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The nice young chap in front of me most courteously stops to wait for a dear old chap to finish hobbling up to the zebra crossing and then make his arduous journey across it.
The startled lady behind me jams on her anchors and, fortunately, doesn’t join me in the front seat of my car or find the dazed and confused teenager behind her join her in her own – that is to say, no cars or people were harmed in the making of this point.
So, what is the point? While we all waited for said elderly gent to cross Pukekohe’s King Street unscathed, I’ll get to my destination a bit quicker – who’s bright idea was it to install zebra crossings right on roundabouts?
It seems motorists are destined to break one rule/law or another at these intersections – we shouldn’t stop on a roundabout, but we really shouldn’t run over pedestrians either.
According to the NZ Transport Authority (NZTA):
‘It’s important you don’t block other roads… or pedestrian crossings. You must not go into or attempt to cross the intersection, railway level crossing, pedestrian crossing or an area controlled by pedestrian traffic signals, unless there’s space for your vehicle on the other side.’
So, it’s ‘important’ not to stop on a roundabout, but is it illegal to do so?
Perhaps more importantly, are these intersections more dangerous given that traffic would have to stop more often than on roundabouts without zebra crossings on all four roads?
I’ve requested an answer from NZTA and I’ll share any response as/when provided.
In the meantime, I hope I haven’t upset the applecart – although carts rarely travel along King Street – by highlighting this to to the safety squad or we could end up with traffic lights instead.
No, wait, the budget for traffic lights has already probably been blown by placing three sets of lights – the only ones in Pukekohe – all within 200 metres or so of one another.
