The zebra crossing wars on whiteladies road are hotting up. The bus companies had put together a proposal to make it harder to walk over the road -replacing some zebra crossings with pelican crossings, and here, by Oakfield Road, moving the crossing away from "the line of desire" and zig-zagging it so as to stop anyone with bicycle from using them. By discouraging walking and cycling, those people who don't have cars now have no reason not to use FirstBus, so will be a revenue stream.
Sadly, the troublemakers -and we know who they are- pushed back, and this crossing will remain as is. What can we do? Well, FirstBus knows what to do, it's pretend the crossing isn't there. The more people realise that buses will go straight through it, the less tempted they will be to use the routes.
Congratulations, then to WX06OMO, for showing strength of will and not even bothering to slow down for the person standing by their bicycle waiting to cross this junction.
Showing posts with label clifton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clifton. Show all posts
Breaking news: parking restrictions encourage higher vehicle speeds
The new "neighbourhood funding" schemes are great for us, the drivers, as we can use our money to get what we want: parking, without any city-wide initiative like public transport, sustainability or cycling getting in the way. This is why we are delighted to cover the "DEVOLVED TRANSPORT SCHEMES FOR 2011/12" for Clifton and Cliftonwood, which will be up for discussion on Tuesday at 19:00 above Jack's Brasserie behind the waterfront TSB building.
The important people in Clifton have been successful in adding one-way streets by Clifton-college, so making easier to do Range-Rover and Volvo XC60 dropoff, and held up the provisioning of bicycle parking on the grounds that it degrades the listed buildings. However there still aren't enough places to park our important cars. How to add more parking, without appearing blatantly selfish? The answer is obvious: push for it on road safety grounds.
This is the tactic planned for tomorrow, with the following proposals in the set.
We hope all our local supporters turn up for this, and support the proposals and so make sure that we outnumber any cycling/living street troublemakers who sneak in and start calling us selfish gits who are more concerned about having somewhere to park our third car outside our houses than doing something to fundamentally improve Bristol's liveability. Those people don't realise that having somewhere to park our third Landrover -it's more than just a car- does improve Bristol's Liveability. Certainly it makes it easier to walk from the Landrover to our house, and by saving us driving around, reduces pollution and the CO2 emissions from our 3L V8 engines.
Futhermore, once that parking is in, it will be that much harder to put in bike lanes, so any ideas for adding some segregated route up Pembroke Road -our secret high speed alternative to Whiteladies Road- would be killed forever. It's important to do this now, before alternate transport plans progress.
Yes, those troublemakers will say "if we want parking we should have voted for the RPZ", but they miss the point: that would have restricted the number of vehicles we could own. Furthermore, by reducing the number of vehicles parked on the roads on a weekday, vehicle speeds have increased and Clifton is now a more dangerous place to walk. We have a spreadsheet we've just made up to prove it!
Note also that a large number of the other schemes (Ambrose Road, Cliftonwood Road, Alfred Hill, Westbourne Place and Redcliffe hill) are complaints by people about how parking is interfering with pedestrians. It is important to attend to stop this, otherwise the troublemakers will pick up on the complete hypocrisy of pushing for extra parking to calm roads in some parts of the area, while having to introduce bollards and dropped kerbs in other parts. We want parking everywhere, and no RPZ in our way.
Walthamize the planet, and have a nice day.
The important people in Clifton have been successful in adding one-way streets by Clifton-college, so making easier to do Range-Rover and Volvo XC60 dropoff, and held up the provisioning of bicycle parking on the grounds that it degrades the listed buildings. However there still aren't enough places to park our important cars. How to add more parking, without appearing blatantly selfish? The answer is obvious: push for it on road safety grounds.
This is the tactic planned for tomorrow, with the following proposals in the set.
- Lay-by at the bottom of Hope Chapel Hill: Existing parking restrictions encourage higher vehicle speeds
- Pembroke Road (St.Pauls Road end). More on-street parking would reduce vehicle speeds.
We hope all our local supporters turn up for this, and support the proposals and so make sure that we outnumber any cycling/living street troublemakers who sneak in and start calling us selfish gits who are more concerned about having somewhere to park our third car outside our houses than doing something to fundamentally improve Bristol's liveability. Those people don't realise that having somewhere to park our third Landrover -it's more than just a car- does improve Bristol's Liveability. Certainly it makes it easier to walk from the Landrover to our house, and by saving us driving around, reduces pollution and the CO2 emissions from our 3L V8 engines.
