Letters: Something must change to combat road toll

Something needs to change in order to tackle the road toll, a reader says. Photo/File.

Something must change to combat road toll

Surely with the recent spike in the road toll, policing must be stepped up on highways rather than giving out pathetic $80 fines for travelling 4km/h over the speed limit in a residential street.

While they are speeding the policing should be constant and consistent on state highways and maybe travel with truckies to see what they have to endure daily or travel behind and be frustrated by the camper vans driven by tourists which hold up 20 cars behind them which result in risks being taken to pass and passing lanes being used as drag strips. Having travelled to Hamilton, Auckland and Hawera over successive weekends, I hardly saw a speed camera or highway patrol, and yet high risk-taking drivers were on all trips.

Locally red light runners, especially at Koutu corner, are a result of limited time to get through the intersection especially those from Clayton Rd. The cost of road deaths, trauma, hospital care, ACC and funerals not to mention the impact of those left behind must surely be reduced with increased policing with maybe a separate traffic court being established to deal with offenders. Something must change.

Charles Sturt
Rotorua

Get tough on landlords

It would appear that the Government has no appetite for taking on the greedy landlords - probably because so many MPs are landlords. Well, there may well be another way to skin the cat- bring in legislation that "fixes" the rent on all properties so that the landlord may only charge that fixed rent.

Everything else comes at a fixed price, you do not buy a car at whatever price the dealer wants to charge you - and some cars are more expensive than houses. This would give a measure of control that is both fair to the renter and the landlord; at least it would cut out the greedy ones. It should not be too difficult to fix a scale that is universally the same throughout the country.

Jim Adams
Rotorua

Congratulations, Rotorua

My father and I came over to Rotorua from Tauranga on Wednesday to see the
Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

I want to congratulate Rotorua on such a well organised day. It was all effortless for us, and I'm sure it wasn't for the organisers. It was a great relaxed, friendly atmosphere in the crowd at the Government Gardens which I'm sure was helped by the friendly policemen and women on duty. Rotorua looked beautiful, well done.

Jill Freeman
Te Puna