Letters: Bad decisions cause of some road deaths

A reader wants the sails back in Te Manawa. Photo/File

New Zealand is suffering one of its worst road tolls for a number of years.

We still have a few days to go but already some 50 or more people have lost their lives on our roads this year.

While much can be put down to road conditions etc, I have an inkling that many have died because of bad decision making.

Take yesterday as an example: as we were climbing up the steep, hilly section of SH2 between Whangamata and Waihi, we were startled and, for a short but possibly vital moment, distracted to see a young man coming towards us at a great pace on a skateboard.

Close behind him, was a car full of other young men that I have a suspicion were acting as a chaperone.

There has been nothing on the news to suggest that he did not make it to wherever he wanted to go, no bits needed to be cleaned off the road, and so I presume that he is now basking in his own glory and sending his GoPro video of the descent to anyone whom he presumes will be fascinated by his prowess.

The vast majority of us I am sure will only be fascinated by his stupidity and immaturity in allowing his own ego to put others on the road at risk.

While he was not in charge of a vehicle, he and his friends were certainly using our roads. Can our rising toll be in part blamed on attitudes such as his?

JOHN PAKES
Ngongotaha

Ruined Focus
I have just spent half an hour waiting for a friend at [Te Manawa], it was not funny.

Mayor, if you had to ruin the original Focus, which was very nice to look at and to meet folk at, then in the name of all that's holy put the sails back.

I spoke to several other people who all said the same thing, it is just a big naked stretch of road - meaningless and ugly.

JIM ADAMS
Rotorua

Pursue the big fish
We all love Facebook, Apple, Uber, Airbnb and Google, who are generous, kind and nice.

The thing is, although they make billions of dollars here in NZ, they don't pay any tax to our government.

So when we complain about the Government not paying for roads, hospitals and schools, maybe we should complain about those big firms not paying their taxes?

On the other hand, maybe the Government is to blame for not collecting those taxes?

It's a good question: why doesn't the IRD pursue those big sharks for the tax they should pay?

I guess it's easier to hassle little guys like you and me.

GJ PHILIP
Rotorua

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