Criminal nuisance conviction for roading contractor after crash

[James Deuce]

Also good to see the man admit when he got it wrong Jim2? So should the others involved in this court case, the contractor and/or council should have admitted a mistake and not have it go as far as a court hearing. Would have saved a lot of hassle had they made a simular offer as what the judge ruled and i suspect this Chris fella would have melted away and no one would have been the wiser.

Absolutely. Common sense, while in short supply, is infinitely preferable to jurisprudence.

[pete376403]

But then Chris Parkin wouldn't have got his name in the paper and otherwise been talked about. And him being a politician, I suspect thats what he was REALLY after.

[Funkyfly]

You do enjoy misquoting don't you? It's good form to attribute the quote to a person and include the text. I've been around long enough to see what a sustained government campaign to sway public opinion will do. I didn't say councils will ban bikes, I said the central government would, given enough ammunition of this type.

Then replace "councils" with "Central govt" does it make any difference?

It was not intended to be a direct quote sorry, otherwise i would have mentioned the name, it was used to sum up the ideas of those posting, i.e. see below

Motu - "As with Merv I've seen nearly every area I've ridden on be lost to some council bullshit - prompted by my very own actions,I'll take the blame for that too.The threat to us as riders is very real"

Merv - "It was a discussion about what Councils might do in defence not that they would do for sure".....that refers to Chris and anyone else that takes action against them. i.e. push them (legally) and they will defend"

Indicating that they think its the COUNCIL who would act.

[merv]

I was commenting that it might be the Councils that take action in defence because they were suffering the legal action. The action may have been in the form of by-laws as they have the power at their fingertips to do that and as I showed by quoting existing by-laws straight from Wellington City Council they have already in place by-laws that cover their ability to place restriction on the use of any sort of vehicle on the road now if they wanted to use it - might cause an outcry of course. They could also lobby central goverment and get law changes and I guess that is what happened with the boy racer law - no doubt the Councils and Police looked for tighter controls as well as a bit of public opinion from those that didn't like what was going on.

[Funkyfly]

I was commenting that it might be the Councils that take action in defence because they were suffering the legal action. The action may have been in the form of by-laws as they have the power at their fingertips to do that and as I showed by quoting existing by-laws straight from Wellington City Council they have already in place by-laws that cover their ability to place restriction on the use of any sort of vehicle on the road now if they wanted to use it - might cause an outcry of course. They could also lobby central goverment and get law changes and I guess that is what happened with the boy racer law - no doubt the Councils and Police looked for tighter controls as well as a bit of public opinion from those that didn't like what was going on.

That is how i understood your comments, Council would likely be the first to react.

[Beemer]

I went for a ride with our club on Sunday and we were joined by a new couple on their new bike. About 30kms into the ride, he went slightly wide on a corner and - wouldn't you know it, there was loose pea gravel on the outside of the corner - result - bike meets strainer post, rider and pillion meet road. Shows how easy it is to do, whether or not there are road works and signs or not. Obviously there had been some road works done in this area recently - who knows how recently - and the gravel was actually covering where the white line would normally be painted. This to me is pretty bad, because you should reasonably expect to be able to use the whole lane whether in a car or on a bike. Just shows how easy it is for something small to have more serious consequences.

On a lighter note, I'd like to thump the club member who laid out the course and accidently marked the wrong roads on one section of the map - those at the front of the pack just followed him and did the correct roads, but those of us who stopped to help out at the crash then followed the map and experienced two gravel roads that were marked on the map by mistake! I hate gravel at the best of times, but to find out we didn't have to ride on it in the first place didn't impress me! Lucky I beat them all in the economy run!

[phil_elvey]

I don't know how you can hate gravel that much when your riding a bike that is darn close to an adventure bike anyway (just with road rims on). Prehaps if the gravel-rashed couple had had more experience on gravel they might not have come unstuck...

[merv]

Yep shows how you have to keep your eyes open as in many cases the hazards aren't road works - can be a damp patch, a spilled load, ice, cow shit, animals on the road or whatever. Sure a few are road works related like pea gravel (especially for ice in winter or for melted tar in summer).

[Funkyfly]

I went for a ride with our club on Sunday and we were joined by a new couple on their new bike. About 30kms into the ride, he went slightly wide on a corner and - wouldn't you know it, there was loose pea gravel on the outside of the corner - result - bike meets strainer post, rider and pillion meet road. Shows how easy it is to do, whether or not there are road works and signs or not. Obviously there had been some road works done in this area recently - who knows how recently - and the gravel was actually covering where the white line would normally be painted. This to me is pretty bad, because you should reasonably expect to be able to use the whole lane whether in a car or on a bike. Just shows how easy it is for something small to have more serious consequences.

At the risk of envoking your wrath.......

This does sound more like rider error (running wide on a new bike), however it would have been nice to know (via signs erected) about the recent road works, that way even more care would likely have been taken.

Hope no one was seriously hurt.