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Here we go again on another round of dumbing down New Zealand motorists until the gorse bushes at the side of the roads will have more skill than us.
Our road toll is intolerable. Figures can be made to prove anything, but on a scale of road deaths per 1,000 drivers New Zealand is right at the bottom of the “developed” countries — about three times that of Germany we you can drive at 300km/h on some autobahns legally. And I have.
So, something has to be done about it.
After this next round of “road safety measures” about all that will be left is to lobotomise drivers, return the man with the red flag to walk in front of cars and trucks — or ban them altogether.
The trouble is that we are a nation of lousy drivers. End of story. Combine our lack of driving skills, with our need for transport and the fact that we are an aggressive nation where we revel in violent sports like rugby and league and you’ve got the cause of the problem.
Raising the driving age from 15 to 17, give or take? Hypocrisy. Most reading this will agree with the notion that 15 is too young. But we also couldn’t wait for our 15th birthday so we could get behind the wheel. Cars and roads are far, far safer today than when I was 15.
Lowering the blood alcohol level? Pure window dressing. It’s not those who have had three or four glasses of wine, or four beers who are the danger on the roads, it’s those who are pissed and bulletproof — and the law is already tough enough to stop them, or it should. Lowering the blood alcohol level will have no effect on the road toll, but will further damage society — look at all the country pubs that are closed and continuing to close because of the drink driving laws. And please do not interpret that as my saying it’s OK to get totally fonged and drive if you live in the country.
For decades New Zealand traffic “experts” have looked to Australia — Victoria in particular — for their inspiration in trying to lower the road toll.
Different strokes for different folks.
In Australia they have a history of “Yes, Sir, No Sir, three bags full Sir” to authority — probably because of their convict history where the law was to be obeyed. New Zealanders are far more gung ho, free spirited than Australians and we almost relish the opportunity to “beard the dragon” — in this case the traffic law enforcement authorities.
Instead of Australia, we should be looking to the UK, or Germany — preferably the latter which has the best approach by far to road safety.
The first thing we need to accept is that driving is a skill that must be learned — it’s not an automatic right with some rudimentary tests to get you on the road.
So, driver education is the first step. Not the “Give way to all traffic on your right” type of education. But real driving skills and being aware of the social responsibilities that come with driving.
The second step is, no not better roads, but better cars. We have one of the oldest car fleets in the developed world. While our “experts” think they can take credit for any reduction in the road toll, the fact is that cars today are getting safer by the second. The introduction of seat belts was the biggest move in road safety in 100 years.
Today’s cars have safety cells to protect occupants, airbags and technology like ABS, stability control and seat belt pretensioners.
I drove a new Mercedes-Benz E-Class two weeks ago that has so much safety technology you’d think it came from Star Wars. That’s a Mercedes-Benz, but that technology will be available in less expensive cars next year, and cheap cars the year after — give or take a year or two.
So, we need to get rid of the old clunkers on our roads. They do it overseas by giving you cash for your clunker.
Roads? We can always do with better roads, but more highly skilled drivers can cope with second-rate roads. Go to the UK and look at the vast network of narrow lanes.
There is one thing that has always puzzled me about our authorities using the Australian model for our road safety plan.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge has eight lanes — four each way, the same as the Auckland Harbour Bridge. They vary the number of lanes each way according to traffic flow — just as they do in Auckland. But Sydney doesn’t have a media crash barrier as Auckland does. Why? Because they don’t crash into each other at the same rate as Aucklanders were doing on their bridge. That must tell you something — we are a nation of lousy drivers. But we won’t admit it.