Cheesecutter campaign - losing the battle

[carver]

what is happened to the Cheesecutter campaign?

[Maha]

what is happened to the Cheesecutter campaign?

My reply from a ''sister thread'' posted in March...

WRBs/ACC Levies/Stealth Levies/Road Toll etc...lump it all in with the Climate change and Global warming fiasco....alot of talk but very little action, thats the way the Government like it.
Hundreds attended the Cheesecutter protest (whenever that was, cant remember exactly) and thousands attended the Levy protest in 09' ...but then it all went quite, failure to capitalize on the initial big bang spells the end to be honest.
Once again, thats the way the Government like it.

Several of us were told late last year by an MP that the Pollies were infact gobsmacked at the turnout in Wellington in 09'...jaw-dropped I think was the term used.
That moment can never be reclaimed.
Thats the way the Government like it.


Should be another thread due out in December...

[munster]

More bad news I'm afraid

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10746788

[Berries]

Interesting short in the latest Performance Bikes -

[chasio]

No they don't. There have been two motorcyclist deaths in NSW in the last twelve months from vehicles hitting the barrier and deforming it enough to impede progress for the motorcyclist on the other side of the road. There have been injuries in both NZ and Australia from vehicles hitting the barrier and deforming it so that vehicles on the other side of the road have an unavoidable collision. They don't work as they are deployed and they've never been suggested as a solution for any vehicle over 2 tonnes.

If you use them, you need to have a central reservation. Even then some vehicles will submarine under the barrier almost unimpeded and others will crush the barriers and ride over. They work well when implemented correctly and only then for a percentage of traffic.

I'd like to include references to those fatal failures in something I'm writing, but couldn't turn up the details. Could you point me in the right direction, please?

[RiderInBlack]

More bad news I'm afraid

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10746788

So has MAG or BRONZ or anyone else responded to this dip woad Clive Matthew-Wilson's article http://www.dogandlemon.com/media/unp...ling-motorists and at least set him on the right path to improve safety for all the road users, and not just for a select few cars? My bet is no, but would love to be wrong.

[riffer]

MAG doesn't really exist any more AFAIK in New Zealand.

BRONZ Wellington discuss these things regularly and may do so in the next committee meeting tomorrow.

Perhaps you could also help by finding evidence of instances where the cheesecutters have actually directly contributed to the harm of a motorcyclist?

I personally hate the things but have to admit there's a pile of evidence ATM that they have helped more than harmed.

I'd love more ammo to the contrary.

[Maha]

MAG doesn't really exist any more AFAIK in New Zealand.

BRONZ Wellington discuss these things regularly and may do so in the next committee meeting tomorrow.

Perhaps you could also help by finding evidence of instances where the cheesecutters have actually directly contributed to the harm of a motorcyclist?

I personally hate the things but have to admit there's a pile of evidence ATM that they have helped more than harmed.

I'd love more ammo to the contrary.

One death only (that I know of)....indirectly.
In saying that, you hit one you die.

[James Deuce]

I'd like to include references to those fatal failures in something I'm writing, but couldn't turn up the details. Could you point me in the right direction, please?

Email Two Wheels magazine because that's where I saw the reports. There was also another where a ute lost its load and dealt to a motorcyclist going the other way and the WRB clearly did nothing.

There was a truck on auckland's southern motorway that just used the WRB for a convenient way to tip on it's side and block the opposing lanes a little while ago too.

[riffer]

One death only (that I know of)....indirectly.
In saying that, you hit one you die.

Exactly. Not the prime cause.

Now let's compare the WRBs with the following:

• lamposts
• armco
• head ons with other vehicles
• farmers' fences

The WRBs don't look so bad any more do they?

Also, River Road (SH2) in Upper Hutt has just been WRBed. The have used a new style of vertical stanchion in which the vertical edges are completely rounded with an approx 25mm radius. I would venture the injury and death potential of those WRB stanchions has been significantly reduced.

Trust me, TPTB at Transit are very aware of the situation with the WRBs, and are investing a great deal of time looking at how to make them safer.

[Maha]

Exactly. Not the prime cause.

Now let's compare the WRBs with the following:

• lamposts
• armco
• head ons with other vehicles
• farmers' fences

The WRBs don't look so bad any more do they?

Also, River Road (SH2) in Upper Hutt has just been WRBed. The have used a new style of vertical stanchion in which the vertical edges are completely rounded with an approx 25mm radius. I would venture the injury and death potential of those WRB stanchions has been significantly reduced.

Trust me, TPTB at Transit are very aware of the situation with the WRBs, and are investing a great deal of time looking at how to make them safer.

Cant argue with the points.
...interesting reading with the following sentences.

[Berries]

In saying that, you hit one you die.

That's a bit of an exaggeration.

[riffer]

That's a bit of an exaggeration.

I'm still going to try very very hard not to test either of your hypotheses.

[James Deuce]

WRBs in NZ are installed contrary to design specs. They are not designed to separate two lanes of opposing traffic. They are designed to be used as a catch fence in the middle of a central reservation fifty meters or more wide. The stretch built into the barriers allows heavier vehicles to impinge on opposing traffic lanes in most of the installations in NZ.

The issue for motorcyclists in NZ is not the wires it's the posts. In most civilised European countries, the WRBs are being clad to prevent the dismemberment injuries that will be caused if a motorcyclist, or even a cyclist, becomes entangled in the uprights at speeds of 70km/hr and up. The same applies to the cheap arse way Armco is installed in NZ. Even Australia is starting to install a third, lower rail to prevent people being injurednby becoming entangled in the posts. I have performed a field trial on concrete barriers and much prefer hitting them at an oblique angle and sliding along them without injury to striking uprights and losing limbs.

I take it BRONZ doesn't agree that roadside furniture on major highways can be improved to help prevent injury to road users then? Someone needs to convince TPTB that motorcycles are valid transport, should be included in the transport plan, and roads designed accordingly. Or have you caved in to government pressure to label bikes leisure craft? Operated at the owner's express risk and only if the rider assumes all responsibility for visibility, skill, and any injury or death sustained in operating that leisure craft?

[DEATH_INC.]

Exactly. Not the prime cause.

Now let's compare the WRBs with the following:

• lamposts
• armco
• head ons with other vehicles
• farmers' fences

The WRBs don't look so bad any more do they?

Actually, I know of at least 1 person that has collided with each one of these things ( like 4 different people) including at least 2 of us that have gone through fences and lived to tell about it. I only know of 1 person that has hit a wrb, and he is not here now.
Admittedly I do know of some that haven't survived some of the above too.