A warning for Wellington motorists

[Beemer]

I just found this on Stuff and thought it was worth letting people know - dangerous enough in a car, but it could be pretty lethal on a bike:

Nails on road could kill, say Wellington police
04 July 2005
By CHALPAT SONTI

Police say someone will be killed or injured if those who caused chaos for thousands of motorists by strewing busy Wellington roads with nails are not caught soon.


About 15 motorists had their vehicle tyres punctured after the Lions-All Blacks test on Saturday night. Tyres were speared by Z-shaped nails near The Terrace tunnel and in the Oriental Bay-Evans Bay Pde area.

Senior Sergeant Ian McKeown said the "idiotic" incidents had the potential to kill or injure people. Though no one was hurt on Saturday night, in one previous instance a person was hurt when the car they were in hit the nails and swerved into a bus.

Several cars had more than one tyre punctured, causing them to become impossible to steer.

The Terrace tunnel area was closed for some time on one of the busiest nights of the year, with thousands of rugby fans trying to get home. While police were clearing the road, further reports came in of nails on road corners in Oriental Bay. The incidents brought to more than 100 the number of vehicles that have been damaged in a similar way around the city dating to 2002.

No one has ever been caught.

The Z nails, which lie with one end facing up, are normally used in roof trusses. It is believed they are being thrown from a moving car.

Anyone with information on the latest incident is asked to contact police.

[Paul in NZ]

If caught I would hope they are charged with attempted murder.....

This is the sort of stupidity that causes me to loose all hope for my fellow man... (or woman)

[Motu]

They could start looking a little closer to the scene - we had a guy loosen wheel nuts in a car park...one of our rental cars only got a couple of metres before a wheel fell off,I found half a doz of our cars had loose wheel nuts and several private cars too.

They found the culprit sitting on a bank watching the effects of his handywork.Criminals are renowned for being stupid.

[Beemer]

Yeah, they are probably sitting above the Terrace Tunnel seeing how much havoc they can wreak. Total tossers, this kind of thing is as bad as that nutter who used to throw marbles through car windscreens in Karori.

Can you imagine the devastation this could cause? This is a 100kph zone (Terrace Tunnel) and even with the barriers, if someone loses control as they enter the tunnel from the north, they could easily cross into the path of the north-bound traffic and take out numerous vehicles.

As for what could happen if a motorcyclist runs over these, well, I don't really want to think about that. Suffice to say, if I am heading into Wellington from now on, I think I will be avoiding the tunnel for a start.

[Eurygnomes]

I read this in this morning's paper Beemer and it took me quite by surprise. How awful that people think this is 'amusing' (else why would htey do it). Gah. If there wasn't enough to worry about already...

I've been driving my car home on the back road between Tawa and Johnsonville before now and had things a) strewn in the road around blind corners and b) thrown at teh windscreen.

I was on the phone to the police immediately (probably didn't do my reflex time too much good - but hopefully the idiots got caught/wrist-slapped/warned etc).