Ask Phoebe: 'Horrible red barrier' reference to ongoing construction

NZ Herald

4 May, 2015 05:00 PM3 mins to read

The temporary sculpture installation OnDo, by Seung Yul Oh, can be seen at Ballantyne Square on Dominion Rd.

Can you tell me why an otherwise great sculpture on Dominion Rd has a horrible red barrier around it? Doug Pauling, Mt Eden.

That "horrible red barrier" is part of the sculpture, Mr Pauling. According to ravenaboutart.wordpress.com the orange barriers that encircle the work are part of it, as is the rubble that is intertwined with the noodles, which make reference to the ongoing construction on the road. Also, if you look closely, you can see the artist's name and title on the barriers in English and Korean.

The artist is Seung Yul Oh, and the artwork is called OnDo. It represents the number of Asian food outlets on Dominion Rd, and is constructed to look like buckwheat noodles suspended on chopsticks. For a close look, go to Ballantyne Square on Dominion Rd. But be quick, it's only a temporary installation.

I was driving along Fanshawe St, between Hobson and Nelson Sts, and noticed freshly painted "bus lane" road markings.
The first word was "LANE" and the second word was "BUS". One might read this as "Lane Bus". The majority of road markings I've observed while driving have read "BUS" then "LANE". Similarly, road markings on Hobson St, leading up to the motorway on-ramps, read "MWY" then "SOUTH".
Has a road-marking contractor just muddled this up late one night while painting the road, or is there a system or guideline as to which way words are painted on to the roads to make them easier to read while driving?
James Nicholson, Auckland Central.

Alister Harlow, executive director of the New Zealand Roadmarkers Federation, informed me some years ago that words are painted in this order because that's how they appear as you approach them. In similar fashion, a notice for an upcoming one-lane bridge might appear as "BRIDGE, LANE, ONE".

Of course, your perception of the spacing and the order varies according to the speed you're doing.

Another difficulty is that roads have cambers and the angle of viewing varies between the driver and the passenger, and also according to the height of the vehicle.

There seem to be more and more flashing orange lights on trucks in use while on the highway. What's the deal here? A new regulation? Peter Ward, Auckland.

The Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004, a very useful document, states in Part 8.5 (Use of Beacons) that a beacon must be approved before use.

As well as outlining the use of red, blue, green and white beacons, the rules say an amber beacon may be fitted to a vehicle in accordance with a traffic management plan approved by a road-controlling authority. It also allows the use of an amber beacon when the vehicle will be stopped or driven slowly and where other road users need to be aware of this. Pilot vehicles with oversized trucks or trucks with oversized loads are a good example.