Roger Moroney: Some drivers need a dictionary

Roger Moroney says that after a trip to Palmerston North and back he can deduce there are a worrying amount of people who have no access to dictionaries.

It is all about getting from A to B.

A being where you start out from, and B being the destination … gosh really?

So far so good.

A to B is fine and dandy but A to Z is far too far.

Book a flight.

The planning and preparations for an essential journey somewhere, anywhere, is easy.

It is the delivery of those plans and preparations that can be the challenge.

For we take to the roads, and some of the roads in this land resemble uneven quilts (which in some cases is being generous) in the seal and pothole-free sense.

But hey, there's a lot of weight coming down on them, particularly from the giant trucks out there in highwayland … but it's not their fault … for why don't we use our railway systems more?

There are also some unevenly patched-together drivers on the roads and that's the main concern.

For you can read a road but you can't read the minds of the potentially miscreant drivers gripping the steering wheels out there.

And they are out there.

Thankfully they are heavily outnumbered by drivers whose minds, once under ignition, are focused on driving … and nothing else.

These are drivers who have access to dictionaries and understand what phrases like "common sense" and "think about what you're doing" mean.

After a recent day trip to Palmie and back all I can deduce is that there are a worrying amount of people out there who have no access to dictionaries.

I did many miles on motorcycles back in the 70s and 80s including day trips to Auckland and Wellington and back to watch race events, and no worries.

Taupo Rd?

No worries.

I just read the stretches and rode accordingly, at good pace and picking the right times to pass and manoeuvre.

Roger Moroney.

Apart from one misdemeanour, which was pretty much my fault, I never had any issues.

Probably less traffic on the roads back then, and I think that's a strong factor in what has changed today.

I don't think I could comfortably pilot a motorcycle to Auckland or Wellington today.

I could do it, but with anxiety involved, given some of the driver behaviour we spotted recently.

A race track?

No problem there … always a hell of a buzz because there's nothing coming the other way.

Back in the early 90s I nudged 230km/h down the back straight at Pukekohe at a test day, after being given three laps on a fully kitted Kawasaki Superbike.

That is where speed belongs.

We saw some power addicts on our Palmie-and-back outing, as well as one lunatic who ignored the double yellow no-passing lines and blasted his way around a couple of cars … which were doing about 95km/h anyway.

And the dork who seemed reluctant to pull over for the ambulance which came from behind around Dannevirke somewhere.

The other thing that struck me (visually) on the return journey as night began to fall, were the exceedingly bright blitzes of oncoming headlights.

Despite being on low beam, they were so bright they were almost dazzling.

And yep, the occasional dolt who appeared to forget how to switch from high beam back to low.

And there was one driver (a loose term in many cases) who didn't have their lights on at all.

On that travelling occasion we followed and faced several heavy trucks and in all cases the drivers of those great beasts were spot on.

I guess they do the distances, day after day, so kind of know the script pretty well.

Getting from A to B for important appointment, business or recreational reasons, is essential, and equally essential is the ability to focus and, for some drivers out there a trip to the library is also essential.

Roger Moroney is an award-winning journalist and observer of the slightly off-centre.