19 August 2011

Police warning on the convoy protest

| johnboy
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ACT Policing is warning Canberra commuters of potential delays and disruptions to traffic on Monday, August 22 as a result of a protest rally.

Participants in the ‘Convoy of No Confidence’ protest rally are expected to arrive in Canberra on Sunday, August 21. The formal convoy will commence at 5.30 am on Monday (August 22) morning, taking major arterial routes into the city such as Northbourne Avenue, Adelaide Avenue, Commonwealth Avenue, Tuggeranong Parkway, Gunghalin Drive Extension, Monaro Highway, Barton Highway and Canberra Avenue.

The precincts of Mitchell, Bruce, the City and the Parliamentary Triangle will also be affected.

Operational Commander for the event, Superintendent Michael Chew, said that planning for the event has progressed well, with cooperation and good dialogue between the organisers, ACT Government and ACT Policing.

“ACT Policing is working closely with convoy organisers and the ACT Government in an attempt to ensure that the convoy doesn’t have a major impact for ACT road users. A traffic strategy has been developed which will assist in moving the convoy along a pre-determined route”.

“We anticipate that the extra traffic on the roads will cause delays to motorists, and we encourage people to think of alternate routes, especially if they work in the CBD, or travel through the CBD to go to work.”

“As part of our operational plan, ACT Policing will be managing traffic flow through the use of variable message boards, traffic signal overrides, traffic direction officers and official escort and sweep cars. Dedicated officers will be deployed to assist in the convoy movements along specific routes which have been pre-arranged.

ACT Policing will be using its traffic twitter account — ACTPol_Traffic — to provide up-to-date information about road closures, traffic delays and hazards.

“We are expecting 11 convoys. At this stage we cannot confirm how many vehicles or people are participating in the convoy or subsequent protest. While every effort is being made to minimise the impact on the Canberra community, traffic delays are expected. Police would encourage commuters on the morning of Monday 22 August to be patient and flexible,” Superintendent Chew said.

It is likely that these traffic disruptions will be in place from 5.30am to 9.00 am, Monday 22 August.

[Courtesy ACT Policing]

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KB1971 said :

Yep, it passed while you were bent over!!!!! Boom tish, I crack myself up……..

It makes a change from cracking up your sister I suppose…

Ben_Dover said :

Did I miss it?

Yep, it passed while you were bent over!!!!! Boom tish, I crack myself up……..

The Antichrist9:49 am 22 Aug 11

miss what ?

Was something happening today ?

Apparently not.

Did I miss it?

Skyring said :

MWF said :

I hope it freaking snows and they freeze their nasty arses off.

I will be giving them the good ol’ Canberra finger.

And we wonder why the rest of Australia thinks poorly of us.

I doubt that they’d be better received if they had threatened to clog up the Sydney CBD.

Skyring said :

MWF said :

I hope it freaking snows and they freeze their nasty arses off.

I will be giving them the good ol’ Canberra finger.

And we wonder why the rest of Australia thinks poorly of us.

I dunno. Only a few days ago, people involved in this gig were stating that they wanted to deadlock our city with their vehicles. If they came here to peacefully protest for a reasonable cause then good on ’em. I’m all for that sort of thing. But screwing over the people who live here while demanding an unconstitutional change of government thought up in some fantasy world makes me think of a bunch of kids having tantrums.

Overall, I’m not real thrilled by this crowd.

In hindesight we should have alligned this event with “ride to work day”.

PBO said :

mareva said :

PBO said :

I am going to issue a warning to them; Turn back, or something bad happens to Slim Dusty.

Slim Dusty died eight years ago.

RIP.

Now you can see that i am serious.

Can I flag that comment as AWESOME.

MWF said :

I hope it freaking snows and they freeze their nasty arses off.

I will be giving them the good ol’ Canberra finger.

And we wonder why the rest of Australia thinks poorly of us.

I was held up on Federal Hwy for 5 mins around 4pm this Sunday arvo trying to cross into Watson by police escorting a bunch of trucks down towards Epic. Included a few big rigs with banners saying “I’m against stuff Alan Jones hates” (or something like that), plus a a campaign truck for obese Liberal MP Bob Baldwin. It’s going to be a loooong Monday…

Gungahlin Al7:20 pm 21 Aug 11

I-filed said :

I just tootled up Majura Lane & down the last bit of the Federal Highway and past Epic to catch the vibe – didn’t spot a single truck. I would be heading down Northbourne as usual tomorrow morning if that was my route!

Mark Parton has Tweeted audio interviews with two drivers. So there must be at least that many there!

I just tootled up Majura Lane & down the last bit of the Federal Highway and past Epic to catch the vibe – didn’t spot a single truck. I would be heading down Northbourne as usual tomorrow morning if that was my route!

Just my luck, I’m starting a new job right in Garema Place and I have to cross Northbourne on my bicycle!!! Anyone know if the pedestrian lights near the ambulance station will be turned off? Might have to risk walking through the storm drain tunnel near there.

