John MacDonald: Simeon understands your road cone pain

In Canterbury we talk about things happening pre-earthquake and post-earthquake. And I’ve been trying to remember what things were like pre-earthquake when it comes to road cones. 

Because after the quakes there were road cones everywhere and, on the first few anniversaries, we had people putting flowers in road cones around town. 

I remember on the first anniversary, driving to work and seeing the cones all decorated. 

Thirteen/fourteen years on, though, I think it’s safe to say that our attitude towards road cones has shifted a bit. So much so that the Transport Minister is launching a crackdown. 

And he has come to the road cone capital of New Zealand to do it. Christchurch is where he’s announcing his plan to have less road cones and less unnecessary disruptions on our roads. 

And I say “hallelujah” to that. Especially if it means we have less of those crazy situations where there’s work done on a stretch of road, they finish the job, move on to the next one, but the cones stay there for weeks after. 

It’s something Simeon Brown talked about a lot about pre-election. And, since being in government and becoming the minister responsible for roading, he’s cracked on with doing something about it. 

The starting point was to find out whether this excessive use of road cones we talk about is just an impression or a perception, or whether it’s real. 

So he got NZTA to review 800 road maintenance or road works sites around the country —where there were road cones and all the other traffic-slowing measures in place— and they found that at 145 of those 800 sites, the road cones weren’t actually needed. 

So boompha, that was the ammo he needed. Yes, road cone use is out of control. And so he’s doing something about it. 

Which will delight the likes of Mid-Canterbury farmer Ray Logan who says he is fed up with the number of road cones around the place. 

He says he drove past the Ashburton Domain, where they were putting in a new kerb and channel, and the road cones stretched the entire length of the work site "almost touching each other". 

He’s been quoted in the media saying: "It's just excessive, and I see it as having no respect for the ratepayer's money. 

"It's already fenced on both sides, so really you only need a few dozen cones as the fence is the barricade but then you have this long line of I don't know how many road cones. 

"Completely unnecessary."  

The local council has hit back at that saying that the work involves heavy machinery and an open trench. There are kids from the local high school using the area. There’s people using the domain to think about, and there’s a rest home nearby.  

So, as far as the council’s concerned, all the road cones aren’t over-the-top at all. 

Which the council would say. Because the other thing in all of this, is the health and safety regulations that are at the root of this road cone madness. 

The Ashburton council, for example, knows that if it didn’t have that sea of road cones at that work site by the Ashburton Domain —and something terrible happened— it would be in the firing line for failing to keep the workers there safe. 

Which is something the Government has committed to looking at. Whether our health and safety laws —like the road cones— are excessive and out-of-control.  

But this is a great start. Because the only winners at the moment are the road cone companies. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
You know how here in Canterbury, you know how we
talk about things happening pre earthquake and post earthquake. Well,
I was trying to remember this morning what things were
like pre earthquake when it came to road cones, because
after the quakes, don't need to tell you this. After
the quakes there were road cones everywhere, weren't there, And

(00:34):
on the first few anniversaries where people doing things like
putting flowers in the cones around town. I remember on
the I'll beget actually on the first anniversary driving to
work and seeing all those cones decorated with flowers. That
was pretty poignant. And over the years that kind of
kind of stopped. But the cones are still there thirteen

(00:57):
fourteen years on. I think it's probably safe to say
that our attitude towards road cones has shifted a bit,
so much so that the Transport Minister is today launching
a crackdown on road cones and he has come to
the road cone capital of New Zealand to do it.
Christ Church is where is at today announcing his plan
to have less road cones and less unnecessary disruptions on

(01:21):
our roads. And I say hall alluyah to that, especially
if it means we have less or if it leads
to us having less of those crazy situations you know,
where there's work done on a stretch of road. They
furnished the job, they move on to the next one,
but the cones and everything else stays there for weeks.

(01:42):
You might remember that time last year, Remember this, they
put one hundred road cones on the Colombo Street overbridge.
This is the one that crosses over the railway line
when you're heading towards Cashmere. Remember how they were only
supposed to be there for a few weeks, but they
were there for months. I think it was April last
year that work started. It got to October and people,

(02:06):
business owners as well were saying, what the hell is
going on? The reason, apparently, was that when they started
the work, that discovered unforeseen issues underground, and so the
work stopped. But while nothing was happening, the cones stayed
in place, causing a whole lot of unnecessary disruption. And
it's that craziness that Simme and Brown plans to crack
down on and good on them. I say it's something

(02:30):
he talked about a lot pre election as well as potholes,
but since becoming minister and being in government, he's cracked
on with doing something about it. So the starting point,
a little bit of background. The starting point. What he
did is he got ENZTA because he wanted to find
out whether and this is fair enough, he wanted to
find out whether the successive use of road cones that

(02:53):
he was talking about and that we talk about is
just an impression or a perception, or whether it's real.
So what he does he got NZTA to review eight
hundred road maintenance or roadwork sites around the country where
there weren't road cones and all the other traffic slowing
measures in place. And what do they find. They found
that at one hundred and forty five of those eight
hundred sites, all that stuff wasn't needed. The cones weren't needed,

(03:17):
the traffic slowing measures weren't needed. So bumfa, that was
theo he needed. Yes, road cone use is out of
control and so he's doing something about it which will
delight the likes of mid Canterbury farmer Ray Logan. You
might be listening Ray, but he's in the news saying
he is fed up with the number of road cones
around the place. He says he was driving past the

(03:38):
Ashburton to Maine where they were putting in a new
curb and channel, and he says the rod cones stretched
the entire length of the work site quote almost touching
each other. I'll continue quoting Ray Logan. He says it's
just excessive, and I see it as having no respect for
the ratepayers money. He says, it's already fenced on both sides,
so you really only need a few dozen cones. Is

(04:01):
the fence is the barricade. But then you have this
long line of I don't know how many road cones,
completely unnecessary, says Ray end a quote, and of course
the local council's head back saying, well, the work involves
heavy machinery and an open trench. There are kids from
the local high school using the area, and it's people
using the domain to think about and as the rest
home nearby, so you know, as far as the council's concerned,

(04:23):
all the road cones aren't over the top at all,
which the council would say, because the other thing in
this and I'm not ignorant of this The other thing
here is the health and safety regulations that are at
the root of all this road cone madness. You know,
the Ashburton a Council, for example, knows that if it
didn't have that sea of road cones at that work
site by the domain and something terrible happened, it knows

(04:45):
that it would be in the gun for failing to
keep the workers they're safe, which is something else the
government has committed to look at whether our health and
safety laws like the road cones, are excessive and out
of control. But this is a brilliant start because I
think the only winners at the moment are the road
cone companies.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
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