People Movers

Looks like our top road cop went off half cocked with the old speed speed speed. That’s what happens when the media go to them early, the just harp on the old mantra. Man of his experience should have kept his trap shut, instead he has also since harped to the effect that the highway speed limits may need to be reduced.
Media have reported that police have said speed and alcohol were not a factor in Taupo crash. Sorta narrows things down a little already. So if the vehicles come thru their inspection without evidence of mechanical failure, tyre failure etc then it comes back to the old bad driving by bad drivers scenario!
http://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/police-name-four-dead-in-taupo-crash/ar-AAtjUkb?li=BBqdg4K&ocid=mailsignout http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11931797

To be precise, it is in fact the mass(weight) of the Alphard that gave it an advantage over the lower mass of the Lafesta.
That's why I only drive vehicles that have a mass of at least 1500kg.

Sadly bad driving is likely to be the cause, be it distraction, inattention, or simply inability to recognise a dangerous manoeuvre. We get away with it so often but this is likely to be the situation where catastrophe occurred.

A simple example to me was following one of my panel shops courtesy cars, the driving was below average to say the least, my immediate thought was, “I know why your car is being repaired”.

Driving retesting every 10 years should be compulsory.

That could possibly be the solution, unfortunately in reality in this country it would probably simply create another cash cow for the government and possibly make no difference on the roads. If you are ticketed for any sort of dangerous driving type offence (which can be something as simple as failing to give way), instead of being fined you should be ordered to attend and pass a remedial driving course at your own expense. If you do not do so within a qualifying period of time you lose your licence for a short period of time in order to compel you to attend and pass a driving course. With the present ticketing system many people are being ticketed at one stop sign, going on their merry way and continuing to fail to stop at stop signs. Other than the acquisition of a small amount of revenue and the waste of a small amount of coppers time what has been achieved?

Here is today's road speed related link. Make sure you have a read of the comments and take note of what the bulk of the respondents are saying.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/97759197/wellingtons-ngauranga-gorge-speed-camera-reclaims-title-as-nzs-top-ticketer

One of the better comments in the article from someone calling themselves WallyG

News media, including STUFF do nothing for the cause of road safety with stories like this. Much as I hate to agree with Police the cameras have absolutely nothing to do with revenue gathering, what they do represent is many years of failed rhetoric that says "if we can get everyone to travel at the speed limit then the crash rate will go down". Unfortunately this has been proven to be wrong all over the world but nobody in authority here wants to acknowledge the stupidity of doing more of the same while expecting a different result. STUFF can do their bit by questioning every dodgy piece of research and slanted statistic while promoting the benefits of safe driving - everyone talks about driving to the conditions but where does one go to find out exactly what that means and how to apply it?

Couldn’t agree more. How many learner or for that matter experienced drivers have ever taken their car out onto a wet grassy paddock and learnt how to control it in a slide, braking hard on a wet road, or learnt to corner at speed on a track. Add to that like most things in life, once we have our (in this case license) do we spend anymore time studying the craft. Driving is a skill that needs honing but sadly the majority out there spend more time on their work health and safety training than they do on learning to survive that killer zone called the road.