Speed warnings can be a cause of confusion
CATHERINE Brown provided a view on speed limits at roadworks that I fully agree with (Letters, 2.12.20).
I have my own problem with the safety features at roadworks around the country — of which there are a typically large number at this time of year.
It relates to the time warning signs and speed limits are left in place when, often, there are no works.
Two recent examples illustrate my point.
On an awkward bend below where I live in Waverley, two driveway access crossings were being replaced. The appropriate signage was in place while the work was being completed but was left there for a week after completion. And some of the signs were badly placed just around a blind corner.
On a recent trip to Invercargill, I came across warning signs and speed restrictions of 30kmh over a piece of road about 400m in length. There was no sign of either workers, machines or any roadwork.
Further on, there was an even longer strip with the obligatory forest of orange cones and, again, not a sign of activity of any sort. This was in the middle of the day.
The point that concerns me is that, if other motorists think like me, we subconsciously begin to ignore, at least in part, the speed restrictions and other warnings. And then, when it is important to actually observe the warnings, they have lost some of their impact.
I wonder if other motorists are also frustrated with this frequent situation.
Murray Davidson
Waverley
Weed control
REGARDING the 83yearold woman clearing weeds by the St Clair Hot Salt Water Pool.
The Dunedin mayor and councillors should be totally ashamed of themselves.
How can we have confidence in their governance when they cannot even control the simple task of weed control on our footpaths, gutters and garden plots?
What happened to the man on the fourwheeled motor bike who regularly patrolled our streets spraying weeds?
P. Forgie Roseneath
Gypsy Day
I DO believe that this limp complaint (ODT, 30.12.20) exceeds even my lenient boundaries for admission into ‘‘P.C. Pathetic’’.
John Blennerhassett
Wanaka
First mayor
SORRY to have to point out an error in your Life And Times excerpt today (Summer Times, 29.12.20).
You assert that Cromwell’s first mayor, William Jackson Barry, was ‘‘possibly a child convict’’.
In his own book, Barry states that he came out to New South Wales in 1828 on the Red Rover.
He was 9, and was serving as a companion to Dr John Alcock.
In his book, Colonial Experiences, Alexander Bathgate describes Barry in Cromwell, and records conversations with the man.
So, we have Barry’s own words:
‘‘. . . he came out as a boy as a gentleman’s tiger.’’
So far, no contrary evidence has come to light.
David George
Cromwell
[Our phrase comes directly from Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. — Ed.]