Some countries argue over religion, while others debate military spending or healthcare. New Zealand is up in arms over traffic cones. The government is cracking down on what officials say is an excessive use of traffic cones, arguing that all those cones are putting the brakes on New Zealand’s struggling economy by driving up costs and annoying drivers. The cones have multiplied to the point where truckers and motorists are sending members of Parliament photos and videos of the cones lined up for miles along the road, with nothing happening around them. Proponents say traffic controls like cones help workers to do their jobs without getting hurt, while the opposition says all this talk about cones is just a distraction from the real problems the government is failing to fix. Queenstown, a tourist mecca famed for its challenging ski trails and natural beauty, has been inundated with so many cones that some locals have dubbed it “Conestown.” “It’s cone-mania down here,” said Mel Gold, Operations Manager for Searchlight Brewery, which sells a beer called Conestown Lager. One government estimate says the equivalent of around $445 million has been spent on temporary traffic management — which includes cones — for national highways over the past three years. That was about 9% of government spending on highways, which some people in the industry say is a reasonable percentage for keeping people safe. Other countries have waged war on cones and lost. In the 1990s, the UK introduces a “Cones Hotline,” but it was widely panned when very few calls resulted in cones being removed.
