Ask Phoebe: Cameras few but red-light runners may yet be pinged

The Auckland City Council tries to spread its speed cameras around trouble spots.

Are there any plans for red-light cameras at the top of Khyber Pass Rd? I'm getting too old to play chicken. My most recent game involved not only a speeding bus but also the car following it. Unfortunately I see near-misses every day and fear it will be only a matter of time before someone is hit. Tony Jackson, Auckland.

Bad news and good. There are no plans at this stage to put a red-light camera at this intersection. Auckland City Council is still in its trial phase for the cameras, and can use only 10 available sites for the four it has.

However, council transport staff will pass the message on to the police to see whether they can do enforcement there.

The sites are (or were, in October): Symonds St-Karangahape Rd, Victoria St West-Nelson St, Customs St East-Gore St, Ponsonby Rd-Hopetoun St, Union St-Nelson St, Queen St-Karangahape Rd, Wellesley St West-Mayoral Drive, Albert St-Victoria St West, Wellesley St East-Mayoral Dr, Hobson St-Cook St.

Potential sites are Queen St-Mayoral Drive, Northern Motorway-Fanshawe St, Dominion Rd-Balmoral Rd.

Could you please clarify for me the use of fog lights on vehicles? I thought there was a rule forbidding their use unless there was actually fog or low cloud. Are people ever ticketed for driving all day and night with these on? Stephen O'Brien, Auckland.

The Road User Rules 2004, under the section relating to the use of optional lights, state that fog lamps may be used only in conditions of severely reduced visibility, including fog or snow, but not under clear atmospheric conditions even during the hours of darkness.

The reasoning is that their unnecessary use could dazzle other drivers.

And I don't know if anyone has been ticketed for inappropriate use, but would be happy to hear about it.

On the Northern Motorway they are laying terracotta-coloured concrete pads only big enough to park two cars in. What are they for? Warren Spencer, Albany.

The pads are police reinforcement areas. Police can park there, or use them for speed cameras or speed lasers. The Transport Agency also uses them for electronic road signs. They cannot be used as parking spots for the general public.

Who was Morrin of Morrin Rd, Mt Wellington, Morrin St, Ellerslie, and - presumably - Morrinsville? T.M., Remuera.

Morrin St in Ellerslie was named for Thomas and Samuel Morrin, ironmongers, ships chandlers and importers of farm machinery in Auckland in the 1860s. Thomas also had land in the Waikato. Some of this was in the Piako district, where he built a blacksmith's shop and other buildings, and donated land for a school.

He also laid out the plan for the town, later named Morrinsville. Morrin St in Manurewa was named after Cliff Morrin, a former Manurewa Borough Councillor.

Unusually high tides this week, known as king tides, are likely to affect the Northwestern Motorway. Take care between the Patiki Rd interchange and Rosebank Rd bridges, and do not attempt to use the cycleway.