This is a dead cycle lane. No its not, its a norwegian blue.

One aspect of the Cycling City program was the way they used Showcase Bus Routes as part of the plan







as you can see, it means that on a friday evening people have a cycle lane to follow on whiteladies road

It's not a particularly great cycle lane, but with the bus lane downhill and road widening out further up, this metre or so of paint does say "bicycles can go here". For anyone thinking "why not take the lane", on a friday evening that lane is stationary traffic. On a day when there is moving traffic, most people aren't going to be fit enough to keep with the flow all the way up the hill.

this bike lane, is important.

But not, apparently, as important as a buildout "for pedestrian safety"



This little build-out popped up without any warning, no consultation on the council web site, apparently no discussion in the bike forums, nothing.

Why has it gone up? Part of the "safe routes to school" work to the new St Johns school campus; This is the one where last year Skanska proposed making lower redland road a one-way route and stopping cyclists from contraflowing as their safe-school-run plan.

That plan got killed, but whoever wanted to do it must have been bearing a grudge, as they have effectively managed to knife the Whiteladies road cycle route instead, giving you a whole 50cm of rough tarmac and slippery paint between the pavement and the large buses.

This is not a cycle lane! It is dead!

No doubt the council will argue it is "resting", that it is a "norwegian blue" cycle lane. We know different -this buildout has killed it. The cycle team needs to admit this, and on next year's cycle maps remove the "dedicated cycle lane" from this stretch of whiteladies road. To pretend it is still there is to be the pet-shop owner in the dead parrot sketch.

There's just one little thing we have to ask of whoever designed this. Not: did you know that there was a cycle lane there before you came up with your plan? Not: how did you manage to get this in without the cycle team noticing? Not even "how do manage to bypass the entire council consultation process"?

No its: how does slightly widening the pavement make crossing an A-Road at peak hours a safe route to school?

Uphill and downhill there are pelican crossings, the whiteladies gate one being very popular on the school run. Here, for example, is a video of people waiting to cross it when, as it goes red, a volvo school-running parent goes through it uphill (note the pedestrian to the left of the camera shaking her head in disbelief -she mustn't get out much), while the driver of the car coming downhill is too busy on the phone to do the same.



This shows that you can't safely cross whiteladies road on a weekday morning on a light-controlled or zebra crossing without expecting vehicles to cut you up. That doesn't even include the (sadly not on video) incident involving a school running Volvo dad driving over the wrong side of the oakfield road crossing traffic island. These crossings, despite their white lines and red lights are not safe to cross.

Which is why we stare at these roadworks in disbelief. Not because we care about the cyclists -they are clearly unimportant. But in complete disbelief that whoever built this thought it would make trying to walk two kids across two lanes of rush hour traffic is a safe route to school.

Because all the pinch point is doing is stopping bicycles coming up the hill at 4 mph from hitting the push chair -it does nothing for the cars and buses that are likely to cause more damage to the children.

Which means that it is utterly useless. It is not just a a dead cycle lane, it is a dead pedestrian crossing too

Planning the School Run

Driving our van around Bristol we've noticed that the biggest problem for school run mums is pesky cyclists jumping red lights and riding on pavements.

We're really pleased therefore, that the extension to St John's Primary School, using Redland Police Station as an Annex will stamp out these tax dodgers - well at least in one direction.

Bristol's PFI schools provider, Skanska, has submitted a fantastic planning application for the Annex which will eliminate the connection between Whiteladies Road and Elgin Park for cyclists travelling from East to West. We've been wondering for some time whether responsible, sustainably oriented international corporates such as Skanska read Bristol Traffic and take our comments to heart. Now we know. At last there is a scheme which will allow responsible urban four wheel drivers to take their children to school by car without even having to run a cyclist off the road - because there won't be any. Better still, there will be lots of space for lorries to get down past the school after making deliveries to Tesco and others on the corner of Whiteladies Road.

What is really interesting about this scheme is that by denying cyclists a sensible route from Redland to the main shopping area of Whiteladies Road, we could be taking them off the road for good. Then maybe they will see the light and buy proper cars and pay for the roads like the rest of us.

Any foolish cyclists that remain after these proposals are given planning permission will be forced to go up a very steep hill instead (that'll teach them), or negotiate some difficult right turns where we expect they will be knocked off their bikes. The exact proposals are below, but the planning application can also be can be viewed online

Skanska is proposing a brilliant solution for the motorist. We'll be recommending them to the Association of British Drivers if they ask us if we know a good builder.

St John's school, Clifton

We've not visited this school since a sunny day in September, when were were surprised by how most of the kids were walking to school. Surprised, and disappointed, because only by going to school in the secure safety of their parent's cars can the kids be properly set up for a car-centric future. Had the parent's not read the recent Evening Post editorial that argued that only car-drivers brought money into the city?

Swinging by at 0845 on a damp March morning, we can see that those parents who do drive, are busy. Such as the mini WN03HXS and the minivan RX08FMG.

But what's that behind the Nissan micra EO03OXW? A Bristol City Council van ?

Looks like it is the van CN06CJF

With a little renault clio "Papa? Nous allons a'l'ecole?" BT04LBJ, we can see that the parking area for this school is fairly thoroughly occupied.

Even so, there was surprisingly little traffic. Compared to Christchurch, there was less traffic, less cars. Maybe there's less pressure on the pavements from parked locals, otherwise it must be a small enough school with a local enough catchment area that the parents can walk in the kids before nipping home and driving to work.

What's wrong with this picture?

Here are some photos that were hanging around unpublished. St John's C of E primary school, Clifton

The entrance is on this cobbled alleyway. Some children are walking down the middle of the alley.

From the other side, the same unusual scene. Parents and kids walking to school. Not only is the pavement free of parked cars, the road itself is open to kids to walk down.


From the school run perspective, this is very unusual. Why does everyone walk to this school, when the others in the area seem to have all their kids come in by car, cars that then have to park up on the pavement. By eliminating the drive-to-school option, it is safer for everyone to walk.

Some people may view this as a success. But we at Bristol Traffic view it as a failure. By removing the option of driving to school, the school is not only forcing the parents to walk their kids to school, it is forcing the parents to continue on their journey, be it home or to work, on foot. Therefore it discriminates against people who want to drive to and from work. What's worse, it even creates pedestrian traffic that gets in the way at zebra crossings. We should identify what this school has done, how it achieved this walk to school transport structure, to make sure no other schools attempt it.