Fed Up Transport Planners Take Direct Action to Calm Traffic in Bristol North Fringe

Yes the rumours are true- at the end of term transport planners party, fed up with ever increasing traffic and public spaces that have become polluted and dangerous, we finally had had enough. As you can see, our occupation of the ’sleeping policemen’ outside the party temporarily calmed the traffic. As it turns out, those rubber speed humps are actually quite comfortable, and the calming effect, was rather, er, enhanced. Most drivers were amused, and stopped for a chat, but an off duty (awake) policeman came out of his house, whipped out his badge and insisted that we move out of the street. We emphasized the public safety service that we were providing to the neighbourhood, and demonstrated that we weren’t actually blocking the road (one car at a time could pass between us, similar to many other calming devices throughout the area). We asked whether he was going to arrest us, and suggested that he shouldn’t work so hard during his time off.

This event was particularly amusing as Nick has been one of the most vocal pro-car members of our program. Anyway, there was some great transport planner solidarity going on, and we had a good laugh afterward….