Futhermore, once that parking is in, it will be that much harder to put in bike lanes, so any ideas for adding some segregated route up Pembroke Road -our secret high speed alternative to Whiteladies Road- would be killed forever. It's important to do this now, before alternate transport plans progress.
Yes, those troublemakers will say "if we want parking we should have voted for the RPZ", but they miss the point: that would have restricted the number of vehicles we could own. Furthermore, by reducing the number of vehicles parked on the roads on a weekday, vehicle speeds have increased and Clifton is now a more dangerous place to walk. We have a spreadsheet we've just made up to prove it!
Note also that a large number of the other schemes (Ambrose Road, Cliftonwood Road, Alfred Hill, Westbourne Place and Redcliffe hill) are complaints by people about how parking is interfering with pedestrians. It is important to attend to stop this, otherwise the troublemakers will pick up on the complete hypocrisy of pushing for extra parking to calm roads in some parts of the area, while having to introduce bollards and dropped kerbs in other parts. We want parking everywhere, and no RPZ in our way.
Walthamize the planet, and have a nice day.
Red Bull: on the motorists side
In the F1 races, Red Bull are fielding a team. In Bristol a while back, they also had a vehicle on show in Clifton
Proof: THB61S is on double yellow lines, has a tax disk and two parking tickets!
[photo by Martin of Bristol Culture]
[photo by Martin of Bristol Culture]
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.
A dooring post mortem
Our reporter who works in A&E in the city is able to pick up news of interest, today we have a video from someone who unexpectedly came to visit them.
Leigh Road in Clifton, a quiet but narrow road and slightly uphill, the tax dodger is doing under 10 mph by our estimate. Watch the red car coming up on the left at about 15 seconds in. At 0:19 you can see the door opening and hear our unexpected reporter being surprised by the event.
The normal advice given to cyclists for road safety is "stay out of the door zone", which we, the road tax payers object to as it means "stay in the way of important people". This video shows another issue. A road like this, there is no position a cyclist can take that is out the door zone, because if they are far enough away from the left side to avoid a risk from a car there, they are in range of the other side. This is despite the parked cars doing their best to avoid such problems by parking on the pavement wherever possible.
The only solution which we can see here is to ban bicycles from such high-risks roads. For their own safety. We shall be writing to Councillor Glossop -the official Bristol Traffic Councillor- for their support.
Leigh Road in Clifton, a quiet but narrow road and slightly uphill, the tax dodger is doing under 10 mph by our estimate. Watch the red car coming up on the left at about 15 seconds in. At 0:19 you can see the door opening and hear our unexpected reporter being surprised by the event.
The normal advice given to cyclists for road safety is "stay out of the door zone", which we, the road tax payers object to as it means "stay in the way of important people". This video shows another issue. A road like this, there is no position a cyclist can take that is out the door zone, because if they are far enough away from the left side to avoid a risk from a car there, they are in range of the other side. This is despite the parked cars doing their best to avoid such problems by parking on the pavement wherever possible.
The only solution which we can see here is to ban bicycles from such high-risks roads. For their own safety. We shall be writing to Councillor Glossop -the official Bristol Traffic Councillor- for their support.
Clifton Downer
Those Bristol roving traffic wardens really are a nuisance. They've taken to visiting places without any yellow lines. Luckily for WV56HSF they haven't yet been to Pembroke Vale, but we're sure it's only a matter of time before they do.
We think it's fine when they pick on the Redland Mums, after all if you live outside the catchment area of a school, but manage to get your child into it, you can't be expected to fully understand the etiquette attached to driving and parking in the 'hood.
But over here in Clifton, we pay proper road tax, and like to send our kids to public schools. We all have cars, and nobody important walks in our streets. Yes, poor people, the blind and the elderly may have to use pavements and take trains, but we're far too wealthy to worry about them. Which is why we're miffed that P32OSX and AK55BFY have been ticketed for obstructing dropped kerbs.
It appears that Bristol City Council (who seem to think they own the pavements) want to persecute us for simply parking where it's most convenient.
Of course, parking fines are nothing to the good residents of Clifton. So we'll just carry on.
We think it's fine when they pick on the Redland Mums, after all if you live outside the catchment area of a school, but manage to get your child into it, you can't be expected to fully understand the etiquette attached to driving and parking in the 'hood.
But over here in Clifton, we pay proper road tax, and like to send our kids to public schools. We all have cars, and nobody important walks in our streets. Yes, poor people, the blind and the elderly may have to use pavements and take trains, but we're far too wealthy to worry about them. Which is why we're miffed that P32OSX and AK55BFY have been ticketed for obstructing dropped kerbs.
