Those of us who still drive around the inner city have to negotiate umpteen red cones all over almost every street.
It’s certainly a pain. However, I want to report another problem which falls into AT’s lap.
I have been told by several friends that many streets do not have signage at the end of their road. I had noticed this too, so, I ventured out with pen and paper, and several maps to investigate.
It is a problem. I’ll just cite a couple of examples. Driving along Williamson Avenue, from Ponsonby Road, I found four streets on the left not named - Pollen, Scanlan, Sussex, and Ariki–that’s a quarter of the twelve streets which run between Williamson and Crummer.
I’ve noticed that sometimes a street is named across the road, making it hard or impossible to see from driving on the left, aiming to go left when your chosen street has arrived. Sometimes the street you want to go up to Crummer on may already be a continuation of a street on the other side of Williamson. Scanlan and Sussex do fall into that category, but Pollen and Ariki do not. However, driving is such a hazardous activity that the drivers don’t need to have to look right as well as left to see if they have reached the street they are looking to travel on.
Some street signs are obscured by trees. One example is the sign indicating Meola Road from Pt Chevalier Road. Coming from Pt Chevalier along Pt Chev Road to turn left into Meola Road is difficult enough to judge without the only sign across on the other side of Pt Chev Road almost impossible to see for shrubbery. A couple of signs on Pt Chev Road both north and south of Meola would do the trick. It could say, “Meola Road and Herne Bay right 100 metres”, with the other saying “left 100 metres”.
AT spend so much money on cycle tracks and other unasked for inner city street modifications, they would do well to ensure their streets are adequately named.
And one more gripe. I don’t go out much at night, but have confirmed what I’ve been told about the lack of street lighting. Particularly for women alone at night, well lit streets are an important safety feature. On some of our streets several lights have been out for days, and as one local said to me, “these streets are more dangerous than the chance of an old pine tree in the Western Springs Forest falling on you.”
I know from the old joke that it takes a few people to change a light bulb, especially if it’s on a tall lamp post - a ladder, some safety cones, a person to climb the ladder, a lookout person on the ground, a truck driver, and perhaps a fourth person to hold the ladder.
The good news is that AT are using LED lights which last longer, but they may be economising by using lower wattage lights - or is it lumens?
Anyhow AT, stick to your knitting, and ensure our streets are properly signed and well lit at night. (John Elliott)
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