the problem is the wole system i did think its going to change when they big anounced about the new tv adds they would do when the 1 year wof comes in to place. These promised adds never have happened quite the opposite has happened with vtnz telling every women how unsave 1 year wof was and how all they need to do is pay them money to do all the service items checks and they can just drive without responsebilty when they pay the vtnz money. Vtnz dont find any real faults nor have they even got a clue about modern technology when they dont even find worn out sway bar bushings on old cars to be a problem. thats the thing its the wole picture going more and more wrong instead of fixing the problems they are all focused on how to make more money fast.
gunhand,
Apr 8, 8:14am
Over the weekend I defiantly noticed a trend of much slower driving, which doesn't equate to safe to safe driving either. From what I observed many can not grasp the very basics of driving let alone doing it safely and considerately. An 8 year old could get their head around the basics better. I would suspect the Easter road toll to be blind luck than good management. The current road toll is up buy about 3 so far this year so its all irrelevant as to when they died if you ask me. The long weekend focus is really quite stupid if the overall toll is up. Sure there is more road vehicle movements on a long weekend, or is there? Many still drive every day but maybe within the confines of the town or city. Of course there will be more traveling further than usual. I seen very few cops to be honest, about 4 all up on the open road and two more that had cars pulled over in towns. Not many at all I feel. They never seem be about when a clapped out mid 80s laser is crawling along at 80kph holding up a line of traffic for ever, then it just doesn't slow down at all in a 50kph area. And the row of 6 campers traveling in convoy, Christ they are all going to same place no doubt? No they weren't our favourite to bash either. That causes issue and unsafe driving from others who are impatient. And if ya gunna pass do it, not at 101 kph lol and not allow the other 10 cars to get past, but we all see and know this but it never changes does it. Arrogance and ignorance pretty much sums up the attitude on our roads and that's the problem, not the cops. As far as I know no cop has caused anyone to break the rules? Unless they are doing that baiting thing in a mufti by driving at 90kph hoping you will blast past them at 120, but still its your decsision to do so.
tintop,
Apr 8, 8:17am
It would seem so - even a post above that rates the police worse than the nazis.
cmscott111,
Apr 8, 11:31am
you are always going to be labelled if you give "queue jumping" a priority ! That is out and out stupidity and rightly justified in calling someone an idiot and whinger !
whqqsh,
Apr 8, 12:15pm
never said it was a priority, its just there are many examples of bad driver behaviour that can be looked at & yes queue jumping is bloody dangerous, pulling out on the wrong side the road & trying to overtake while in bumper to bumper or heavy traffic without a predetermined re-entry into the traffic stream is very dangerous & stupid, but cops would rather position themselves at the end of passing lanes to hand out more speeding fines
cmscott111,
Apr 8, 12:33pm
"queue jumping kills". would that be your road safety slogan then would it ?
richardmayes,
Apr 8, 12:41pm
I remember when the first holiday period 4km/h tolerance was announced. like many others I was all righteously indignant about it, "they shouldn't be telling us what to do like this!" etc etc, my comments about it are probably still searchable on here.
Then it happened, and I was struck by how pleasant and relaxing it was, taking it easy and being surrounded by traffic that was also taking it easy.
So I have mixed feelings about all this speed limit tolerance business. is it the right way of going about it? Maybe not. Is it achieving something good? Definitely.
whqqsh,
Apr 8, 1:23pm
as good as any other, how many times have you seen someone overtaking a string of cars with nowhere to go as an oncoming car approaches. believe it or not head ons are pretty damn final & more dangerous than 1 or 2 ks over the limit
elect70,
Apr 8, 2:22pm
every govt has a spokesperson /spin doctor to put them in the best light possible - our boy john can do no wrong
socram,
Apr 8, 2:23pm
Accidents are random. Statistics are just that. A series of figures that are generally up and down and we could have had anything from zero upwards for the weekend.
The same applied at Christmas and will apply next holiday, next week, next month next year.
I have said it dozens of time before on here. You can only ever say what caused an accident but it is sheer speculation as to why accidents never happened.
Travelling today along the north Waikato expressway to Hamilton and back. It wasn't so long ago that this stretch of highway 1, with its twists and turns and poor visibility - especially during the Waikato fogs - was one of the worst roads in the country for accidents.
Now it is a proper dual carriageway that could safely be driven at 110kph with minimal accidents. So is that taken into account by anyone?
nukhelenc,
Apr 8, 2:59pm
People are always going to crash on the roads and some will die as long as we have cars, some times more than other times, one day the police work this out. But really they like to collect the loot and drag people through the courts and get convictions, coz why else would we need the police. They have to do something. And im pretty sure the bleating they do has not much of an outcome on the toll at the end of the day. Its the same old bullshit after holidays, they just love to say how many people died. Im sick of hearing it. Why don't they say: We still have x amount of millions still alive after the holiday.
nukhelenc,
Apr 8, 3:07pm
Lets face it they are like puppets on a string. Just like the rest of us. :)
cmscott111,
Apr 8, 3:24pm
Accidents are not random and most of the time they are not an accident ! Its because someone is at fault- doesnt stop sign, speed, some muppet on their cell phone being distracted etc. I live rural and all the serious crashes out this way seem to be speed and alcohol and sometimes both ! They dont happen by accident !
tamarillo,
Apr 8, 4:34pm
It was great everyone driving nice and slowly on my bike ride back from Marlborough, easier to overtake.
tintop,
Apr 8, 4:34pm
The various agencies involved no longer use the word 'accident', and you willl see a shift to the description 'crash' in the media too.
The 'Crash Analysis System' was always that, but the input to the CAS database is derived from a 'Traffic Crash Report', that used to be termed a 'Traffic Accident Report'
tintop,
Apr 8, 4:58pm
The express-way is a likely candidate for a change to 110kmph limit, as announced last year.
My understanding at the moment is that there will be a large scale review of speed limits country wide. Roads built to modern standards such as the Waikato Expressway will possibly go to 110kmph, At the other end of the scale, some existing 50kmph will go to 30 kmph. There could be some juggling with the in between limits.
Google 'RTS 17' and follow the leads to get the current rules for speed limits.
mephismeltdown,
Apr 8, 5:01pm
nah low road toll is because we are in a recession with low dairy payout and drought.
mojo49,
Apr 8, 5:13pm
Amazing how the police can quietly ignore the fact the as at this morning the road toll is 10 higher than same time last year. One more road death ex an Easter smash announced in the last few hours. Both Jan and Feb road deaths this year were way up on last year. March was the same both years. April is down 2 so far on last year. All the data is on the NZTA website. Presumably the police never read that website data because that can't allow the truth to get in the way of their own spin, which they have made the fatal mistake of convincing themselves is factual rather than manipulated statistical twaddle.
socram,
Mar 23, 11:57am
Yes, totally agree, but what I really meant was that every day, there are idiots on the road, and it is random whether or not they actually lead to a crash. Not stopping at a stop sign, you may be lucky 99 times out of a 100, or 999 times out of 1,000, but the random aspect is when it results in a problem.
Since the public registrations are closed, you must have an invite from a current member to be able to register and post in this thread.
Have an account? Login here.