KEY POINTS:
Q. Can you please explain how road users should interpret the big green patches marked with a bicycle logo at the head of the traffic lanes along Remuera Rd? These green patches have nothing to do with bus lanes although they are painted the same colour, and a thick white line defines where cars are to stop behind them at the lights. I do not understand their use. Sheila Gray, Glendowie.
A. These are cycle advance stop boxes, and they are not restricted to Remuera Rd.
They are there for the use of cyclists, so that when the traffic light is red, the cyclists can line up in front of the queue of cars, and get away promptly when the lights are green. It's purely a safety measure for the often put-upon pedallers.
The stop boxes don't have legal status in themselves, at least in Auckland City. However, if a car is stopped over one of the boxes, it means that it must have gone past the intersection limit line (that thick white one), which is where vehicles must wait for the lights to change. This type of "moving vehicle" offence is enforced by the police.The short answer, then, is keep clear of the cycle advance stop boxes when you are stopped at traffic lights.
Q. The Southern Motorway exit at Wellesley St has two lanes, the left to turn towards the city and university, and the right to go towards Grafton and the hospital. Every morning at rush hour the left lane is banked up so far that traffic has to sit on the shoulder and it can take three light phases to reach Wellesley St, yet the right lane is virtually empty. As Wellesley St is two lanes wide, is there any reason the right lane from the motorway cannot allow both a left and right turn, similar to the Queen St/Customs St intersection, to free up the congestion? John Gavin, Auckland.
A. You are not the first to ask this, John. The NZ Transport Agency has been tracking the distribution of traffic between the two lanes in the morning and afternoon peaks, and investigating if it's geometrically feasible to have left and right turns from the right lane.
The next steps are a survey of all turning movements, as well as signs and line markings at the junction. Then there will be work to measure the impact of the change at Wellesley/Princes St and Wellesley/Grafton.
They, and I, will keep you posted.
Q. I was taught that cyclists must wheel their bikes across pedestrian crossings. Has the law changed? I have had near-misses where cyclists have crossed at speed when I have gone through a seemingly empty crossing. The latest was a father with three children following his bad example. Peter McDonald, Pt Chevalier.
The law has not changed. Cyclists wanting to use pedestrian crossings must dismount and wheel their bicycles across.
Having said that, drivers should slow down as they approach a pedestrian crossing in case they have to stop in a hurry. And, conversely, the Road Code exhorts pedestrians not to step out on to a crossing if vehicles are so close that they cannot stop.