Yellow means NO

Julie Neighbourly Lead from Havelock North

Yellow paint on the road means NO. No passing, no parking, no stopping. Ever.

The yellow triangle next to the blue cat’s eye on the road means no parking at the side of the road the triangle is pointing to. There’s a fire hydrant there.
Broken yellow lines on the side of the road means no parking at any time. It’s not safe.
Double solid yellow lines in the middle, or a single solid yellow line on your side of the centre lines means no passing. It’s not safe.
Double yellow lines across the road means no crossing. It’s a stop sign.
Broken yellow lines in the middle means safely complete your passing before now. You’re about to run out of road space. Or, chill out, the passing lane is just ahead.
Yellow crosshatching on the road, outside fire stations and schools, entrances and exits, means no stopping. Ever. It’s not safe and you are impeding the flow of traffic.

Traffic, while easing around schools, due to seniors having finished high school for the year, is behaving worse. Drivers are stoping and parking in dangerous places. Impeding the flow of traffic, angering other drivers, who take greater risks. It isn’t necessary. Just look. Be conscious of where you are. And drive accordingly.

Don’t stop in the wrong places. Don’t stop in roundabouts, in intersections (if you can’t exit, don’t enter. Just ask yourself “could a fire engine get through to save my family), on pedestrian crossings, at courtesy crossings (unless someone is already crossing), at uncontrolled school crossings, unless someone is already on them or the signs are out to stop (children need to learn cars won’t always stop for them, and they don’t have right of way). Don’t stop on the crosshatching outside the fire/ambulance stations, supermarkets or the schools.

Yellow means NO. That includes yellow/amber lights. They ARE STOP LIGHTS. Always stop unless unsafe to do so.

Oh, and by the by, the three car parks in the side of the parking area at The Warehouse are parallel parks, not 90° parks. You can tell by a few things. Mainly that cars don’t fit in them, nose or tail in. You have to park half way into the driving lane, when you park the wrong way. And the 90° parks have dividing lines and are a lot longer. Cars, van and utes fit in them. It’s a great place to practice parallel parking, safely.

Thus concludes our road safety lesson for today. Have a nice, safe, day. Let’s all get through the end of the day, year and next, together.