Cars to be banned from Bristol City Centre?

[pdV6]

...at night?

http://www.epost.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=1449...

Evening Post said:

Cars could be banned from passing through Bristol's Centre at night in a plan to cut the number of accidents involving pedestrians.

Transport chiefs say St Augustine's Parade in the heart of the city is also its worst accident blackspot.

There have been 25 casualties on the stretch of road between the waterfront and the Hippodrome in three years.

Now city councillors are being asked to consider closing the road, which links College Green to Colston Avenue one side of the Centre, to private cars from midnight to 5am.

It would mean people trying to drive from Baldwin Street to Park Street or harbourside nightspots on Bordeaux Quay would have to go via the St James Barton roundabout and Park Row.

Those people trying to reach Broadmead from Hotwell Road would not be able to drive along Anchor Road.

Buses, taxis and emergency vehicles would continue to be allowed through.

So, that's 8 accidents a year - many of them involving buses, taxis and drunken pedestrians - and the answer is to ban private cars?
Did anyone see where Common Sense went when it left the council offices?

[dazren]

Utter tards.

Why not try putting in decent size kerbs and making the road surface clearly different to the surrounding pavements. Maybe then some of the terminally thick will realise when they're about to leave the safety of the pavement!!

ing muppets.

DAZ

[splodge s4]

dazren said:

Why not try putting in decent size kerbs and making the road surface clearly different to the surrounding pavements. DAZ

That is it. I believe the whole idea when they did it a few years ago was to make it feel more like a pedestrian zone thus drivers slow down. What actually happens is pedestrians think it is a pedestrian zone & wander about where ever they want.

Any way I like that bit of road, raced a Merci there once!

[mechsympathy]

splodge s4 said:

That is it. I believe the whole idea when they did it a few years ago was to make it feel more like a pedestrian zone thus drivers slow down. What actually happens is pedestrians think it is a pedestrian zone & wander about where ever they want.

I thought they'd already re-built it to demarcate the pavements better.

I feel a FOI application coming on to see how many of those accidents actually involved private vehicles...

[mechsympathy]

And while we're on the subject of Bristol Shitty Council, did anyone else see the bit in the Post the other day about congestion charging?

[pdV6]

mechsympathy said:

And while we're on the subject of Bristol Shitty Council, did anyone else see the bit in the Post the other day about congestion charging?

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=19072089&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

[agent006]

Island Bristol. The only reason i venture into the city centre any more is for the PH meets. The traffic and crap road manners in Brostol is one of the main reasons i don't still live there.

Edited by agent006 on Wednesday 28th November 17:03

[GavGav]

Personally I don't think that's a bad idea.

Yes, they're fixing the wrong problem. But how many of you really want to drive through the centre at 2am on a Sunday morning, dodging the drunken kebab eaters as they roll around in the road fighting ? Or drive down Baldwin Street as the Stella fuelled chavs walk out in front of you ?

Besides, the council should be doing proper work, like checking my bins for "illegal" food waste, or slapping threatening notices on my car because I parked 1 wheel, 1/8th of an inch on the grass of the downs.

[mechsympathy]

GavGav said:

Personally I don't think that's a bad idea.

Yes, they're fixing the wrong problem. But how many of you really want to drive through the centre at 2am on a Sunday morning, dodging the drunken kebab eaters as they roll around in the road fighting ? Or drive down Baldwin Street as the Stella fuelled chavs walk out in front of you ?

On the rare occasions I do want to cross town I don't want to have to go round. And (again on the rare occasions) when I want to pick SWMBO up in town I don't particularly want her walking far, or fighting for a taxi.

[spaximus]

Bristol at it's best. why not just arrest all the drunks and then the only people using the roads will be sober. End of problem. I go to the hipperdrome on a regular basis and on coming out around 10.30 the place is teaming with drunken idiots. Women when it is freezing in skimpy dresses staggering around.
Bristol hate cars and will not be satisfied until they have destroyed what is good about Bristol.

[custardkid]

GavGav said:

.....how many of you really want to drive through the centre ......

at 7am and 8pm when there isn't much traffic its quicker to go from Leighwoods / clifton to Parkway station by drive to gordano/m5/m4/m32/ring road than going through the centre... go figure

9 miles vs 25! i blame the traffic lights

custard

[Yertis]

spaximus said:

Women when it is freezing in skimpy dresses staggering around.

That's one of the reasons I always take a detour through the Centre late at night.

It's like being in a Safari Park.

[mechsympathy]

Yertis said:

It's like being in a Safari Park.

You're less likely to lose your wiper blades in a safari park

[Yertis]

Next thing, Bristol City Council will be completely befuddled as to why Marlborough Street, Park Row and Frogmore Street are always gridlocked at night, and no one seems to go to the Centre of an evening except drunkards (not that many seem to anyway). Seems fecking stupid, penalising sober car-driving people to pander to the needs of the pissed. But then that's the wacky way BCC work. The pissed don't generally drive, which fact alone in the eyes of BCC makes them worthy of support and encouragement.

But I'm out of it. It's all you poor sods still stuck there I feel sorry for.

[willd58]

I'm not gunna attack the BCC for being asked to consider something, if they consider it and then implement it, then fair enough, however it seems there not going to, with one of them claiming "This is simply a ludicrous proposal" and even a Lib Dem has expressed his doubts, which says allot.

I think the writer has spun this story and some of you guys have fallen for it hook line and sinker, tabloid journalism at its finest.

Don't get me wrong, my tune would rapidly change if theres any evidence that this idea is going to become anymore than a mere consideration after it being suggested.

Edited by willd58 on Friday 30th November 00:41

[splodge s4]

willd58 said:

Blah Blah...closing roads to traffic....I think the writer has spun this story and some of you guys have fallen for it hook line and sinker, tabloid journalism at its finest.

Well I heard they were going to close Corn st to cars during night time on the weekends....

And they have. One thing is for sure, never under estimate the hate BCC have for the motorist.

Edited by splodge s4 on Friday 30th November 08:43

[neil_bolton]

splodge s4 said:

willd58 said:

Blah Blah...closing roads to traffic....I think the writer has spun this story and some of you guys have fallen for it hook line and sinker, tabloid journalism at its finest.

Well I heard they were going to close Corn st to cars during night time on the weekends....

And they have. One thing is for sure, never under estimate the hate BCC have for the motorist.

Edited by splodge s4 on Friday 30th November 08:43

Its commonplace now - they did it with St. Marys st in Cardiff - although, its now even more dangerous becuase people forget (esp when drunk) that the buses and taxis can still whizz up and down the street - and they are FAR more dangerous than any private car.

I can see carnage ahead - the buses in Bristol are c**ts, and just don't give a monkies about any other road users, let alone paedestrians who might drunkenly stumble out...

[Nick_F]

neil_bolton said:

...let alone paedestrians...

I don't even want to think about what one of those might be...

[Negative Creep]

Of course these accidents were totally the fault of the evil cars, never the pissheads stumbling into the road. I once had a close call when I went round a bend only to find 2 drunkards sitting in the middle of the road. Doubtless if this had resulted in a collision it would've been another statistic to try and ban cars with

[Piglet]

God help us, and I can't bring myself to read the link on congestion charging.

Still 12 months and I reckon we'll be on our way out of here heading back further south!