(ETA, 2016-03-19: See update at end of this post for an explanation of why it happened and what it means, provided by the NZTA.)
Driving home tonight, on the motorway, I came across a particularly misleading set of road signs in the (endless :-( ) construction on the motorway: northbound on the motorway, between Aotea Quay on ramp and the Ngauranga Interchange, there were two pairs of signs where the sign on the left of the three lanes said "30" and the sign on the right of the three lanes said "70". Presumably someone putting out signs pulled the wrong sign out of their truck, and put it up -- twice -- and did not notice. (There were other misleading signs out, including one indicating a reduction to a single lane which never happened -- there were not even as many construction road cones out as usual for that area.)
Having 30km/h on some subset of lanes and 70km/h on some subset of lanes seemed dangerously confusing: some drivers were slowing down for 30km/h and others were maintaining their 70+ km/h, which resulted in a large speed differential. And it is not obvious what speed the middle lane of three is supposed to assume from such signage...
Once I got home, the most obvious thing to do seemed to be to call my local police station, as they are the ones who do the speed enforcement to no more than 4km/h over the limit. So I called Wellington Central Police Station (+64-4-381-2000). But it appears by early evening (or perhaps all the time now?), that just diverts to a central (non-emergency) call centre.
The Police Call Centre did not seem particularly interested in the problem, insisted that I needed to talk to Wellington City Council "who could do something about it" and offered to put me through.
Wellington City Council's 24-hour Call Centre (+64-4-499-4444) begged to differ, and insisted that they had nothing to do with the motorway signage speed limits. They also seemed uninterested in the problem, and said I would need to talk to NZTA -- but they did at least offer to put me through.
It turns out that NZTA do have a call centre -- several in fact -- but the one I was put through to (0800-44-44-49) seems to be "latest highway information", which explains some of their confusion at what I was reporting. (I also expect that call centre was based nowhere near Wellington, which probably did not help them in understanding precisely where the problem was -- whereas almost anyone driving in Wellington in the last year is intimately familiar with the construction speed signs in that area of motorway as they have been there for going on a year in all sorts of variations.)
To their credit the person at the NZTA call centre did make an good effort to understand where the problem was, what it was, and said that they would report it (presumably via a trouble ticket) to someone who might be able to do something about it. (If I had my wits about me more I might have asked for the ticket number :-) )
I have relatively little faith that it will get solved tonight, or really before the next variation on speed signs gets put up tomorrow or later in the week. But I guess at least if there is an accident as a result of the confusing signage there'll be one or more records of the confusing signs (some or all of the services were "recording the calls for quality control purposes").
(Sadly I do not have a photo of this confusion, despite it occuring twice on the road, because driving and photography do not mix.)
Because this situation is (inexplicably!) not in the Police FAQ and the former law student in me is curious, I have sent a "general enquiry" via the Police online form asking:
If a three lane road has a sign saying "30" on left side of the
three lanes and "70" on the right side of the three lanes, which
speed limit is in effect? 30km/h? 70km/h? Something else?
Obviously this is not a normal set or road signs, but it can -- and
has, as recently as tonight -- happen when road maintenance crews
are careless about placing signs.
Ewen
Generally "more than 30km/h over the limit" ends up being "loss of license"; so if the answer is "the minimum applies" then a large number of drivers were willing to, or mislead into, driving "loss of license" speeds beyond the speed limit. (Drivers' willingness to slow down for construction areas is fairly poor at the best of times, even with clear signs.)
If I get an answer from the Police which clarifies the situation I will update this post.
ETA, 2016-03-07: The police form results in an email auto-reply which:
is sent from an IP addres without any reverse DNS (
202.174.115.35)and with a server HELO (
nzpl-chc-web01.digiweb.net.nz) that does not exist in the DNS
resulting in a much increased likely hood of their mail being caught in spam traps due to poor compliance with Internet Standards. (I had to whitelist both the IP and the stated hostname to get the mail in past the spam checks on my mail server.)
ETA, 2016-03-08: To their credit, the police responded the same evening. Unfortunately they provide no guidance at all. Their response, in its entirety (other than a quote of the form submission):
Hello
thank you for your email below.
As Police do not set speed limits, you may find the following link useful.
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/
Regards
New Zealand Police
I replied pointing out that this is a matter of enforcement, and asking if it is the official police position that they do not know what these signs mean:
Hi NZ Police,
The police are in charge of enforcing the speed limits. It is the
police who state (each summer for several years) that they will be
enforcing "no more than 4km/h" over the speed limit. The obvious
question when inconsistent signs are posted is "which speed limit?".
Can you confirm that it is the official position of the police that
when conflicting or misleading speed signs are posted they do not
know what speed limit is in force?
Thanks,
Ewen
and for good measure I have also asked the same question via NZTA's contact form:
If a three lane road has a sign saying "30" on left side of the
three lanes and "70" on the right side of the three lanes, which
speed limit is in effect? 30km/h? 70km/h? Something else?
Obviously this is not a normal set or road signs, but it can -- and
has, as recently as last night -- happened when road maintenance
crews are careless about placing signs.
