Lamborghini Reventon wallpaper

Lamborghini Reventon

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Lamborghini Reventon wallpaper

Lamborghini Reventon 

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Competition Time

Here's a little easy quiz to brighten up the wet dingy evenings for you all. Take a look at the photos of the off - road shared use cycle path and pavement that leads into the Imperial Park shopping centre in Hartcliffe. Can you spot what isn't meant to be there?. First prize is a week touring the Middle East with David Cameron flogging weapons.

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The Cost of Education

It's expensive, having children. 

Even more so if you send them to Public schools, of course.

State schools, however, can also prove costly. 

Here's the scene just after the 2011 Ski trip to Austria arrived back at Redland Green School (we know this, we asked). A trip that must have cost over £1000 per pupil when spending money is added to the bill. Ouch.

Imagine the added insult, therefore, when you walk out of the school grounds having picked up your child to find Bristol's finest traffic wardens have chosen just this moment to visit Redland and ticket any car blocking a dropped kerb (not a yellow line in sight).

One of Bristol Traffic's many roving reporters managed to get this photo of the ticketing in action, whilst the wailing of the Redland Mum's affected by the outrage could be heard across the neighbourhood. Less off-piste, more piste-off.

   

So now, for at least two families, that'll be £1040 minimum. For a ski trip. Shocking.

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The politics of copyright

We see that the "Turning Bristol Red" blog is using one of our photographs of Jon Rogers. Not just embedding, but putting a complete new copy up on their own server: http://turningbristolred.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/p1030249.jpg.

That was a photograph staged as part of the ongoing treegate story. Yes, like Top Gear, sometimes things are rigged. It was Chris Hutt's funeral, Jon was one of the people who stood up said nice things about Chris: it was a year today that we were all down at the Zetland Road junction, where Chris presented Jon with the second place in the Antibicycle awards.

It's bit of a shame, therefore, that what was a deliberately staged photograph at Chris's funeral has become, well politicised. This doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the text, it's worth a read and the audience can come to their own conclusions, only that the Bristol Traffic team doesn't like making enemies, as it interferes with our strategic plans. We sometimes see Jon in the street, he stops and says hello. And last week one of our reporters bumped into Paul Smith over in Portishead, where Paul was polite, despite the fairly muddy condition of the reporter. If someone we know and respect -such as the Bristol Blogger- had wanted the pic, we'd have said "yes, go for it", but we're not so bemused by someone using it who hasn't yet done anything to help us, and without even asking.

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This site doesn't make any declaration of how our pictures can be re-used. There's an implicit declaration of copyright there -that it is retained by the original photographers. If people want to use our photographs elsewhere, it is not merely polite to ask, it is a requirement -something that someone trained in law should realise. We are pleased that our work has ended up being used in the campaign leaflets of the Labour, Green and LD parties over the past few years -everyone who asked got the response "yes". But they asked, they didn't just take.

This is particularly ironic given one of the last acts of the labour government was the Digital Economy Bill, which has some pretty awful provisions on copyright in the internet era, as record and DVD companies don't understand about how networks work, and would rather we all sat at home paying a premium to consume whatever Sky TV beams to us, with the little TV box then uploading statistics on what we watched. Not, say uploading our own photographs or videos to youtube, to become our own media reporters, whether it's on traffic issues in the city centre or -far better and braver- filming the overthrow of dictatorships from your mobile phones as you stand up to rulers that have declared a state of emergency for forty years.


It's also amusing given the experience of Crap Walking and Cycling in Waltham Forest, who had some of their artwork used by their Local Labour party; quite a story [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], though we suspect Freewheeler would be happier if they actually addressed some of the issues that the photographs raise.

Darren, you can re-use the four photos on this posting. That's two of you, one of Gary Hopkins and one of the Eastville ward results where Glenn Vowles is not that far behind the conservatives.

But not the current Jon pic you are using, and if you want any of our others, email us first.

Next time we're at an election we'll try and get some less blurred ones of you. We hear Charlie Bolton will be standing again, and he shared his chips with us. Nobody else did that.

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Equal penalties, see

One amusing consequence of the RPZ is that as the fine for parking without a resident permit in the "permitted parking" area is the as for parking on double yellow lines, if you aren't resident, you may as well park where it is most convenient to you.

Nice, though S826TAW could have pulled forward a bit more. We would have.

