Quick rant thread.

[gjm 3258]

Rant? I should coco.

Here we go. NZTA f^ckwittery at it's best. 2pm on a Friday afternoon...
First: SH1, looking from Dragway Road towards Hampton Downs:

Absolutely no sign of anyone doing any work, or even the presence of a work-type vehicle, anywhere.

Next, from the corner at the end of that straight bit, we can see the vehicle Chris ( @Jacko ) referred to:

Yes - it was ablaze with orange flashing lights and arrows. It was also the only vehicle on the road. No sign of a single working person.

Finally, the southbound straight that goes past the Hampton Downs exit:

Further complete and utter absence of any sign of anyone doing any work during the prolonged drive along that stretch.

Just over 4km of traffic cone storage. Which will be there all weekend.

Then there is the subsequent 6.3km of further single carriageway...

OK. Now factor in an overloaded whanau wagon never exceeding 45km/h along the entire trip. Stereotyping? I would be if it hadn't broken down about 50m short of Paddy Road, in the single carriageway section. I was 5 or 6 vehicles back, and we sat there... After several minutes I, and a couple of other drivers got out to see what was going on and all we could see was a silver Toyota Estima apparently parked in the carriageway ahead. Walking up, another guy knocked on the drivers window. The door opened and then reality ceased to exist. I kid you not. This is the stuff parallel universes are made of.

"What's going on?"
"It stopped. I don't know why," says the Estima driver.
"So you've broken down?"
"Yes."
"And you're going to sit here?"
"We've called for a friend to come and help us. He's on his way from Papakura." {Bear in mind that there is no way on this earth anyone from Papkura is going to get to Hampton Downs when the traffic isn't moving.]

We get the bonnet open. Probably the first time in a very, very long time. It stinks of burnt toast. There's no visible water or coolant, no oil showing on the dipstick.

"Have you thought of pushing your car to the junction ahead?"
"Oh. Could you do that? I'd be ever so grateful." [Complete and utter disbelief from me and other people.]
"You have some passengers. Could they help?"
"I couldn't ask them to do that. It's raining." [Anyone know how to drive an excavator? There's a few up ahead...    I think someone had to be restrained at this stage.]

Eventually we persuaded the passengers to leave the vehicle. 7 of them. All huge, overweight and of.... Well, I'll let you guess the origin. I swear the Toyota breathed a sigh of relief and lifted about 5" from it's bump stops. We had to tell the driver to take the vehicle out of gear so we could push it. We didn't have much help from the passengers.

The driver of the ute in front of me apologised to the rest of us for not being to get to the Estima, or he (apparently) would have used the bars on the front and shoved it firmly into the excavation trench, driver and all.

Not a good start to the weekend.

[mynbmr 225]

It is now official, it is not called New Zealand anymore. 

Its now called New Coneland or aotearoconea land of the long row of cones.

The Beehive .............. The Cone

The Allblacks ..............The Coneblacks

The Silver Ferns .........The Silver Cones

The Black Sticks .........The Cone Sticks

The flag will have a cone on it

[Young Thrash Driver 1020]

Sounds like you have smoked a cone

[Olaf 3317]

9 hours ago, mynbmr said:

It is now official, it is not called New Zealand anymore. 

Its now called New Coneland or aotearoconea land of the long row of cones.

The Beehive .............. The Cone

The Allblacks ..............The Coneblacks

The Silver Ferns .........The Silver Cones

The Black Sticks .........The Cone Sticks

The flag will have a cone on it

Nooooooooo!  Would that mean our national badminton team would have to be renamed from the errr Black Cocks? 

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2957]

Try the UK if you think cones are bad in NZ. When I was at uni a mate and I coned off the M40 by moving them late one night, funny until cops turned up and we had to scarper.

[M3AN 4016]

Possibly the wrong thread by I did Auckland -> Hamilton on Friday. Left Ellerslie at 14:17 and arrived in Hamilton CBD at 15:47, torrential rain, roadworks, single lanes and all. I was pleasantly surprised considering I'd just read the roadworks post above about 2 hours before leaving.

Never exceeded the posted limit (including 70) by more than 10km/h.

Although I will say that if people aren't confident driving in the wet then pulling over is a better option than driving 60km/h in a 100km/h zone. You're not on slicks buddy.

