Editorial: Speed fiends slow to learn

Photo/file

I admit it. I'm a slow driver. By "slow" I mean I drive to the speed limit which, it seems, is too slow for other drivers who happen to be behind me.

For a lot of my fellow motorists, my doing the speed limit seems to invite tail-gating and aggressive overtaking manoeuvres when I come to double lanes.

From all the aggressive driving tactics they employ, it seems these motorists' time is far more important than everybody else's and we should all just get out of their way.

Sorry, but I'd rather get to my destination late than not at all.

Part of my job at the Bay of Plenty Times is to edit reports about fatal crashes and, all too often it seems, police attribute speed as a factor.

The sad thing is, it's preventable. So many families have lost loved ones needlessly and yet some drivers still seem to want to speed.

We reported yesterday that police were cracking down on speedsters who are using the newly opened Tauranga Eastern Link to drive a lot faster than the posted 100km/h limit.

The acting head of Western Bay road policing, Sergeant Wayne Hunter, says one car was clocked at 139km/h and a motorcyclist was pulled over after being seen travelling at 135km/h. "Most of those caught were going between 125km/h and 130km/h," he says.

Jo Raphael is the production editor for the Bay of Plenty Times.

Mr Hunter said motorists hurtling along at those speeds risked serious injury or death. Innocent people driving in the next lane were also being put at risk.

"We have already had 15 road deaths this year and only need one more to equal the total road toll for the whole of last year," he says.

What a shameful, sad statistic.

Please, slow down. Leave earlier and get there in one piece and have patience and respect for your fellow road users.