26 people died this week on the road. When will action be taken?

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › 26 people died this week on the road. When will action be taken?

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#2211631 6-Apr-2019 10:26

To be fair I haven’t caught up with the news this week so not sure on the cause of the accident.

I’m talking about the general driving, the first five or six paragraphs in tehgerbils post are bang on.
They happen to me on a daily basis .
I could add to his post

Stand at any Zebra crossing and see how many cars don’t stop because they’re either talking or texting.

tdgeek

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#2211633 6-Apr-2019 10:31

darkasdes2:

Time to introduce resitting the theory test every 5 years to renew your license. Even maybe a practical test.

Good idea, but in todays world, no one will want to do that, wastes time, costs money, the Govt who introduced it will lose some votes. Thats the reality.

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#2211635 6-Apr-2019 10:36

Brunzy: To be fair I haven’t caught up with the news this week so not sure on the cause of the accident.

I’m talking about the general driving, the first five or six paragraphs in tehgerbils post are bang on.
They happen to me on a daily basis .
I could add to his post

Stand at any Zebra crossing and see how many cars don’t stop because they’re either talking or texting.

Yep.I think on another thread I advocated for BIG penalties. Not everyone is a low ability driver, a lot of it is a choice to be blasé on the roads. Make it very very painful if you don't tow the line. Every mile that everyone drives increases their experience. So no excuse. But it also makes them blasé and over confident, they also know if they run a red light or speed they are highly unlikely to get caught, so its worth it to lower their driving standards.

trig42

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#2211649 6-Apr-2019 11:13

Whilst I agree that NZ drivers are arrogant and overestimate their abilities, I also feel that, in part, it has got to this because enforcement is such a joke.

I drive the Northern motorway southbound every night from Tristram to Fanshawe. Every single day I would see at least 3 people texting or talking on their cellphones.

Never have I seen anyone pulled up because of it. I also have never talked to anyone who has been busted for it.

And, if they are - $80 and 20 demerits. Woop-de-do.

Running reds - same thing.

Not indicating, tailgating - never enforced AFAICT

I knocked on the window of a lady's car on Quay St last week as she drove through a red light (green man was showing) whilst on her cellphone. What the?!

If the government wants to do something, enable prosecution from third party dashcam footage, get more traffic officers out there, put up the penalties. It should be $4-500 for a cellphone offence - there is NO excuse - same for seatbelts and red lights - and take 80% demerits whilst they are at it. Speeding fines are way too low too.

Rikkitic

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#2211650 6-Apr-2019 11:15

Some people just have terrible entitlement attitudes. We encounter them all of the time. They are a minority but poor enforcement emboldens them. I wonder about some of our road designs. There are a number of relatively new roundabouts in my area that go from one lane to two and then back to one. I understand the reasoning behind this is to improve traffic flow by creating a separate lane for people turning off but it also means that people have to change lanes back and forth or cut across through traffic to continue on their way, which the lane markings tell you to do. I have seen and been in several near-misses. I think this is a terrible design.

There is a lot of public support for the new firearms restrictions because of the shock and horror at what happened. If this level of support also existed for draconian driver restrictions, they could also be imposed. But it doesn't and the two cannot be compared. Nearly every adult drives. Only a minority have firearms.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

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#2211652 6-Apr-2019 11:19

Because penalizing people for breaking the law isn't about standards it's about revenue gathering ...
I'm a facist about driving rules.

The penalties should be very painful.

Fines based on income.

Low threshold for temporary suspension licence. Ie banned for 2 weeks, hurt.

Publishing names of people in local paper for even minor infractions.

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#2211654 6-Apr-2019 11:22

I will never forget a brilliant commentary I read back in the 1960s when this same issue was being debated in America. Someone with real insight pointed out that if every car was made with a sharp dagger protruding from the centre of the steering wheel into the driver's chest, driver behaviour would improve dramatically overnight and accidents would be almost unheard-of. Ironically, a major factor in bad driving is the greatly improved safety of modern cars. This gives drivers a feeling of power and invincibility. The less secure the car, the more cautious the driver. It is something to think about.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

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#2211655 6-Apr-2019 11:22

darkasdes2:
Time to introduce resitting the theory test every 5 years to renew your license. Even maybe a practical test.

Drivers can get a perfect score on theory and practice but their attitude will be hidden while the tester is in the car. Just losing the competitive streak would be a great start.

