Ask Phoebe: Onus on parents to provide child seats in taxis

I am expecting my son, his wife and baby to arrive from Hong Kong soon. If they arrive without a baby carrier similar to those used in New Zealand and required by law for car travel here, can they use a taxi from the airport?

Can you legally travel in a taxi without having the baby restrained? Are taxi companies required by law to provide booster seats and child restraints? Joyce Ivory, Auckland.

I hope I'm not too late with this response, but the answer is no, they are not. Tim Reddish, director of the Taxi Federation, says taxis are exempt from providing child restraints in their vehicles. It is the responsibility of parents to provide them.

If given advance warning, says Mr Reddish, most taxi companies will provide a child restraint, but the parent will be asked to pay for the cost of the taxi to drive to the depot to pick up the car seat, and it must be pre-arranged.

Could you please confirm that Dominion Rd is the longest straight road in Auckland, from the flyover to Roskill South? Bob McNamara, Titirangi.

To the best of my knowledge, it is. Between the end of Ian McKinnon Drive until just before the Roskill South shops, it is almost 6km, putting it in front of anything else.

Unlike bus lanes further out of the city there are no signs indicating specific clearway times in the central connector bus lane in Wellesley St, so I would have imagined this meant a 24-hour bus lane and no parking.

However, on Symonds St between Wellesley and Wakefield Sts there are several parking spaces marked on the outbound side, and often cars parked in the bus lane here, but the parking wardens don't seem to ticket them.

Are these cars parking legitimately? Jeanette Anderson, Auckland.

I took a look at this from my viewpoint on the bus last night, and yes, they are. The bus lane along Symonds St veers outwards (that is, westward) along this section, to allow for limited car parking. The cars are ticketed only if they are overstayers.

It is almost a year since SH1 was extended from Hillsborough Rd to Sandringham Rd, which has brought a considerable reduction in the amount of traffic on Hillsborough and Richardson Rds.

Has the Auckland City Council got any before and after traffic flow figures showing the reduction in traffic on these two roads, as well as the increase on Sandringham Rd? John Robertson, Hillsborough.

Indeed it has. The council surveys traffic flows on all the arterial roads every year, and the latest survey in Hillsborough, taken near the Cape Horn Rd intersection, in July last year, shows a 30 per cent drop in traffic.

The drop in Richardson is about 10 per cent. Sandringham is less easy to work out, as a new survey is due, but you can find all the survey results at aucklandcity.govt.nz/auckland/transport/flow.

At the bottom of Highland Park Drive there is a stop sign for traffic turning right into Aberfeldy Ave. On Aberfeldy there is a give way sign for traffic turning right into Highland Park Drive. Frequently, vehicles wait at both signs for each other to move. Who should go first? Connie Smith, Highland Park.

Provided the way is clear, the vehicle at the give way goes first. At a stop sign, you must give way to all other vehicles, including those on a give way sign.