Road tax, road works

**250learna** · 30th April 2005, 01:38

Following the 5cent increase in petrol i asume there would have been a few threads on here "discussing" the issue.
I have a few ideas that id like to share about how we can reduce the price of petrol while still upgrading auckland roads. I will write only a few and than you guys can help me out and add your own.

Interective thread, thats what im talking about

Here goes,

Spend less of road tax on rap "artists"

Only hire roadworkers if you have a job for them to do**

**it has come to my attention after one of my friends did labouring on the roads for a while that the majority of the day is spent standing around and doing nothing.

I have since kept an eye out everytime i went pass roadworks and have come up with a ratio of 1:2. Meaning that for every 1 worker working, 2 will be standing around keeping him company (moral support?) or off talking. I can understand that they might be having a smoko sometime, but this is only an average across the board. I have seen worse

and surely its not that everytime i drive past roadworx it just happens that majority of workers go for a smoko. So maybe if we hired less roadworkers to stand around doing nothing, goverment might save enough money not to rip our undies with high petrol taxes.

**crazylittleshit** · 30th April 2005, 02:46

The guys that hold the stop/go sign 40k per year

I'm on half of that............................................

**Clockwork** · 30th April 2005, 06:11

Originally Posted by crazylittleshit

The guys that hold the stop/go sign 40k per year

I'm on half of that............................................

The guys holding the stop/go signs have always puzzled me. I would have thought it would be cheaper to use lights.

But as for labouring....... I'm not sure its reasonable to expect anyone to labour full on and only stop for smokos and I guess their must always be times the labourer is just not needed.

**Jantar** · 30th April 2005, 15:57

Maybe slightly off topic, but I have a way of reducing Aucklands road congestion and relieving the electricity transmission issues without spending $1 on new roads or new power lines.

The budget for new roads is around $4B, and the new 400KV power lines are close to $1B. That's $5B for a short term solution that does nothing to over come the main cause of Aucklands overcrowding issue.

So, I would suggest that the Government offer to pay companies employing more than 100 employees at any single location a grant to that company of $10,000 per employee to relocate to a less populated area (Tokoroa, Whakatane, Taumaranui, Woodville etc). They also pay the employees of that company $10,000 to relocate. The government would make this offer available to the first 25,000 people to relocate.

Total cost to the NZ taxpayer $500M (or $0.5B) one tenth of the cost. As each employee would take their family with them that would reduce Aucklands population by around 100,000 people and take the congestion and power demands back to what they were 20 years ago.

It would boost the economies of many smaller centers and all for a fraction of the current estimated cost.

Many problems solved in one exercise.

**Ixion** · 30th April 2005, 16:02

Originally Posted by Clockwork

The guys holding the stop/go signs have always puzzled me. I would have thought it would be cheaper to use lights.

But as for labouring....... I'm not sure its reasonable to expect anyone to labour full on and only stop for smokos and I guess their must always be times the labourer is just not needed.

I've seen ones with lights. But someone's got to work the lights, and I guess either they'd need to be able to see both ends of the works, or you'd still need two people. And signs are cheaper than lights (assuming you don't save on the people). I imagine the dynamics of a temporary and rapidly changing traffic situation are too complex to allow a preprogrammed pattern .

I think one would probably train a monkey to recognise the length of the queue and check that no-one was coming through, and switch the signs

No disrespect here to any sign changer KBs

**MSTRS:Me** · 30th April 2005, 16:05

Originally Posted by Jantar

.......what they were 20 years ago.

Idea good, but didn't you mean 20 weeks ago?

**Ixion** · 30th April 2005, 16:07

Originally Posted by Jantar

..
So, I would suggest that the Government offer to pay companies employing more than 100 employees at any single location a grant to that company of $10,000 per employee to relocate to a less populated area (Tokoroa, Whakatane, Taumaranui, Woodville etc). They also pay the employees of that company $10,000 to relocate. The government would make this offer available to the first 25,000 people to relocate.
..
...

They tried something like that in the UK years ago . Backed it up with sanctions (eg you were not allowed to build new factories in the populous areas.) Didn't work, not enough incentive. (Though it was one of the reasons why Jaguar took over Daimler - they wanted the Daimler factory space

)

I wouldn't relocate for $10000 - almost all of that would be swallowed up in removal costs, before even considering the disruption. Worse still for those with kids.

And for the CEO (who gets to make the final decision) $10000 is chump change. He's not going to relocate for that.

**Clockwork** · 30th April 2005, 16:18

Originally Posted by Ixion

I've seen ones with lights. But someone's got to work the lights, and I guess either they'd need to be able to see both ends of the works, or you'd still need two people. And signs are cheaper than lights (assuming you don't save on the people). I imagine the dynamics of a temporary and rapidly changing traffic situation are too complex to allow a preprogrammed pattern .

I think one would probably train a monkey to recognise the length of the queue and check that no-one was coming through, and switch the signs

No disrespect here to any sign changer KBs

I would have thought a simple timer would suffice, with perhaps the abilty to favour one side 60/40 or 70/30 to allow for rush hour type flows. I don't see how 6 lights and a simple timer (or even a low spec computer!) could cost that much.

**Ixion** · 30th April 2005, 16:28

Originally Posted by Clockwork

I would have thought a simple timer would suffice, with perhaps the abilty to favour one side 60/40 or 70/30 to allow for rush hour type flows. I don't see how 6 lights and a simple timer (or even a low spec computer!) could cost that much.

But, bear in mind that , unlike "normal" traffic lights, road works often reduce traffic to one lane - serving both directions. So after turning the light at the north end red, you can't turn the light at the south end green until *after* the last south bound vehicle has exited the diversion. Otherwise, at best, you block your only lane (or they collide). And, also unlike normal lights, you can't make assumptions about how long it will take for traffic to get through. Mr southbound may be stopped in the middle of the diversion by a manouevering grader - or just freak out at having to drive on cut up gravel.

So you need some way to ensure that the last vehicle has gone through - which gets rather complicated withour humans being involved.

**XTC** · 30th April 2005, 16:45

Originally Posted by Ixion

or just freak out at having to drive on cut up gravel.

.

Sportsbike rider???

**Sutage** · 30th April 2005, 17:41

They need to fix that piece of road where you go from Glen Eden shops down into I think its Atkinson, bumpy as a virgin. First time i went over there i thought i got a flat tire it was so wonky and crap, fix it!