The Underscore Archives

Hi Underscore,

On Sunday 21st Jan a pedestrian was killed when a driver mounted the
pavement on the A4 Bath Bridge near Temple Meads. I'm a Totterdown resident
who regularly uses this bridge on foot and by car.

The existing pavement is low and narrow, inches away from four lanes of
traffic steaming in and out of Bristol. It's a very unsafe route for
pedestrians and cyclists.

I've set up an online petition to try and get the council to do something
about it. I've never tried anything like this before, but it would be great
to see how effective 'e-democracy' can be.

Please sign the petition, publicise this petition if you work in the media,
and forward it onto as many of your Bristol colleagues as possible. It's not
over-dramatic to say that I think this could save someone's life.

http://www.bristol.gov.uk/item/epetitionview.html?PetitionID=165


What's wrong with the bridge:

* The east pavement is too narrow, and is split to include a bike path
* The east pavement is too low, making it very easy for a car to mount it
* There are breaks in the east pavement where there are disused entrances to
the industrial site
* The traffic drives too fast - many drivers are trying to change lane,
which encourages speeding
* There is nowhere for pedestrians to escape to if a car does mount the
pavement - they are trapped between the billboards and the road
* The west pavement is inaccessible due to there being four lanes of traffic
to cross to access it

Possible fixes:

* Building a pedestrian / cyclist bridge
* Installing a high containment kerb
* Installing railings along the whole route from Three Lamps to Temple Meads
* Reducing the speed limit to 30mph / other traffic calming measures.

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More info on the accident here: http://tinyurl.com/2n9qkx
Location of the bridge: http://tinyurl.com/2qd8vw
Sign the petition:
http://www.bristol.gov.uk/item/epetitionview.html?PetitionID=165

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Many thanks
Sam
 <http://www.bristol.gov.uk/item/epetitionview.html?PetitionID=165>