Letters: Road safety, Irish highways, Government Bonds, and capital stocks

It's amazing how many slow drivers suddenly discover the accelerator in passing lanes, making overtaking vehicles exceed the speed limit. Photo / Warren Buckland, File

Other factors are drivers

We have followed Simon Wilson's reports on road safety with interest.
Open road driving is a challenge for some and what was not commented upon was the attitude of drivers. Too many drive selfishly, thinking only of themselves. The classic is the slow, open-road driver who cannot find the accelerator to approach a reasonable open-road speed. A line of traffic builds up behind them. Then suddenly, the passing lanes appear and they find the accelerator. No one can pass without exceeding the speed limit.
Truck drivers indulge in this behaviour as well. Given the length of these vehicles, they are even more difficult to pass. Perhaps all heavy trade vehicles should be limited to 90kmh?
When it comes to urban driving, more consultation with locals may provide acceptable solutions. I live in a small town and Waka Kotahi has presented a solution for the nearby SH1 which would impact directly upon life in the village. The plan was not well received and we have provided responses. I believe more observation of traffic behaviour and talking to locals would provide better planning than traffic counts and computer simulations.
Richard Cole, Waipu.

Emerald standard
George Wood (NZ Herald, January 7) makes an excellent suggestion, that our Transport Minister should study how Ireland has reduced its road toll so significantly while ours has stagnated.
There is no mystery to how this has been achieved. Partly, it is through a focus on enforcement, although many of the measures used in Ireland would be familiar to New Zealand drivers.
Mainly, however, it has been achieved through the construction of high-quality roads for long-distance high-speed travel. In 2004 Ireland had about 200km of motorway-standard roads. Now, there are around 1000km of such roads there, roughly three times the size of the equivalent network here.
Richard Grant, Ellerslie.

Driving success
It was music to my ears reading George Wood's letter (NZ herald, January 7) re the benefit of our Transport Minister to visit and observe Ireland's work on solving road safety issues. I'd add Scotland.
I travelled to both these countries in 2019 and what a pleasure compared to New Zealand driving. You can see results of driver training. I loved the graded speed system with numerous speed cameras. None of this open-road signage whereby many see it as freedom to do 100kmh, no matter what. I also loved numerous road arrow markings indicating upcoming side roads. These are so superior to our one-off silly small signs indicating a side road, missed by most. Most roads had a small left hand lane to effect a safe turn.
No excuse of narrow roads, please, Ireland's roads are often narrower than ours.
Our people deserve better. The answers are in places like Ireland with proper researched systems.
Government, you have a responsibility to plan and solve the problem rather than just tinkering.
Alan Addison, Orewa.

$55b question
It certainly is a case of "what now" as recently referenced by various financial commentators as to how and when the Reserve Bank will unwind its holding of $55 billion of Government Bonds.
We continue to suffer the fallout of this massive injection of cash (QE programme) responsible ,at least in part, for unprecedented increases in house prices and dangerously rising inflation rates that will have economic and social consequences far into the future.
Let's hope there is a financial genius hiding within the ranks of the Reserve Bank, Treasury and/or Government that can come up with a plan by February to progressively convert its massive holding of Government Bonds into something akin to assets of value before their expiry dates. Economic headwinds and uncertainties would suggest otherwise.
Bruce Eliott, St Heliers.

Sustained capital
Economic commentator John Gascoigne (NZ Herald, January 7) recommends Kiwis "to think big and plug into the world" and quite rightly points to Singapore as an example to follow.
But just to "think big" without adequate capital availability to act on any thoughts does not achieve anything.
So, according to Singapore's example in getting more done, the most important initial step is raising our longer-term (retirement) wealth ownership creative savings rate, and thus raise our domestic and worldwide investment capability.
Generally, the level of productivity and prosperity of a nation depends on its capital application per worker, and capital ownership per citizen.
So, the suggestion to water down our world-leading universal superannuation model by raising its entitlement age over 65 is defeatist, and does not raise our living standards.
Instead, a higher rate of contributions into a permanent NZ Super Fund (and KiwiSaver) would not only keep our NZ Super sustainable from age 65, but also enable us to increasingly "plug into the world".
Jens Meder, Pt Chevalier.

On the road again
Ever wondered why we don't paint the roads to highlight you're entering a slower school speed zone, yet we do for some other trivial roading hazard?
Ever been passing a school at home time and wondered why parents who drag their kids to the centre white line 10m from the school crossing aren't prosecuted?
Ever wondered why we need kid-friendly roads but it's okay to sell public playgrounds to property developers?
Ever wondered why new high-density housing (Hobsonville, Flatbush etc) don't have a train service before being developed?
Ever wondered why we don't mix industrial areas and commercial hubs within walking / cycling or a quick bus service from new high-density housing?
Our whole society is based around the automobile, and the one car per family is no longer viable. To own or rent an Auckland house requires at least two people driving far away for work.
Randel Case, Bucklands Beach.

