Discussions with the BSM and other Bristol Driving Schools

We always have a special place in our coverage for driving schools, as they have to teach beginners the hard art of driving and parking in a city which, excluding Clifton, is anti-car.

Here, up in Filton. Evolution WM10YHO show that the way to park is up on the pavement.

In front of it, a shared space. This eliminates the pavement entirely, and makes for some fun high-speed chicanes.

Speaking of driving schools, our ongoing discussion with one has had a new comment. The instructor does provide some good insight into what it's like driving a bus in the city, so those commenters slagging off FirstBus drivers should really save their anger for FirstBus management.

He also raises the issue of which laws should be ignored first:

I completely agree with people should not park on double yellow lines or zig zags or to close to junction corners all of which cause a danger to other road users but I do not count parking 2 wheels on the pavement in a very narror street that was never meant for parked cars in the first place as the same level of offence.

We don't bother with making decisions about which action is more defensible than others. We ignore them all, hence save time thinking about which action is more right than others.

We also note that we haven't seen that particular driving school in our database. The driving school that most pops is the British School of Motoring. The BSM may have more market share, but they are to be commended for something else: they are the only driving school that we have documented teaching people how to park in Montpelier. The other schools, they pick you up, then take you somewhere safe to learn to drive. The BSM actually hold their lessons in Montpelier.

In-town, in Richmond Road, Montpelier, we have a heartwarming sight. No, not the cyclist going up the hill with the Sainsbury's bag on the handlebars -it's the BSM instruction car WV60WJF.

We don't think driving and parking in Monty has its own test yet, so we're assuming it's a lesson. As Richmond Road is one of the hardest to drive and park on, we congratulate the BSM for showing their pupils the way forward -or at least the way up on the pavement without damaging your wheels, hitting the wall or paying the wingmirror tax on the way up the road.

So far, nobody from the BSM has got in touch with us. However, we are pleased to have video coverage of a discussion between some under-employed tax-dodger and the BSM car WR60CUY, which can be seen driving into the ASL on the red light: the bicycle doesn't get their green light until Shaldon Road is on red, so the car has had five seconds of red before it comes to a halt.

When queried about what the driver thinks the penalty for driving into an ASL is, the driving instructor comes back with the correct answer: anyone who cares about such things doesn't have a life. We actually think this summarises the entire country's cycling activist groups: they only do it because they don't have real lives.

Congratulations to the BSM for putting this tax dodger in their place!

Friday Afternoon Quiz

A typical scene in Stokes Croft. Click to enlarge.

What might be wrong?

Waste

Advance Stop Lanes, or ASLs, are a waste of space.

They are a sop to cyclists, who, we read, are an articulate and vociferous minority.

To the general motoring public, however, they are a waste of good road space. They increase the length of our traffic jams, and contribute substantially to our waiting times at traffic lights. They lessen the length of our 'platoons' that can get through on a green, yellow or red light. They are rubbish.

Which is why we're heartened to see that the two major providers of rubbish disposal in our great city are fiercely competing to get rid of this wasted space.

SITA have the inside, VIRIDOR have the outside. Between them they have the wasted space covered.

And look, not a tax-doging cyclist in sight.

So much for re-cycling.

Safe passing

A lot of people on their bicycles complain about being passed badly by cars. Yet in Bristol, many of us, even though we are important -and show it by driving big cars- still pass our fellow citizens safely, even when they are poor and can only afford bicycles. Here is an example on Lower Maudlin Street, heading towards the BRI. This is one-way, with a contraflow for tax-dodgers heading downhill.



As you can see the Important Pickup moves safely into the contraflow to pass the bicycle, and then cuts left, so giving the bicycle room to share the ASL with them.

Isn't that generous?

Bad timing

The van BK58CNV chose a bad day to park on the double yellow lines on the ASL on Bath Buildings, hence the ticket on the windscreen.

