The good oil: Parking confusion

Parking signs can be confusing. Photo / Supplied

Grant, from Auckland's North Shore, writes: "I park all day in the Birkenhead carpark, at the top of Rawene St. If you park to the right of the sign shown in the photo you can park all day. To the left, obviously two hours. But what if you park in the two carparks under the sign? I notice that these parks are often the last to go in the morning as people grab the free all-day parks. Guess I am not the only one who can't make their mind up about how long I can park in these two spaces."

* * *

Raising the driving age to 16 or 17 has to come with an education component. The son of a man we know in Germany registered with a driving school six months after turning 16 and got his provisional driver's licence at age 17. A few weeks later the young fella picked up a speeding ticket on a suburban street. He reckons he was only 5km/h over the limit. Didn't matter - he had to do the substantial written exam all over again. The learner-driver rules were clear: driving is a privilege, not a right. Urban limits in Germany are strictly enforced: the maximum speed is often 40km/h. The Good Oil has driven through towns where the limit is made very clear upon entry: 25km/h.

* * *

This from a fellow who knows these things: One morning, police blitzed drivers in South Auckland, confiscating unwarranted vehicles and booking unlicensed drivers. Within minutes employers in the area began getting phone calls, typically: "I can't get to work today - police have taken my car." Politicians in Wellington soon got in on the act and the coppers on the ground were told: Back off! Confiscated cars were returned; unlicensed drivers warned; fines put in the too-hard basket. An insurance industry executive reckons there are more than 40,000 unlicensed drivers on Auckland roads at any given time. The Government might like to consider this when it talks of introducing compulsory third-party insurance.

* * *

All Transport Minister Steven Joyce has to do to change the give-way rules is re-read submissions to a parliamentary committee a few years ago, where more than 90 per cent of respondents wanted specific changes to the messy regime. But MPs, Land Transport and the insurance industry back then decided that New Zealanders might hurt themselves in the transition. Perhaps Joyce has been listening to road-safety submissions. Specialists from here and overseas appealed for change long ago, saying the rule requiring traffic turning left to give way to traffic turning right "leads to overly aggressive driving behaviour".

* * *

Timothy Pereira, 19, was doing 130km/h in a 55km/h zone in Salem, Massachusetts, when he crashed head-on into Christine Speliotis' car. Open and shut case of dangerous driving, said the cops. Don't think so, says Pereira's passenger - his cousin, Brendon. The 17-year-old has filed a lawsuit against Speliotis for negligence, claiming that if she had been quicker to get out of the way, the collision would not have occurred.

alastair.sloane@nzherald.co.nz