Hook work by N4CSP

A contributor "SP" sends us a video along with the commentary

The grey car, N4CSP, is clearly in a hurry to get to the Callington Road Hospital, adjacent to the Tesco in Brislington. Unfortunately, I am about to cross the junction they wish to turn into, and so like any right-minded person who wants to exterminate another useless tax dodger, they wait until the last second to accelerate past then cut across to make the left turn.

This impressive action saved them a whole 4 seconds on their journey time, enabling them to no doubt secure a much deserved parking spot.


Interestingly, Callington Road Hospital is for people with mental health issues (no, not cyclists, proper weirdos), although I was unable to tell if the driver of N4 CSP was a member of staff in a hurry to beat up some of the patients, or a patient desperate to secure a fresh supply of Prozac.

Parking in and near hospitals are a controversial issue -the EP recently printed a lovely letter by Brian Rogers of Kingsdown , which we have covered, in which the way that fit and healthy cyclists get in the way of people trying to get to hospital:

These tax-payer funded lycra clad louts have spent the last 14 years "saving" the planet by not using cars as they abuse anyone who must use a car for such essential travel as work or hospital visits.

Well, "SP, you may have met Mr Rogers himself. At least this time he wasn't held up.  As for the claim that cyclists aren't "proper wierdos", we would dispute that. Grown men do not normally dress in plastic bags.

Brislington Traffic! Welcome!

Quick pointer to the wonderfully named Briztraffic, who have recently started providing coverage of the Brislington area of the city. For our readers out of town, most time in the area is spent by non-residents in the A4 in traffic jams at this point. There's a nice part to the north, by the Avon, which has pleasant paths along the river. Paths which, if turned into new roads to Bath, could reduce A4 congestion. But no, the war on motorist continues and these paths are wasted on families walking their dogs or cycling happily around.

We have added a link to the site in our quick links list.

To follow up their coverage of the Kingsdown RPZ issue, apparently the yellow lines over driveways were something residents could opt out from. On Victoria Walk leading to Fremantle Square, there are some that have clearly done this. Even so, during RPZ hours, they'll need a permit to park there. We are busy sorting out one for the one white van in the team that doesn't have a disabled "park everywhere" permit. Apparently the council doesn't actually check with the DVLA that the vehicle is registered at an address in the RPZ; you just need to provide a gas or electricity bill that shows the vehicle owner lives there. As producing fake utility bills is easier and cheaper than telling the DVLA that you've moved, this should be fairly straightforward. We shall be reselling our "Workers' Chernobyl and Belarus Gas and Electricity Collective" bill template for others to re-use, once we know it works.

One other interesting feature is any new "low vehicle use" buildings/conversions in the area won't be eligible for more than one permit, which means the builders who say "green housing" to get to use more space for housing rather than parking really will get to mean housing with only one car per household.