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Railway Path Signage

As the extended route through Wickham Glen goes on, signs are already up on Alcove Road pointing to Eastville Park

Similarly, there are signs off Fishponds road letting pedestrians and cyclists know that their reserved route is nearby

To help cyclists get to this oasis, Avon Home Carers of fishponds have graciously parked both cars WU10LLV and WU60MHN up on the pavement, so creating a wider road for the cyclists.

We hope the tax dodgers are grateful, for, as the logo says "we care"

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Monty regains its van friendly reputation

What with the 20 mph zone and all, some people may think that Monty no longer welcomes vans.

Not so!

First, we are pleased to show the first ever double parking event recorded in Montpelier.

We didn't know it was technically possible, but with the BMW in the yellow line area and the van FH02EKZ up on the pavement, we have reclaimed Picton Street!

Round the corner, Picton Square.

Can you see that? A missing bollard. Finally it can be used again for short stay parking, instead of a wasteland for pedestrians. Today HY08UOK is celebrating this shared space.

Meanwhile, over in Montpelier St Werbughs, the council van RF58NRZ is showing others how to park on a corner with double yellow lines. The chosen parking option allows for excellent visibility and does not hinder the progress of other large vehicles.

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Concept vehicle by Aaron Beck

Aaron's concept art blog. Check robots and tanks.



Keywords: concept vehicle car automotive art illustration design six 6 wheel barracuda cuda hot rod racer v12 engine road warrior style machine black quarter mile speed accelerator modified blower roll cage

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A polite refusal

Dear james@becomeknown.co.uk

Thank you for your posting on our entry Traffic Calming by YK06USX.

 Hi Bristol Traffic,

I work with a company that sells bollards and we would LOVE to get a link to their site from Bristol Traffic. Especially as these inventions feature on your blog quite often, such as your History of Bollards Is this something you're open to?

If you could let me know either way that would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

James 

And

Hi again, my email address is james AT becomeknown DOT co DOT uk :) 

While you were posting your two comments, you would have had time to notice the text immediately above which stated "No adverts, no spam, no requests for cross linking. We will only be rude.".

As this text warned, we not only decline your request, we do so publicly, with your email address put up online with the email address converted into an Internet Engineering Task Force RFC2822-compatible form, RFC2822 replacing, as you may recall, RFC822, so ensuring that spam-bots will find your address and get in touch with your inbox, giving you opportunities to buy discounted counterfeit pharmaceuticals as well as Nigerian 419-spam about how this-week's toppled middle-eastern leader's bank funds could be yours for a small investment up front.

Now, perhaps our rules were not clear enough, so we have reviewed the text and the IETF RFC2119 standards on the correct use of MUST, MUST NOT, SHALL, SHOULD, SHALL NOT, SHOULD NOT, MAY and MAY NOT.

Here then is our new statement in which we state our expectations from commenters and the response that faces comments that violate the rules:

Commenters MUST NOT post spam, MUST NOT post requests for cross linking and MUST NOT post up requests for paid links. Such attempts SHALL result in one or more postings in which we MAY be rude or we MAY make fun of you and MAY include your public email address. Furthermore, we MAY report you to google for attempts at paid linking, who SHALL then punish your site. 

This statement follows RFC2119 rules regarding the use of MUST, MUST NOT, MAY, and SHALL and MUST be treated as normative.

We hope that this clarifies things, and that you do not attempt to add any more comments, as if you continue to do so we SHALL go to the relevant google form and report you and your customer.

Thank you for your participation in the Bristol Traffic Project.

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A brand new Urban Village

We are keeping an eye one some newly proclaimed subversives, the People's Cycling Front of South Gloucestershire, whose goal is for S Gloucs to have cycle paths that the Dutch won't laugh at.

They have denounced the new cycle paths of the Tailspin housing estate between Lockleaze and the MoD as something the Dutch will laugh at, which apparently they did.

Well, let's drive out and see, as we were worried that this estate may be encouraging alternative transport instead of the joys of the A4174 ring road of a weekday evening.

Next to the sign advertising a new way of live in a Brand new Urban Village, we see a photo of a family all cycling without helmets on the path beside the estate. There are no houses in the photo as it was taken "before". There is some text in the advert about how wonderful it will be, but the ageing VW Polo hides it.

