I have read in this forum various strange activities by parking wardens. I suggest that Auckland [ N.Z. ] has come up with one of the best.
To begin with, the Parking Warden department has a Marketing Manager. Quite how one "Markets" a parking warden was not explained.
The aforesaid Manager has taken delivery on trial of 40 Segway electric scooters, [ those ones with 2 wheels on an axle set at right angles to the direction of travel,] "In order to improve the mobility of the wardens and thereby improve our service to our customers".
She obviously knows the jargon, but, as it was arranged at functionary, not Council level, the Mayor didn't know about it. He has expressed displeasure at such apparent stupidity, as have many more of us. The idea of a parking warden howling along the busy main street footpath on his barely-controlled Segway does not sit well with the populace.
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Remember all the hype before they were launched "re-inventing the wheel" "as revolutionary as the pc". They were called Gingers for a while. I actually think they're fantastic and it's a shame their use is restricted in so many countries. You can hire them in Rome to do your site-seeing. I was in a huge supermarket recently where the staff were wheeling around on them and they're popular in warehouses and with the military. Peter Gabriel used them in his concerts at one time.
I think it's a good move from Aukland, I can't see what the problem is, let's put bobbies on them. I'd like to see them being raced too.
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They are being looked at by the Police !
I had to laugh at the Army liking them, however the Royal Segway Regiment doesn't have quite the same ring as the Royal Tank Regiment !
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Careful Pug - the Army and traffic wardens might get together and develop a version with rocket launchers/machine guns etc for parking violations. Don´t give ´em ideas.
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The problem for Auckland, BBD, is that the footpaths are already congested in most of the areas where the wardens make their presence felt, and the regs require that we put our pay-&-display tickets to the left anyway, to be read from the footpath. Putting the tickets on the right, and having the wardens hooning along the road against the traffic flow, whilst attractive to motorists { evil thinks }, might not be the brightest of ideas. The area governed by the City of Auckland Council is actually quite small, not much greater than the Central Business District and a couple of outlying suburbs.
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Are they allowed on the footpath? They've been banned from footpaths in some US cities, noteably San Francisco, and I thought NZ traffic laws were pretty draconian.
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They've been banned from footpaths in some US cities,
And quite right too. There's ready enough cyclists, skate borders & roller bladers. Why can't people just walk!
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I haven't checked up on whether they are actually banned, but I haven't ever seen them in any real use here either. Personally, I think that I could check more pay & display tickets walking along the footpath than someone trying to control a Segway as well as read the time printed on the tickets.
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