Mystery road dots leave Green-led council in a spot of bother
A Green-led council has been branded 'absolutely insane' after it painted spots on a road as part of a measure to calm the traffic.
Residents in Bedminster, Bristol, were left confused after a series of green dots were painted on Greville Road.
Various theories circled the street while Bristol city council initially said it was 'investigating'.
However, it has now been confirmed they were painted as part of a traffic-calming scheme.
Ed Plowden, a councillor and chairman of the transport and connectivity committee, said the markings had been placed in response to residents who had requested a reduction in 'through-traffic and improve safety in the area'.
'Vision-zero'
It comes after the council unanimously voted to pass a motion from Green councillors calling for a 'vision-zero' approach to road safety in 2023. The motion aimed to achieve zero road related accidents within Bristol by 2030.
However Tracy Francis, a resident who often uses her bicycle within the area, was concerned about how these dots would impact her as a cyclist.
Ms Francis said that road was already 'slippery' and she was worried that the additional markings would mean that her 'bike tyres will slide away', especially when the roads were wet.
Cllr Mark Weston of the Conservative party said the road markings were an 'absolutely insane' attempt to balance traffic, and argued there were other more important ways the council could be spending its time and money.
Cllr Weston also said the 'childlike' dots could encourage children to play in the road, likening their design to games such as hopscotch.
These markings are not the first attempt at 'road art' by UK councils.
In 2023, Hounslow council spent £50,000 creating a 'rainbow junction' to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.
However, this received backlash from disability campaigners who said it was confusing residents with visual impairments.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
27 minutes ago
- BBC News
Scottish Conservative leader to deliver conference speech
Update: Date: 10:21 BST Title: Welcome Content: Good morning and welcome to our coverage of the leader of the Scottish Conservatives' party conference speech in Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh. Russell Findlay will shortly begin his keynote speech and we will stream it live here. It is due to begin at 11:15. Click on the Watch Live icon to follow it with us.
Telegraph
44 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Israel can see what Europe can't: the Devil
'The cleverest ruse of the Devil,' wrote Baudelaire in 1864, 'is to persuade you he does not exist.' More than 160 years later, great swathes of Leftists, Israelophobes and Western leaders appear to have fallen under this spell when it comes to the regime in Tehran. Sir Keir Starmer delivered the usual message of pacifism on behalf of Britain. It matched that of Ursula von der Leyen and the other centrist fundamentalist European leaders, all of whom are equally addicted to the numbing opium of appeasement. Instead of seeing a resolve for victory, we were subjected to repeated demands for 'de-escalation' and 'diplomacy'. Having so loudly decried the Iranian threat in recent months, even placing it in the highest category of the new foreign influence register, the Prime Minister seemed unable to connect the synapses. By the time Israel was driven to attack, the international community had not imposed snapback sanctions on Iran. Britain even disgraced itself by refusing to help with Israel's defence. The Ayatollah could be launching nuclear bombs at all the major cities of the West in a sulphurous haze, and David Lammy would still extol the virtues of jaw-jaw. In central Tehran, there is a clock counting down to September 9, 2040, the date of Israel's destruction as prophesied by the Ayatollah. The regime has enriched uranium to a level only required for military uses. When Khamenei gives speeches, the crowd chants: 'Death to America! Death to England! Death to the hypocrites and the infidels! Death to Israel!' Until yesterday, Iran's scientists could produce 15 nukes within days. Khamenei's pet theology lusts after the apocalypse. Triggered by the obliteration of Israel, this cataclysm will supposedly herald the arrival of a mythical figure called the 'Mahdi' to lead the forces of Islam to global victory. These are the convictions that drive actual Iranian foreign policy. De-escalation and diplomacy are laughable, yet this is what Israel has suffered since the Obama era. When Jerusalem was forced to act, you'd have thought the West would rally. But no. Israel was the bad guy. We have seen this movie before. When Jerusalem destroyed Saddam Hussein's nuclear programme in 1981, the world was appalled. 'A clear violation of… the norms of international conduct,' the United Nations huffed. Two decades later, the White House quietly acknowledged that the Jews had done everybody a favour. We may see a similar change of heart by 2045, but there will be much danger before then. Starmer and the Europeans don't realise how outdated they sound in this new, perilous world. As Vasily Grossman put it in Life and Fate: 'Only yesterday you were sure of yourself, strong and cheerful, a son of the time. But now another time has come – and you don't even know it.' Their era has passed. This is Israel's century. While dogs of war bark globally and instability grips America, the countries that will thrive will be those with conviction in their values and the courage and resilience to defend them. 'The world will never pity slaughtered Jews,' observed Menachem Begin. 'The world may not necessarily like the fighting Jew, but the world will have to take account of him.' With Russia and China sharpening their knives, we must not only take account of the fighting Jew but also follow his lead. Just look at Ukraine. First, however, we must accept what our grandparents learned the hard way. The Devil exists. It makes no sense to appease him.
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Cleverly: 'Tory government GRR block shows value of Union'
MSPs passed the Gender Recognition Reform Bill at the end of 2022 by 86 votes to 39 on a cross-party basis. The legislation was intended to speed up and simplify the process for a trans person to obtain a gender recognition certificate and change their legal sex. Under the current system, this takes at least two years, involves a medical diagnosis and is only available from the age of 18. The Holyrood Bill would have reduced the waiting time to six months, scrapped the need for medical diagnosis and lowered the age threshold to 16. After it was passed, the then Scottish Secretary, Alister Jack, used Section 35 to ultimately prevent the Bill from gaining Royal Assent. In his statement to the Commons explaining his reasons, he said the legislation would have a 'serious adverse impact' on, among other things, the operation of UK-wide equality law. Alister Jack (Image: PA) Sir James said: 'I do think that this issue has been a prime example of the importance of the Union, because this issue was clearly spiralling out of control—badly out of control—and down in Westminster, looking at the debate, looking at this information, which was becoming more and more surreal, had it not been that really close working relationship between Alister Jack, the Scottish Conservatives, and the number of people fighting to protect women's rights in Scotland, we in Westminster would not have been able to intervene to try and press the pause and think-about-it button—because that is all we did. 'It was not imposing a Westminster solution on Scotland. It was about pressing the pause button and saying, hang on a second, this just sounds weird to us. You should think again and think more carefully. 'That is what the relationship was. And because of that close working relationship, I think we are now on a road towards a more thoughtful, pragmatic and sustainable solution—one which works for trans people, works for women, whatever sexual orientation—works for gay men. 'I think we can get there, and I genuinely hope we can get there, but we have got to make sure that we do not lose sight of some of the fundamental reasons why a number of us got into politics in the first place, which was to protect the vulnerable, give voice to the voiceless, and make sure that people do not make foolish decisions in the heat of the moment. "I am glad that we in Westminster—Alister Jack in particular—played a small part in helping to inject a little bit of thoughtfulness in this conversation.'
