RaceCafe..#1...Tipsters Thread.... Share Your Fancies For Fun...Lets See Who The Best Tipsters Here Are.
Gruff

DRIVERS

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I AM DISTURBED TO SEE A LARGE NUMBER OF CRASHES IN AUCKLAND RECENTLY TURNING OUR ROADS INTO CAR PARKS...DRIVING CONDITIONS COULDNT BE BETTER AND THE POLICE ARE CRACKING DOWN HARD ON ANY SPEED LIMIT INFRINGING SO WHATS GOING ON?...WE ARE IN FOR A SERIOUSLY BAD WINTER AS IT SEEMS THEY ARE GIVING LICENCES AWAY.....IVE SAID 1000 TIMES ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ATTRIBUTES FOR SUCCESSFUL DRIVING IS COURTESY,THE COURTEOUS DRIVER PAYS MORE ATTENTION AND IS NEVER A HINDERANCE TO ANYONE ON THE ROAD ,WHICH CREATES NEGATIVE FEELING AND IMPATIENCE WHICH IN TURN LEADS TO THE COMPROMISE OF SAFETY..DRIVING TIPS SHOULD ALSO BE SHOWN IN SNIPPETS ON TELEVISION,FAR TO MANY GOOD PEOPLE ARE LOSING THEIR LIVES

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It's very worrying Gruff. So many people in such a big hurry. Their driving skills required do not line up with how good a driver they think they are. More impatience than ever. More aggression than ever. More selfishness than ever. More foreign drivers than ever. Faster cars than ever. Not a good mix.

 

Not sure what the answer is. I know what it isn't and that's more and more millions spent on pointless advertising that is the equivalent of a chocolate fireguard. The tax cameras,oops I mean speed cameras are also tits on a bull in terms of road safety.

 

When there is a fatal accident the Police clear all trace of the scene quickly which makes sense but it also wipes out the all important evidence for others to see and learn from. I feel they should use the deaths of kiwi motorists to help avoid further deaths. The only thing worse than a tragic waste of life is having nobody learn from that death and have it repeated.

 

A hard hitting no bullshit documentary is what's really needed to get the message across and show the doco every week if need be. Leave nothing out. No censorship. No cleansing of what we witness. Just the plain facts as they unfold. Have cameras at the scene filming the carnage including the person or persons killed. Nothing covering them up. Film their graphic injuries. Obtain permission from the family of the victim. Show the autopsy exactly as it unfolds with exact cause of death highlighted. Film the funeral. Film the cremation or burial. Film interviews with family and friends. Nothing left to the imagination. Film the coroners inquest. We have to obliterate the anonymity of it all and that mindset that it will "never happen to me". The results of these fatal accidents go on hurting loved ones long after everyone else has forgotten what happened. I would give my blessing for a loved one killed to be filmed if that meant somebody else might be spared the absolute devastation my family has experienced.

 

In addition to that we desperately need a specialist road safety law enforcement unit. Then Police Minister John Banks, Murray McCully and the National Party thought it was a great idea to get rid of the Ministry Of Transport and merge them with the NZ Police. This has been a disaster. The Police need to focus on catching murderers,rapists and burglars. The M.O.T concentrated on making our roads safer. Traffic Officers weren't popular but they were highly skilled specialists focused on road safety. 

 

How is that merger working for NZ since 1992?

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Auckland has a severe case of dodgems - not cars, but witches hats!

 

Seriously though - now the rains are coming we need to be very careful of road markings.    At night with all the temporary markings the contractors have made, in the rain and headlights it can be very confusing which are the current ones.     And in the winter conditions, for god's sake turn your bloody cell phones off when driving.    Believe it or not, they are illegal to be used when driving!!!

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Why would anyone want to got back to the old Traffic Cop days?

 

The road toll back then was around 800. Nearly 25 years down the track and with thousands more vehicles on the road, the road toll is nearly half that these days.

 

NZ is on the right track but there is plenty of room for improvement. Driver Testing is much more vigorous than in years gone by. 1 out of every 2 test applicants will now fail the restricted test. A big change from the easier tests of yesteryear.

 

Our cars are getting safer too, although NZ still has a very old fleet of vehicles compared to other western nations.

 

The biggest room for improvement is the condition of NZ roads. There are too many country roads not fit for high speed zones. There is no room for driver error on these roads and often a small mistake will end in death. Money needs to be invested in this area to reduce the toll even further.

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Why would anyone want to got back to the old Traffic Cop days?

 

The road toll back then was around 800. Nearly 25 years down the track and with thousands more vehicles on the road, the road toll is nearly half that these days.

 

NZ is on the right track but there is plenty of room for improvement. Driver Testing is much more vigorous than in years gone by. 1 out of every 2 test applicants will now fail the restricted test. A big change from the easier tests of yesteryear.

 

Our cars are getting safer too, although NZ still has a very old fleet of vehicles compared to other western nations.

 

The biggest room for improvement is the condition of NZ roads. There are too many country roads not fit for high speed zones. There is no room for driver error on these roads and often a small mistake will end in death. Money needs to be invested in this area to reduce the toll even further.

 

 

Why would anyone want to go back to having traffic cops? 

 

1) Because their sole priority was road safety.

2) Because the MOT specialized in what happens on our roads.

3) Because the chances of you seeing a traffic cop on the road was greater than the chances of seeing the Police.

 

In the last few years of the Ministry of Transport the Government of the day gave them a directive to vigorously pursue infringement notices. The discretion traffic officers had was taken away. Many resigned. I know two personally. It was undeniable that there had been a huge change from road safety to revenue gathering. As soon as politicians get involved in road safety they fuck it up.

 

NZ is on the right track with road safety? What planet do you reside on?

 

Our roads are now diabolical. It may be safer to drive down your street in suburbia but it's a different ball game out on our state highways etc. When you need local drivers forcing tourists off the road and confiscating their keys due to diabolical driving you know something has gone wrong. Badly wrong.

 

Our cars are safer. That may be correct but is 100% negated by the fact our cars are now capable of going much faster due to engine improvements etc.

 

Yes our roads are part of the problem. You see bad design everywhere. They are a small contributing factor to most fatalities but you can't blame the gun on the guy who shot his neighbour. Some of the drivers I've witnessed out and about should never be on any road.

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You can't argue with the reduction in the road toll even though there are a multitude more vehicles on the road.

 

The authorities are doing something right.

 

As for taking keys off overseas drivers, that's a tough one. In both instances small children have been left high and dry after these citizen arrests have occurred. There is a need to weigh the safety of other road users v still ensuring the vehicles occupants are looked after and not treated like pieces of filth like has occurred.

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I read in the Dom Post yesterday about three separate Chinese drivers and an Indian (overseas visitors) who had been pulled up for bad driving. One chap thought he could pass wherever there were no yellow lines, including blind corners. He also got up to 134 kph and did not realise that you had to pull over for cop cars with flashing lights - so he didn't.

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