New Zealand Creates Safety Billboard That Bleeds When It Rains 137
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the when-it-rains-it-gores dept.
from the when-it-rains-it-gores dept.
Officials in Papakura, New Zealand have come up with a billboard that bleeds when it rains. They hope it will encourage drivers to slow down when the weather makes conditions dangerous. Since the billboards have been erected, there hasn't been a fatal accident in the area.
Re:Rain isn't causing those accidents (Score:4, Interesting)
"After watching the video, the real cause of accidents is clear: they drive on the wrong side of the road!"
Amusing although more than half (66%) of the world's population actually does drive on the left but that is besides the point.
NZ has a real problem with bad drivers. People don't have any clue about stopping distances so tailgating is rampant so the number of related accidents is very high. The road surfaces aren't very good, cars aren't kept in good condition as the Warrant Of Fitness is cursory at best compared with say the MOT in the UK. I was appalled when I first moved here to find that the tyres on my recently bought car were OK as far as the WOF was concerned because they had tread on 80% of the surface (bald around the edges due to misaligned tracking) and passed just fine. The car would slide and aquaplane in the rain so I replaced the whole lot.
Basically, bad road awareness and poorly maintained cars is the main problem. Oh, and no insurance is required, not even third party so if someone crashes into you and they are uninsured you are stuffed. I bought fully comp insurance because of this.
The only real blessing is that the speed limit is so low (100 kph or 62 MPH max even on the few stretches of motorway) but even so, NZ drivers are scary!
Re:Al Gore's hyperbole knows no bounds (Score:2, Interesting)
The boards were all ordered down a couple of weeks later, but hey, at least we were all a little be safer for the time! Seriously, all road safety awareness in NZ is this pathetic.