Priorities

Amusing view behind a bicycle on Cotham Road South.

As you can see the car, RJ53SPV, coming from Clevedon Terrace pulls out right in front of the bicycle. It's a clear day, no visibility problems, so why do that? Because the bicycle isn't important. It's not just to save five seconds, it's because its only a bicycle you are pulling out in front of, not, say, a bus. So it doesn't matter. The council can put as many "look out for bicycles" signs as it wants, they still won't matter. Same for pedestrians. If you matter, get in car.

More Persecution

Last week we saw how R848CGS was being harassed by students merely for parking on a build-out by a pedestrian crossing, in front of a hospital. Today we see that the council, rather than ticket pedestrians for occupying our pavement, is instead ticketing this car. Yet because the pavement has been widened here, there is plenty of room for pedestrians to get past.

Further down the hill in Kingsdown, KF02YWW is ticketed for parking in a disabled space.

Does Bristol Parking Services not realise that on a busy weekday, pavements and disabled parking spaces are the only spaces left for people to park? We don't want to use these spaces, but its always very frustrating driving round the block when there is a nice empty bit of pavement calling out to us, or an unused disabled parking bay. We are forced to use these spaces. And then what? They ticket us.

Road Politeness

Road rage stories make the press, so its nice to see people being polite.

Here is a car HN06ZGG that has moved two dustbins and some bags of scaffolding so they'd have somewhere to park in Kingsdown.

Clearly the builder trying to work there is inconvenienced. But do they get upset? Do they get abusive. No, they leave a nice polite note on the windscreen

Many thanks for parking over driveway and moving bags, but we need access to driveway for parking as working in No3, Any problems knock on door. Thanks.

That is the politest such note yet encountered. Spring must be making everyone feel goodwill towards others.

The next evening, they are defending the driveway with a collection of potted plants.

One of the big arguments about making this street in Kingsdown residents only is that it would be expensive to have builders round. Compared to having to mark out a space in potted plants and still run the risk of someone taking it, that cost may be acceptable to residents. And it will stop that Carol Voerderman coming round to use the Laundrette just round the corner.

Corner Parking

The theoretical rules for parking at corners say "No parking within 50 feet of a corner"

Clearly this is wrong, because if that rule were followed, there would be no parking in cities. So what is the minimum distance from a corner that you should park, given that the goal of the legislation is to provide a safe cornering experience?

The answer, as these vehicles in kingsdown show is that the minimum distance from a corner is 0 metres; you can actually park on the corner itself. This can provide a form of traffic calming, as it encourages turning vehicles to slow down.

All these cars are parked across the lowered part of the pavement, the bit to be easy for pedestrians to cross. Again, in theory, this is a violation of parking rules. In practise, making it hard for people, especially those with children in push chairs, from crossing roads is in fact beneficial.

1. By making it hard to walk across roads, it discourages walking. This keeps the extended parking zone (historically this was called a pavement) clear of pedestrians.
2. It sets the childrens' expectations up, so they expect to be driven everywhere. This is beneficial on the school run, as they are no longer exposed to the risk of being run-over by parking range-rovers.

Notice also that both these cars are super-minis. The Vauxhall Corsa WU04NDN and the VW polo OV55DWW are small vehicles. This is important: long cars would not have managed to fit into the tiny spaces available; they would have stuck out at the corners.

This is why small cars are ideal for the city -they can fit into places, like corners, that big cars don't.