A walking strategy for Bristol

Over from the Bristol Cycling Campaign comes their proposal to the council on a walking strategy for Bristol.

All of the artwork appears to come from contributions to this site, which shows that our secret plan is coming to fruition. Bristol Traffic is becoming the city's best public database on transport issues, all stored and indexed by our strategic partners Google and Yahoo!, and we gladly give permission for photographs to be reused if we get credit. (Please check first, some third party submissions via flickr may have different.

We think you should read the entire document. It's interesting to compare the campaign's point of view: pavements should be valued, not treated as space for cars and mobile phone base stations, to that of the local press, which imply that it is bicycles that are the greatest threat to pedestrians. The Evening Post appears to be trying to create a split between walkers/cyclists, rather than unity against a common problem: cars and the danger and inconvenience that too many of them are creating in the city.

For those in a hurry, here is the summary:

The Bristol Cycling Campaign strongly believes that a walking strategy is needed. Walking has to be recognised as the primary mode of short-haul transportation in the city, and is an integral part of any public transport story. It has to be made safe.

We propose

1. A 20 mph speed limit
2. A focus on strategic walking routes
3. Fixing the walking gaps in the city
4. Reclaim pavements from cars
5. Make crossing roads safe
6. Aggressive solutions to the school-run parking problems
7. Keeping the pavements clear of clutter.
8. Include walking and running for leisure
9. Active engagement of other groups that care about pedestrian safety.

We believe that a walking strategy should have a goal such as "easy access on foot to key destinations". We also propose a set of destinations:

• Local facilities: shops, pubs and similar.
• Local pubs. Walking to the local pub helps reduce drunk-driving incidents, but walking home after drinking alcohol does significantly increase the risk of being hit by a car.
• Schools. Walking, scootering, kid-bike-on-pavement and kid-on-bike-with parent should be viewed as the preferred transport options to primary school; teenager on their own on foot+public transport or bike that for secondary school.
• University: no students should be driving to Bristol University.
• Public Transport hubs. Pedestrian access to the central bus station, templemeads and, to a lesser extent, Parkway, stand out here as opportunities for improvement.
• Local bus and train stations. Without the ability to get safely to the access point to the public transport infrastructure, this infrastructure is inaccessible.
• Health care and social services. These should be accessible by someone with physical disabilities.
• Central shopping areas: Bedminster, Whiteladies road, Gloucester road, Cabot Circus and Broadmead are examples. These can be visited on foot or foot+bus.

We do not directly discuss walking to work. For those people who live in or near the city centre, this is already an effective option. Many people do walk round the city.

Cycle Infrastructure

There is now a fairly long Department of Transport document up online on "Cycle Infrastructure Design"

It covers when to/when not to segregate bikes from other road traffic, how to do safe cycle facilities, etc.

Two obvious failings

1. No awareness of mountain bikes. Not only do things like A-frame motorbike barriers get in the way, a lot of their cycle speed calming measures are just a form of entertainment to a mountain bike in a hurry. Hopefully the Bristol Trails Group won't see their recommendations about track surface, minimum distance from trees, etc.
2. Roundabouts (p58). The document acknowledges their danger, especially those with left-feeds, and discusses how bigger radius roundabouts (e.g. St James Barton, St Pauls/M32 and Lawrence Hill roundabouts) allow cars to get up more speed and are more dangerous. But a key suggestion is "not generally recommended on cycle routes.". Given the data they cite on roundabout design, surely we should be considering -if cycling is to be considered a legitimate form of transport- whether roundabouts should still be being built. After all, if unmanned level crossings are being withdrawn for safety reasons, why can't we have a "no new roundabouts" policy. It may seem ambitious, but round-is-bad.

[photo: a shopping centre with overflowing bike parking. Clifton Down, not Cabot Circus]

Council Parking Strategy

We have discovered the council's parking strategy. It's not a secret, what is surprising is there actually was a strategy. One that places priority on parking enforcement in the "outer zone" -that's the non-revenue earning parts of the city- to : avoid obstructions to traffic flow, to avoid road safety hazards and to maintain journey time reliability for buses. No mention of bike paths. no direct mention of safe pedestrian crossing. Just traffic flow. Interesting

Most ironical statement of the report is the risk assessment on page 8:

The City Council's effectiveness as a Transport Authority is at risk in the absence of a comprehensive and coherent Parking Strategy.

Yes it is.
[Photo: End of CPZ on St Michael's Hill. For anyone doing hill-climbing training, this is the turnaround point and a time for rest before repeating the climb. The two buildings on the right are scheduled for replacement by something more grandiose in the University plans. ]

UK Road Sign Revision

On Saturday, the Department of Transport announced a revision of UK road signs.

Some goals of the review will be

• To consider new powers to reduce street clutter - and ensure out of date signs are removed;
•  Look at using new traffic sign technologies that can provide new ways of managing traffic flow;
• Provide better road information - such as up-to-date travel news - to give motorists informed choices about their journeys;
• Demonstrate how effective signing can provide safer roads and reduce accidents;
• Improve road users' understanding of traffic signs and signals.

This organisation looks forward to this, and will make some proposals. A key one is that street clutter can be reduced by removing out of date signs indicating that parking is illegal, as in Bristol it is clear that bus lanes, bike lanes, double yellow lined streets and school areas are common parking areas. Removing the signage will make the streets much less cluttered. Furthermore, the meaning of those few signs that are retained can be communicated to road users by imposing some form of penalty for lack of adherence to the rules. For example, ignoring speed limit signs could be penalised with something we have given a working title of "speeding ticket"; ignoring what few no-parking signs left after a rationalisation could be punished with a "parking ticket". Apparently such tickets have been experimented with in different countries, and been shown to change behaviour.