I originally thought that this was a question for the NZ Police,
as they enforce the speed limits. However their immediate response
was "As Police do not set speed limits, you may find the following
link useful.", followed by a link to the NZTA home page.
Thanks,
Ewen
The NZTA form just reloaded without obviously doing anything when submitted without tracking cookies enabled, for no good reason, clearing out the entire question. Which makes me glad that I am tracking my questions here! It also reports "Currently we are experiencing high demand and we may not be able to respond within our normal time frame of three working days."
More as it comes to hand.
If neither the NZTA nor the Police know what it means when inconsistent signs are posted, and they are the organisations officially charged with setting and enforcing speed limits, then it should be no surprise if drivers are unable to determine the correct speed limit.
ETA, 2016-03-08: The NZ Police responded again in record time, but their position seems to be that it is "difficult to comment" on what speed limit is in force at the time.
Hi Ewen,
Thank you for your email. It may have been a temporary speed limit
being set up by NZTA/Roadworks. Without knowing the individual
circumstances, it is difficult to comment on which speed limit was
in force at the time as the roadworks may have been in the process
of being set up or similar. If you are wanting to enquire further
please report to a station or speak with NZTA as per the link already
sent. If you have received an infringement notice, please contact
the Police Infringment bureu. This email is used for Police reports
and is not for general enquiries ( information@police.govt.nz ).
Kind regards,
CRL
I replied again giving them more detail, and asking them to confirm that it is the police position is that it is "difficult to comment", but it appears the Police do not wish to answer the question. (The "not for general enquries" text is confusing, given that I started with a "general enquiry" on the NZ Police website, and have simply replied to the emails received.)
Their final response:
Hi Ewen
Thank you for your email today.
As previously advised please report your nearest station or speak
with NZTA for further clarification.
Kind Regards
CRL
which clearly indicates an unwillingness to comment. I appreciate that this is probably someone within the NZ Police who does not know the answer themselves, but the reasonable response in that situation is to say that you will forward the question to someone within the organisation who can answer -- rather than claim that some other organisation is responsible for answering, or brush questions off with it is "difficult to comment".
ETA, 2016-03-08: NZTA also responded promptly, and asked for more information on the situation -- which I provided by a specific example of what happened last night. Their second response was:
Hello Ewen,
Thank you for your further email.
I have forwarded your email to our Wellington Regional Office
for assistance.
Our reference number is 24737188 and you should expect a reply
within the next 5-10 working days.
which was precisely the way that I think something this confusing should be handled (they even gave me a reference number!). I do not know if NZTA will be able to answer the question (it seems to me an enforcement question, which is a NZ Police issue), but at least NZTA are willing to attempt to find an answer.
ETA, 2016-03-18: True to their word, someone from NZTA did respond within 5-10 working days (about 7 working days in fact), with a detailed answer. It turns out that what I saw apparently was the middle of setting out signs for a change of speed (from the "normal" 70km/h for the construction area to a 30km/h for a specific task), which for logistical reasons is done in one side at a time with a non-trivial gap in between. They also answered my question about which speed applied -- it appears the 70km/h applies until the sign set out is finished, which is something that it seems not even the Police know.
I replied to the NZTA sender saying that I still thought that approach to signage was confusing to drivers, even if it was perhaps the only realistic way to set out the signs. And suggesting that maybe they could (a) add a sign at the start advising motorists the highest speed applied, and (b) make sure that the NZTA and Police call centres were aware of the practice and could reassure callers it was normal, in the process of being corrected, and advise which speed limit applied. Hopefully they are able to take some of that into account.
For reference, the NZTA reply is included below. FTR, I am much more pleased with the NZTA response throughout all of this, than the Police response (the Police came across as uninterested in road safety or interpretation of the law -- both of which really are core parts of their role in society).
NZTA response:
Hi Ewen
Thanks for your feedback.
The current temporary speed limit through the Ngauranga to Aotea
work site is 70kph. While the contractor is resurfacing the road,
the speed limit is set to 30kph. All signs are ‘gated’ (i.e. signs
at each side of the road) to legalise the temporary speed limit
under the Code of Practice for Temporary Traffic Management (CoPTTM).
The best-practice procedure for installing these signs is for
the traffic management crews to alter the left lane signage
from 70 to 30 first, do a loop around and then change the right
lane signage.
At 20:15, this process would have been half way through so
motorists may have seen conflicting speed limits. The permanent
variable message sign boards and the advanced warning vehicle
will be advising that roadworks are being set up and that
motorists should take care. Until the signs are gated the
overarching speed limit of 70 applies.
[email signature omitted]
(20:15 was indeed about when I passed through that area of road and saw the confusing signs.)
ETA, 2016-03-21: Passing through the same stretch of road tonight (about 20:56) I spotted 30km/h signs on the right and 70km/h signs on the left -- and more driver confusion over the applicable speed limit (although I have to say those doing 80km/h were probably not guessing correctly...). So it appears that the set out/tear down of the speed signs during changes can happen with either side first. (I also do not recall seeing any notices, electronic or otherwise, that "roadworks are being set up", so apparently that does not always happen either.)
Maybe this confusion will keep reoccuring until the roadworks are finished in that section (around 2017 I think...).