It appears that Bristol City Council (who seem to think they own the pavements) want to persecute us for simply parking where it's most convenient.
Of course, parking fines are nothing to the good residents of Clifton. So we'll just carry on.
Porsches and supermarkets
Number 2 in an occasional series of pictures of Porsches with personalised numberplates parking outside supermarkets. Once again, there is nobody else parked in the vicinity, and we can only assume that this is out of respect for the Porsche's paintwork.
Our previous example was outside Waitrose (naturally) on the Triangle, but here we see T5OOC has parked outside TESCO in Clifton village - they obviously didn't realise that Waitrose is only 2 minutes drive away. It's good to see them following the advice given in the Porsche owner's handbook of not parking too close to the kerb to avoid scuffing the tyres.
Our previous example was outside Waitrose (naturally) on the Triangle, but here we see T5OOC has parked outside TESCO in Clifton village - they obviously didn't realise that Waitrose is only 2 minutes drive away. It's good to see them following the advice given in the Porsche owner's handbook of not parking too close to the kerb to avoid scuffing the tyres.
A darkness over clifton
Aberdeen Road, Cotham. A one way street with the main entrance on Hampton Road, just past the car parked by the dropped-kerb build out with its hazard lights on. A bicycle locked to the road sign. We've covered this road before, mainly on the topic of school runs and parking.
Never looked at the houses much. Student houses. You can tell. The driveway converted into bicycle parking.
But this day: different. A police car with the engine on sits outside one of the houses.
This is where the current suspect in the murder of Joanna Yeates was apparently arrested.
We have nothing to add on this topic; Bristol Culture has done a better local analysis than the rest of the country's press. What we can do is show people what Canynge Road, where Joanna lived, is like. It's never had a mention here before for one simple reason: it's not interesting enough. It's a quiet road between Clifton and the Downs, most notable for providing parking for zoo visitors in summer. Otherwise, sleepy. Or it was.
Now the police stand outside one of the houses; a camera man stands across the road. One person is believed to have been murdered in the house just before Christmas, two other residents have (separately) been arrested and questioned -one of them charged. Whatever the outcome, Canynge Road will be tainted for a long time -like Cut-Throat Lane in St Werburgh's. It has gone from what was a quiet route for cyclists (it's faster to drive on the parallel road as this one is too narrow at the Clifton end), and somewhere for people to live, to a road with a dark history.
In Clifton and nearby, there's now a clear feeling of relief whenever someone who is potentially the murder is being detained by the police: that it is suddenly safer. Because Clifton is a safe part of town, and such things don't happen there, the way they do in Patchway, or down in Somerset, in Cheddar. Things that happen there don't merit national news coverage, despite the grief and suffering the relatives of those people will be going through.
We mourn them all.
Clifton's Road Theft
Dichohecho sends us a pointer to their photo of Oakfield Place, taken from us tax payers, and turned into a bicycle parking area.
This is not just a secret rat run from St Pauls Road to Oakfield Road, it lets passing motorists stop by that fine establishment, the Victoria Pub, for a quick beer, or the Lido for a meal -if they have the cash. Neither establishment has little to gain from having cyclists with no money visit, yet that is exactly what the council appears to be encouraging.
To be fair, with the tree, it did look very nice at Christmas.
And the bollards, with their reflective strips, were visible.
Even so, it is bad enough when parking spaces are taken away to make this city bicycle friendly. To take away an entire rat-run and replace it with bicycle parking and somewhere for people to walk, this is a dark day indeed.
Distorted Reality
We've been emailed a peculiar image. We're unsure whether it reflects the state of the photographer's mind at the time, or is just an attempt at being arty.
We note, however, that the yellow car is parked at an angel in the 'Disabled' parking bay in Caledonia Place, Clifton.
On closer inspection, though, it becomes clear why Fiat R368MMW needs to park at such a jaunty angle. Some selfish soul has obviously put a traffic cone in the bay to prevent parking here. We suspect this would be someone with one of those really useful blue badges that allows us to park on double yellow lines (we've got a pack of them here at Bristol Traffic - if you'd like one just ring the Bristol Traffic Help Desk - most major credit cards accepted).
Luckily for the Fiat, this is Clifton where the standard rules of behaviour do not apply, especially when it comes to parking. So it's possible to park here without a blue badge with impunity. He who dares, wins.
Sense at last
Common sense seems almost to have returned to Bristol City Council following their unsuccessful attempt to turn Bristol into a 'Cycling City'.
