'The e-scooters are capable of speeds exceeding 25km/h. Pedestrians walk at about 5km/h. A significant difference.'
Pavements are for pedestrians
Thursday’s Herald editorial referencing NZTA-Waka Kotahi’s reports on e-scooters raised some interesting points. According to Waka Kotahi, e-scooters are apparently just as safe (or risky) as bikes and motorcycles.
Which makes sense when you think about it – but then why are we treating them so differently?
We’d never expect to see motorcycles zipping down footpaths, and bikes aren’t usually allowed there either. But somehow e-scooters are different? That doesn’t quite add up.
Sure, Waka Kotahi wants better rule-following, but here’s the thing – what exactly are the rules?
I’ve heard some vague stuff about helmets and not doubling up riders, but is there actually anything concrete? Like, can a 12-year-old hop on one? Is there a speed limit? Should they have a bell? Do they have to follow road rules? Take a test? Keep a safe distance from pedestrians?
The e-scooters are capable of speeds exceeding 25km/h. Pedestrians walk at about 5km/h. A significant difference. And who’s actually checking any of this?
The Herald’s idea about designated parking spots is great, but why not think bigger? If these things are really in the same league as bikes and motorcycles, shouldn’t they have similar spaces to ride, like cycle lanes and the road, and where there are have consequences for those not using them?
Proper lanes keep everyone safer – both the people riding and those walking.
I’m not against e-scooters at all – they’re a clever way to get around. But if we want them to work well in our city we need to be smart about it. Keep our footpaths safe for walking.
It’s just about making sure everyone can get where they’re going without getting run over and running into each other!
James Gregory, Parnell.
Roading insanity
The Herald featured a story on a roundabout on Meola Rd getting its own traffic lights (Jan 16). This is the latest in the insanity from Auckland Council/Auckland Transport (ACAT).
There was a time when ACAT’s prime objective was to “keep Auckland moving”. They produced big audacious projects like the Waterview Tunnel, the Northern Busway and the Victoria Park Tunnel, all to keep the traffic flowing smoothly and safely.
Nothing like the current bunch, who have filled the street with speed bumps and orange cones, built expensive unused cycleways, lowered the speed limits and covered roads in toxic paint as if every driver was visually impaired.
The efficient motorways that were built by earlier ACATs are becoming clogged with traffic, and as one drives slowly bumper-to-bumper along these roads, one can see how the edges have become littered with weeds and litter.
The residents of Meola Rd are not the only ones who are “irate”.
Chris Parker, Campbells Bay.
FTA fallacy
Fran O’Sullivan’s cheerleading for the USA, still hopeful of a free-trade agreement to solve New Zealand’s economic woes, fills me with despair, as does the smoke and mirrors put out by politicians (Jan 11).
If Australia’s FTA with the USA is anything to go by we will be disadvantaged on every page.
As yet another restaurant closes and another business collapses, and another politician bemoans the lack of productivity in this country, do some simple arithmetic. A salary of $2000/week is borderline poverty in Auckland if your mortgage on a $1.2 million home is nearly $1700/week (assuming you can save up a $200,000 deposit).
Where’s the incentive to be more productive? And if someone on a salary of $100,000 doesn’t have enough disposable income to go out to dinner occasionally or go shopping, who does? Only the top 10% of the population who now own 80% of the wealth.
No wonder restaurants and businesses are collapsing. No wonder the crime rate is so high. New Zealand has the highest incarceration rate in the OECD – not a matter of pride.
Paul Cheshire, Maraetai.
Panuku paradise
Why is the city and mayor getting rid of Eke Panuku? When I walk around Britomart and the Viaduct there are so many design features that the clever people at Eke Panuku have established over the years.
With the SailGP buzz you can see that designs that have been long established are making the experience to visitors exceptional. Panuku’s foresight and design experience will be lost in the bowels of faceless and boring bureaucracy.
Once again it is the difference of a designer’s ability to distinguish between a nice to have, that the mayor hates, and a needed beautiful environment for Aucklanders.
A green space here, a tree there. Painted motifs and historic panels give us a sense of history. Panuku has great ideas for when the SailGP bleachers are gone. Will the mayor cancel them and leave the site bare and ugly? Who will replace Panuku designers? The city works and accountants? What a waste of experience and talent.
Frankie Letford, Auckland Central.
Transgender sport
Derek Cheng’s article about the battle over transgender inclusion in community sports does not seem to address the elephant in the room (Jan 11).
Much of the discussion seems to assume that only transgender women are involved. This assumption in itself is discriminatory and should not be the case in a current society that prides itself on being inclusive. But why is this? Surely transgender men have every right to be part of the discussion as transgender women?
