Not to mention more lives have been lost due to this stupid stupid idiocy. Those responsible should be hung out to dry, their own biased in their favour study showed this was exactly what was going to happen yet they went ahead and wasted millions doing it anyway.
Those alcohol test check points in mornings do piss me off. Yes someone who really went for it overnight shouldn't be driving, but telling me that I can't get to work with a bit of a hangover is just stupid, annoying, and wasteful.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 30, 2:48am
This is it in a nutshell, the ones causing the accidents were bing caught just fine with the old system.
It was purely a revenue grab, hence the low limit infractions getting a fine rather than going to court.
I haven't checked in the last few years but fines revenue used to pay for over half of our road Policing and road Police are visible which does wonders for making people assume that the Police are working effectively as a whole.
If it was about safety they would never have done it. They were already told that it would likely considerably affect the viability of rural pubs and therefore make the epidemic of farmer suicides even worse. Likewise tieing officers up revenue collecting just means less resources trying to catch the real hazards on our roads. Real lives get lost in the process.
This is why it's so incredibly important to consider all unintended consequences. What makes me particularly angry is those consequences were considered by others and handed to those making the decision on a plate. Yet still they ignored them choosing easy taxation over saving lives.
amasser,
Jun 30, 2:53am
If he can identify those recidivists, he should tell the Police how. Refers to 'hard-working Kiwis' - how does he know that they are hard-working and how many drinks they have after work? Simplistic approach when he would be better to work on the drink/drive culture.
flack88,
Jun 30, 2:57am
Yeah they have socially farked the working man/woman over not everyone goes nuts with a few beers in them,yeah those morning checks bullshit not many are pissed in the morning.
esky-tastic,
Jun 30, 3:00am
Yes, it HAS made a lot of decent folk think twice about how much they can drink before they drive.
How do those on Police 10/7 get such high reading from only ‘a couple of drinks?
Maybe once you past a certain level you can’t count past two?
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 30, 3:02am
Like every policy decision, it's about "Balance". Politicians are effectively professional decision makers, yet almost none of them have even a basic grasp of logic, biases or critical thinking.
The very first question that should be asked before spending Millions and risking lives is whether a problem actually needs solving?
If something is working around 80 percent efficiency chances are it's not worth touching because you will most likely just waste a fortune making things worse.
If the issue passes that test then well and good, move on to considering options for improvement. But then you need to actually pick something that WILL improve the situation. Not just "sound good" or actually fulfill an ulterior motive which I suspect is most likely the case here. It's either that or those who made the decision were complete imbeciles.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 30, 3:04am
Police 10/7 is pure propaganda, while likely not staged I would be flabbergasted if it's not very very carefully edited.
intrade,
Jun 30, 3:14am
Not only that the new fueltax for the auckland Thug who does nothing other then waste all the revenue will feed the lawyer thugs to fight the westauckland contractor. You would want to know where the money of landrates go every year . there is 4 million people in auckland times 5000$ landrates = 200 million Where does the money desapear To? We should have roads made of gold in auckland with all that revenue.
sr2,
Jun 30, 3:57am
One statistic that always surprises me is that almost 50% of road death victims are not wearing seatbelts. I don't think I've ever heard a politician or member of the police comment on that one!
No money in it that's why, at least until seatbelt cameras are available, then it will be top priority.
Same goes with so many other obvious hazards. Like people not putting their lights on properly at dusk, tailgating, not using indicators properly at roundabouts. Lots of these things could be solved by directing some of the millions from the propaganda budget in to actual useful education.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 30, 4:04am
When my other obligations allow I am considering running actually. Probably go for local council first though.
cjohnw,
Jun 30, 4:39am
4 million people in Auckland? $5,000 in council rates? Where do you get this absolute garbage from? wildguess.com?
intrade,
Jun 30, 4:48am
no i did read it somwhere and i know for a fact that landrates are 5 grand in auckland , i also did read they upp the landrate another 3 grand or more for some. So the total i posted is quite plausible the revenue they gather each year.
mecanix,
Jun 30, 4:52am
So many Lolz. Where do I start.
cjohnw,
Jun 30, 5:02am
Bollocks! Are you really that feckin stupid? I live in Auckland and we don’t pay half of 5k in council rates. There is a 1.5 million people in Auckland. Besides that even basic primary school multipication would tell you that 4 million times 5,000 isn’t 200 million. Jesus wept.
jmma,
Jun 30, 5:52am
UUmm what is the answer then please?
cjohnw,
Jun 30, 5:56am
Yeah that would be 20 billion.
richardmayes,
Jun 30, 6:32am
I see you like anarchy!
If you like anarchy, then you've probably been enjoying the History Channel's 'Vikings'.
My favourite Viking is Queen Lagertha, a courageous and beautiful woman who has a well developed sense of fairness, but also an overriding sense of loyalty to her family and those she owes her protection to. And she is also an ex shield maiden so she has the wherewithal and the skills to ruthlessly dispatch anyone who threatens her or hers.
^^^That there is touching farewell scene between Lagertha and Einar, a man who conspired to get her killed so that she wouldn't marry his Earl. He also tried to rape her in the process.
You will notice that the scene involves her castrating him with some sort of horrible blunt iron knife, while he's restrained against a pole by a crossbow bolt through his throat.
Every time you say "F**k the police!" you're saying you prefer anarchy over law and order.
Which is fine, it is valid to prefer anarchy.
But if you think you prefer anarchy, you might want to think about whether you'd be a Lagertha under anarchy, or whether you'd be an Einar.
(Or whether you'd be one of the dozen or so low-value villagers who got shot as collateral damage before this scene even got started. )
cjohnw,
Jun 30, 6:42am
^^^ Lol. Yeah nice analogy Richard. Enjoyed that post. Thoroughly enjoyed Vikings too btw.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 30, 7:51am
LOL, I like this post!
That aside, no I do not prefer anarchy, quite the opposite.
The conundrum we face is that our Police are performing way way below where they should be. That means a good number of people are losing their lives unnecessarily or having them ruined when they don't need to be.
Not to mention we are all affected by insurance premiums and taxation that is higher than it needs to be.
The Police will never be perfect and to strive for that is a folly. However if we can get them performing at 80% what they could be we would all be so much better off.
NZ is in a perfect position to have one of the best Police forces in the world. We are first world, minimal access to guns, pretty much no access to military hardware. We have minimal population are geographically isolated and have adequate funding. Yet our Police are a mess.
All it takes is to expose things for what they are. Then we can get on with it and put decent systems and priorities in place. From there everything will only get easier and more efficient.
Now back to Netflix.
jason_247,
Jun 30, 8:24pm
firstly there isn't 4million people in Auckland. there is 1.5mill and last checked each property pays rates not every occupant.
unless you think mum dad and 4 kids are paying $5k each for rates of $30k?
there is 1.8million dwellings in all of nz so how you think there are 4 million lots of rates in one city alone is proof you should stop making crap up
msigg,
Jun 30, 8:47pm
yes like the vikings show, it was fantastic, police are doing a good job nothing is perfect, what we need is the weed test in our society, too many loony tunes about, some on here I think.
esky-tastic,
Jun 30, 9:51pm
Take it from me, I’ve met quite a few that had a DIC reading of well over 600 who swore they ‘only had a couple’. One was a woman who ‘only had two glasses of wine’ and got done for 780! Must have been bloody big glasses!
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