• Dave@lemmy.nzM
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    3 months ago

    This is the dumbest shit.

    If the problem is that a lack of guidance means contractors are going overboard on the road cones, then put some guidance in place. Why are they withholding funding and setting up a tip line to catch contractors using too many road cones, that’s the kind of bureaucracy they claim to be against.

    • BalpeenHammer@lemmy.nzOP
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      3 months ago

      What exactly does “too many” mean in this context? Is there some rule about how many metres they should be spaced out?

      • Dave@lemmy.nzM
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        3 months ago

        Chris Bishop claims this in the article, yes.

        He said the code of practice for traffic management risk assessment had been overly prescriptive, and the New Zealand Transport Agency has now stopped using it for work on state highways.

        “They have instead moved to a far more pragmatic guide which allows contractors to use their experience and common sense to keep everyone safe on a worksite, rather than specifying road cone use down to the centimetre.”

        Bishop said many councils, which own and maintain local roads, were still using the code of practice.

        "Which is why we still see ridiculous temporary traffic management measures on local streets, such as quiet cul-de-sacs covered in road cones because of minor work on a footpath.

        So it seems there is an old guide that did prescribe the distance, but it’s no longer used by NZTA.

        (how true this is may be in the eye of the observer)

        • BalpeenHammer@lemmy.nzOP
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          3 months ago

          given the kind of pain and suffering they have inflicted on the public with their austerity regime it seems like they could talk about other things than road cones.