Samuel's Blog

Please define “length of road”

In the middle of last month, the ACT Government introduced some new road rules which, for the most part, seem to be designed to make it harder to find a spot to park.

The changes to the rules surrounding parking in parking bays are enough to do your head in, especially the bit which tries to differentiate a carpark from a driveway:

This rule also applies in car parks which have internal access driveways that have the appearance of a street or road. If there is no street or road sign, the area is considered to be part of the car park and, as such, parking is allowed in parking bays only.

I’m sorry, but how would you legally define “internal access driveways that have the appearance of a street or road”? Does the driveway have to be a certain length, meaning that I have to get out my tape measure before parking there, and that I could find myself dealing with the even more complicated world of working out what constitutes a “length of road”?

For the purpose of this rule, a “length of road” is considered to be any part of the road between two neighbouring intersections or between an intersection and the end of the length of road.

Ummm, right. A circular reference in a definition. A “length of road” is everything between an intersection and the end of the thing which we haven’t defined yet. Uh huh, I see…good luck to the poor sod that the government send to court to try and defend that one when it gets challenged.

I’m also amused by the fact that it seems that anything I paint on to the surface of the road can be considered a “traffic island”. I would imagine that there is a law against me painting the road, but that doesn’t appear to invalidate whatever I paint, for as long as it remains painted.

A motorist may not stop or park a vehicle on an area that has stripes or chevrons (coloured markings) painted on the ground, or surrounded by a line or lines (whether or not broken). This only applies if the stripes or chevrons are in any colour that contrasts with the road or car park surface. Part of the surround may be kerb or structure.

Of course it is nice to know that if I take up horse riding, I can be immune to the traffic island rules as long as I don’t give the horse a motor. But seriously, who writes this drivel? How much do they get paid? And how do I get in on the act?

Samuel

April 3rd, 2010 at 07:41am

2GB’s daylight saving reminder

Six and a half hours of monitoring 2GB’s webstream has paid off. I’ve captured their daylight saving reminder!

I really like the way this makes use of Telstra’s talking clock. It’s a clever bit of work, and I’d like to congratulate whomever at 2GB’s is responsible for it. Nice job!

[audio:https://samuelgordonstewart.com/wp-content/2GBDSTEnds2010.mp3]
Download MP3

Incidentally the hiss at the start is the final syllable of the midnight weather. I couldn’t separate it from the bit I wanted.

It seems that the talking clock and ways that I spend my time are the subjects of the day, so for those of you who are wondering…I had been listening to Jason Morrison’s show since a bit before 4pm and it was a bit after 5pm when I first heard the daylight saving reminder (albeit the generic version and not the Saturday version which you hear above) and it was at that point that I decided to start the recorder to capture the reminder the next time it aired. I was listening to 2GB programming for most of that time anyway…and the bits that I missed I was able to check over with the recording, so it’s not as if I was sitting here anxiously waiting for it to air again. In fact I had just set up the overnight recording and was about to go to bed when I heard this go to air. I suppose it amounts to the same thing though.

Anyway, I must be off. I have to be up early for AIR News’ morning sport reports, and would like to get some sleep before then. Good night.

Samuel

April 3rd, 2010 at 12:31am