 

[Allanw 1071]

1 hour ago, M3AN said:

You're not on slicks buddy.

 

Actually... they probably ARE

I reckon most Kiwis keep their tyres until they fail a WOF.

[gjm 3258]

2 hours ago, M3AN said:

I did Auckland -> Hamilton on Friday. Left Ellerslie at 14:17 and arrived in Hamilton CBD at 15:47

You had a charmed trip!

It has often taken longer for me to get from Papatoetoe to Te Kauwhata.

[mynbmr 225]

Also the Hamilton expressway by the new Cambridge extension is one lane,

and at night when we get back to Auckland the F#*@en motorway is closed

every night and we have to detour 

[LemonHunter 583]

Auckland.

[gjm 3258]

10 hours ago, mynbmr said:

Also the Hamilton expressway by the new Cambridge extension is one lane,

and at night when we get back to Auckland the F#*@en motorway is closed

every night and we have to detour 

It won't help, but you certainly have my sympathy. If it's bad for us in our little tin boxes, it's going to be a whole lot worse for you in the Iveco. Has to be playing havoc with economy and timings.

[mynbmr 225]

I feel for the people in Elliot st off Beach rd, all the trucks and cars taking shortcuts tru there neighbourhood

[Matth5 471]

On 7/29/2017 at 8:41 PM, Allanw said:

Actually... they probably ARE

I reckon most Kiwis keep their tyres until they fail a WOF.

Take a peek at tyres on some random parked cars whenever you walk past some... you're not wrong. That and heaps of people run the cheap Chinese crap.

[eliongater 718]

On 7/28/2017 at 8:56 PM, mynbmr said:

It is now official, it is not called New Zealand anymore. 

Its now called New Coneland or aotearoconea land of the long row of cones.

The Beehive .............. The Cone

The Allblacks ..............The Coneblacks

The Silver Ferns .........The Silver Cones

The Black Sticks .........The Cone Sticks

The flag will have a cone on it

Does that me we all drive koenigseggs (or should I say conegseggs)?

[Olaf 3317]

On 7/29/2017 at 1:01 PM, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

Try the UK if you think cones are bad in NZ. When I was at uni a mate and I coned off the M40 by moving them late one night, funny until cops turned up and we had to scarper.

They were unimpressed, I'm sure.  "We're The Sweeney son, and we haven't had any dinner".

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2957]

Yeah, they were unimpressed to put it mildly. To start with they were thinking there had been an accident due to the traffic building up (even in the middle of the night) then they were confused as to why all the lanes were coned off and sending all cars off at the junction, after checking over their radios they then kind of twigged and started looking for who had done it.

I know how frustrating cones can be for drivers stuck in traffic, but having spend a little bit of time working on the other side of the cones can see why there are so many of them and having looked at what is required for an NZ traffic control plan I totally understand why they put them all out and don't move them as the work progresses.

You know those bloody great big trucks with the big flashing arrows and all the flouro signs, and stuff that they use to protect the guy putting the cones out - I saw a lady driver come within inches off driving straight into one of those at a closing speed of probably 50+Km/h, she only missed it by a last ditch swerve into another lane almost taking out two other cars. Amazing...

[Jacko 2156]

Clowns in euros (mostly x3's and e90 320s...) who drive in the RH lane bouncing between 80 and 130 with their rear fog lights on. Seriously... think they looking all trick with their extra illumination when in reality they just dont know what the buttons on the dash do.

[kiwi535 538]

4 hours ago, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

Yeah, they were unimpressed to put it mildly. To start with they were thinking there had been an accident due to the traffic building up (even in the middle of the night) then they were confused as to why all the lanes were coned off and sending all cars off at the junction, after checking over their radios they then kind of twigged and started looking for who had done it.

I know how frustrating cones can be for drivers stuck in traffic, but having spend a little bit of time working on the other side of the cones can see why there are so many of them and having looked at what is required for an NZ traffic control plan I totally understand why they put them all out and don't move them as the work progresses.

