Roads no place for beds
Wellington reporter Beds, baths, and other strange objects used as stunts for charity on the roads, are causing increased concern to the roading authorities. The Ministry of Transport and the National Roads Board will cooperate in investigating their legal status — if any — on the roads. The National Roads Board was considering an application, from the Salvation Army, to push a bed from Ashburton to Christ-
church during the South Pacific Television Telethon appeal, and another case of a bed being pushed from Lower Hutt to Wellington recently. In the meantime, it looks as if beds and baths do not qualify as vehicles and so do not need any licence, or perhaps even anyone's permission, to be on the road. “They do not qualify as vehicles, hut are simply objects of the roadways or verges and accompanied by a number of pedestrians," said a spokesman for the
Ministry of Transport (Mr M. W. Croy). It was not so much the original pushers that worried the Ministry, as the hordes of followers they attracted and the hazards the combination presented to vehicular traffic. “We do not want to be seen as killjoys putting on a blanket prohibition." he said. “But they ought to be kept down in numbers where possible, and banned at night.” No specific law applied to people pushing baths, heds. or other items along
the roads. Any controls applying to them would be the same as applied to processions or demonstrations. The Automobile Associations are opposed to such stunts, on the grounds that the highways were not built for such a purpose; they were as inappropriate and dangerous as a moving car on a footpath. “These gimmicky things are just plain foolish, no matter how worthy the original cause,” said Mr F. R. M. Parkinson, representing the associations.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19780624.2.190
Bibliographic details
Press, 24 June 1978, Page 22
Word Count
304Roads no place for beds Press, 24 June 1978, Page 22
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.