OC221123
18 January 2023
K Murphy
[FYI request #21421 email]
Tēnā koe K Murphy,
I refer to your email dated 14 December 2022, requesting the following under the Of icial
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
“1. How many traffic cones in total are there in Wellington?
2. How many new traffic cones have been bought in 2022 and what was the cost?
3. What is the cost of 1 road cone?
4. How many road cones were disposed of in 2022 and how are road cones disposed
of?
5. What should people do if they see road cones left behind from roadworks or dumped
in strange places?
6. How many people in 2022 were charged with stealing road cones in New Zealand
(total) and of those, how many were in Wellington? Did anyone serve prison time?
7. What is the standard advice given to the construction workers around using road
cones? i.e., distance apart, disposing of old road cones, storing, cleaning, re-using?"
Te Manatū Waka Ministry of Transport does not hold the information you have requested in
relation to traffic cones. I am therefore refusing your request under Section 18(e) of the Act as
the information you have requested does not exist.
So that we might be able to provide some information to you, we contacted the New Zealand
Police regarding question six of your request “
How many people in 2022 were charged with
stealing road cones in New Zealand (total) and of those, how many were in Wellington? Did
anyone serve prison time?”. New Zealand Police (Police) advised us that they produce
statistics on Proceedings against Offenders for 'Theft and Related Of ences'. However,
these statistics do not show if road cones were involved or not. Police advised that if this
part of the request was transferred to them, they would refuse it under Section 18(f) of the
Act as the requested information could not be made available without substantial collation or
research.
We also contacted Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (Waka Kotahi) to see if they hold any
information in relation to question seven of your request “
What is the standard advice given to
the construction workers around using road cones? i.e., distance apart, disposing of old road
cones, storing, cleaning, re-using?". Waka Kotahi advised us that the
Code of Practice for
Temporary Traffic Management (CoPTTM) is the best practice guideline for temporary traffic
management in New Zealand, which outlines cone spacings based on speeds. However,
disposal, cleaning and reusing of cones is up to the contractor that owns the delineation
devices.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review of this response by the Ombudsman,
in accordance with section 28(3) of the Act. The relevant details can be found on the
Ombudsman’s websit
e www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
The Ministry publishes our Of icial Information Act responses and the information contained
in our reply to you may be published on the Ministry website. Before publishing we wil
remove any personal or identifiable information.
Nāku noa, nā
Hilary Penman
Manager, Ministerial Services