You know those bloody great big trucks with the big flashing arrows and all the flouro signs, and stuff that they use to protect the guy putting the cones out - I saw a lady driver come within inches off driving straight into one of those at a closing speed of probably 50+Km/h, she only missed it by a last ditch swerve into another lane almost taking out two other cars. Amazing...

a car on sh1 around tawa drove straight into the back of one of those trucks  a few years ago

[gjm 3258]

10 minutes ago, kiwi535 said:

a car on sh1 around tawa drove straight into the back of one of those trucks  a few years ago

A lorry drove into one at Meremere a couple of months ago. That safety truck was apparently badly positioned, especially given the (foggy) road conditions.

On the flipside, a woman drove off the road to the left after allegedly being blinded by the flashing orange arrow on a similar truck positioned on the right-hand carriageway south of Hampton Downs.

[kiwi535 538]

5 minutes ago, gjm said:

A lorry drove into one at Meremere a couple of months ago. That safety truck was apparently badly positioned, especially given the (foggy) road conditions.

On the flipside, a woman drove off the road to the left after allegedly being blinded by the flashing orange arrow on a similar truck positioned on the right-hand carriageway south of Hampton Downs.

its a tough act for those blokes.they need protection form the half wit drivers,but half of what they do make the situation dangerous in itself.In ewellington the narrow roads ,lots of cones etc force cyclists out into the traffic stream

[gjm 3258]

7 minutes ago, kiwi535 said:

its a tough act for those blokes.they need protection form the half wit drivers,but half of what they do make the situation dangerous in itself.In ewellington the narrow roads ,lots of cones etc force cyclists out into the traffic stream

I'd never belittle the job these guys do. At the end of the day, they're following instructions and typically they are protecting guys who would otherwise be exposed to fast-moving traffic.
It's sad that they are too often left as the only vehicle in several kms, parked in an otherwise disused lane of a two-lane carriageway.

Having been, as Jon @E30 325i Rag-Top has, on the other side of the cones, the efforts made by others are very much appreciated.

Sadly it doesn't change the frustration felt after travelling past several kms of cones shielding an unused and unworked piece of carriageway. The stretch from Meremere to Hampton Downs has been single carriageway for several days (I'm being optimistic - it feels like weeks!) with work at either one end or the other. Nothing in between (that I have seen when travelling that stretch at least twice a day). Throw in the extended single carriageway piece from Hampton Downs to Rangiriri and the seemingly usual substandard driving ability of many road users (45-50km/h weaving around a single lane in a 70km/h limit, after 8pm when there's no-one else around) and it's a continual source of frustration.

Did I forget to mention the prettily-coloured cars (or partially-hidden, dark-coloured "safety" camera vans) waiting at the end of such sections, pouncing on anyone daring to do 105km/h after the slow-moving mobile slalom vehicle driver plants their right foot on leaving a 70km/h limited piece of road...

[Olaf 3317]

On 7/29/2017 at 10:23 PM, EURO V12 said:

Auckland.

it's not all bad mate.  that new tunnel is (currently) exceptional.  'work' to airport left 3.20, arrive auckland airport 3.50.  happy days.

[LemonHunter 583]

When your point of comparison is Wellington, I can see why you don't think Auckland is that bad, but coming from Christchurch, traffic outside of rush hour or major sports event is exceedingly rare, In Auckland, over the weekend, chaos reigned.

[LemonHunter 583]

Regarding the cone Saga, I was once told that in Christchurch at least, a lot of companies don't buy them, they lease them, $1/day/cone, looks better on the balance sheets and it's not (as much) their problem when it gets damaged or stolen...  if that's true, some people have gotten very wealthy, the numbers have definitely subsided here, but still thousands of them out there.  A cone is only worth around $30, so if it survives the month, the rest is gravy, 6 years later...  

We talk in terms of pre and post quake here some times, I think about how kids who were over say 4 pre quake, grew up in a town with very few cones, and kids born and/or under 4 at the quake probably only remember a city covered with cones (and ruins).

[Driftit 2078]

I wish people would come back to forums rather than shitty facebook groups.
Facebook is near dead to me.  If I wasn't in another country and forced to share my holiday photos and activities with family I would have ditched it long ago.

But the one thing that I really hate with FB groups is that you can not search for anything.  If you were talking about something months/years back that had some good data or links, you need to scroll through the entire f**king history to try and find it.  It is just not designed to retain data for the user.

Oh and that nothing is anonymous on Facebook.  Everything you post or read will be sold and used to push ads at you.