znomit wrote:Why doesn't someone ask the policeman or policewoman at the bottom of Ngaio Gorge?

it's probably too late for that now...

znomit wrote:Why doesn't someone ask the policeman or policewoman at the bottom of Ngaio Gorge?

I would have, but they were just reminding us we'd need lights after daylight saving ends this weekend.

Yea, i got pinged going down there on 20th March. Traffic was moving slowly changing from stationary to crawling. Nothing dangerous about passing on the right where they were as its a wide part of the road with lots of space between the downward and upward lanes. As long as you keep close to the left hand side it shouldn't be a problem.

Sure i did go over the double yellows, but if anything would have thought a warning would be sufficient. But no the standard $150 fine. The cops were there purely for a revenue generating exercise. Pure and simple.

Personally i find it a bit rich that 3 cops can stand around on the side of the road ticketing easy-targets whilst no doubt somewhere someone was being told there weren't enough cops to attend their incident.

.elcaro.

Also heard they they dished out quite a few $150 fines - I wonder if they had a spotter further up the gorge where it actually is dangerous to cross the double yellows (particularly when a bus comes the other way).

I commute down Ngaio gorge by push bike and motorcycle. Having had my motorcycle mirror clipped twice (and broken once) by cyclists on the yellow lines trying to avoid traffic coming up I think it's fair enough to ticket people breaking the law. I've seen far to many close calls with on coming traffic and cyclists on the wrong side of the road. If you really don't want to sit in traffic down the gorge just ride down Old Porirua Road, it's more fun to ride too

Have to agree TB600, it doesn't take that long until the bus lane opens up and the way is clear.

Yea, that's fair enough i guess.

I consider my self as a considerate safe cyclist, motorcyclist, driver and pedestrian and i only do those kinds of things if i think its safe to do so and not impacting anyone else. Unfortunately though, there are many out there who don't give a rats about anyone else and that's why we all get pinged when we think we're not doing too much wrong.

Although i do think of this as low-level offending where a warning would probably be more appropiate.

.elcaro.

fair enough i guess (albeit petty and poor use of resources) but if they're going to target cyclists passing stationary traffic then i hope they will do so for traffic passing moving cyclists as there is more danger and less argument that the pass is avoiding an obstacle. of course that would just motivate cars to pass without crossing the center line which is no more legal, just even more dangerous.

sounds like some driver has got upset at being passed and laid a complaint, must have been someone with some pull to actually prompt such action though

all this really does is to discourage cycling - if you can't skip past queues then you might as well sit in a metal box in the queue rather than out in what will soon be winter weather. doesn't seem like a positive result for anyone, including the drivers sitting in the now even longer queues

Is it a poor use of resources if it prevents a nasty head on between a cyclist and a car?

I cycle about 5000km a year mostly by myself on country roads in Wairarapa ,the vast majority of drivers have been very safe and considerate - but I have seen some crazy things happen when people try to over take bikes such as :
Overtaking me (at speed) just as I'm entering a bridge with an oncoming tractor also entering the bridge at the opposite end , this with at least 500m of clear visibility past the bridge
At least a dozen incidences of vehicles crossing double yellow lines with no or limited visibility to get past - a few have been pretty close calls(fortunately no head-ons yet).
An oncoming car overtaking another oncoming vehicle over a double yellow line at high speed that required me to leave the road (at 35kmh) to avoid a collision (I was too busy avoiding imminent death to get the number plate on that idiot) my hr monitor pegged nearly 200bpm after that one
And my favorite - a muppet who thought it would be funny to try and get as close as possible to me with his wing mirror while doing nearly 200kmh past me in the dark with his lights out ,just to make sure I filled my knicks he sounded the horn as he went past Unfortunately for him a police car pulled out of a driveway about 2km up the road and he saw the whole incident pulled him over on the spot and took his license and his car .... this has also been the only occasion in many years of riding that I have seen the police actually pull over an idiot for driving dangerously around bicycles .
I'm sure we have all seen some hairy and very unsafe driving from cars and trucks , much of it driven by their impatience and frustration (and dare I say idiocy) and wished that a cop was right there to hand out some Karma can we then honestly expect that if we get caught breaking the rules and behaving in an unsafe (or potentially unsafe) manner that Karma wont come and bite us on the rump (Karma could be in the form of a ticket , or perhaps something a little more substantial .... like a car ) I'm not saying following the rules will keep you 100 % safe but it will reduce your risk considerably .
I hope this dont sound too preachy , In my defence I have had a ticket on a push bike before , I over took a plain clothes cop car down a hill in a 50 zone when I was (much) younger ..... I got a ticket for doing 80 in a 50 zone.

I see the cops were out again this morning at the bottom of Ngaio Gorge stopping people as they crossed the bridge. I'm assuming it was for lack of lights?

Road safety week, they are out and about everywhere