Letters: Get tougher on bad drivers

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No sooner had I written a letter to the NZ Herald about road safety and people needing to be responsible for their vehicles and their habits on the roads when someone pulled into our driveway.

Their clutch had burned out and he asked if he could leave it in our drive until he could have it moved.

I later looked at the car: giant exhaust tail pipe, lowered suspension, skinny worn tyres, lots of extra plastic hanging precariously from the original bodywork. He didn't look like a boy-racer, but it got much worse.

The warrant expired three years previously and the rego was even older but even worse was a police sticker on the windshield saying that the car was deemed dangerous and not allowed on the road.

Our government continues to wonder how to reduce the death toll on our roads but fails to ensure firm policing and a responsible judiciary. Some people will never learn from warnings and pathetic fines and will continue to behave irresponsibly and with disrespect towards themselves and others.

We may not want to admit it but the Singapore system worked and fast-tracked that country into the first world. Everyone is happy and proud. It took two generations as Lee Kuan Yew predicted. I lived there for 20 years and look to New Zealand's situation with despair and shame. When will our government bite the bullet and sort our nation out?

[ABRIDGED]
RICHARD KEAN
Rotorua

Yes drivers run red lights, they also break speed limits, cut up other traffic, don't signal, drive through pedestrian crossings, don't insure or tax their vehicles and generally behave like idiots on the road - 50 per cent of them should not be allowed to drive - and I shall tell you why - because they get away with it!

The punishments for law breakers in New Zealand are a joke!

A couple of years ago a driver was stopped for drinking beer from a bottle while driving - he was allowed to proceed 'because he was not over the limit'. In the UK he would still be without a licence.

Let the police here operate under Canadian laws and there would be only half the cars on the road by the end of the first week! It is not the fault of the NZ police - it is the fault of the lawmakers and it affects all criminal activity in NZ.

JIM ADAMS
Rotorua

I was not surprised to read (Rotorua Daily Post July 19) of the high incidence of red light runners at Rotorua intersections. Add the Old Taupo/Malfroy intersection to that list - frightening are the numbers of vehicles speeding through red lights, including heavy commercial vehicles.

Now, roundabouts: there are locations in Rotorua where drivers regularly approach them at high speed with no intention of giving way. Particularly bad are Ranolf (northbound)/ Malfroy, Devon (eastbound)/ Ranolf, and all of the southern Fenton St roundabouts. Drivers entering from other directions have to be very wary and react quickly.

The Te Ngae/Tarawera roundabout is heavily cambered and I have to take the turn from town to Tarawera Rd fairly slowly, to the frustration of those waiting to enter the roundabout. Often, a vehicle will charge out in front of me, forcing me to slow or even stop.

And don't get me started on indicating at roundabouts! Over 10 minutes one day spent at the Fenton/Arawa junction I counted 65 vehicles. Six indicated incorrectly, 32 gave no indication at all and only 26 indicated correctly.

Surprisingly, only one driver forced his way straight through from the left turn only Fenton to Arawa lane - I seem to encounter more than my share of that occurring when heading north up Fenton St. The loud blast from the discordant horns of my old car seem to fall on deaf ears and I have to slow or stop to let them force their way through, oblivious as they are to any of the road markings.

Lesson No 1: Never take your right of way at traffic lights, roundabouts or any other junctions, unless you are sure the way is clear for you to proceed!

R G MAYES
Rotorua

I read that the mayor, Steve Chadwick, and councillor Trevor Maxwell have gone overseas again, China and South Korea this time.

I wonder how we paying ratepayers will benefit this time and for that matter, whether we benefited at all last time.

Are we supposed to be grateful for their efforts?

HARRY BRASSER
Rotorua