A few months ago, Campbell Live ran a story about drivers that use dodgy and illegal tactics to jump traffic queues. They looked at drivers using Tristram Ave to access the Northern Motorway.
The response from that piece has obviously been fairly strong as yesterday they ran another story looking at a few other locations.
The reality is that this kind of behaviour occurs all over Auckland. It not only pisses people off who are driving as they should but it also contributes to congestion. What I want to know is if anything can be done about it, short of tying up heaps of police resources on enforcement. I do know that you can submit a complaint to police but I wonder how many people actually do so or how effective it is as to my knowledge they only send the offending driver a letter telling them not to do whatever they did again.
I know a lot more drivers, as well as cyclists/motorcyclists record their trips these days which can be especially useful in identifying bad drivers. The prevalence of smartphones can make it much easier for people to do this so I would be also be keen to hear which apps you use (personally I’m keen to hear about a good android app).
Of course one of the biggest benefits of using PT, especially rail or buses in dedicated lanes, is that users can be largely immune to the antics of idiot drivers. Instead of being stressed out in traffic you can sit reading a book, play with your phone, listen to music or any number of things. Perhaps this point needs to be raised more often and some edgy marketing campaigns targeting hotspots could be run by AT once the new bus network has been rolled out.
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while out cycling this morning I was musing about suggesting to Campbell Live that they do a piece about bad drivers from a cyclist’s point of view
I doubt that many drivers have any idea what it feels like when they cut close to a cyclist
I must admit that for all the really bad inconsiderate drivers there really are plenty of drivers in Auckland who quite happily wait patiently for you to get across a side road rather than racing ahead and cut you off. Bad drivers do always get the bad press but plenty of people do try to take car, admittedly not enough.
It’s simple. Since the 1980s, people have been encouraged to behave in a selfish and greedy way. Ayn Rand’s philosophy permeates our culture. If you want to change issues like queue jumping, change the New Zealand’s culture. After 30 years of neo-liberalism, we need a change.
I have found Kiwis pretty friendly and willing to help. But on the road? Man, some people, you wonder who took away their anger management certificate…?
Absolutely classic straw man argument Paul. Well done! BTW, Rand died in 1982.
“A straw man argument attempts to counter a position by attacking a different position – usually one that is easier to counter. The arguer invents a caricature of his opponent’s position – a “straw man” – that is easily refuted, but not the position that his opponent actually holds.”
Rather than blaming Ayn, do you have any real solutions to the problem.
But Frank, the psychologically immature worship of ego espoused by Rand and enshrined as a “fact” of human behaviour by neoliberal economics is the problem. Therefore the solution, ipto facto, can only be the disempowerment of those whole worship the Rand religion (or variations thereof) in much the same way that that the problems caused by legal enforcement of Christian sexual taboos has been broken down by a long process of challenging the legitimacy of the Christian worldview.
Ironically, one of the reason (some) people HATE on cyclists and public transport seems to be that these modes are often considered to exhibit “queue cutting” behaviours. A cyclist making their way past people who have already been waiting for the lists for 2 signal cycles – even if he/she is using a cycle lane – or a bus using an “empty” bus lane to bypass a waiting queue. All these are seen as simply “asocial” by some people. Of course it doesn’t make sense to combine the worst factors of both modes just to fall in line with a dumbed-down perception of “fairness”, but its a real psychological issue for some.
Definitely. Which is strange, because I don’t think people resent “queue-jumping” in the form of cash-only lanes at cafeterias, or 12-items-or-less lanes at the supermarket. Or even the very similar case of T2/T3 lanes.
I for one do not hate on public transport, I do hate on cyclists. An example of why: Often I see one holding up a BUSLOAD of people which should be whizzing down the buslane, but cant because of one extremely selfish, stupid, or just oblivious of the fact they are holding people up.
one of the worst places, imho is the south eastern arterial/sh1 interchange. I go up Gt Sth into town and sit at the lights watching this stream of cars from from east, to the lights, doing a U turn and heading back to turn left to go north on the mway.
GUILTY.. I do take shortcuts in Auckland wherever possible, but safely! my journey gets cut by half if i take shortcuts. its just a habit. I can’t stand the lines that form in Auckland traffic and I wonder how people can wait that long! I love myself a bit of ‘cut in right at the front’ trickery, theres always that one driver that leaves that lovely 30 meter gap for me to enter, thanks slow driver! I’m not the only one out there….
What a proud addition to society you are!
Sounds like someone trying to troll if you ask me
I do it all the time but then I ride a motorbike and I pay more rego so I’m entitled to it. I love how some people shouts at me (and they get back a nice smile and 110dB of Suzuki Sound) and others make room for me. The majority though is either eating or on the phone, so they don’t care.
I’m calling the cops on you Gian!
Same here Gian. I’m singlehandedly trying to change Auckland’s driving culture by reversing the ‘natural order’ – by slicing through stopped traffic to get to the front of queues on my motorbike, but giving way to pretty much every pedestrian and cyclist that wants to pull in/out or cross the road. It’s amazing how shocked most pedestrians look when I stop and wave them across the road.
