Hi all, long time occasional lurker, first time poster. I apologise if my searching hasn't been up to scratch. I found
This thread from back in 2009, but I'm having issues with the police and NZTA about motorway onramp transit lanes.
I was pulled over in April for using the T2 lane on the SH16 (northwestern motorway) Great North Road citybound onramp. The initial stated cause of the traffic stop was for not having the required number of passengers. When I received the written warning I raised it with police. This initial cause was then scrubbed but changed to the fact that motorcycles are not allowed to use the lane due to not being on the sign.
I have involved the NZTA, and an investigation has supposedly been raised, but with no resolution after almost two months it's starting to seem like it's ground to a halt, and I'm still sitting here with a black mark on my licence.
I'm not about to stop fighting this, as this issue seems to have occurred and been resolved before. As motorcyclists we have a strong vested interest in ensuring the road rules are enforced properly for our safety. I don't want any other motorcyclist to be ticketed for using lanes they seem to be fully entitled to.
After two months there are a lot of details to my story but unless they are relevant I'll leave them out in the interest of brevity. There have also been some interesting comments from the police, such as their belief that "most motorcyclists do not use the transit lanes, which would indicate to them that most seem to know the rules".
I would very much appreciate if it anyone would have any resources that would assist me in trying to convince the police that motorcyclists are permitted to use the transit lanes, or convince the NZTA to conclude their investigation and respond to the police. Otherwise if anyone has any contacts in either organisation that would be interested in assisting in my case I would love to get in touch with them. I understand the difficulty of this however, as I do not want to put anyone in a compromising position of having to argue with their colleagues.
Nga mihi.
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