Posted by
Kimberly on Wednesday, November 17, 2010
People have been mailing us, where is the Yoghurt Van YA55VDY? Has some disaster struck Bristol's supply of dairy goods. The answer is no, the clocks changing just altered its schedule.
It doesn't pull off without indicating from the buildout by Whiteladies Gate until 08:10 now, helping to remind the driver of the honda SUV why buying a vehicle that may survive a collision with a white van was a good decision that makes school runs safer.
Note how the driver actually waves our (sadly cycling) reporter. The proposed GBBN changes may make it harder for this van, as the buildout may not be so large. While we can't see from the design whether or not bollards are planned, we fear the worst.
Our complainer from the past, "Slug" says they went to the PACT meeting to complain about some car on the pavement. Apparently the Police actually need to see someone obstructed before the vehicle is causing an obstruction.
This is a useful fact to know. From now on, whenever we park our car on the pavement -such as here BS51VDX does on a build-out by Cotham Brow, we shall wait for some family to get a push-chair past, and get a photograph of them as they pass.
With such a photograph, we can demonstrate that our parking did not cause any obstruction, hence is ineligible for any penalty.
Here we see the junction of Aberdeen Road and Whiteladies Road, with the car VA08SVZ forced to park sideways on to the pavement up by the corner.
Despite the double yellow lines, they aren't blocking the dropped corner.
What they are doing is forcing turning traffic to slow down, and by narrowing the road they are providing a "build-out" like feature for passing pedestrians, even those pushing bicycles.
As such, we think even the pedestrians-rights groups should be supporting the driver for parking in a way that not only conveniences them, it helps improve pedestrian safety!
One of our cities unicyclists was complaining last month about some barriers up on the approach to the Muller road bicycle buildout
What about the blockage at the lower end? The side of the lane is marked out with concrete blocks, and there's a bloody great "bear right" sign across the entrance. It's hard to tell whether this is just to prevent cars from parking/driving in the cycle lane, or if the whole thing is supposed to be closed. However, the effect is to make it quite dangerous to enter the lane at that end, even at the relatively low speed and high manoeuvrability of a unicycle. I can't imagine trying to use the lane on two wheels.
Well, we are pleased to note that the works are removed, there is a keep right arrow for cars and an arrow on the ground for bicycles
This provides them with a safe approach once they get past the car transporter parked in the bus stop
Something that appears to be a semi-permanent fixture of the road.
We like Cotham Hill. Some interesting shops, you can go up it fast out of term time, and there usually somewhere to park. But not always. Sometimes you need to think outside the box. Or a least, think of a differently shaped box. A red one, with four wheels on the front, perhaps, like the Vectra KD03LRV.
Subtly positioned on the corner, there is still enough room for pedestrians to get past.
Looking at the other side, you can see that the council thoughtfully provided a drop down kerb on the buildout to assist with this parking option.
The real problem is the parking on the road is all short stay: one hour. It ensures that there is turnover, but if you want to spend some more time -say a quick session at the Cotham Hill pub- you can't use them. The pavement, well, you can park there as long as you want.
The RAC says white vans are up 40% in the last 10 years. We agree. We also think that their role in society needs to be recognised, and just like police and taxis get special parking options, so should us van drivers.
Take corners, for example. There's no room for a normal car here between Aberdeen Road and Cotham Gardens, in Cotham
But the white van YK54TGV shows that not only can they fit a van into the narrow gap, they don't need to block the dropped kerb.
This is as pedestrian friendly as a buildout -somewhere where the narrowing of the road makes it safer to cross. Yet nobody will recognise this value or the contribution our vans make to the city. Only the RAC are on our side, and even they bill us for it.
