Making bike routes more interesting

This van appears to be making it pretty tricky to negotiate the bike path between Springfield road and nine-tree hill (BTW, where are those trees?). To get through this gap you have to descend the hill, yank hard on the brakes and zig zag into the cutting.

But actually this could be beneficial. It forces anyone with limited skills to slow down before hitting Nine Tree Hill, so making their approach safer. And as for those with the skills, with a rugged enough bike and good timing, well, what does it offer? An excuse.

An excuse to come down Springfield road at speed, clear the pavement instead of the bike lane, and launch yourself straight into the nine-tree downhill at race speed!

The art of Reverse Corner Parking

There's a bit in the driving test where you have to reverse round a corner. Here's a variation. Reversing round a corner to park on a pavement above double yellow lines. To make things more exciting, it's a busy weekday in Bedminster, and this car is trying to reverse park on the wrong side of the road from East Street into Philip Street: a tricky manoeuvre.

Which they pull off, coming up right up against the L-plated scooter that is also parked on the yellow lines. Reversing up to anything that is below the line of sight of your car is usually pretty dangerous, but this car pulls it off.

Impressive! Bristol Parking as done by a professional!

Volvo: because your children matter more than other people's

When you buy a Volvo, especially a Volvo XC90, you are making a statement: that you care about the welfare of your passengers.

But actually you are making another statement: that you care more about your passengers than you do about any other people on the streets. And when you take your dear little children to school in your Volvo, you don't want their life endangered by other vehicles.
Which is why, once you buy a Volvo XC90, you are obliged to park in front of the pedestrian/bicycle access point to the school, on double yellow lines. Nothing else would be as safe as your new SUV.



During the month of June if you buy an XC90 in our end-of-school-year sale, Volvo will pay for all parking fines accrued within 30 metres of a school.

Volvo: because you know whose children matter the most.

A Half-Zebra Crossing

Pedestrians crossing busy roads often use Zebra crossings, as they are the only safe way to get across. However, for the car driver, Zebra crossings are bad news: the walkers have right of way. You can ignore the crossing rules : examples, the silver BMW on Saturday, the grey Bristol taxicab on fFiday. But that places you at a legal disadvantage.

You could petition the council to take away the zebra crossing, but that would look bad on their pedestrian safety statistics. So what other options are there?
One option is to replace the zebra crossing with some kind of pelican crossing, with the timings optimised for traffic flow and not pedestrian convenience. Examples of this are common in the Gloucester and Cheltenham Roads, but they are expensive.

What is being prototyped here in Whiteladies Road is a new crossing, a half-zebra.

In a half-zebra, the zebra crossing only goes half way across the road. the other haf is marked "Crossing Not in Use".

Leaving the pedestrians to run across the road with no requirement for cars to give way to them.
If this trial is a success, it will be rolled out to more parts of the city

Pavement Cycling

This is a classic example of why cycling on the pavement is inconsiderate, dangerous and should be punished.

There is clearly not enough room for anyone walking to get through this narrow stretch of pavement between the wall and 4X4 pavement parked on the double yellow lines. The small child cycling along this pavement is clearly endangering others. Something must be done to stop this menace today!

Walking Lessons

The growth in numbers of schoolkids being driven to school not only increases congestion, it means that the children grow up not knowing how to walk round a city. To correct this, some schools are providing lessons in how to walk.

Here a class from Sefton Park school are being given a walking lesson up Hurlingham Road, St Andrews, practising walking along a pavement with cars parked on it. then crossing the road itself. As it is so unusual for children to be on a pavement, they are all equipped with high-visibility yellow tops.

This may seem an admirable exercise, but note how the teachers are actually blocking cars from getting down the road while the children get across.


This creates an unrealistic expectation for the kids: that cars will give way to them, and inconveniences car drivers, who get needlessly delayed.
There must be a way to provide these lessons without inconveniencing cars. Maybe there is a Nintendo Wii "walking" game, or perhaps a special part of school -the playground- could be set up to resemble a Bristol street. That way the children could get their lesson in without making the commuters late.

Buses and Bicycles only

This police car probably didn't see the signs.

