So this morning at 7.45 coming from Majura Ave and going through to Hindmarsh Dr I noticed that all three sets of traffic lights this transition requires were not working. No lights at all. No flashing amber, no warning signs, no Police directing traffic, nada.
10 minutes later I called AFP from Narrabundah to report this (being a good citizen I thought it best not to phone the police while driving since I do not have handsfree). Apparently they already knew that the traffic lights were out, and informed me this was the case all through Pialligo towards Queanbeyan.
It had not yet occurred to them, however, to send anyone out to direct traffic as “people generally sort themselves out”. Given today would be the first day of “peak” hour (as peak as it gets for the first working week of January), I thought perhaps a policeman would be required to direct traffic through the major intersection on the northside of the lake where the Monaro Hwy meets Morshead Dr (the intersection nearest the airport).
I suggested, politely, that they may want to send at least one poor officer to the major intersection at least as the freight trucks travelling on the Monaro don’t always get along very well with the every-day commuter, who in turn don’t always get along very well with the bored or overwrought taxi drivers etc etc. This suggestion empowered the switch lady to transfer me to “Operations”, who let the phone ring out.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
I don’t know if they got someone to direct traffic – but I hope there wasn’t an accident in the meantime.
Apart from the general unhelpfulness of the AFP, it strikes me as ironic that they rip out a perfectly good roundabout – which doesn’t require electricity to function – in place of traffic lights that not only hold-up traffic and make the trip in the morning seemingly longer, but apparently can’t be relied on!
[End rant here]
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