Whilst we object to not being able to park the Bentley in Boyce's Avenue during the day, we note with glee that a proposed new 'Pedestrian Zone' will also exclude cyclists, who will not be able to nip under the arch and so get into victoria square safely. With the moving of a taxi rank to a currently wasted double yellowed lined area on Clifton Down road for the installation of new loading bays and disabled parking, even cyclists not trying to use the short-cut will find their life less pleasant, which cheers us up.
We'll have our roving reporters out there, 10 - 6 every day, ticketing any cyclists that dare to disobey.
Unless, of course, they object in sufficient numbers by 17th December to
david.sarson@bristol.gov.uk
citing "Proposed pedestrianisation scheme, Boyces Avenue, Clifton" as the subject.
Luckily we know that very few cyclists read this blog, and we know that they're unlikely to ever find the Consultation Document on the web as they're probably to busy making lentil sandwiches for Christmas.
Clifton Problems
Over in Caledonia Mall, Clifton, someone selfishly attacked a car doing a bit of smart-car parking, by pulling up their wipers
Nearby, another car, KL51UUY manages to get by unscathed. We have mixed feelings here. Yes, smart-car parking finds a new space, but it makes double parking harder, and this road is ideal for a bit of double-work.
In Clifton Village proper, we can see the real problem: mud covered bicycles and their rides, taking up the pavement. by leaning them against dustbins.
Apparently the Ashton Court golf course cafe no longer has its "no muddy mountain bikers" sign up. We say every cafe in the city needs such a sign.
The blind bends of Clifton Vale
We love taking visitors from the US through Montpelier at speed, watching them in teror stamping the ground where the brake pedal should be, as we drive our van through at 40 mph with millimetres between us and the parked cars on either side while texting ahead to our destination. But sometimes we like variety, and other fun place is Cornwallis Crescent and Clifton Vale. That blind Z-bend/T-junction when you are coming up the hill is fantastic. No visibility, you have to get the line exactly right or you get stuck.
This week we are making it more entertaining by making our US visitor cycle round, so watching someone from "cycle-friendly Oregon" encountering urban UK roads, so we took the opportunity to take them down this and see if they'd survive.
The first issue here is that one of the cars in front gets its line completely wrong. For reference, here are the tactics
This week we are making it more entertaining by making our US visitor cycle round, so watching someone from "cycle-friendly Oregon" encountering urban UK roads, so we took the opportunity to take them down this and see if they'd survive.
The first issue here is that one of the cars in front gets its line completely wrong. For reference, here are the tactics
- Descending from Goldney Ave: hold back until you see a gap, then commit, but swing out before turning in, Alpine style. This early swing out ensures that you finish the turn on your side of the road, which is better for bad visibility situations, and here, ensures you can get round.
- Coming from Cornwallis Crescent: head through, don't show weakness.
- Coming up from Clifton Vale: head up, keep left ready to swerve right into Goldney Ave.
A new parking spot on The Triangle!
Here's a good example of how useless public space can be used to ease the problems of the hard-pressed motorist.
Here, outside the Wills Memorial Building, a lovely bit of paving has been fenced off - after all, we wouldn't want any students to touch our car NU52FOA with their kebab-grease smeared fingers.
(photos and text by "Mike". Thank you!)
Secret Clifton Down Shopping Centre Parking
dichohecho points us at this secret parking space hidden behind Sainsbury's on Whiteladies Road, which is also handy for that fine beveraging factility, the Alma Tavern.
This will let you combine a swift pint or two in the beer garden with some Saturday shopping, without having to deal with the shopping centre's own car park, or the now-paid-for railway parking area.
This will let you combine a swift pint or two in the beer garden with some Saturday shopping, without having to deal with the shopping centre's own car park, or the now-paid-for railway parking area.
Spirit vs Letter
There are some new houses up on St Pauls Road, Clifton. The council forced them into putting in bike parking as part of their planning permissions.
Two per front garden. Room for four bicycles.
There's just one small flaw. Anybody who spends however much these premium clifton "city" houses cost is going to want to park their cars, multiple thereof. The designers of the houses realised this, and put them as far to the side of the driveway as you could get, allowing the owners to slide two cars in to each garden, from which they can reverse out safely onto this popular road.
As they all do.
This shows the whole futility in this sustainable housing thing. If the house plans require parking to be provided and bike parking, well, the bikes get the short straw. Yet the letter of the requirements "sustainable" has been met.
It would be better to recognise the futility of this design. Anyone in Clifton who does want a bike will get a fancy one and keep it in doors. All these do is take up space and threaten car doors.
It would be better to recognise the futility of this design. Anyone in Clifton who does want a bike will get a fancy one and keep it in doors. All these do is take up space and threaten car doors.
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