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New Zealander Fixes Traffic Problem With Spray Paint

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rumble strip median yellow lines

Photo: Zaheer Mohiuddin via CC

If you have a complaint about the roadways, most of us just contact our municipality or the Department of Transportation to get them fixed. We then sit back and count the days, months, or possibly years it takes for the issue to be addressed. One man in New Zealand decided that he was tired waiting and took matters into his own hands with a can of spray paint.

Russell Taylor has lived on Holloway Road in Wellington since 1979, and for the last 20 years he has been using a can of yellow spray paint to stop cars from parking on blind corners near his home. He claims that the city council has failed to make improvements on the road that has become more and more dangerous over the years as traffic picked up thanks to gentrification.

While this spray paint activism has been going on for quite some time, it caught the attention of social media today and was picked up by BBC News, spreading his fight around the world. For the record, the Wellington city council has said that the lines will be removed because they are illegal. A spokesperson for the city council also added that they are aware of problems on Holloway Road due to people parking on both sides of the street. They are considering adding their own (legal) road markings to make part of the area a “no stopping” stretch of road on one side.

In case you were worried, the city of Wellington has no plans to punish Mr. Taylor because they “would rather not pick an unnecessary fight with the locals.” That’s probably a smart move.

News Source: BBC News