The road was closed while a 30T load got delivered by HGV, and PCSOs were manning the junctions to make sure nobody tried to turn into the road. With the police by the van for a number of hours, eventually one of them was bound to notice it and ticket it.

Unlucky!

Dighton Street: An update

We are busy watching the Walthamization of Dighton Street -all is going well, at least according to this video.



this time not only is another car parked outside Pizza Go-Go in the bike lane, showing how bike lanes benefit takeaways by providing somewhere to park, we see the minicab AE04NDG, taxi #2525, taking full advantage of those cycling facilities.

First, it's stopped part on the pavement, part on the road -but note how no wheel is actually in the bike lane. Then it pulls out -no need to indicate, it's a quiet day, and drives forward, where an ASL provides somewhere for the vehicle to wait for the light to change.

Such use of the cycling facilities of this part of the city ensures that the residents of Bristol do get some use of them. Note how our tax dodging cycle camera person (sorry!) opted to use none of them on this part of the journey. If they aren't going to use such features, well, we motorists may as well!

Firstbus update

Muller Road is now even less of a destination. The bus terminus there is closed.

This is good for us motorists, as it means less pedestrians trying to cross this important road.

Apparently it also means there will "temporarily" be less buses in the timetable. This will obviously benefit us drivers across the entire city. But who else wins?

Well, we can't see any of the cyclists mourning less firstbus buses driving into ASLs on red lights, such as here on Stokes Croft, even if the bus S721AFB here is a 'green' chip-fat bus. Presumably it pulls in at Slix or Rita's to fill up.

What about the pedestrians, will they suffer?

Judging by the way this FirstBus bus WX59BZF drove over the ASL and into the pedestrian crossing area on a red light -and not a recent one, as traffic from Ashley Road had the green light- they'll be safer too.

Assuming the cut-back buses are the low-profit bits of the schedule, we don't imagine FirstGroup will be in a rush to replace the drivers -they like their margins.

(update reposted images. thank you bsk!)

Training for errant cyclists

We hear a rumour. We hear that the council will soon be offering errant cyclists caught cycling on the pavement a choice between the on the spot fine, or some training courses to get rid of their fear of cycling on the road.

We are against this, because (a) everyone should be fined for riding a bicycle, regardless of where it is, and (b) we don't want anything to encourage more cyclists on the road. That's why we drive the way we do, cut them up closely, drive right behind them to intimidate them. Anything else would encourage more of them out there.

We are also worried that if the police/PCSOs start hanging round junctions, like the Cheltenham Road/Bath Buildings junction, they might look at other issues, such as this tax SF51LDU driving into the ASL on a red light.

We do not to be penalised for doing things like that, and if the police start waiting to spot troublemakers, we might be the victims.

Neither we, nor city taxi 623, want that.

Now, some people may just dismiss this as an idle threat, but we've read the real press release, rather than just the EP coverage, which has the bad news

If the scheme is deemed to be successful it will also be rolled out to include motorists who drive or stop in cycle zones (eg parking in cycle lanes or purposely stopping into advanced cycle lanes).
Life Cycle UK will be designing a cycle awareness course for motorists. Again they will have the chance to attend rather than pay the fine.

Scary.  Punishing innocent taxi drivers like SF51LDU by making them sit through some presentation about why cyclists matter, or pay the fine. We'd go for the fine, ourselves.

Bristol ASL Chic

With summer, the women in their summer dresses come out, in the bike paths, bike lanes and the Advanced Stop Lanes, which you are only meant to enter on a red light if you are a bicycle.

Trouble is, here on Bath Buildings, that bike-only ASL is exactly the size for a vehicle. So of course you drive in, the better to see what is going on on Cheltenham Road. And so the people on Cheltenham Road can see you.

Here on this weekday evening, the driver and passenger of H163TEP have not only driven into the ASL on the red light to enjoy the summer, they've driven past it, to participate in the Cheltenham Road "scene" even better. It also helps discourage cyclists from trying to get past, who will only hold you up when the lights turn.