Northland Age
  • Northland Age home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
  • Opinion
  • Kaitaia weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northland Age

Letters: Following road rules vital for public safety

Northland Age
17 Apr, 2018 06:30 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
There is too much driver  'craziness' on our roads, says a reader.
There is too much driver 'craziness' on our roads, says a reader.

There is too much driver 'craziness' on our roads, says a reader.

Fifty years ago, when I obtained my driver's licence, the rules were you must stop at the stop sign, and give way at the give way sign, you must not drive on the wrong side of the road, and you must park legally, not endangering public safety or hindering other traffic.

Back then people could easily abide by these rules, and we had fewer accidents and fewer road deaths. But during my time driving the length and breadth of our amazing country as a heavy vehicle operator, I have seen all types of craziness on our roads.

But during the last 10-15 years I have noticed an increase of people parking, and therefore driving, on the wrong side of the road, parking at random, especially at a dairy in our town, located at a busy corner (especially at the time school buses are trying to drop our kids off) causing difficulties for legally-driving people to avoid oncoming traffic, etc.

Illegal parking is a serious problem. I almost crashed one night because I was blinded by a vehicle parked on the wrong side of the road, with its lights on full beam. As I had been approaching what I had to assume was an oncoming vehicle I had flashed my lights at him to get him to dip his lights so I could see, which didn't happen. Luckily I slowed right down and found that in order to pass him on the left, I was almost off the road.
Whew! That was a close one.

I asked a cop once why they don't police this rule. His reply was, "In England, where I worked before coming here, they didn't really mind people parking on the wrong side, so, nah, not when we have other stuff to do."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

I'm seeing today's drivers not stopping at stop signs, but stopping at give way signs. And randomly driving into oncoming traffic to park on the wrong side of the road. Very bad.
Your vehicle has to have red rear reflectors. That's so at night other traffic is aware of your vehicle parked at the roadside.

Makes sense. If you come to a stop at the stop sign, what happens? A, it creates a gap for other road users, and B, other drivers don't have to guess whether it's safe for them to take the gap. To 'merge like a zip' at give way signs, you mustn't stop if it is safe to proceed.

Now is it only in Kaitaia or do we have a nationwide epidemic of people driving randomly on our, and our children's, roads?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Traffic cameras at hot spots would not only reduce and deter this thoughtless behaviour, but provide badly needed revenue for our hard-working police to assist them in upholding the law and driver education.

To echo Boy Yates (letters April 12), surely public safety is worth the effort. Is money the problem, or plain common sense?

P PRICE
Kaitaia

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Northland Age

Northland Age

Far North council roading restructure likened to Hunger Games

Northland Age

NZTA to install speed cameras on high-risk Northland road

Northland Age

'It's a kaupapa': New coach aims to foster pride in Taitokerau rugby


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

Person in custody, reports of critical injuries in Christchurch suburb
Christchurch

Person in custody, reports of critical injuries in Christchurch suburb

Exploring Alkina Wines: A serene Barossa Valley cellar door experience
Travel

Exploring Alkina Wines: A serene Barossa Valley cellar door experience

Lotto's Powerball jackpot rolls over to $10m, one punter wins $1m prize
New Zealand

Lotto's Powerball jackpot rolls over to $10m, one punter wins $1m prize

First Kiwi to make Dallas Cowboys cheerleading team responds to ponytail backlash
Entertainment

First Kiwi to make Dallas Cowboys cheerleading team responds to ponytail backlash

The 10 most career-defining, headline-grabbing moments of rocker Ozzy Osbourne
Entertainment

The 10 most career-defining, headline-grabbing moments of rocker Ozzy Osbourne

Why these 10 British walks should be on your bucket list
Travel

Why these 10 British walks should be on your bucket list



Latest from Northland Age

Far North council roading restructure likened to Hunger Games
Northland Age

Far North council roading restructure likened to Hunger Games

Workers feel blamed for underperformance, as union considers court for lack of data.

23 Jul 05:05 AM
NZTA to install speed cameras on high-risk Northland road
Northland Age

NZTA to install speed cameras on high-risk Northland road

23 Jul 02:00 AM
'It's a kaupapa': New coach aims to foster pride in Taitokerau rugby
Northland Age

'It's a kaupapa': New coach aims to foster pride in Taitokerau rugby

23 Jul 12:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northland Age e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to The Northland Age
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northland Age
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search