Well another week has rolled by without incident. Always a good thing and the weekend is upon us woo-hoo! Just had drinks with the Merry Widow and planned our dream trip whilst going 'awww bewfuls' at the new puppy. Simple things amuse me these days! Then found this:
Blow-up dolls and dressed-up dogs are among the "passengers" drivers in New Zealand have been using to get around transit lane rules. Drivers in the Auckland suburb of North Shore can only use the lanes if there is a minimum of three people in the car or face a $NZ150 ($A120) fine.
The lanes, which can also be used by buses and taxis, are designed to ease traffic congestion by encouraging carpooling. "They've certainly found some creative ways to try to circumvent the rules," says North Shore City Council traffic safety manager Andre Dannhauser of New Zealand Police, "But it's important to us that we enforce the rules properly."
Some drivers have put blow-up dolls and mannequins in the car, while others have dressed up dogs in children's hoodies. Another driver quizzed about the whereabouts of a third passenger quipped "he's in the toolbox in the back seat", Dannhauser said.
He said an earlier scam involved students making themselves available at the beginning of a transit lane to drivers and then getting out at the end. "They stopped after a while - fortunately they got tired of running back up the hill to the start of the transit lane again."
Hahaha . . here's a little fun to 'rap' up the week.
17 comments:
That's the lads that did "Business Time" right? They are funny. Have a good one.
WOW talk about quick draw McGraw, only just put that one up. Yeh, Flight of the Concords. Very . . .off the wall. Love 'em. I will . . .rain's stopped, permit's in place chainsaws have been oiled and labour organised. I just have to buy the buns and bangers and the madness begins!
We still have the joys of enforced car pooling to come. The politicians are too scared of the possible reaction to try and implement it. I'm sure there'd be plenty of scams here - like picking up some comatose drunk and propping him in the back seat.
Loved the idea of the hiphopapotamus. I can just see a cavorting, rapping hippo emerging from the water.
Strange rules, It is good that you have had a safe week
Happy Friday!! I laughed out loud about the dogs in hoodies as "passengers." Oh my ... :) I thought I had commented in the last post about the bonfire ... drat. My mom's neighbor in Vermont had a little fire going in order to burn some leaves and grass clippings, not realizing that he needed a permit and not realizing that up the road from him lives the fire warden. Well, the fire warden passed by, saw the fire, and squealed into Joe's driveway. Joe, with his back to the fire, greeted the warden ... the warden was spitting nails about Joe's fire and Joe says, "What fire?" The warden points behind Joe and says, "THAT fire!" Joe turns, jumps as if surprised, and says, "Good Lord, where'd that come from, must've been lightning!" hee hee ... such a jokester!
K9 Hoodies - love it! - enjoy the weekend!
Seems only fair that if they're going to use a blow-up doll to qualify for the commuter lane, then they need to be prepared to use said doll for the purposes intended upon command.
Mmmmm, chainsaws :-)
Baino,
My daughter worked for United Air Lines in Chicago for years. It was a huge office complex and sometimes you had to park as far as 100 yards away from the door.
They don't call Chicago "The Windy City" for nothing. It is bitterly cold in Winter and the wind almost picks you up and carries you away.
Parking passes were given out close to the building to those who had seniority OR those who had a car pool of at least three persons.
Carol and her co worker tried hard to find a mate to ride with them but no one lived near they did so they had to make up this rider.
He was a man named Chester A. Pancoast and had worked at United since Charles A. Lindbergh was around.
He was very sickly which is why he was never in the car when they went through the gate. Day after day Mr. Pancoast (or Chester as they called him when they knew him better)was absent.He either had a cold or the flu or an upset stomach which stopped him from coming to work.
Some days he had a earlier Executive Board meeting so went in alone and some days he was going in later because he had evening appointments.For months, the guard believed everything they told him about Mr. Pancoast. They were always able to park close to the building.
Finally, Spring came, and the flowers bloomed and the birds sang and Chester A. Pancoast retired from UAL.
As they were leaving the complex one day in early May the guard stopped them on the way out and gave them a home made cake that his wife had baked. It was for Chester (By now even the guard called him Chester). His wife had baked it for the poor sickly fellow who was always too ill to come to work.
Carol and her co worker thanked him profusely and told him that they would see to it that Chester got the cake and they were certain that it would make him feel much better.
Then they had all Summer to make up a new rider for the following Winter.......
"students making themselves available at the beginning of a transit lane to drivers and then getting out at the end." Those students are going to go a long way in life :) Have a good one! I'm doing bluddy English assignments all day...
None of you can dress as a tree, so nah nah on that count.
It doesn't seem to stop the traffic jams tho Nick. We have special bus and taxi lanes too which make the bus trip into the city much quicker than driving. Still loads of single drivers in peak hour.
Thanks Ropi, I'm building up the courage to do your history test without cheating!
So you have fire bans as well Melissa? We can get away with the odd little pile burn but the big boofer needs a permit. You should have seen how quickly the boys doused it last year as the fire engine came up the driveway. Never seen teamwork like that before!
Quicky: I especially like the thought of an Afgan hound with all that long hair flowing down the side!
Kate! You mean there's another use for blow up dolls?
Thrifty: I loves me toys but I'm not allowed to use the chainsaw. That's big boys business.
Hi Nancy. Great story, you have so many of them I never cease to be amazed! You really should start a blog!
Anonymous, you're not doing the boy's homework I hope!
As for you, 'not so anonymous' Anonymous . . .good job you're not here tonight, you might get singed Ghillie boy! And IMing when I'm drunk might be fun for you but it's bloody hard on the concentration for me!
Hah - any excuse to bring the blow up doll out for a publicly legitimate excuse I reckon!
Love FOTC !!
LOL! Oh I love that! At least blow up dolls have found a more staid form of occupation! ;-)
And IMing when I'm drunk might be fun for you but it's bloody hard on the concentration for me!
That's half the point, or hafl teh piont with a few glasses of vino in.
Anonymous:pffft
heh heh if that was me I'd introduce the copper to my imaginary friend and freak him out so much he'd have to let me through just to get rid of me :)
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