The school run

Look at these disgusted Hotwells parents fed-up with the way people park outside their school. 'Stopping on zig-zags is dangerous and selfish' says the sign, and we agree. With a little more effort GL07OTS could have parked entirely on the build-out, and not on the bit that says 'KEEP CLEAR'

Clifton: we can dream, but the bollards deny

A Sunday in Clifton, and the owners of the 4x4s like WF58EZG are forced to use the raised body height to help get up on the pavement.

There just aren't enough spaces for that VW Touran, or the Jeep Grand Cherokee WU53HGD below, famous for, in the words of the NCAAP safety tests, earning just two stars for pedestrian safety, "this car was not designed with pedestrians in mind"

Well obviously not. People walking take up parking spaces.

Which brings us to Waterloo Street, Clifton Village. Bollards. Worse, Bollards with bicycles attached.

Our Clifton councillors have done what they can to discourage cycling: resisting cycle parking in the village, proposing taking away yellow lines, but it isn't enough.

It's not the yellow lines that are the problem -it is the bollards. They remove space from us, the important residents of the area, and give to them, the pedestrians and the cyclists. It's as if they were more welcome than us.

Every Bollard is a sign that the War on Motorists continues!

Keeping clear

Keep clear signs up on this corner, which YIB4199 carefully follow, by making full use of this lovely under-utilised bit of pavement.

We are lucky that the residents of Clifton managed to stop their lovely streets, such as here, Richmond Mews, being ruined by bike parks. This is one part of the city that successfully fought back against the Cycling City program.

Keeping clear

Here again are the benefits of Cliftonwood life: considerate neighbours. See how well P731EBD and WN56XCJ are staying off the bit of Goldney Road marked 'KEEP CLEAR'.

Just Learning the ropes

The AA learner car on Cromwell Road, just of Gloucester Road isn't parking in front of the no-parking-24-hours area because it needs to.

That's the entrance to a block of student houses, which means people who need to learn to drive. In Bristol. Where knowing which keep clear signs you really need to pay attention to is important. These signs are marked "keep clear" in white, but not double yellow lined, so not a concern of Bristol Parking Services unless/until someone needs to leave the facility, in which case it's an obstruction for which you get towed. Knowing the difference between the two is useful, though the tests aren't yet up to date with such subtleties.

The students are back!

We know the students are back as they are taking away our parking places. You can recognise the student cars as they are smaller and full of junk. No child seats, no 4X4s. This space used to be one for residents and school dropoff

Here in Aberdeen road, one has taken the build-out by the school-keep-clear zone.

As it was 08:20, we were worried that some militant parent had left a stroppy note on the windshield of L301GYU

But all it says is "access is needed via these gates for refuse collection etc". If they backed up a bit closer to the bollards, then even the rubbish collection trucks could swing into the school without problems and the note author would be happy

Ofsted Revisited

In an unprecedented response to our Ofsted Report , it seems that motorists from all over the country are flocking to Bristol to prove that we're not the only city with a literacy problem.

Last month it was Essex and Reading. This month Birmingham's BX54FVC,

GV57LWM from the 'Garden of England' ,

and CF04HLD from South Wales

all prove they are as illiterate in their particular areas as we Bristolians.

Interestingly, though, they have researched the exact location featured last month, so they can obviously read a map.

Innit.

Ofsted Report

"Standards remain well below average at Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4." 

So said Ofsted in their letter to Heather Tomlinson, (ex) Director of Children and Young People's Services at Bristol City Council on 17/12/2008. 

These are standards for things like reading, writing and arithmetic. But they are getting better. Better than the previous generation (who now have cars). Here's their level of literacy:

The evidence would suggest that there are significant numbers of motorists in Bristol who can't read. And if you can't read the words, how can you be expected to obey the advice? 

But... These cars , although safely on the pavement near the Gloucester Road, are not from Bristol. EA04YWF proves that schools in Essex are worse, as does RF52 ODU for areas near Reading (where you really would expect everyone to be able to read). Maybe Bristol is not fairing so badly in the league tables after all.