Letters: Today's vehicles too quick on old roads

A reader points to changes to modern cars as a possible reason for the road toll. Photo/File

Re the road toll.

Has anyone considered the following facts and how they influence our traffic? These figures are an average, there are some variations that can be found in different makes and models of vehicles.

In 1950 the car specifications were for average midsized cars: Power 36kw, length 4.1m, width 1.5m, height 1.6m, weight 925kg, top speed 112km/h.

Compare with 2017 midsized cars: Power 194kw, length 4.65m, width 1.9m, height 1.7m, weight 2090kg, top speed 195km/h.

Then there are the SUVs which are bigger still and take more road.

Of course we should not forget our trucks on the roads.

In 1950 they were right tonnes gross weight and about 8m long. Speed 80km/h.

Now in 2017 they are up to 50 tonnes gross weight and 22m long and 2.55m wide. Speed 90km/hour. Overtaking is very stressful.

There are roads that are engineered to 2016 specifications, but also many that are of 1950 dimensions, surface and engineering.

But can our drivers cope with the road conditions, the power and speed of our modern cars on the older roads? It does not appear so. Nor do they seem to understand that now there are approximately six times more cars on these roads.

JOHN SMALE
Rotorua

Recently there have been four completely incorrect (historically) films and TV shows concerning happenings during the reign of Queen Victoria and WWII; all four will be believed by many, many people to be historical fact. This false history will no doubt be passed on through the years and wind up being believed to be the truth.

Queen Victoria and WWII are not that long ago, my father was born during her reign and my life started before WWII.There have been many ways to record history in that relatively short time, film, books etc.

The Good Book, the Bible, was written more than 200 years after Jesus walked the earth; it was written by men who had limited education and very limited ways to record events. The most common way was hearsay - word of mouth passed down through the generations. The probability of mistakes and exaggeration is enormous. If we can distort history to the extent we have in 80 years, then to what extent has the Bible been distorted in 2000-plus years?

JIM ADAMS
Rotorua