Infected arrivals
Forty or more new Covid cases arrive every day, yet supposedly all were tested clean prior to departure. Why is this happening without explanation? Are the 72 hour tests defect, or worse?
Are people getting infected en route, travelling to the airport, at the departure airport, or in airplanes?
Possible at stopover airports such as Dubai or Doha? Are there any controls at these places?
It seems to me New Zealand has almost no influence at all until passengers arrive and even then too many glitches seem to happen.
Maybe we should ask if all inbound flights shouldn't be halted temporarily until this matter is sorted out.
Murray Reid, Cambridge.

What's the deal?
Kiwis in their millions have done what the Government has asked. They have lined up for first, second, and booster vaccine shots. They've done their bit. We lead the world.
The Government, on the other hand, continues to renege. The borders remain shut. Kiwis are denied freedom. The cumulative misery of the hundreds of thousands of Kiwis separated by oceans adds ups to thousands of lives if not more.
If the Government won't open now, with over 90 per cent vaccinated, then logically it will never open up. Kiwis can't do any more. It's time for the Government to uphold its half of the contract.
Zhivan Alach, Brookfield.

State intervention
That a Government agency, Kainga Ora, has been let loose with a taxpayer-funded chequebook to buy 1608 houses over a five-year period for $1.09 billion, for use as state houses, explains the present inflated state of the property market in Aotearoa.
Instead of blaming a previous government, Housing Minister Megan Woods should be announcing a plan aimed at achieving a better return for the huge sums being squandered on what should be modest dwellings for those requiring the state to house them.
If the Government wants to effect social change, target the rental market and drop the rents it charges state tenants by 50 per cent - the private sector will be forced to compete and the rapid rise in rents will slow or stop.
Larry Tompkins, Waiuku.

Editor's note: Figures in the above letter previously referred to an incorrect amount, earlier reported and since corrected. Both errors are regretted.

Post-restoration
I was interested to read Lincoln Tan's article (NZ Herald, January 7) regarding High Tea at Moxie restaurant, which stated: "Moxie, an eatery housed in a restored villa on Hinemoa St in Birkenhead."
I live opposite Moxie and every review of the restaurant I've read, states that it is a restored villa. Yet I watched it being built as a restaurant, from the ground up, a few years ago.
It is very easy to imagine that it is an attractive restored villa, but quite simply it is not.
Wal Warehi Britton, Birkenhead.

Short & sweet

On housing
Nicola Willis, who owns four houses, should be the last person to comment (NZ Herald, January 7) on Labour shutting out first-home buyers. Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.

On roads
Simon Wilson's call for cable barriers (NZ Herald, January 6) makes sense and could be funded by Waka Kotahi cancelling Te Huia and diverting the savings from subsidising a few commuters to making many kilometres of road safer for thousands of motorists. Gavin Baker, Glendowie.

On space
The Space Telescope is now on its way through our universe to, hopefully, answer some questions and maybe put things into perspective for us all living on a "fragile" planet Earth. Rosemary Howell, Ellerslie.

On return
It seems the only way for New Zealanders stuck in Australia to get back is to commit a crime and be sent back as 501s. Neil Hatfull, Warkworth.

On Djokovic
Ever wonder what the plural of Novak is? Chris Kiwi, Mt Albert.

On comments
The Herald has excelled itself, a good letter by B Capamagian (January 7) and a good article by J Gascoigne, both on the same day, incredible. R S Stratton, Te Atatu.

The Premium Debate

Our great Covid escapes

The world-leading Covid response is, honestly, a joke straight out of a Christmas cracker.
Omicron hasn't even started here. We have hardly started boosters, no organisation for kids booster, rollout, no RATs, ICU beds still on order, ICU nurses still trying to do the MIQ wheel and our testing clinics are closed for beach time. And we are still apparently still stuck waiting in some sort of dysfunctional traffic lights jam waiting for the MIA Govt to get back from their fishing trips. Mark C.

No doubt the modellers have offered some helpful intel - about 50 per cent of the time, but accepting Government funding for only Covid modelling has skewed the risk picture. Measuring deaths with/from Covid (a different distinction) is a reductivist reason to keep repeating that we're "world-leading". Revere our country though I do, we should know that the rest of the world isn't holding its breath for our next miraculous achievement - holding its sides with laughter, more like. John R.

Any day now, Omicron will make the jump from MIQ into the population. Then the question will be whether the whole country goes red, not green. And the only way MIQ or home quarantine will go away is if we accept a high level of community infection as the new normal. People who blame the Government for all this need to understand that the alternative is scenes like we can see every day on TV: people being turned away by saturated hospitals. Brian C.

In Victoria, NSW and Queensland the Covid caseloads and relevant data is released every day to the public at 9am. Responsible reporting on such an important issue for public assimilation. Why do we have to wait until 1pm (actually lately any time up to 2.30pm) for the same? Up until the "well deserved" Christmas holiday break, we also had to suffer the theatrical waffle from the podium of truth. Not good enough. Mikki S.

New Zealand is also fortunate that, for the most part, we have a high level of public compliance, are confident in the Government approach and generally trust our public health professionals. And we are a small and very isolated country with a good outdoor climate. Not all other countries are so fortunate. Gordon L.

You make the most of your luck. And then there were the times that we weren't lucky and we successfully contained and eliminated those outbreaks. Robert O.