Letters to the editor: 1080 lies used to intimidate public

1080 lies intimidate

Thank you for you sensible editorial about 1080 (September 22).

At present, aerial-spread 1080 is the only effective way we have to kill pests over large areas of rugged and remote forests.

And we need to get rid of the pests now, for they are destroying our native forests and wildlife.

Some anti-1080 protesters are using lies to mislead and intimidate the public.

Go and look for yourself. Visit the flourishing forests where 1080 has been used —​ such as Tongariro, Whirinaki and Pureora.

Or, for a dispassionate analysis, look up the report about 1080 from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.

Ann and Basil Graeme
Tauranga

Highway bays redundant

Your correspondent commenting about the speed signs on the Kaimai road (Letters, September 3) is right —​ but the need for speed signs is only a symptom of another highway that has outlived its time.

It was designed when trucks lacked the power to maintain speed up hills, had brakes that were liable to overheat and fail downhill.

Modern trucks, with 700 horsepower engines, engine braking and electronically assisted disc brakes can keep up with most traffic.

So what happens when they approach a passing bay? They pull in to the slow lane, as they are supposed to.

They do not slow down, as there's no actual need. These passing bays are so short in relation to the length and speed of the B train that it's physically impossible for a following vehicle to catch up and safely overtake, leaving room to get past.

What happens next is a lottery, depending on whether you're foolhardy enough to take the risk, or an innocent driver travelling in the opposite direction and relying on yellow painted lines to keep yourself alive.

Graham Crooks
Pyes Pa

Mind changed on SH2

The tone of Janet Lacey's letter (September 21) epitomises the attitude of drivers that inevitably leads to fatal crashes on SH2.

Frustration and impatience often boil over and leads to rash decisions that can have disastrous consequences.

Having driven that route fairly often recently I have, until now, maintained that it is drivers, not the state of the road, that makes it so dangerous.

Being involved in a near miss that could very easily have resulted in multiple deaths on Friday has caused me to reconsider.

So, what can be done to make this road safer?

A central barrier to prevent foreign drivers and daredevils crossing the centre line is a must as a first step.

Reduced speed limits would allow drivers more time to think and react.

Unfortunately, most drivers would probably disregard them.

More roundabouts and slip lanes where busy side roads enter the highway would help.

A four-lane highway with interchanges and fly-overs would surely be the best option.

But, with the way this Government is squandering fiscal resources the previous administration so carefully built up, it looks like we will have to continue to pay the price either in longer travel time or more lives lost.

Ian Young
Papamoa Beach