I feel so extremely lucky that I live close enough to work to ride the bike! I just hope we’ll manage to cross the road to get to our Inner North school with all the traffic that will be passing there.

It almost sounds as though the seriousness of the whole thing is evaporating. So a bunch of people park their trucks by the road, woohoo…

mareva said :

PBO said :

I am going to issue a warning to them; Turn back, or something bad happens to Slim Dusty.

Slim Dusty died eight years ago.

RIP.

Now you can see that i am serious.

EvanJames said :

I think tacking together a string of unrelated issues has harmed this mob, as people start to question being associated with some of it.

Holding a protest on a weekday in which participants are expected to turn up with their work vehicle is also a bit ambitious. It will be interesting to see what the turnout is.

In the CT today there’s a story about Ablett of Ablett transport, Queanbeyan, saying that now, several of the convoys will be entering Canberra on Sunday afternoon/evening, to lessen disruption of Canberra traffic on Monday morning. I haven’t seen this anywhere else though.

Ablett also pointed out that he’s in it about the carbon tax, not the other issues. I think tacking together a string of unrelated issues has harmed this mob, as people start to question being associated with some of it.

Looking for alternatives to the-riotact, twitter, facebook, etc for keeping on top of this in real time? UHF CB channel 40 might be good to listen to as that is the usual highway / truck channel.

My prediction: 120 trucks altogether and the same again in smaller ve-hickles.

You can see on their website, they’re arriving in canberra on sunday night, and are staying in one of 2 places, EPIC or AIS. The trucks coming from the North/North West are at EPIC, and the south/west are staying at AIS. On monday at 5:30am they’ll have a police escort to parliment house, then back. You can probably work out if that’s going to affect you. I suspect avoiding northborne would be a good start.

http://youtu.be/9ehTcKZUQQ8

PBO said :

I am going to issue a warning to them; Turn back, or something bad happens to Slim Dusty.

Slim Dusty died eight years ago.

RIP.

Is anyone running a book on how many trucks will actually reach Canberra?

I hope it freaking snows and they freeze their nasty arses off.

I will be giving them the good ol’ Canberra finger.

screaming banshee8:58 pm 19 Aug 11

The precincts of Mitchell, Bruce, the City and the Parliamentary Triangle will also be affected.

They forgot to mention traffic issues around Fyshwick and Mitchell on Monday evening.

Hello, bonus sleep-in time!

So it’s not just me who grinds their teeth at people using “alternate” when they mean alternative.

I think setting up some impromtu roadworks at every entrance to the town would be a merry jape. And yeah, wouldn’t it have been nice if the cops had prevented them from entering during rush “hour” in the first place… the timing of the convoys is designed to cause disruption, and they’re being assisted in this. This whole trucks thing is them using bully tactics to get their way.. got a truck, you get more notice than a similar protest done in the usual way.

The list in the AFP presso of roads seems to be missing some major ones, like Majura Road.

I am going to issue a warning to them; Turn back, or something bad happens to Slim Dusty.

MsCheeky said :

They’re encouraging people to use alternate routes! With 11 convoys from all directions, I’m not sure that there will be any ‘alternate’ routes unaffected. Glad I happen to have a couple of days off next week, Monday being one of them.

Speaking of ‘alternate routes’, I think we had this grammatical problem on signs related to the early GDE work. I seem to remember all signs mentioning this were later changed to the correct ‘alternative routes’ phrasing….. Of course, someone complaining about it back then probably cost of a few thousand $$ to get all the signs changed!

creative_canberran11:53 am 19 Aug 11

p1 said :

I’m going to slip the road workers at the Barton Highway – Kuringa Drive – Victoria Street intersections a couple of cases of beer to slow inbound traffic as much as possible.

Any chance I could chip in a couple more cases to convince them to dig a pit across the highway and fill it with the stopping gravel they use on F1 tracks?

I’m going to slip the road workers at the Barton Highway – Kuringa Drive – Victoria Street intersections a couple of cases of beer to slow inbound traffic as much as possible.

Gungahlin Al11:22 am 19 Aug 11

They are going to need people out giving traffic control directions on many of those “alternate routes” (aka rat runs) too. Sorry North Canberra suburbs but your streets will be ugly on Monday with people trying to do as the police advise. As pointed out is #1, your back streets will be the only such alternatives.

creative_canberran10:52 am 19 Aug 11

I’m not kidding when I say the AFP should block the convoys from entering Canberra until after 10am.
You see Police in other states shadowing bikie gang convoys and pulling them over, blocking protests groups from marching in certain areas of city centres.

Line up at the borders and tell them to damn well wait off to the side. While there certainly is a right to protest, there is no right to adopt siege tactics. This isn’t Cairo.

They’re encouraging people to use alternate routes! With 11 convoys from all directions, I’m not sure that there will be any ‘alternate’ routes unaffected. Glad I happen to have a couple of days off next week, Monday being one of them.

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