Road paint.

[petesmeats]

I have just been reading through various threads and it seems that most if not all people who ride 2-wheeled vehicles have had some brown-pants experiences with it. It seems to me that if this is the case and with the rising petrol prices causing more and more scooters and motorbikes to be on the road that someone should adress this.

I have read through the transit document with regard to road markings
http://www.transit.govt.nz/content_f...59_pdfFile.pdf
And it says that they test paint with a skid resistance compliant to some clause (14 (whatever that is))

If this is the case and they do indeed make sure that the skid resistance is compliant with regulations then it would make one think that maybe there needs to be a rethink of the regulations regarding the skid resistance of paint.

From past threads i have picked up that the cost of using the slurry paint (which most people seem to think is still relatively slippery in the wet) costs around 4 times the amount of normal paint.

What i would say is that as a motorcyclist, who pays ridiculous amounts in acc levies, it is not any consolation when i come off my bike into the path of oncoming traffic due to wet paint.

And as for the economics of it... surely it is more cost effective to keep us out of hospital with some money put into paint, as opposed to the huge costs of rehab for people with major injuries.

I am not entirely sure what can be done about this problem short of creating a skid resistant paint that is just as cheap as the normal paint...

But i would like to see something done.

Thought this may be relevant as we are starting to get some pretty nasty roads at the moment.

[sunhuntin]

theyve bascially said they aint gonna change the paint, so that leaves it up to us to try and avoid the worst of it and ride to suit the condition.

one corner i take when i go home after work has a white paint median strip for vehicles turning, which i do. then its got 2 lots of that dotted white paint and then a maze of man hole covers. lotas fun at 7pm in the piss pouring rain. i have once been able to take that corner and not touch any of the danger zone, but not since then. so then it is up to me to take my time and watch where i place my bike. i know the danger, so i ride to my safety zone as i know the danger it poses.

[JWALKER]

yeah, i agree with what sunhuntin is saying.
just one more thing for us on two wheels to think about. if it ain't wankers trying to hit us off, then its the road trying to throw us off. . . i think we shoud get f&#kinf medal for the s*&t we have to put up with

[Ixion]

I am actually (when I get a free moment - farking werk, actually expecting me to do work), chasing up a dude about this.

But one important thing I have found out is that the Transit stuff only applies to Sate Highways (and motorways)

These aren't usually a problem as far as paint goes, it's around town that paint is a pain.

And that's down to your local city council, town council etc.

[Karma]

Meh... I've never had a problem with paint lines...

Now... tar snakes on the other hand! If they laid the road properly in the first place then they wouldn't need tar snakes at all!!

Anyone riding along Quay Street next to the helipad and the swimming pool will know there are tar snakes everywhere... and in this weather they just ain't much fun.

[MikeyG]

I think most people doing design work on the roads just don't think about motorcyclists. One part of my job is designing new sewer and stormwater pipes, including where the maholes go. Before I started riding I didn't even think about motorcyclists when I located manholes, basically I didn't know they had a problem with them.

Now that I ride I try not to put them on corners but often don't have much of a choice.

The people to talk to are the road protection team at your local council. All contractors, consultants and even other council departments need to get permission from the roading department before they can dig up the road. The roading team has the power to refuse to allow work to be done.

Try lobbying you local council road protection team to include some safety criteria for motorcyclists when assessing jobs.

There have to be manholes somewhere so you are more likely to get results if you try to get a framework set-up for allowable locations than if you try to get them banned from roads.

[Ixion]

About manholes.I don't know if others have noticed, but there manholes sometimes on the motorway. BUT --- they cover the top of the man hole cover with tar seal! So it's not a problem and you have to look really close even to see them.

Why can't they do that with all manhole covers ?

[madboy]

Some paints I don't find a problem with. This is assuming I'm travelling at a sensible speed. Others are just plain nasty no matter what loading you apply to them. It's just more of the lottery that we call safe riding. Which motorist is not going to see me today? Where is the diesel gonna be? Is there a bonus oil slick too? What about the cars braking sharply for the pedestrian that ran out and I've only got to brake over white lines/turning arrows? Another day really.

One of the streets I ride every weekday on my way to where I park my bike is covered in road markings and man holes. I split up next to the 5-0 yesterday morning at the lights, and accelerated away carefully when it went green, but still quickly enough to put me in front of the cars. The back wheel lit up on the first give way line, gripped, then on the 2nd give way line, gripped, then on the pedestrian crossing line, then gripped majorly and the front wheel started going light. Not exactly what I had in mind in that situation.

[MikeyG]

About manholes.I don't know if others have noticed, but there manholes sometimes on the motorway. BUT --- they cover the top of the man hole cover with tar seal! So it's not a problem and you have to look really close even to see them.

Why can't they do that with all manhole covers ?

1) They're heavy enough as is.

2) When you go out to unblock a sewer at 3 in the morning in the pissing rain you want to be able to find the manholes easily.

Sealing over the manholes on a motorway is probably a transit requirement that the local councils bitch and moan about and do very reluctantly.

[Karma]

Oh come on!!

We all know that the only reason the manholes are there is to stop the morlocks from getting out easily.

So why not just tar over them and they can use the storm drains instead?

[MikeyG]

morlocks? what are they

[petesmeats]

1) They're heavy enough as is.

2) When you go out to unblock a sewer at 3 in the morning in the pissing rain you want to be able to find the manholes easily.

Sealing over the manholes on a motorway is probably a transit requirement that the local councils bitch and moan about and do very reluctantly.

Solution to 1)

I understand that the councils may not be keen to do anything on it but surely it is part of their job to make sure that the roads are safe for everyone and not just cagers, pushbikers, pedestrians, infants, small children, teenagers, elderly drivers, elderly people in their mobility scooters, skateboarders, rollerbladers and basically everyone but the 30-50 odd thousand motorcyclists in new zealand (not sure of the actual figure so was just a guess) ...

[Jonty]

Has anyone also noticed those storm water covers (or something) that have a square block about 10 - 20cm high stuck on top of them? The one I am thinking of is outside stadium apartments on thorndon quay. I used to hit that often on my ZXR and it is is bloody dangerous

[sAsLEX]

About manholes.I don't know if others have noticed, but there manholes sometimes on the motorway. BUT --- they cover the top of the man hole cover with tar seal! So it's not a problem and you have to look really close even to see them.

Why can't they do that with all manhole covers ?

Especially now when they resurface the road they leave the manhole cover a good 3-4 inches below the level of the road surface, surely a little ashphalt on top to even up would be cheap and wouldnt reduce the operability of the manhole cover.

[Squeak the Rat]

morlocks? what are they

Similar to a piecost.