ASk Phoebe: No sign of traffic lights for Royal Oak roundabout

Q. Does Auckland City Council have any plans to install traffic lights at the Royal Oak roundabout? This intersection has five arterial roads converging on it, and is very busy at all hours of the day, with many near-misses.

Pedestrians on any of the crossings on the roads surrounding the roundabout cause the traffic to bank up and bring the roundabout to a standstill. .

- Isaac Broome, Royal Oak

A. The short answer? No. The long answer is that, although several options have been considered, the council feels that the current arrangement is the best one.

Putting traffic lights on the roundabout itself, or at any of the pedestrian crossings, might ease traffic congestion at peak times, but they would compromise use and availability for foot traffic and the local community, and those are things that must be preserved and enhanced under the council's 2007 Liveable Arterials Plan.

New pavement marking and exit-lane marking on the roundabout were added in 2006, under the terms of the 2004 change to the Land Transport Rules. So, while the council continues to look at ways to make this nightmare a daydream, the status quo remains.

Q. Could you please clarify once and for all - are cars able to drive in bus lanes outside the designated hours displayed? Are these lanes then the same as a marked road lane, so that, if it is clear, a car can drive down it on the left of other vehicles in the centre lane? We often see a long line of single-lane traffic with the bus lane empty. Surely it would help traffic flows if this was encouraged.

- John McCaffrey, Sandringham

A. Once and for all - most city bus lanes do revert to general traffic use outside the designated bus lane hours. Motorway bus lanes, and those on the Harbour Bridge, are on the whole permanent bus lanes, and are never available for general use, unless otherwise signposted.

And yes, as long as it is clear and safe, you may pass another vehicle on the left, if it is in the centre lane.

Q. I have noticed that when the yellow or white lines are repainted at stop and give way signs, there is now only one slightly thicker line instead of the two parallel ones that used to be there. Why is this? Those two lines were an important visual clue. At a newly sealed intersection near where I live, it is noticeable that many more vehicles than previously sail through the compulsory stop without stopping.

- Roger Sawtell, Glendowie

A. It's my understanding that the change is as much an economic one as anything else - it costs less to paint one line than two. The one-line paint job is being rolled out as circumstances dictate, and it's just something we will have to adapt to.

But road marking notwithstanding, the rules at the intersections remain, and so do the signposts. If it says stop, you stop.