Moving Along...

"Traffic Controllers shall be calm and polite...."

Yesterday while trundling along in a winding stretch of Mahoenui, I came across a car full of tourists stopped on a bend.

There were a few people milling about the car.

I stopped where traffic could see me and went to investigate, expecting a break down.

They were taking photographs.

I calmly and politely, suggested that it would be a good idea to piss off before they ended up being wiped out by a truck and trailer.

There was a burst of what I think was Korean, and "No.... Take photos."

I calmly and politely walked back to my truck, turned on every flashing light I had, and went back to them opening my drivers log book and started writing.

"We Go..."

And they did....

Lots of potholes means lots of wheel trims, hub caps, and goodies that rattle off trailers. We have a goodly collection, and on rainy days hang them on the walls of the shed. It is a big shed and we have 3 walls covered, and a pile more to go up. These days they are mostly cheap and made of plastic, but we do have a few "collectors items". A big Kenworth truck hissed to a stop the other day and the driver asked us if we had seen one he was missing off a front wheel, we hadn't but found it a day or two later He was one happy truck driver. The things we find along the road are often unusual, strange mechanical gubbins off trucks & machinery, trailer parts etc. This weeks haul included 50 litres of calcium concentrate (for cows?), a car door, and a bunch of buckets. I have found wallets, (empty) cell phones, a dog kennel, (also empty) and a trailer with no drawbar.
Rest Area 300m

The Brothers Are Watching You

A car stopped in an odd place gets our attention. Often we come across breakdowns, and can often lend a hand. Sometimes we can get a car going, we carry quite a few tools for fixing signs, and some of the light trucks are equipped with a vice and even a generator. You can also do a lot with tape and wire.
We have also come across injuries, sickness, even a suicide attempt (hose on the exhaust pipe) and lots of stuck cars that have pulled off the road too far. We can also call in something odd on our RT radios, abandoned cars, people up to no good etc.
It is also second nature now, to spot the signs of a car leaving the road and going over a bank. You get to know the road so well that it becomes almost instinctive. A broken post, marks in the grass, and so on.
We also, of course, get to know the bad spots where there are many accidents and will push to get something done about them. Even better signs can make a difference. But no matter what anyone does, there are still an endless supply of idiots smashing themselves and their cars up on perfectly good sections of road.
Rest Area 300m