Cars look odd on beaches, writes Mark Story. Photo / NZME
Cars look odd on beaches, writes Mark Story. Photo / NZME
A few dune-driving world-class losers have ruined vehicular access to Ocean Beach.
What magnificent irony.
Hoist by their own petard, who'd have thought they'd come in so handy?
In reportedly tearing across wāhi tapu sites, endangering endemic habitats and rendering the sandscape a speedway these unlikely heroes have forced HastingsDistrict Council to install a barrier to prevent vehicle passage.
So, eternal thanks to said motoring idiots who gifted Ocean Beach sandlovers an early Christmas present courtesy a couple of mean-as drifts.
The only thing that could possibly make me happier would be if all passenger vehicles were banned on every coast in the country.
What's since ensued on this stretch of coast is a clash of our two time-honoured Kiwi passions: beachgoing and the wish to burn fossil-fuel instead of walking.
Surfers and their fishing contemporaries are complaining that they're being punished for other people's bad behaviour.
Mark Story says this barrier restricting vehicle access to Ocean Beach represents respect for the coast. Photo / Paul Taylor
But just as the imposition of an urban judder bar punishes the majority of law-abiding drivers for the actions of a few, so too the surfers shouldn't shirk a hit for the collective preservation, safety and sanctity of Ocean Beach.
And given their rhetoric often includes spiritual musings on a connection to the sea, this barrier should represent respect for the ocean.
The truth, despite the music videos, is that cars have always looked out of place on our beaches. They add nothing to the amenity or experience, and add only risk.
What is mildly confusing is that there's no bylaw prohibiting vehicles from driving on our local beaches - you cannot be fined so long as you keep to a 20km/h speed limit.
That's why I'd like to genuinely thank council.
Because in a rare move of bypassing your own bureaucracy and boasting no bylaw to back the barrier, you've acted more like a concerned citizen than a local authority.
