Diamonds in the road before pedestrian crossings

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#1009855 20-Mar-2014 13:42

jeffnz:
Bung:

Note that currently cyclists aren't included although they are the worst at suddenly veering off the footpath onto the crossing.

gross exaggeration here and know way you can backup this without surveying every incident not just the ones you see. Apart from that I agree with everything you put but not sure why you changed the topic to include cyclists.

OK to avoid having to get into statistics that are usually years late I'll change that to "amongst the worst".

I'm not changing the subject of pedestrian crossings just including other users. My route in and out of Wellington is alongside a fair amount of shared pedestrian/cycle way. Maybe it's time to video a few trips in and out.

sidefx

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#1009861 20-Mar-2014 13:55

ubergeeknz: Forgetting about the rules for a moment let's think about being a decent human being and caring for the safety of others.

Be prepared for pedestrians to cross at no notice. If they do, try your best to not hit them. It's very simple really. Why does there need to be clearer rules about this? How many instances are there when a car has hit a pedestrian and the discussion has been "oh but who's fault was it, I was past the diamond?"

+100. Thank god for some common sense and courtesy. These sort of threads always seem to bring out this weird undercurrent of "Well screw them, they shouldn't be doing XYZ if they don't want to get hurt." or "If they break the rules they should be prepared to get hurt, not my fault." - often from car drivers in relation to pedestrians\cyclists\motorbikes. When I'm driving I always try to be as aware and mindful of all of the above because I know they will end up coming out much worse than me in an accident. I'm not trying to excuse some of the terrible behaviour from pedestrians\etc, but if I were driving my car and hit a pedestrian it really would be very little comfort at all to me to know they were in the wrong or not...

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sdav

846 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1009862 20-Mar-2014 13:56

The diamond should indicate to the driver a crossing is ahead and to a pedestrian a distance for which a car can safely stop. But some pedestrians don't even know that a flashing red man means don't start your crossing at traffic lights so really it doesn't matter what the rule is!

When I was in Italy you would die of old age before cars stopped for you at crossings. Over there cars would only slow and then stop once you stepped on to the crossing so it was a case of one foot on the road and wait for cars to stop.

Klipspringer

2385 posts

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#1009868 20-Mar-2014 14:08

OK so many posts... but no clear definition yet as to what the diamond really means..

I just got back from a client, during my drive around lower hutt i noticed the following.

Crossings without lights don't have the diamonds in the road when approaching them. It seems its limited to the crossings without lights.

I agree with the comments here about being ready etc ... Would love to just understand what these things really mean and why NZ is different.

MikeB4

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#1009869 20-Mar-2014 14:10

Klipspringer: OK so many posts... but no clear definition yet as to what the diamond really means..

I just got back from a client, during my drive around lower hutt i noticed the following.

Crossings without lights don't have the diamonds in the road when approaching them. It seems its limited to the crossings without lights.

I agree with the comments here about being ready etc ... Would love to just understand what these things really mean and why NZ is different.

yes there is, its an warning that you are approaching a pedestrian crossing.

As I quoted from the NZTA site...

""As you drive towards a pedestrian crossing, you will see pedestrian crossing signs before the crossing and black and white poles at the crossing. The poles are mounted with fluorescent orange disks, or round yellow lights that flash at night. White diamonds are generally painted on the road before the crossing, and a white limit line shows you where to stop."

Source; NZTA"

Klipspringer

2385 posts

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#1009874 20-Mar-2014 14:14

KiwiNZ:
Klipspringer: OK so many posts... but no clear definition yet as to what the diamond really means..

I just got back from a client, during my drive around lower hutt i noticed the following.

Crossings without lights don't have the diamonds in the road when approaching them. It seems its limited to the crossings without lights.

I agree with the comments here about being ready etc ... Would love to just understand what these things really mean and why NZ is different.

yes there is, its an warning that you are approaching a predestrian crossing

I agree with that. But then why is it a diamond in the road where the same thing means something else overseas. And why no diamond in the road at crossings with lights? There surely has to be some reasoning behind that?

And here is some more confusion from another NZ source

Remember to use the diamonds as a guide. If any vehicles are in the space between the diamonds and the pedestrian crossing wait for them to stop before you start to cross

http://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/Transport/School-Travel-Plan-Images-and-Documents/Wairarapa-Road-Safety-Council-Road-Crossing-Safety-Sheet.pdf

jeffnz

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#1009875 20-Mar-2014 14:15

Bung:
jeffnz:
Bung:

Note that currently cyclists aren't included although they are the worst at suddenly veering off the footpath onto the crossing.

gross exaggeration here and know way you can backup this without surveying every incident not just the ones you see. Apart from that I agree with everything you put but not sure why you changed the topic to include cyclists.

