Whanganui letters: Bumpy issue in hospital driveway

Photo / Bevan Conley

I read, with some concern, the comments by the Wanganui District Health Board chief executive Russell Simpson that the speed bumps constructed within the grounds of the Hospital are to stay, despite complaints from various sources. I find his comment to be totally unsatisfactory.

I frequently have to pass over these monstrosities and even as a careful driver I find them hard to surmount, especially the ones through Gate 2. Each time I approach one I envisage Julie Andrews singing 'climb every mountain'.

Sorry Russell but I believe it is time for you to have another look at (or drive over) these traffic obstacles yourself and amend your stance accordingly.

D PARTNER
Eastown

These speed bumps are ridiculous. They have been put down in a chevron pattern meaning all four wheels of your car go over the bumps separately unless you drive down the middle of the road and can get front tyres going over together and then back ones together.

From entering gate 2 round to exiting gate 2 (if accessing mental health) there are around eight or nine bumps to go over, very upsetting for some with health issues.

If they are concerned for pedestrians' safety then why not have raised pedestrian crossings at set points around the grounds, like in front of Te Awhina, rather than multiple speed bumps that annoy every person using this gateway.

Surely it would be safer for any staff member to be using set walkways rather than randomly walking around campus or adding a footpath alongside the roadway, especially with staff having to park more outside of the grounds with Covid testing taking carparks and so many services operating from the gate two driveway.

CHERILYN ERIKSEN
Whanganui

It beggars belief that the Whanganui Hospital facilities management spokesperson and District Health Board chief executive Russell Simpson are employed by our DHB. Their comments (News, February 24) go nowhere to address the problems the public is having with speed bumps. To accuse the public who generally have health problems (reason for visiting the hospital), or are volunteering their time, of having driving habits that need to be improved is not correct or appropriate.

I have visited the eye clinic but will not go back there now because of the trauma the speed bumps cause my spine. No matter how slow you go or what angle you try and cross the speed bump on, it is a painful and potentially damaging experience. As Michelle Malcolm comments, she "has never gone over one like it".

Nor have I in my visits to Wellington, Palmerston North and Auckland hospitals.

They need to admit they have made a mistake and correct it and not shift the blame onto the public. That is if they care about preserving the health of the public they are paid to serve.

CHRISTINE O'SULLIVAN
Whanganui

Mixed messages at protest

Great article by Simon Wilson in the NZ Herald (February 15) in my opinion.

He quoted Thomas Mann, the Nobel laureate German author who was a refugee from Nazism in the US during World War II.

In a speech to an American audience during the war, Mann apparently spoke these words that are prescient for our times: "Let me tell you the whole truth: if fascism should come to America, it will come in the name of freedom."

In relation to the current disturbance around our Parliamentary precinct, I understand, at a stretch, the reluctance of police to move against the disturbers of civil order, for a wide range of reasons. However, might anyone help me to understand why it is that our police do not immediately remove vehicles illegally blocking streets?

Free parking in another location for those so blatantly breaking laws? What message does that give to those who commit trivial offences and are charged by the full force of the law, I wonder.

Seems to me that another Thomas Mann quote maybe even more pertinent: "Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil."

DAVE CAMERON
Whanganui