Letters to the editor: Toll roads, street dining fees and headlights

Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Two of the three tolled roads in New Zealand are in Tauranga – Takitimu Drive and the Tauranga Eastern Link.

For some time now and for some time to come (based on current projections), both these roads have speed restrictions for a considerable part of the routes.

For Bay of Plenty drivers, it is galling to see other roads near Wellington, Cambridge and Christchurch that are not tolled.

Why is the toll on the two Bay of Plenty roads not being reduced during this period of disruption as some compensation for the inconvenience to drivers?

Fiona McAllister

Mount Maunganui

Street dining fees

I would just like to join in with the food service providers at the Mount and say that I agree fully with their complaints against being charged extra for attracting people to the area.

We are all aware of the need for money to look after the city but when you have in my view totally wasted several millions on a carpark that remains a white elephant and driven people away from the the city centre and turned it into dead zone full of empty shops and nowhere to park, you have little right to extract more from ratepayers by penalising those who are struggling to make a go of it in these troublesome times.

Think again please.

Richard O’Brien

Katikati

Headlights help

For various reasons, I do quite a lot of driving on the open road and it astonishes me how many cars drive around at high speed, in poor light, with no headlights on. When questioned about this, the drivers typically say, “I could see perfectly well without lights on”.

But that is not the point: yes, headlights can help drivers see, but at least as important, they enable cars to be seen. In poor light – in the early morning, in the early evening, or in the fog – driving with headlights on permits cars to be seen hundreds of metres earlier than is the case without headlights on.

If driving at the speed limit on the open road, approaching a car also being driven at the speed limit, the gap between the two cars is closing at 200km/h. Having headlights on can make a life-saving difference.

Don Brash

Tauranga

The Bay of Plenty Times welcomes letters from readers. Please note the following:

• Letters should not exceed 200 words.
• They should be opinion based on facts or current events.
• If possible, please email.
• No noms-de-plume.
• Letters will be published with names and suburb/city.
• Please include full name, address and contact details for our records only.
• Local letter writers given preference.
• Rejected letters are not normally acknowledged.
• Letters may be edited, abridged, or rejected at the Editor’s discretion.
• The Editor’s decision on publication is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

Email editor@bayofplentytimes.co.nz