OK to avoid having to get into statistics that are usually years late I'll change that to "amongst the worst".

I'm not changing the subject of pedestrian crossings just including other users. My route in and out of Wellington is alongside a fair amount of shared pedestrian/cycle way. Maybe it's time to video a few trips in and out.

so to sum up they are amongst the worst in the areas you travel, fine understand now

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sdav

846 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1009878 20-Mar-2014 14:17

KiwiNZ:
Klipspringer: OK so many posts... but no clear definition yet as to what the diamond really means..

I just got back from a client, during my drive around lower hutt i noticed the following.

Crossings without lights don't have the diamonds in the road when approaching them. It seems its limited to the crossings without lights.

I agree with the comments here about being ready etc ... Would love to just understand what these things really mean and why NZ is different.

yes there is, its an warning that you are approaching a pedestrian crossing.

As I quoted from the NZTA site...

""As you drive towards a pedestrian crossing, you will see pedestrian crossing signs before the crossing and black and white poles at the crossing. The poles are mounted with fluorescent orange disks, or round yellow lights that flash at night. White diamonds are generally painted on the road before the crossing, and a white limit line shows you where to stop."

Source; NZTA"

That is funny though. They are "generally" there, not always though.

MikeB4

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#1009881 20-Mar-2014 14:22

I really cannot see the need for a diamond if there are lights. On uncontrolled crossing warning is prudent. We have a few things here that are different to overseas, like the side of the road we drive on, we don't have zig zag lines on the side of the road.

A perusal of the road code explains all this.

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1009882 20-Mar-2014 14:25

KiwiNZ: I really cannot see the need for a diamond if there are lights. On uncontrolled crossing warning is prudent. We have a few things here that are different to overseas, like the side of the road we drive on, we don't have zig zag lines on the side of the road.

A perusal of the road code explains all this.

There is no diamond if there are lights because the car has to stop.

This tells me that the diamond really means its got a lot to do with where the car is when approaching the pedestrian crossing. There is more to it than just "pedestrian crossing approaching"

Bung

6477 posts

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#1009884 20-Mar-2014 14:28

jeffnz:
so to sum up they are amongst the worst in the areas you travel, fine understand now

I don't know what pushed your pedant button. If you are a cyclist all you have to understand is you don't have any right of way on a crossing.

MikeB4

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#1009888 20-Mar-2014 14:31

Klipspringer:
KiwiNZ: I really cannot see the need for a diamond if there are lights. On uncontrolled crossing warning is prudent. We have a few things here that are different to overseas, like the side of the road we drive on, we don't have zig zag lines on the side of the road.

A perusal of the road code explains all this.

There is no diamond if there are lights because the car has to stop.

This tells me that the diamond really means its got a lot to do with where the car is when approaching the pedestrian crossing. There is more to it than just "pedestrian crossing approaching"

No its a warning

Do you want a sign, a diamond, lights, bells a man with a flag al at once.

Klipspringer

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#1009893 20-Mar-2014 14:40

KiwiNZ:
No its a warning

Do you want a sign, a diamond, lights, bells a man with a flag al at once.

But the article I just showed you proves something else

http://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/Transport/School-Travel-Plan-Images-and-Documents/Wairarapa-Road-Safety-Council-Road-Crossing-Safety-Sheet.pdf

Oblivian

7296 posts

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#1009894 20-Mar-2014 14:41

Plain and simple as it says and pointed out a number of times, it's simply the kiwi way of indication of a pedestrian crossing ahead.. nothing more, nothing less. No secret agenda to say to the driver 'you have 3 seconds to stop from HERE'

It's a casual kiwi 'hey bro, there might be some lil kids running out infront of you up ahead thinking they can freely do so.. keep an eye out man'

The fancy yellow diamond signs on the side of the road like we see now indicating schools/crossing/hazards were not always around, the original base number of signs when I first started driving many years ago was a fraction of what we see now. And even the roadcode only outlined what about 7 in total. No specialised penguins ahead, no earthquake damage etc. Presumably pricing has become so cheap its easier for the STMS companies that are around now to custom print them than the traffic agency going bankrupt printing a pair back in the day.

Be thankfull you see a diamond at all. And don't be surprised if they disappear (arent renewed) as they degrade over time. They already realised 4 or 5 years ago the costs saved by painting a single 'safe vantage point' marker line at intersections and now do that to bring them inline with other parts of the world while saving a buck.

blakamin

4431 posts

Uber Geek
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#1009902 20-Mar-2014 14:52

NZ pedestrians treat the crossing as if it were a magic carpet and they won't get hurt no matter what they do.
The amount of people I've had step out in front of my semi... I couldn't count. They get the idea when the air horn goes and the trailer locks up, tyres screeching, smoke billowing everywhere.

Or they step out in front of the car that's in front of the truck... mad.

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