Ghost Bikes

You cannot be too careful on a dark All Hallows' Eve when you drive home. Ensure that you look all around you, especially at the industrial units on your right as you turn from Trinity Street onto St Philips Road, who knows what nasty creatures maybe lurking there. But just remember, you must shield your face from the baleful red glow of the video camera of a possible Ghost Bike rider. We say possible, as this driver of YCIIEUX did not actually pass though the apparition, so it's not proven yet that they exist...


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(video and text from Obsydian Bris)

Van in disguise

An important piece of advice to van drivers who wish to demonstrate their rightful place on the road is that it is sometimes necessary to do this incognito if you do not have the time to enjoy a joke and pint with the friendly local constabulary.

If you do not have access to a plain white van (and you call yourself a van driver?), a hired vehicle is the perfect substitute, allowing you to perplex any cyclist who thinks they have the right to safe passage as they'll never be able to tell where you work.



Here in the video we see that the driver of the hired Thrifty van HX53JXR demonstrates the technique with perfection as they pull into the local DPD depot on St Philips Road.

4X4's ARE needed in the city

The recent case of a conservative MP taking out a cyclist while pulling out of the "Airey Neave" exit of the houses of parliament have some of the cyclist subversives up in arms, questioning why you need something like a Range-Rover in the city.

A Range-Rover, with its higher cabin, has better visibility, so should be in less accidents. When such events do happen, such as the MP's RR-cyclist collision, the enhanced safety of the vehicle reduces the risk that the driver and other passengers are injured.

But there is another benefit of a high-clearance 4x4: enhanced parking opportunities. While safety is an abstract thing, enhanced parking is tangible.

This is St. Philips' Road, end of the Bristol Bath Railway Path, on a Saturday afternoon. If you have a 2WD, there is a limited amount of parking. The only places where these low-slung vehicles can get over the pavement is by the dropped kerb of a pedestrian crossing.

Accordingly, only room for two of them. All other vehicles are out of luck. Unless they are 4x4 toys

With all wheel drive and longer travel suspension, vehicles like HD07NNE can pop up the kerb, over the pavement and straight onto the vegetation.

Or, like HD04PPY, come in diagonally onto a spare bit of greenery. Either way, these drivers have managed to exploit 4X4 parking spaces, spaces only they can use.

That's the kind of tangible benefit that makes vehicles like this pay for themselves, and the drivers glad they made the correct purchasing choice.