This is why I’m saying that if it was in charge of things in the sky, it wouldn’t try to make the planes safer - it would just make us wear lifejackets.
Because claiming that current speed limits were set before we knew what was safe, is code for saying the speed limits were set when our roads in this country were in a much better condition and it was safer for us to drive faster.
To claim anything otherwise is nonsense. Over the past decade, we have allowed our roads to become so rundown and unsafe that it seems the only answer is to make us all drive slower.
And for Waka Kotahi to claim that this is just a correction, that when we set the speed limits we didn’t really know what the safest speeds were for our roads in New Zealand, is a load of nonsense.
Just like this expectation that making us all drive slower will somehow turn us all into safer drivers. It won’t.
Because the speed limit can be whatever you want it to be, but it won’t stop idiots overtaking on corners; it won’t stop people failing to indicate or indicating and just going straight ahead anyway; or doing risky u-turns - especially on the highways.
Lowering the speed limits won’t stop idiots from texting while they go through intersections. It won’t stop them from wearing ear pods while driving or riding. And it certainly won’t make people any less likely to drive drunk or stoned.
What Waka Kotahi is doing, is letting the government and councils get away with under-investing in roading and road maintenance to the point - where it seems - the only option is to drive slower.
I think if you really want to get an idea of how bad a road is, in terms of its condition, you just need to tow a trailer around for a bit.
I was doing that yesterday. Our daughter bought a bed and so we hooked up a trailer, as we were heading down the road, that trailer was bouncing all over the place. And when I actually paid attention to the state of the road, I could see why.
That was in town. As you will know, the roads on our highways are not much better in many areas. They are in a shocking condition and, if Waka Kotahi was really serious about getting anywhere close to zero road deaths, it wouldn’t be tinkering with speed limits.
It would be calling out councils and the Government and telling them that they are the problem, not us, and they need to spend the money that desperately needs to be spent to get our roads up to scratch.
The conditions of our roads and the brainless way some people behave when they’re driving are the problems. Reducing speed limits is a cop-out.