Improvements to the Lower Ashley Road bike lane

As part of the proposed Cycling City initiatives, cycling in the city will be improved by removing the bike lane along Lower Ashley Road. This proposal is felt to be so important, work has already commenced

At the same time, to discourage both cycling and parking on the pavement, the pavement will be narrowed. This will encourage cyclists to take full use of the roads.

Bedminster "bus" lane

Joe Evans sends in some more snippets of the Bedminster "bus" lane. It isn't really a bus lane

Because if it was


It would be full of buses

Instead of cars


Which is the case here

Its because its hilly -you need to park that way

This car is not facing the wrong way down the one way stretch of Nugent Hill because it has driven down the hill and past the no-entry signs. That would be illegal.

The driver would have reversed up from Arley Hill. Why? Because on a steep hill -and this is a steep hill- it is easier to hill start pointing down the hill than up.
Of course, when they do start their car they will now be facing the wrong way. A detail.

Effective Zebra Crossing parking

This driver on Gloucester Road was clearly worried that
parking on the approach to a zebra crossing would reduce visibility and so increase risk to pedestrians.

Thoughtfully, they have parked most of their vehicle (P109 DRA) on the pavement, to enhance visibility for approaching cars.
(submitted by Joe Evans)

Probably didn't see the sign

Well, an ice cream van is kind of bus-shaped anyway, isn't it?

(submitted by Joe Evans)

School Parking

Joe Evans submits a pic showing how parking close to school ensures that your children have a safe walk from the car to their playground.

The keep-clear signs on the road ensure that the pavement is kept accessible for such concerned pavements.

Gloucester Road

Photo and commentary by Jon Roger:
The driver of GF08BAU has managed to demonstrate four important principles of Bristol parking.


First, they have managed to use one of the many "corner parking spaces" thoughtfully provided in the City. Second, they have been careful to park one wheel on the pavement, so as not to obstruct other road users. Third, they have thoughtfully left a suitable gap at the rear of his car to allow pedestrians to cross the road, because of the limited space at the front of this car. And finally because it is raining, they have parked as close as possible to the Gloucester Road to avoid getting wet.

Bus Lanes are for racing

Everyone knows that bus lanes aren't really for buses, taxis and bikes; if they were they wouldn't be full of parked cars. But what is not discussed is that by taking one lane out of every suitably wide road, there is no way to do any racing in the city.

So how do you show that your white diesel van is faster than that of your mates? Well, one of you has to use the bus lane.

Such as here in Bedminster. However, if you are to do this, remember something importent.

If your vehicle is covered in your company's name, with a phone number, then you can expect a phone call from the same irate person (here Joe Evans), who took the photos.

Remember: if you are going to race down the bus lane, be discreet about it.

Keeping an eye on parking issues

Here on Picton Street, Montpelier, the police are present to make sure that everyone follows the laws, including those on safe and legal parking.

Photo: Steve Meek

First Bus marketing

To encourage the adoption of practical transport solutions in a congested and polluted city, FirstBus take advantage of the size of their buses and their ubiquity in the inner cities, by covering them in advertising designed to encourage citizens of the city to adopt clean, efficient and sustainable transport solutions.


Or in this case, motor cars.

Hybrids: a greener form of congestion

Some people are very critical of hybrid vehicles pointing out that they are still as polluting as a normal petrol vehicle on long distance journeys, while in cities they may be more fuel efficient, but they still create congestion, parking problems and can endanger pedestrians and cyclists, while slowing down buses. That is they are more environmentally smug than environmentally friendly.

We say: look at this Prius blocking the yellow hatched lines between Ashley Road and Stokes Croft. Yes, it is stopping cars from Ashley Road turning North on Cheltenham Road on their green light. Yes, the driver is sitting in their trying to look all innocent, as if the idea to drive into the "do not enter unless you can exit" junction was not actually his idea. But the braking he had to do to stop going into the other traffic was regenerated and charged up the batteries, and now the engine is quiescent.

He may be blocking the junction, but is not causing any noise, CO2 or NO2 pollution in the process. And given that bicycles never get into the situation of having to block a junction this way, this is probably the most environmentally friendly form of junction-blocking-by-a-vehicle you can achieve.

When Bristol rolls over to congestion charging, the driver of this car will be able to block the same junction without paying six pounds a day for the privilege.

