IT’S easy to see most drivers don’t seem to realise, or don’t care, that the Anson Street ‘brown’s cows’ block between Summer and Kite streets is a 40kmp/h zone.
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The cops would have a field day with a radar gun because there’s no way people stick to 40kmp/h, believing no doubt they’re untouchable.
The block has some of the worst traffic problems in Orange with one or two brown’s cows wandering across that fool pedestrian crossing holding up cars half way to the hospital.
When the cars have a free run, and that’s not often, they go like the clappers, adding to the chaos.
Probably the best solution is a pedestrian mall, something that’s been on and off the council’s agenda for 30 years.
Objections initially included people saying Orange was too cold for a mall and that it would become a target for vandals and an excellent meeting place for undesirables.
Others said it would provide a relaxed atmosphere for shoppers.
But the council shelved the mall in its budget back in 1986 to keep the rates down, saying it could be considered again sometime in the future.
It also scrapped a plan by the developers of the then proposed new City Centre for a landscaped chicane and paved crossing to narrow the street by a third to slow traffic and link the new complex with Woolworths supermarket, almost what’s there now.
The Department of Main Roads also hit that on the head saying pedestrians already used about 100 metres of the block to cross the street and there was no way they could be encouraged to use a new crossing.
Besides, the DMR said, they should use the crossing already there at the Summer Street intersection.
Yeah. Here here.
A POLICE scheme well worth trying in Orange is to give Year 11 Aboriginal high school students 100 days paid work as a trainee copper one day a week for two years.
As part of the government’s police Aboriginal strategic plan, the scheme can help give them the skills and qualifications needed to later become a police officer and enable them to join on a lower standard of education that’s then improved at the police academy.
The students don’t have any police powers and can’t go around arresting people but can help out in the police station taking counter inquiries and reports of break and enters.
They can go in police cars to see what happens in the field but aren’t exposed to any dangerous situations and can be taken to random breath testing sites and although they can’t test any drivers, they can help with equipment.
Obviously they can’t have a gun, handcuffs, batons or OC spray.
If police introduced the scheme here like it has been in some western NSW towns it could help solve some of the youth problems we’re having.
TAILGAITERS are the biggest road aggressors in Orange along with drivers lingering in the right lane and not letting others merge.
And many of us every day are exposed to some form of discourteous driving or aggressive behaviour from other road users.
Driving has become a nightmare and we’re being clobbered at every turn. So what can we do about it?
We could leave the car in the garage and walk or, a much better idea, petition car makers to bring back those big solid bumper bars that could knock over a gum tree or guide post without the slightest hesitation and certainly without any damage.
The knowledge that you’re well protected up front when you venture out on one of our traffic-choked streets would certainly add a feeling of security.
Maybe then we could break the habit of closing our eyes and hoping for the best when going through a roundabout.
BAZ had been fishing all day without any luck. On the way home he stopped at a fish shop and asked the bloke behind the counter to throw him three of his largest trout.
The bloke was puzzled: “Throw them to you? Why?”
“I want to be able to say I caught them myself.”
PLANS lodged with Orange council for a new $14 million hotel on Forest Rd include a conference/function centre.
But do we really need any more conference centres?
Conference centres are designed to attract business people and business people go to them because they’re attracted by conferences.
Why they want to hold conferences is a question nobody has ever asked. A company that’s sold vacuum cleaners for 50 years calls in its sales staff from around the country to tell them they’re doing a great job selling vacuum cleaners.
Or, alternatively, they’re not selling enough vacuum cleaners.
Is this good for the vacuum cleaner trade?
Perhaps it is if they grind enough canapés into the centre’s expensive carpet.
But, good for business or not, the promotion of conferences tops the list for tourism operators in the country.
If they eventually get their way, you won’t be able to step outdoors unless you’re wearing a plastic badge announcing you’re a sales rep for Etaoin Shrdlu soap.
If the nightmare is not yet a reality, it won’t be for the want of trying.
FOOTNOTE: If anyone wants to phone up to argue they’ll be wasting their time. This column will be in conference.