Nearby, it has that Urban Village flavour -maybe even a taste of Montpelier- as a VW Golf parks up on the pavement, some student cycles by, and the 20 mph roadsign has been twisted to one side by a passing truck.

Round the corner, as the subversives noted, yes, there is a new cycling path which is about 40 cm higher than the old one.

What has changed since last week's denunciation is the give way signs for traffic crossing this cycle path have been removed.

Nothing to fear here then. Business as usual. No happy families will be using these paths to get to the city, or even as far as crashing into the bollards by the MoD.

We hear the Cycling Front are planning a kind of competition one lunch time next week to see who can ride the path, mountain bikes with or without suspension recommended. Keep an eye on their @cyclingfront twitter feed for news.

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Traffic Calming by YK06USX

This little mini convertible, YK06USX, has managed to make the most of the tiny area allocated to parking here, by almost, but not quite fitting in to the gap, so resorting to a bit of echelon-parking.

The result is nice bit of traffic calming, not just because it creates a pinch point, but because approaching traffic can't be sure that the mini isn't actually pulling out without bothering to indicate. This reduces traffic speeds on Zetland Road.

From a distance, the nature of the park-out can be observed. It adds a pinch point to a pinch point.

Given the risk to this vehicle's paintwork, such selfless dedication to road safety must be congratulated.

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tuning multicolor

DSC_7445, originally uploaded by Luca Merlo.

Raduno autodromo di Monza 20 Febbraio 2011

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Chrysler Photoshop

ChryslerPhotoshop, originally uploaded by Josh Holly.

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James Chung concept vehicle designs

James' vehicle and entertainment art blog. Also check out conceptships, robots and tanks.



















Keywords: digital technical illustration concept automotive car vehicle art design by james chung futuristic spikes on wheels adjust to varying terrain tire traction all atv off road vehicle camera safety feature bubble dome aspect

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The front line of the RPZ

Freemantle Square, the council is happily making us pay even more for the right to park near the inner city, and ticketing those who resist!

Fortunately, just down the hill, the zone ends, and on Springfield road, you can double park provided you stay far enough away from the yellow lines as to not infringe them.

Cyclists coming up Ninetree hill should be grateful for this considerate parking by V281MGO

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Breaking news: Eric Pickles declares war on Montpelier

From the (sadly) militant pressure group of people to poor to afford cars comes this news: the government plans to give councils the power to restrict paveparking to occasions other than when mothers with kids are blocked.

We don't need to say anything other than repeat the quote this commenter on the Sun's article, who knows it is safer to park on the pavement than inconvenience fellow drivers.

i'd rather force a mother into the road, where she can stop, look, listen and navigate carefully than park my car obstructively in the road.

nonsense, total nonsense, will they make extra spaces in places where they have to enforce such rulings? like hell they will, they'll just coin it in whenever someone gets sick of the inconvenience of parking half a mile down the road

See that? The government makes us pay to drive, and they make us pay when we park too.

Meanwhile, here in Bristol, the Evening Post is horrified to discover that Bristol comes in the top ten cities in Britain for parking charges. We are not shocked as we know something else: Bristol comes in the top ten cities for Britain, and has a far higher percentage of motor vehicle commuters than central London. There may be some correlation there.

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Changes on Woodland Road

It's been a few weeks since the RPZ rolled out, a year since Chris Hutt last commented on it. Time start looking at the impact of the RPZ on the city.

The RPZ has devastated Woodland Road and the rest of the university quarter. With some of the staff having parking in the (former) front gardens of the buildings, these roads used to be a lovely commuter spot, just before the pay to park area. Students got up too late to get look in.

But now, well, completely empty at 08:30. That not only makes it bad for commuters, it makes it a more pleasant place to walk and cycle. At least on those days when some Big Society volunteers act as community lollipop people.

The sign of cyclists just makes things more painful, as we know that not only do they not pay to be in traffic jams, they don't have to pay to park.

Fortunately, we managed to get our white van to the BRI-managed "shared space" area that is Southwell Street, which had a little bit of pavement left for us.

Important: we have heard rumours of changes planned for that road/NHS parking area.

Any anonymous documents or emails are welcomed at the usual email address. We like them to remain consistent with our mission statement "be 12-18 months ahead of any breaking news covered by the Evening Post". If we don't get anything in the next few days, we will have to make something up.

More about → Changes on Woodland Road