Plus, I try to reign in my annoyance at the higher registration fees by trying to think of it as a right to avoid traffic and park for free wherever I want 😉
Just FYI you don’t pay more rego, you pay more ACC. The extra cost doesn’t go to the land transport fund, it goes to rehabilitating injured motorcyclists.
The (larger) ACC levy is one part of the rego cost, so yes we do pay more rego overall. Motorcyclists do get injured at a higher rate than car drivers, but a large number of these injuries are sustained by riders being hit by cars. Cars are very good at inflicting damage onto softer targets, like motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians – but instead of trying to control for this negative externality, we charge motorcyclists (but not cyclists or pedestrians) extra for being (quite often, but not always) the victims in these encounters.
It’s definitely unfair to charge motorcyclists more for ACC than car drivers, even if the higher accident rate were their “fault”. The whole point of ACC is that we don’t try to figure out fault in each case.
It’s nothing to do with fault. ACC levies are based on statistical claim levels. Try being self-employed and working in a high-risk industry. Each year you are presented with an ACC bill. Your ACC levies will be substantially higher than those of, say, a town planner. Don’t like paying the high ACC bill? Change jobs to something that has statistically lower claims. I’m sure you can figure out the corresponding choice vis a vis choice of vehicle type.
I would love to see an API for the Go Pro cameras – http://gopro.com/products/?gclid=CO7YyqyC2rYCFQQcpQod3EsAVg. The idea would be that you would have the camera on your dashboard and if something happened just hit a bit on your phone and it saves the previous 30 seconds and following minute or so. It would then allow you to report this directly to the police/council/transport agency. I also think that this should be built into busses – They see someone driving/parked in a bus lane and it automatically sends it to the right people for review and sending out of tickets.
If you can remove the barriers to reporting the problems then you increase the number of reports.
It’s called bluetooth. I brought a $300 head unit for my old 1994 Toyota Vista intially to run MP3 cd’s. Then I got my android to run my 3000+ songs wirelessly through the car stereo, This also gave me complete hands free with no poky wires anywhere. It’s so easy, but a tad time consuming to call the traffic line and dob these pricks in. Love the voice dialing function!!!
Loved the first interview – “what sign”. Frankly if you are unaware of road markings you are a danger to other users and should be removed immediately from controlling a motor vehicle.
I note that the Police spokesman in the Campbell piece said that the actions of the lane cheats were breaking the law and would send a letter to a couple. He stated that the fine for a number of the actions shown was $150.00 inferring that if an officer was present that would be the resultant action. If this is the case why is action not taken to enforce these sites. One I am familiar, Gillies Ave / Alpers Ave, has not had any targeted Police attention that I am aware of for approx 15 years. With the relatively low cost of video recording equipment this could be very effectively policed (cameras installed on motorway bridge).
In the case of PT users being ‘largely immune to the antics of idiot drivers’ the actions of the PT driver can also be a contributor. I have been monstered by a bus at the Gillies Rd ‘problem spot’ using his might to move left to access the onramp and, given the time of day this was done (16:00), I figured that this driver did this often! The general rule at this spot is if a Taxi is in the right hand lane it will almost certainly push across to the motorway onramp as this is the route they take to the city from the airport.
Campbell Live seem to miss the obvious questions, similar to their Auckland tram piece. At least they are starting to cover transport issues I guess….
Agree re cameras, there is automated detection software around, so the no turning issue on major intersections could be easily enforced for example. It need not be labour intensive like the old red light cameras if that is the reason for the lack of actions – the fines will pay for the software/cameras very quickly!
Simply by installing CCTV at key points on the network, the police could eradicate this problem completely. There appears to be a lack of will (from the police, NZTA, and AC) to address this problem in my experience.
Queue jumping is a habit that is supported by some drivers who cannot maintain just a safe distance in front of them in busy traffic , but leave enough room for a safe merge in front of them into the lane they are using. The queue jumper gets used to these spaces being available at the point where they find most convenient for their lane change, and this behavior will speed traffic flow at those times.
Trouble happens when the queue jumper tries to enter the lane when all the drivers are operating at the minimum safe distance (or closer) – result; much emergency braking.
I guess the answer is to get motorists in heavy traffic to all keep the same distance between vehicles… hmmm , sounds like a train……
I say setup a public shaming system, where you have someone take a picture of these people, and blow them up on a big billboard for all to see, with the title “ASSHOLE”.
I hate these pricks, I mean, do they cut in line at the bank? The chemist? The supermarket? Why shouldn’t they be treated as if they did? Its no different in my opinion. Assholes…
in a city that can’t organise red light cameras, who thinks anything will ever be done about queue jumpers? Your options are: 1. Sit back, relax and enjoy your traffic jam or 2. Evolve…. find a solution for your traffic stress (motorcycle, bicycle, PT, flexible working hours).
Does the concerned authorities think “Whey there are queue jumpers?” and find a solution for root cause. Of course they may not be able to add new lines for increased traffic, but there can be a clear physical seperation of lines to avoid queue jumpers…. I only see enforment autorities in these spots issuing tickets around ANZAC day. May be they get a ANZAC day funds collection target….. These spots need to be analysed and solved in an acceptable manner than converting them into a revenue model….