wet paint..

[Mr Skid]

sometimes we want to corner with both wheels inline tho..

Where's the fun in that?

[MSTRS:Me]

This problem is not new. We all learn to avoid the paint areas esp when wet, sometimes a painful lesson. Does anyone know if NZ is the only country with this problem?

[Waylander]

This problem is not new. We all learn to avoid the paint areas esp when wet, sometimes a painful lesson. Does anyone know if NZ is the only country with this problem?

States have the same problem. You just don't hear about it to often cause most of the country is flat therefore the paint really isnt a worry. They do tell you though that when riding in the rain you should avoid all paint markings though.

[bugjuice]

Where's the fun in that?

cos I'm still gettin me knee down. In gravel you get your knee down, closely follow by the leg, hips, forearm, upper arm, waist, side of torso, shoulder, back, head, front, back, front, back, front, air, front, back sliiiiiiiiide, side, bum.



MSTRS - I don't know if we're the only country with the problem, but the point is; it's a problem.
Why put up with it? If it were your pride and joy that hits the deck, when you've done nothing different to any other time, but it was just on some paint you didn't see cos it's torrential rain and dark, you'd just take it on the chin?

Waylander - they advise to to avoid the paint, fairy fluff, but sometimes you have no option. You HAVE to cross paint all the time. There is no way you can ride thru junctions without crossing paint. So what do you do then? bunny hop?

[Ixion]

I reckon the solution would be to rip up the seal and make all the roads gravel, then there'd be no risk of getting 'caught out' by loose metal on the road.

Paint would not be a problem either

[Ixion]

Over the last 30 odd years I've written to pretty well every body involved with the paint on roads proble, central government, local bodies, everybody I could think of. Numerous times for most of them

The UNIVERSAL response has been a polite "get f**ked". Their attitude is that if cages don't have a problem there is no problem. The attitude is pretty well summed up in a response I received about the paint at the bottom of Anzac Ave " The problem is simply motorcyclists going too fast".

I know of several biker fatalities directly caused by paint on roads.

It is totally a matter of cost. Nothing else. There are paint systems available that are non skid (even assuming the it is necessary to have so much of the damn stuff). They are not used becasue they cost more and motorcyclists lives are not considered worth anything.

The only way it will ever change is a massive direct action campaign.

[MSTRS:Me]

MSTRS - I don't know if we're the only country with the problem, but the point is; it's a problem.
Why put up with it? If it were your pride and joy that hits the deck, when you've done nothing different to any other time, but it was just on some paint you didn't see cos it's torrential rain and dark, you'd just take it on the chin?

Yep - my safety is my problem. I ride to the conditions. I do not hold with all this current bullshit re 'dangerous roads'. It is how they are used that can be dangerous. By your reasoning, all road users are dangerous & 'something needs to be done'. What? Ban them?
I'm not having a go - it's just what I think.

[Waylander]

...The only way it will ever change is a massive direct action campaign.

Then let's do it.Nothing will change with us just sitting around bitching about this stuff online. If the government thinks this is a non issue lets make it one for them.

[Biff]

Biff honks the newbie here horn.

I must admit that I've had to adjust my riding style since moving here, particularly due to the lazy/miserly way in which roads are 'sealed' here. All that appears to happen (in basic, can't be arsed to really find out terms) is that some truck turns up with a couple of tons of loose gravel on it, dumps it on the road which is then pressed into the road surface a little, then that's it. No effort whosoever is made to clean up the gravel that's left over, causing a potential death trap for motorcyclists, not forgetting the damage it does to the paintwork of cars and bikes.

And as for the paint on the road - a fkin disgrace.

Ok - Who do I write to? Local authority? LTSA?

[MSTRS:Me]

[I].

Ok - Who do I write to? Local authority? LTSA?

Try the Tooth Fairy

[Waylander]

Yea who do we write to about this?I'm thinking someone sends a letter to them with all the riders signitures that they can find in thier area on it. If that doesn't get a response then everyone hop on thier bikes and ride to thier offices. Orginize the rides to happen on the same day so that it gets major news coverage and then something might happen.

[TonyB]

but the other thing on that comment - when you stop at lights, stop/give way junctions etc, what's right across your path? doesn't matter what you do to avoid it, you'll ride on it at some point.. I bloody hate tippy toeing around paint. Like the idiots when the put arrows in the middle of the road on a corner!

Bloody good post Buggy. If you ever ride throught the Haast Pass from Hokitika to Wanaka, there are heaps of one way bridges on the west coast side. They paint "ONE WAY BRIDGE" in fuggen great letters so that it covers the whole lane. If that's not bad enough, they seem to deliberately do this on corners!!!!!!!!.....in one of the wetter places on earth....I kid you not. Take a look next time your down that way, it's absolutely unbelieveable!

[bugjuice]

Yep - my safety is my problem. I ride to the conditions. I do not hold with all this current bullshit re 'dangerous roads'. It is how they are used that can be dangerous. By your reasoning, all road users are dangerous & 'something needs to be done'. What? Ban them?
I'm not having a go - it's just what I think.

no, I agree and see where you're coming from, and I know this isn't going to change much in the way people act on the roads.
But, I don't want to drop my bike because no matter how cautious I am, the tyre will not grip the paint. The point is that the roads are dangerous in the wet because the wrong type of paint is applied. I ride like a granny in the wet, I've still had heart-stopping slides. I can't ride any slower, else I'd be quicker walking! I just want to ride with confidence in the wet, not a loon.

Same goes for that shit (tar) they put down the cracks of the roads. Dominion road is fukin terrible for that. It's like riding on ice!


So what do we do? Do online petitions hold any water? Do we write to the council as a start to 'air' our anger then a petition? That's a start I guess. We can bitch about it till the cows ride home, don't change anything. Now would be a good time as the budget/financial year is being planned (isn't it...??) and the winter is well and truely here and the rain isn't going to ease for a while yet.

[phantom]

Some developer is putting in a big new subdivision just down our road ( used to be a couple of houses away from the paddocks and wide open spaces - now its a playground for bulldozers ) so the road is covered in a mixture of clay, gravel and whatever else falls off the back of the trucks especially on the corner. No biggy in the car but on the bike I have to keep my wits about me ( what there is left )

[MSTRS:Me]

Guys - I don't disagree with the fact that roadmarkings are not fun, it's just that they are a small part of the danger we face out there. The powers-that-be have no interest in fixing this one, but if a concerted national effort is made to get it rectified then I will happily support it.