Happy Cycling

This old chestnut

Posted in response to a blog about proposed 20 mph zones in Southville at simplysouthville.blogspot.com

"Ah! This old chestnut again. We've had 20 mph zones here in Redfield for 10 years now, along with all the associated traffic calming measures and street furniture, including signs which say you're leaving a 20 mph zone and entering, um, a 20 mph zone. Total lunacy, but apparently all in accordance with the regulations.

Unfortunately and to our annoyance and despair, the signage makes not a jot of difference to the speed of 90% of motorists, either on the 'rat-run' side streets or the main road, where, alarmingly, a lot of traffic still travels at around 40 mph and sometimes a lot faster.

The brickwork chicanes are almost always driven across, rather than around, the contraflow systems force cyclists onto the pavements, gutters or into oncoming buses and other traffic.

There are so many cars and so little enforcement that drop-down kerbs, zig-zag lines, bus lanes, cycle lanes, yellow lines, speed bumps and pavements are routinely parked on.

I've come to the conclusion, after a decade of first hand experience, that the 20 mph zones here, are in practice, worse than useless, not only lulling pedestrians and cyclists into a dangerous false sense of security, but degrading the meaning and regard for laws / regulations in general.

If, after 10 years of living in a 20 mph Home Safety Zone, with signs designed by local school children announcing, 'Think! 20 Is Plenty', the majority of traffic still travels at dangerously high speed and those same school children - or rather, by now, their offspring - have to wait for ages at the side of the road in the aforementioned Home Safety Zone, before dashing across, it really hasn't worked.

Everyone here - residents, pedestrians, cyclists and motorists passing through - knows that it hasn't worked, either to their convenience or disappointment.

Why would Southville be any different ? Would it be properly enforced there ?

Don't bother - you'll save a few quid and maintain some semblance of respect for the law."

Zig Zag Wash

There aren't enough hours in the day to document all the dangerous and inconsiderate parking that goes on in the city but I thought this was worth stifling a yawn for. Safe in the knowledge that the council and police couldn't be arsed enforcing their own laws, this bloke is washing his car on the zig-zag lines by the crossing on Church Road and I hereby claim my chief I-Spy supermatch bonus points.

Zig A Zag

This thoughtless cyclist has locked his bike to the bike stand outside Tesco in Redfield, thereby preventing passenger access to the car parked on the zig-zag lines approaching the crossing.

Tunnel Vision

The first time I cycled through this tunnel on the Bristol-Bath cyclepath about twenty years ago, it fair blew my mind. It didn't have any lights back then, so you really had to concentrate on the light at the end of the tunnel. Besides that nice metaphor, on a hot sunny day the experience was and still is, like cycling through a fridge.

Mr Brown Bag

Yes Mr Brown Bag, I'm taking a piccie of you and your car, parked on a double yellow line at 9 a.m. on Church Road. Stay where you are, and hopefully you'll get squashed by a bus.

Take a stand

I might moan about pathetic cycle parking facilities at major supermarkets, that's because they're multinational corporations that are happy to dedicate acres to car parking, but one thing that's never bothered me cycling around this city daily for over a decade, is a lack of places to leave my bike.

The council, however, have decided that it's a good idea to liberally sprinkle the pavements in East Bristol with unnecessary bike stands, adding to the already stupidly cluttered street furniture that includes 10 ft tall metal poles with postage stamp-sized signs on top and signs informing motorists that they're leaving a 20 mph zone and entering, um, a 20 mph zone. Doh !