Minor works on the side of a road which once would have been enclosed by fencing tightly around them, now feature hundreds of metres of cones, before and after the works, often narrowing traffic into a single lane causing totally unnecessary traffic jams.
At each end an understandably bored red jacketed employee holds a stop-go sign and a radio to communicate with his or her opposite number, two or three hundred metres down the other end of this farce. Parked off the road are several trucks, their drivers sitting all day inside gazing at their cell-phones. Their function is to deliver the bloody cones in the morning and pick them up at day’s end.
This ludicrous nonsense is causing unnecessary chaos and hold-ups right across the country, and not just in our cities. Furthermore, it involves thousands of workers who could be gainfully employed in something sensible.
A recent survey of tourists’ impressions of New Zealand revealed their shock on encountering this cone farce, as their only negative impression.
Knocking it on the head is one measure the government can safely take as the whole country is furious about it. Do it and I’ll wager they’ll immediately soar in the polls with huge public gratitude.
As an amusing aside, the only cone one encounters in Glasgow, typical of that city’s zany spirit, is on the head of a very large 1844 statue of the Duke of Wellington sitting astride his horse. That cone has been there for three decades and recently gained listing status. It’s fittingly located outside the city’s Modern Art Gallery, filled as it is with bogus alleged art. Google it and see for yourselves.
The day will inevitably come when our museums feature a cone room containing photos of the current madness and explanatory material, as a record of a crazy period in our history. Visitors will gaze in disbelief, much like they do now at displays of past eras lunacy.
Sir Bob Jones is a renowned author, columnist , property investor, and former politician, who blogs at No Punches Pulled HERE - where this article was sourced.
At each end an understandably bored red jacketed employee holds a stop-go sign and a radio to communicate with his or her opposite number, two or three hundred metres down the other end of this farce. Parked off the road are several trucks, their drivers sitting all day inside gazing at their cell-phones. Their function is to deliver the bloody cones in the morning and pick them up at day’s end.
This ludicrous nonsense is causing unnecessary chaos and hold-ups right across the country, and not just in our cities. Furthermore, it involves thousands of workers who could be gainfully employed in something sensible.
A recent survey of tourists’ impressions of New Zealand revealed their shock on encountering this cone farce, as their only negative impression.
Knocking it on the head is one measure the government can safely take as the whole country is furious about it. Do it and I’ll wager they’ll immediately soar in the polls with huge public gratitude.
As an amusing aside, the only cone one encounters in Glasgow, typical of that city’s zany spirit, is on the head of a very large 1844 statue of the Duke of Wellington sitting astride his horse. That cone has been there for three decades and recently gained listing status. It’s fittingly located outside the city’s Modern Art Gallery, filled as it is with bogus alleged art. Google it and see for yourselves.
The day will inevitably come when our museums feature a cone room containing photos of the current madness and explanatory material, as a record of a crazy period in our history. Visitors will gaze in disbelief, much like they do now at displays of past eras lunacy.
Sir Bob Jones is a renowned author, columnist , property investor, and former politician, who blogs at No Punches Pulled HERE - where this article was sourced.
7 comments:
I read somewhere that one roadmaker says 38% of his costs go on this charade. It is so sad that the people concerned seem to feel a sense of importance - purpose in their lives, as they sit vacantly all day, or meet to chat. I ONCE saw a man shovelling dirt off the back of a truck! That was a high point.
One day Sir Robert is going " to move from this Planet to an eternal paradise" and I can just see him at the Gates to Eternity asking - " are there any bloody road cones in there"?
I think cone shepherd is an NCEA qualification. I am not sure if it is awarded anyone not overweight or capable of norml movement.
The ultimate employment objective for many is in some regulatorly role. No one ever dares backtrack and the scope for make work and empire buiding is vast. Comparable in security irrespective of ability with the Public Services of old, or with teaching.
I await Sir Bob's next article on the lunacy of wall and roof scaffolding on all new construction.
I understand at the very minimum it adds $30,000 to an average house price.
Try installing weatherboards are a large ranchslider on a house today!
Hi EP Decades ago the roadworker leaning on his shovel was the butt of much comment (but for anyone who has done manual work for 8 hours not unreasonable.) Now very many just stand about. They are either watching traffic or waiting for or watching large maqchinery. What i presume are engineers have a little retinue of understudiers and hangers on. A very few carry clipboards. Pay rates may not be formidable cf the dole but the charge out rates are.
All very well to jeer, but how do we stop this practice? It's probably legislated, so we need to get tht cancelled - this is costing a lot.
Murray Reid raises a topic I could rant at length about. The problem seems to be the blaming of the employer for all accidents and ludicrous fines based on the extortinate legal industy's very distorted sense of values. At roadworks any errant motorist is not seriously sued, instead the employer is. Same on roofs. If a thick stoned worker steps off the edge it is the employers fault.
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