Letters to the editor: Greerton's new crossing 'unsafe', dogs need identification tags

Greerton's new crossing 'unsafe'

One has to wonder if the designer of the new Greerton pedestrian crossing on Cameron Rd has ever used a mobility scooter.

The old one was straight, across two traffic lanes, but the new one has several very sharp right hand corners and crosses three lanes of traffic - none of which wish to stop, or even slow down for the crossing.

I'd welcome someone coming with me, to see just how difficult and dangerous this crossing is now - with no apparent reason for shifting it from its previous much straighter and safer position.

As many Greerton residents use wheelchairs, mobility scooters and walkers, why was this crossing made in such a ridiculously unsafe manner, and why is it opened without the appropriate lights operating?

If someone gets killed or injured, in my opinion, it would be entirely a Tauranga City Council designer's fault!

SM Lankshear
Greerton, Tauranga

Suicide link explored

New Zealand's alarmingly high suicide rates got me thinking -- What's the relationship between suicide and the use of antidepressants in NZ?

A Google search gets 4,730,000 results, so I imagine the two are linked.

Lance Morcan
Pāpāmoa

Dogs need identifiers

With the upcoming consultation on how dogs are managed in Tauranga, it might be a timely reminder to dog owners to please attach a tag with the name of the dog, address and/or phone number to the dog's collar.

My husband and I have rescued four wandering dogs from Carmichael Reserve in the past month alone.

Some did not have current registration tags or a name tag, which means it is really hard to locate current owner to reunite them.

For those with current registration but no name tag, we have had to contact the council to try to get put through to the owner.

If the owner does not respond to the council's call then the dog has to be picked up by the council.

The fine for not confining a dog to a property is $200 (I believe) whereas a name tag is only about $20. Having a name tag with owner's contact details also means we can reunite owner and dog quicker with less stress to both parties.

Francesca Rae
Bethlehem