Could it be that transgender men don’t see themselves as being able to compete equally on the sporting field with biological males, as they would be at a distinct disadvantage because things such as transitioning medically in no way puts them on the same level of strength and power as a biological male?
After all, we don’t get transgender men aspiring to be All Blacks. Surely the logical conclusion would be that the opposite is true for transgender women.
According to New Zealand’s renowned sports medicine doctor Dave Gerrard, transgender women still retain a significant amount of muscle strength and power after the use of testosterone-suppressing drugs. This would suggest that transgender women would have an advantage in sport over biological females that transgender men don’t have over biological males. There seems to be a lack of consistency here in the transgender debate.
Bernard Walker, Mt Maunganui.
Hostile hostels
The Weekend Herald article about a young woman’s rental experiences in Auckland beginning with being inappropriately placed by AUT in a student hostel with four young men, left me surprised and disappointed that problems with AUT’s attitude to student welfare are still happening over 20 years since I worked there as an administrator (Jan 11).
This was particularly the case with the privileging of international students over Kiwi students. One case was a fashion design student who was very talented, having been accepted into both Elam and AUT. She was placed in a hostel with two young women from China who refused to talk or even smile at her, possibly because she didn’t dress conservatively. She was miserable.
The worst case was when I received a call from a distraught father whose daughter had been raped by an international student in her hostel. She left, after receiving no support from AUT. Presumably his international fees were more important to AUT than her welfare.
A course with competitive entry was ordered to double the intake of international students, thereby reducing the number of Kiwi students. Some applicants were, therefore, rejected who would normally have been accepted.
When I approached a member of the senior management team about it, he was dismissive, despite me having the evidence. Reading the article and realising that the same problems continue, I now wish that I had blown the whistle.
Raewyn Maybury, Tauranga.
Travelling often up and down the North Island I think it’s somewhat naive to think closure of the Desert Rd, a major part of State Highway 1, will add 45 minutes to the journey. It does not really apply to those who want to drive to Auckland and not via Lake Taupō (around the lake is very slow as it is). This extra time also doesn’t take into account the increase in traffic, trucks, etc, plus the added risk of accidents. It may have been better to close the road late at night as they seem to do often on the Auckland motorway. Visiting Hong Kong and frequently seeing a new bridge built in a year I wonder how long they would take to carry out the same task?
Hamish Walsh, Devonport.
Having just seen a significant reduction in the road toll in 2024 it would be great to see Transport Minister Simeon Brown congratulate Waka Kotahi and councils around New Zealand for the measures they have put in place to increase the safety of those using our roads. Perhaps it is time for him to admit that lowering speed limits and speed bumps can contribute to bringing about a lower road toll and significantly less sadness for Kiwi families.
Gil Laurenson, Eastern Beach.
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited has committed north of $1 million to host SailGP for a purported “economic impact” of some $5 million, none of which – as with all such publicly-funded events – will ever find its way back to the pockets of individual Aucklanders in the form of rates rebates.
Mike Wagg, Freemans Bay.
As an Auckland ratepayer can Eke Panuku please explain why, more than a month after the lifting bridge in the Viaduct Harbour reopened, is the ferry between the Maritime Museum and the Viaduct events centre still running? Profligate spending at its very worst.
Chris Lyons, Auckland CBD.
It was with a mixture of intrigue and disappointment that I watched ASB Classic tennis coin tosses. It seems that now the simplest of tasks, in this case the flip of a coin, has to be entrusted to a digitised autonomous device. Thank goodness the Australians maintain the human element, allowing even a child to perform this simple act. Good on them.
Renton Brown, Pukekohe.
With Meta getting rid of most of its fact-checkers presumably the expression will change to “Lies, damn lies and Facebook”.
Nick Hamilton, Remuera.
If any event should jolt world leaders into the reality that the irreversible tipping point of climate change has been reached, the out-of-control and unprecedented fire damage and loss of life across all of Los Angeles from a heat wave, a prolonged drought and gale-force winds in the middle of their winter surely must be it.
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
Rather than Trump setting his sights on Canada, Greenland, and Panama, all of whom are totally averse to his empirical dreams, he would be better off annexing Australia. It would be far more receptive to becoming the 51st state given its history and experience in dealing with convicted felons.
Ian Doube, Rotorua.
How fitting that US flags will be flying at half mast when Donald Trump takes over the presidency.
Ron Hoares, Wellsford.
There is a rail-enabled ferry and a rail-capable ferry. Which one can actually carry a train?
Eric Dutton, Whangārei.
Motorists are being warned to expect hazardous driving conditions.