What use is a garage when your 4X4 is too big to fit?

Some houses do have garages; here in Pembroke Vale, BS8 there are some behind the houses of Pembroke Road. But look at the size of the garages, compared to the cars. They were built in the time of small, fuel-efficient vehicles, a time when the purpose of a car was cost-effective transportation, rather than visible displays of wealth and status. As such they are no use for parking a Range Rover, which, in Bristol, displays the owners wealth and status by being fundamentally useless for driving and parking within the city limits. What use. then, is the garage?

Well actually, it is of incredible value. You see, the presence of garage ensures that the pavement in front of it will be kept clear of any car other than that of the owner, this black Range Rover, WN57 UTP. This ensures that the owner can park near their house and so allow cars down the road.


Incidentally, this shows why there is a lot of resistance to the plans for a Controlled Parking Zone in CPZ. When you always can park on the pavement near your house for free, why pay eighty pounds a year for the non-guaranteed opportunity of some parking on the street nearby. Cant the council see these streets are too narrow for 4X4s to park anywhere other than on the pavement?

Testing the Railway Path for dual use

A lot of claims have been made that the BB railway path can't fit two lanes of buses alongside the bike/walk path and the greenery. These are clearly wrong. Here is the evidence

There is enough room to fit a car sideways on the path, yet still run bikes and pedestrians past it. What is more, in its gradually degrading state, the torched car provides an excellent refuge for endangered wildlife species.

Cycling to work makes for unhappy children

Here is someone who has just pulled his two kids up the hill from Montpelier to Cotham, doing the school run by bike. He's happy, he's had his morning's exercise.

But look at the children. They arent laughing. That little one in the back is wailing his eyes out.

And of course he is -there is no DVD player in a bicycle! Kids that go to school in a well-equipped car get a DVD player in the back -maybe one each to avoid sibling fights, and lower-end vehicles still let the kid play with their Nintendo DS. But here, on the bike, they just have to sit there.
This is so heartless and uncaring. Does the father not recognise the educational value of approved Disney DVDs? Does he not know that some of the games in a Nintendo DS can improve the education and skills of the child, so extracting a value from a long traffic jam? No, he's going to drop the kids off and zip off to work, thinking only of himself.

Why pavement parking helps the school run

Here, up in the premium car corner of Bristol that is Clifton, we see why parking your BMW or 4x4 on the pavement helps the school run go so smoothly. First, 'the Avenue', where everyone has parked their cars up on the pavement. The traffic flows, so even late parents can drop their kids off at Clifton College on time, including the Jeep WR05MHL.

But just round the corner, on Guthrie Road, the BMW parked on the double yellow lines is not on the pavement, so these range-rover driving parents have to wait for the oncoming car before they can get home.


Similarly, round the corner on College road, cars parked on the road create congestion and making access to Clifton High School trickier.

This slows down child drop off and creates frustrated parents and children, which can not be a good start to a school day. And it risks your vehicle's wing mirror getting scraped.

Newly Qualified Driver -can't park on pavements yet

This car is driven by a newly-qualified driver, as shown by the P sticker on the Peugeot P817 OVV. The more obvious cue is that it is not parked on the pavement, merely on double yellow lines and completely blocking a bike lane that is a contraflow up Arley Hill.

This means that it is parked inconsiderately. When a bike has to swing round the car -as you can just see happening- they have to pull completely out in front of the oncoming vehicle -again, this is shown in the photograph.

This forces the car to slow down. How more inconsiderate can you be? If the car had parked with two wheels up on the pavement, there should just be enough room for the cars coming down the hills to squeeze past the bicycles struggling round the parked car.

Not intimidated by signs

Perhaps because of its dark history in the Slave Trade, Bristol now takes a strong stance against discrimination and intimidation.
Here a driver shows that it will not be intimidated by "NO ENTRY" signs, by driving down and parking the wrong way.

To park the wrong way shows how proud you are to stand up to oppression!

Commuting to the North Fringe

And now, some coverage of the downhills between the centre of town and the North Fringe, as filmed from a bike.



