Road to zero
As a former chief inspector of road policing in the UK, I oversaw a 33 per cent reduction in serious road crashes in a 12-month period by implementing simple, cost-effective measures.
No insurance is a serious offence in the UK. Repeat offending results in a life ban and one's
car being crushed. The cost of insurance is based on risk, so young drivers can't afford fast gas-guzzlers. There are ways to identify drivers and cars not insured, and is a good use of police resources to target them.
Drink/driving penalties are also severe, with a lifetime ban and serious prison time on a third offence. Here in NZ, individuals with multiple drink/driving convictions have comparatively minor consequences. One major deterrent in the UK is a conviction for drink/driving means a strong likelihood that you will lose your job if you need to drive for work.
Motorcyclists are a disproportionate number of casualties and fatalities. The UK has a safety initiative called "Bikesafe," where experienced police motorcyclists attend schools, motorcycle clubs and road safety events to promote safer motorcycling. There is huge demand. It encourages riders to seek advanced training and to invest in the correct safety gear.
Peter Brooks, Mairangi Bay.
History recap
There have been two opinion pieces in the Herald lately, one stating the reasons for NZ's economic decline, the other denying that it even happened.
In 1949 when the National Party first won an election, NZ had the third highest standard of living in the world.
This was after a 15-year reign of socialism starting in the great depression. The NZ pound was on a par with the English pound. Four people were registered as unemployed.
The National Party governed almost exclusively for the next 50 years under a "first past the post" electoral system which effectively disenfranchised 60 per cent of the vote. (National 38 years to Labour's 12).
Under this onslaught of capitalism, NZ's standard of living fell dramatically and thousands were unemployed.
Compulsory superannuation had been replaced by universal super. The "trickle-down effect" was in vogue, the theory that if the rich were enabled to get richer everyone below them would benefit (somehow).
From 1935 to 1949, NZ had a truly egalitarian society where everyone seemed to do well. From 1949 to 1999, NZ became an elitist society where some people did reasonably well, some people fell by the wayside (100,000 kids living in poverty, beggars on the streets) but a chosen few did extremely well
Paul Cheshire, Maraetai.
Moving on?
Australia has paid a very heavy price for their current easing of Covid-19 restrictions, about which your correspondent A. Thompson of Ōrewa is so enthusiastic.
In the past 28 days, they have had 1,393,130 new Covid cases (the sixth-worst in the world) and 1109 deaths.
The sick and the friends and relatives of the dead in Australia may not share Thompson's enthusiasm.
M J O'Sullivan, Parnell.
Safeguarded again
Remember how our ICU was going to be overwhelmed by Covid patients?
Health Minister Andrew Little said we had surge capacity up to 550 beds. Some clinicians disputed this and said 330 beds maximum.
Well, the total did not exceed 40 at the peak and yesterday there were 16 in ICU, showing a steady decline.
Looks like the Government got the Covid community protection strategy right again.
Roger Laybourn, Hamilton.
Driving concerns
Simon Wilson's "Problem with EVs" has problems in a few key areas.
The reason people in Europe and the UK with EVs drive further is mostly because they're the high-mileage drivers for whom switching to EVs made the most economical sense due to the lower operating costs of EVs. And the more battery technology increases the more this beneficial trend will continue.
Secondly, EVs do not need cobalt. Model 3 Teslas currently sold in NZ use cobalt-free lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. Our 2013 Nissan Leaf also has a cobalt-free battery, as do a large number of current Chinese manufacturers.
Thirdly, NZ's coal burn is about to drop significantly as our gas extraction companies have now overcome most of their recent technical problems and gas supply is about to increase significantly.
However, in the big picture, we can't think that swapping one fossil-burner for one EV will save the planet, noting the embodied resources to manufacture all types of cars. In our cities, we need fewer cars driving fewer kilometres. And we need fewer private cars stored on major public arterial roads so that we can ramp up the quality of public transport and cycling facilities.
Russell Baillie, Mt Eden.
