B", who snapped them at the Asda end of Bedminster, and says "Probably parked there because of a terrorist shoplifter scare..."

That's certainly conceivable. We suspect the Basics Campaigners, who are #1 of about 47,100 results in Google's index of the phrase "campaign against sainsbury's". However, we don't think they plan to escalate their protest to Asda, architectural merits notwithstanding.

One thing all readers should remember is that the police can park where they want when on call, and they aren't people to upset. It is their right to park here. What is more frustrating to us is that we can't copy them. And why's that? Because it is illegal to impersonate a police officer, and that includes putting "POLICE" and "HEDDLU" on your white van and then expecting to park wherever you need to unload in Bristol, the South West, and Wales. Some people notice the ladder on top of the van and get suspicious, call the police, and then its serious problems. This is utterly unfair.

However, we have some news, something we will follow up next week: something you can legally put on your van so you can park on zig-zags by zebra and pedestrian crossings. Wait and see.

Progress!

As regular readers know, we regard any facility which permits slow pedestrians to cross the road safely as not just an inconvenience, but a needless burden on the NHS, because it keeps the frail alive

We are pleased to see that this one, on Fishponds road by Alcove Road, has been disabled. By not providing any promise that it will ever come back, or reason for the disabling, we hope pedestrians will be demoralised enough to consider driving instead.

Road signs, only more mellow

Apparently this is part of the council's new walking strategy.

By making the crossing system more relaxed, the hope is pedestrians will run out in front of cars less often.