Letters to the editor: Beggars, Tauranga drivers and running red lights

Email your letters to the editor at editor@bayofplentytimes.co.nz

I agree

After reading the letter to the editor by Sally Quaddel re 'Sensationalism' (Letters, April 27) I would agree with most of what she said and would like to add that perhaps help can be provided to find out the whys and what fors concerning the rise in pavement begging. It could be quite easily achieved by using some of the behind the counter and desk people presently employed by our benefit agencies. Why not send them out to talk to the assumed beggars directly on their street patch. Perhaps the real beggars could be then separated from the cheating ones? Who knows, some of these people may not realise that they may be genuinely suitable for a helping benefit or even a job placement.

James Newman
Mount Maunganui

Tauranga drivers

Alister Blair (Letters, April 27) certainly hits the nail on the head. By world standards I think New Zealand has some of the worst drivers around. For some reason Tauranga seems to breed a disproportionate number of them. It's what I call the small city syndrome. Several years ago, when it was about half the size it is now, Auckland was just as bad with some of the rudest, most obnoxious drivers one could hope to meet. Now they seem to have learned that the best way to improve traffic flow is to be a bit more considerate to other users. They're not perfect, but certainly a lot better than they used to be. As for the impatient drivers who use SH2 north of Tauranga, I think many need to take a trip on SH1 north of Puhoi and through Warkworth. The trip is a lot longer than that past Te Puna and through Katikati. I'm sure one reason why the mortality rate on this stretch of SH1 isn't a lot higher than it could be is because in places the traffic simply doesn't flow fast enough to be dangerous. As some have stated previously, New Zealand simply does not have dangerous roads. But it does harbour some very dangerous drivers.

Ian Young
Papamoa Beach

Running red lights

I work on Hewletts Rd and have been there for eight years. The running of red lights especially by truck drivers has now reached epidemic proportions and despite contacting the police recently about speeding and running reds nothing is done. I have nearly been hit at least a dozen times in the past eight years by drivers running the red, especially on the intersection of Hewletts and Waimare St. Go down and see for yourself, it is only a matter of time before someone is killed. Surely installing red light cameras will help alleviate this very dangerous problem.

Richard Tucker
Tauranga