Letters to the editor: Car registrations lacking in New Zealand

Too many drivers are flouting registration and warrant rules, says a reader. Photo / File

I wonder why the people of New Zealand continue to pay their car registrations when it seems that so many don't find it necessary.

My wife and I do a tremendous amount of walking around various parts of the city, and everywhere we go we see cars that are unregistered, some since 2017, or even no sticker showing.

If others were to have an accident with these vehicles, who would be responsible for any damage? If they are not registered, then they can't have a current warrant and probably no kind of insurance.

You cannot drive a car on the road in Northern Ireland without evidence of registration, a current MOT (WOF) and full car insurance, the latter often costing more than the value of the car.

It is time to see this situation improved in our country, or perhaps we should all stop paying the registration fees. (Abridged)

Alister Blair
Judea

Pinning the blame

The hounds are out, baying for blood, and it's Air New Zealand blood they have a sniff of.

It saddens me that it seems that we continually seek to pin the blame on someone, to hold someone responsible as if that will absolve everyone else from guilt or penalty.

Air NZ is a large company with diverse interests. It doesn't just transport goods and people around the globe, they have a very advanced and efficient workshop service, specialising in keeping the large gas turbines that power generators, ships, and planes running efficiently and it is very good at it with worldwide contracts.

In a large company the appointment of departmental heads with the critical skills and management experience ensures the smooth running of the overall enterprise and vested in these departmental managers is the authority to make commercial decisions without the need to continually check with the chief executive whose skills will not necessarily be other than that of a commercial management nature.

To expect that the chief executive will sign off every small contract is ridiculous. Would he be held responsible for the lunchroom towel supply for instance?

The Saudi contract was comparatively small and while we may argue the morality of supporting that war effort, we're talking human nature here.

John Williams
Ngongotahā

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