There are some great blogs there documenting the worst excesses of a car-supremacist culture (in which we in the UK live): both the behaviour of drivers and the panderings of local authorities to them, despite claims by certain extremist groups that drivers are persecuted by councils.
Bristol gets a lot of attention as the UK’s first cycling city, and it undoubtedly has too many cars in certain parts of the city. Bath, a much smaller city, also has parking problems in certain areas. It also arguably has worse cycle provision. I ride a combination of roads, car parks and cycle lanes during my 3-mile commute.
On my ride to work today I witnessed two examples of how bikes get a raw deal in day-to-day encounters.
First: a van in the ASL zone at a the bottom of Brougham Hayes.
It didn’t inconvenience me, but it just displays an insidious arrogance in the mind of some drivers; a mindset that thinks that non-motorised vehicles don’t have a right to be on the road.
Second: a delivery truck parked in the contra-flow cycle lane in James St. West:
I stopped and spoke, very politely, to the driver. He was polite too, and his reply came down to “what can I do? I can’t park on double-yellow lines! I’ve got my hazard lights on!” as if the hazard lights protected cyclists from the oncoming traffic if/when they had the guts to cycle round the truck. There were some empty (albeit private, off-road) parking spaces that he could have pulled into, but no. The cycle lane it was, because it’s an easy target.
The truck belonged to a company called CEVA Logistics, whose tag-line is “Making Business Flow”. I assume they don’t mind business flowing right through the tattered remnants of the Highway Code and any unlucky cyclists in their way.
February 20th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
What’s the likelihood of getting a response by contacting the companies involved? Have you ever tried it?
It took me four attempts to cycle down the new cyclist/ pedestrian-friendly Prince St bridge in Bristol because there were always vans blocking it (twice it was the van belonging to the florist on the bridge, who was using the car-free lane as a handy new parking space). But there’s absolutely no stigma attached to this kind of behaviour.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Hi Mike,
I haven’t tried contacting companies before, but I’m considering it. One’s a very local company (in Oldfield Park) and the other is a large multi-national. It will be interesting to see any difference in response.
Agreed re. “no stigma”. Most people don’t cycle so can’t imagine that they’re causing an inconvenience.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Well good luck if you do contact anyone- let us know how you get on. The local company might be more responsive.
“Most people donât cycle so canât imagine that theyâre causing an inconvenience.”
I find the same thing when I’m walking. There’s a sense that pedestrians need to stay out of the way of much more important ‘car business’- which is odd, because even the most dedicated car driver has to walk the streets occasionally.
February 27th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Hi Tim,
applause for highlighting these problems, but be warned some people get seriously aggrieved with what they see as interference, and there have been times I’ve valued my anonymity.
I’ll try to make my blog witty in the future, just for you
SP
February 27th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Hi SP,
Thanks for your advice. I may yet move to anonymity.
Ouch – you got me on the “witty” thing
I guess there was less reason to read about Southville as I don’t live there 
Cheers,
Tim
February 27th, 2009 at 9:56 am
I see you’re a ‘webhead’, so I may be pointing out stuff you already know, but google alerts took me to your twitter feed, and then to this blog. In five minutes I knew your name, some of your family’s names, your home address, and the name and home address of one of your friends.
Social networking is great as long as you don’t p*** somebody off who happens to be a complete nutter.
If you’re not sure how this information is available drop me a mail and I’ll let you know in a more private conversation. But I’m sure you do know, as I know where you work and I know what your job is!
cheers
SP
February 27th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Cheers – I know some of that was out there. Home address, though? Eek.
February 27th, 2009 at 10:32 am
SP: I’ve emailed you – check your spam folder just in case.
February 26th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Google is strange sometimes, I went online looking for UK holiday recommendations and ended up here!
April 13th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
as a cyclist (20 mile commute each way) then a multidrop lorry driver, why don't you just stop moaning the lorry driver is on a broken lined cycle lane, as it is broken he is perfectly legal, for his info he could even load on a double yellow as long as it isn't accompanied by blips on the curb. just try & understand a cyclist is sometimes a pedestrian, sometimes a driver and the world isnt perfect and if everyone did everything by the book nothing would ever get done, if he didnt stop to load there some woman on another forum would be moaning about ceva being useless and not delivering her smalls that day, if that van driver didnt get a bit close to you someones masonry would have been late and if neither of those things happened you wouldnt have anything to moan about and I wouldnt be wasting my time replying. Live and let live and if anyone does anyhting that bad you can always kick off a wing mirror or two
April 26th, 2010 at 8:43 am
Hi Cheerful,
Let's put it down to the zealotry of a then-new cycle commuter who couldn't quite believe what goes on.
I've changed jobs now – I commute by car and see things from more sides. Which is another way of saying "I agree with you".
What I would say, though, is that cyclists tend to get caught between the pedestrian and vehicular worlds, and not really catered to in a meaningful way.
Thanks for stopping by
Tim