Posts by Roger
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Hard News: Staying Alive, in reply to Chris Waugh,
Sorry for my poor posting skills Chris; try this...
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Hard News: Staying Alive, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
I was looking for a decent photograph but yes, trams do have indicators and yes, they do turn left (and right as well).
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Hard News: Staying Alive, in reply to elsketcho,
Perhaps if cyclists were to contribute some form of license fee
Most roads in New Zealand are originally built and 100% paid for by land developers and therefore the cost of roads is factored into land prices. So it is the purchasers of land that pay for road construction NOT road users. However having said that the very expensive motorway projects around NZ do get paid for from the Transport Fund, however those projects make up a small percentage of the network and are really of no relevance to pedestrians and cyclists so it seems fair that drivers pay the whole cost.
When it comes to road maintenance (for non-State Highways, or in other words, most roads), in Auckland around 40% of the funds come from road users with 60% coming out of our property rates. So it is land owners (and indirectly renters) that pay for the lions share of road maintenance NOT road users.
The sooner we get away from this complete nonsense that car and truck drivers pay for roads and that they somehow subsidize other users, the better. The converse is true.
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This is not just our debate as an article from yesterday's Guardian illustrates. It is clear that both our, and the UK's, transport engineers and the rules that they work under have someting in common:
The key change that we need in London is to reinstate the road user hierarchy, which Johnson scrapped in his revised London Plan. This hierarchy made the disabled, pedestrians and cyclists the priority when roads were being redesigned. Without reinstating this hierarchy, the engineers at Transport for London will consistently build roads that favour cars and lorries.
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One of the problems with our on-road cycle lanes (apart from potholes from poorly reinstated utility trenches, temporary speed road works signs, illegally parked car, curb extensions around pedestrian crossings etc) is broken glass. After a months riding in Europe I still had pristine tires. After one ride back in Auckland I was back to the task of picking pieces of broken glass out of tire cuts. What is it with the modern NZ love affair with hurling bottles from car windows? The result is that riding on parts of the road not regularly swept by car tires means that you wont get very far!
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Just out of interest... to what extent does a New Zealand court have to consider access to a 'fair' trial in the destination country when considering an extradition request (witness the UK court that denied extratition to Jordan (?) of an alleged islamic extremist on these grounds).
Given the large amount of money flowing from the big corporations to elected officials for influence (see the SOPA discussions above), and the present witch hunt of internet pirates that appears to be going on in the USA - to what extent would a 'fair' trial be guaranteed with elected and/or politically appointed judges in the middle of a media circus?
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Hard News: It was a munted year, in reply to Russell Brown,
Russell, I believe you accurately repeated what Parker was reported to have said – I too wondered , and searched , and could only find main sewer truck
By the way...
For pedants, the normal usage would be 'main trunk sewer'
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'Euro-catastrophe' or 'Eurotastrophe'
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Well I had the interesting experience of casting a special at an overseas High Commission. First I had to help un-pack and assemble the booth and then show the staff how to fill in the paperwork. Training appeared to be somewhat absent.
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Thank you Graeme, very useful and informative. I had sort of forgotten about the upcoming referendum, it really is not getting much coverage.
