Letters: Change of thinking needed

Regarding the Bay of Plenty Time's series Gridlock, I was born in the Waikato and lived half my life in New Zealand and the Netherlands.

I have seen traffic congestion in both countries becoming more and more of an issue.

The Netherlands, as a small country and with a huge population, is also struggling with traffic issues even though they have an excellent public transport system, motorways and cycle lanes.

New Zealand can improve its public transport, roads and cycle lanes and the way we think about getting from A to B.

Having more park and ride options is an excellent way to start and increase the number of safe cycle lanes.

Public transport inside the city should be at a low cost or free to get more people using public transport.

As long as we "need" to use the car, we will sit longer in the traffic, and no extension of roads will solve this problem in the long term.

Car rental companies could have their cars sitting at certain carparks around the city which you could book for a couple of hours, half a day, a day or for a more extended period to reduce the need to own a car.

We all have to change our thinking. (Abridged)

Rick Nicolaas
Te Puna

A narrow escape

Do truckies really know where their trailer unit is in relation to bike riders, pedestrians, and even other motor vehicles?

I pose this question as someone who recently narrowly avoided a very nasty accident at the hands of a reckless truck driver who clearly had little driving ability or consideration for other road users.

In this particular instance, I happened to be standing on the footpath, with my bike, at the corner of a busy intersection in Mount Maunganui, waiting to walk across to the other side of the road.

Shortly before the pedestrian signals told me it was safe to cross, a truck and trailer unit came hurtling up the left-hand lane, obviously intent on turning the corner before the traffic lights turned red.

The angle and speed at which the truck negotiated this corner were such that the trailer unit mounted the kerb and bounced its way across the apex of the corner. In the process, it missed both the yellow pedestrian pole and myself by mere centimetres and severely dealt to the front wheel of my bicycle.

Incidents such as this do very little to encourage people to walk or bike around some of Tauranga's busier streets and do even less for the reputation of truckies as careful and considerate drivers.

Bruce Malpas
Greerton
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