Mystery traffic counter vandal

Someone’s taking issue with Tokoroa’s traffic counters.

Five traffic counter wires, used to plan maintenance and rehabilitation of roads, have been cut in recent weeks in what the South Waikato District Council has said is an ongoing issue.

‘‘We have the odd incident over the years, however this is the first time that so many have been clearly cut at the same time,’’ roading manager Gordon Naidoo said.

‘‘Five were cut and on closer inspection one had been unplugged and tied in a knot.’’

Naidoo said the recent incidents were all isolated to Tokoroa.

‘‘The counters that were cut were outside New World in Bridge St, outside Sweet Rose Cafe´ in Bridge St, and outside the TAB in Mannering St.

‘‘The counter that was unplugged was in Kereru St,’’ he said.

He said while not overly expensive to replace, they were costing the council time and valuable data.

‘‘The team use the data collected from traffic counters to assess numbers of vehicles using the road which assists us to plan both our maintenance and rehabilitation programmes.

‘‘It enables us to better estimate the life of the road surfaces and to highlight changes in road use.

‘‘The tubes can tell the difference, for instance, between a car or a truck, so if there is a, say, 30 per cent increase in trucks using the route, we can use that in our planning going forward.’’

He said while the reason behind the wires being cut is unknown, he suspects it could be from someone thinking they are monitoring speed.

Naidoo said work was under way to try to identify those responsible.

‘‘Hopefully, given that most of the lines were in the central business district area, the culprit may have been caught on camera. Staff are looking into that,’’ he said.