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#2211656 6-Apr-2019 11:24

tehgerbil:

I've seen all of the above, right in front of police. I have never seen any police pull over any drivers for poor driving performed in their presence, they just don't care/have the resources to deal with it. This has largely emboldened people.

In Tauranga where I live, the police break the rules all the time; no indicating at turns or roundabouts (in or out), yellow lights are to speed up, red lights well lets put the Blues on, phones of course and as you say offences carried out right in front of them and they ignore it.

I understand that Germany and other EU countries have HUGE success with unmarked cars. In Aussie too but most Aussie's think it is cheating and revenue raising so the pollies get it in the neck.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

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#2211664 6-Apr-2019 11:43

FineWine:

I understand that Germany and other EU countries have HUGE success with unmarked cars. In Aussie too but most Aussie's think it is cheating and revenue raising so the pollies get it in the neck.

I think that applies here too. Revenue gathering is a true blue Kiwi term. If unmarked cars were common, speed cameras were common, fines were very high after a second offence in a given period, drivers would soon get used to it, slow down a bit, take more care. Its actually very easy to drive blissfuly with no risk of being caught, as you aren't breaking any laws.

surfisup1000

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#2211674 6-Apr-2019 12:00

Road design and car safety where we will have the biggest impact. I think our driving education system is OK with the graduated system.

They say drive to the conditions, but why do we stick 100kph limits on roads that barely qualify as goat tracks!

surfisup1000

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#2211682 6-Apr-2019 12:08

FineWine:

Yellow 'L' plate and complete a log book style 120 hrs or more of supervised driving including 10 hrs or more of night supervised driving. Must include mandatory country driving.

I don't think learner drivers are the problem. I see someone with an L plate and they're usually driving like nannies.

And drivers should not be getting into situations where the vehicle is about to skid. And anyway, An hour of skid training in a controlled environment might be fun, but I don't think it will help much in a real situation. And anyway, ABS brakes and skid/stability control systems allow the car to do much of the work.

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#2211683 6-Apr-2019 12:13

tehgerbil:

I would LOVE to see regular driving tests for ALL drivers

Why? I don't think people forget the road rules. They choose to ignore them. Everyone knows you must indicate, but many don't.

As someone said above, it is more about attitude. Not lack of knowledge of the road code or driving ability.

I honked the other day at this guy with his phone stuck to his ear while going around a busy roundabout.

Do you believe for one minute that he didn't know it was illegal to use cellphones while driving? Are annual classes on the road code going to stop him from doing it? Of course not.

Stu

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#2211688 6-Apr-2019 12:44

I don't believe the problem is with driver testing, it's with enforcement of the rules. Perhaps if Police stopped giving only warnings, drivers may actually learn to drive better (and maybe more respectfully?). Police even demonstrate this happens in the "reality TV" programs. If someone runs a red light or through a stop sign, give them a ticket. If someone fails to give way or speeds, give them a ticket. Every infringement should result in a ticket being issued. The old "Rules are made to be broken" rubbish most certainly does not apply to road rules and road safety.

People habitually breaking the most basic of driving rules will certainly, at some point, try to get away with pushing the limits at the more severe end of the scale. Nipping it in the bud early, may just save their lives and the lives of others.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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#2211712 6-Apr-2019 13:26

Stu: I don't believe the problem is with driver testing, it's with enforcement of the rules. Perhaps if Police stopped giving only warnings, drivers may actually learn to drive better (and maybe more respectfully?). Police even demonstrate this happens in the "reality TV" programs. If someone runs a red light or through a stop sign, give them a ticket. If someone fails to give way or speeds, give them a ticket. Every infringement should result in a ticket being issued. The old "Rules are made to be broken" rubbish most certainly does not apply to road rules and road safety.

People habitually breaking the most basic of driving rules will certainly, at some point, try to get away with pushing the limits at the more severe end of the scale. Nipping it in the bud early, may just save their lives and the lives of others.

EXACTLY - but the police have actually got to do their job and unfortunately that job entails ALL CRIMES not just traffic crimes. So a burglary will out rank a seat belt offence, domestic violence will out rank not indicating & shots fired will out rank dangerous driving & speeding offences.

Bring back the dedicated Ministry of Transports Traffic Police Department and their black-and-white patrol cars whose sole job is driving, road and license policing.

Interesting 2003 Herald article here: When police have to be traffic cops

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

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