The road at the beginning is Cotham Brow; the stretch from there to St Werburgh's has been cut, and the climb through Lockleaze. Cotham Brow is much quieter than normal because it is closed at the bottom; normally morning and evening you'd expect to see a traffic jam in one direction all the way between St Michael's hill and Gloucester Road.

Zebra Crossing: shopper parking

With all the double yellow line areas and pavements occupied all day by commuters and residents, where do you park if you are just popping out to the shops? Zebra crossings.


These areas are rarely occupied by all-day parkers, presumably because they feel it is too risky. But for short term parking, they are ideal. Why? Because they often put zebra crossings right by the shops. So you don't need to to walk far from your car. And that is why zebra crossings are an essential and undervalued part of Bristol's streets. Without them, where would you stop?

Incidentally, the newsagent has the evening post warning about "Gangs Prowl the Cycle Path". They should put buses on it, it would be safer.

Unsuitable for Vehicles

The sign on the entrance to Spring Hill says "Unsuitable for Wide Vehicles". You cant even drive all the way up and down along the kerb, as there are some steps at the top. So to park on the pavement here, you have to drive up from the downhill end, from Somerset Street. Which is what these cars have done.

This may be viewed as a selfish act -blocking off a road and a pavement so that the car owners can park near their work or house. And it does block off the road: here is a Ford Focus -hardly a wide vehicle-, having to retreat.

There was also a taxi on Somerset street that seemed unhappy that their option for exiting that street was gone. Yes, many people would call it selfish.

But think about this. By blocking car access to the road, downgrading it to a footpath, this road is being returned to its original eighteenth-century state. They are creating car-free zones within the inner city -without having to wait for legislative support. If only they could do this at weekends too, when the kids are back from school!

Discrimination

As has been covered earlier, parking at corners is fairly common, regardless of whom it inconveniences

But what do we see on this little French car, but a polite note telling them not to park this way in future

But look, the car is barely sticking out from Brookfield Road, Cotham into the narrow alleyway of Brookfield Alley. It is hardly blocking anyone, and if they are blocked in, well, they could reverse out 100 metres onto a blind junction on Cotham Brow, what's the harm in that?

I think someone is just picking on the car because it is foreign. In France, having a number plate with a 78 or 92-98 as the last digits would mark you out as from Paris on its suburbs; everyone else would treat you badly. Here we can't distinguish which parts of the UK a car is from, but something French is an obvious target for telling off

Hill Work

Someone pushing their bicycle up Nine Tree Hill, from the People's Republic of Stokes Croft, Bristol's home of graffiti. There may actually be a Roman road under here; the Romans liked their hill work.
Note the double yellow lines here have no cars on top of them. This is very odd. Two theories:

1. It's too tricky to get to. Certainly you can't do it from Kingsdown, but you can do it from Stoke's Croft.
2. Parking rules are actually enforced here.

You'd have to do some experiments to determine which was correct. Park cars and see what happened.

Probably didn't see the signs

A lot of driver groups (AA, RAC etc) complain about the sheer number of signs, how they distract drivers. That can be a problem, but Bristol drivers cope by ignoring them completely. Especially the small signs. Here, we have a Nissan X-Trail (WU56VFG) up on pavement.

It's a wide bit of pavement/extended parking area, but with the waste bins in the way, pedestrians get to walk on the road. Being a weekend, Aberdeen Road in Cotham is fairly quiet: about 1 car every 20 seconds. So, no risk. After all, if the council felt it was dangerous to park here, they'd have some signs up, saying something like "Show you care, park elsewhere". Or maybe "School" in big yellow letters.



(Incidentally, the driver came out when I was taking the second photo and told me that he'd only just arrived there. Strange, as the first photo is timestamped 20 minutes earlier. )

Corner parking a longer car

When discussing Corner Parking, we noted that there is only room to do this in a short car. That's on a weekday.





Here in Cotham at a weekend, the commuter traffic is all gone, leaving room for residents to park their cars with less problems. Which means there is finally enough room to squeeze a long car such as an Audi A6 estate into the corner parking slot.



There's a small problem here, and its one of mathematics. The longer the vehicle length, the more of the pavement it has to cut across. Because the alternative would be to stick further into the road. That would inconvenience other cars and be antisocial, which is why considerate drivers make sure they get up on the pavement instead.