Tagged: Opinion

May 14

The Road Toll and Drink Driving

The NZ Police are calling for a reduction in the legal alcohol limit.

It’s currently 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.  They want it reduced to 50 milligrams.They insist this will reduce the road toll by 14 per year and save the country about $100 million per annum.

Okay, great.  I can still drink nearly a whole bottle of wine over a few hours and still be under the limit.

The issue I have however is it does not address recidivist drunk drivers.  All it does is target those who have one or two drinks too many.  Essentially, just as the NZ government did with other laws like the “Anti-Smacking” law, we target the wrong people.  People who are law abiding. The people that need to be targeted don’t give a flying fuck about the law.

The true nasties of the world continue onwards without care.  They don’t care if they lose their license, or if their kids are taken away in the case of section 59. The will continue to intimidate, or wear patches, or not pay their taxes and fines.  They simply do not care.

Some of the most serious drink driving incidents last year were caused by recidivist drunks.

One had over nine convictions, had a permanent license suspension and were still out amongst society.  They are a threat to society, no worse than a violent criminal with multiple assault and murder convictions. Why will the authorities not deal with them as such.

Is someone bashing someone else with a hammer any different than driving a 1 ton piece of metal into an innocent oncoming vehicle killing a newly wed woman who was not even 30 yet any different?

A hard line on drink driving needs to be taken. But no on those just over the limit. It’s the recidivist drunk drivers that need to be targeted first. Then we can deal with the education of the others who drink one or two too many over dinner at a restaurant or work party.

We currently need to focus on other matters to get the road toll down, speed and drinking are not killing us as much as other factors.

My opinions, based on anecdotal research are strong, practical and I believe valid. I wrote a piece a couple of  years back, which you can read. It is called simply “Road Toll“. It is even more relevant today I think.

Let me know what you think, because as with most social issues, I still think public voice and education are the solution.

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Posted in Law and Order, New Zealand

Jul 25

‘I’m forever damaged’

I truly do feel for 29 year old Matt Manion of Foxton Beach.

A lapse of judgement left him paralysed from the waist down. His job as a mechanic most likely over, and his time spent running and jumping with his 5 year old son a distant memory.

Of course, it was not Matt’s fault.

“I shouldn’t have let him drive, but I trusted him because I’d known him so long,” Matt said.

So, Paul Thomas Guidera, also 29, who was driving that night of the accident is solely to blame. He is serving 2 years for his lapse of judgement, and paying $25,000 in fines, and will likely be living with it the rest of his life as well. Especially if all his friends are like Matt Manion.

It’s a tragedy for sure. But the question I ask is who forced Matt into the car that night? He admits he shouldn’t have let Paul drive.

Placing the blame solely on Guidera is an underlying issue with modern society. We see it every day, the dumbing down of individual choice and responsibility.

How is it someone who got into a car voluntarily, knowing his friend had been drinking, can place so much blame on one person.

Just as well there are no law suits available to him, perhaps moving to America would suit his sense of responsibility better.

I wish Matt Manion well in his road to recovery, but do wonder if the wound that will take the longest to heal will be his friendship with Paul Guidera.

The lapse of judgement was mutual, and to believe anything else will simply cause ongoing bitterness.

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Posted in People, Responsibility

May 25

Road deaths have dropped by 52%

“Since 1990 the number of vehicles on the road has increased by 51% while Police reported injuries have dropped by 8%, road deaths have dropped by 52% and the number of days spent in hospital as a result of road crashes has dropped by 48%.”

That looks pretty good to me.  But the officials still say it’s not enough.  People need to SLOW DOWN.

I’ll qualify what I am about to say a little, and say I have to agree that it’s not good enough.  But I will never agree that speed is the problem.

Let’s look at some specific aspects of the statistics.

3% of the deaths in 2008 were cyclists. If you include motorcyclists and pedestrians, it is 27%. That’s more than a quarter were “unprotected” victims.  So unfortunately other than road user attitude, there is not much you can do about this.

Now, moving along, a quarter of all fatalities were the result of the driver losing control with a further nearly 20% being attributed to not driving to conditions.

So close to half of all the fatalities were in incidents related to driver skill, vehicle quality or road quality.

If you have ever driven on a New Zealand road at night in the rain, I think you will probably agree visibility of road markings is non-existent.  In addition to this, our open roads have potholes, usually on corners and overall we could consider our roads to be both narrow and substandard.

Even our “modern motorways” are diabolical. An hour after rain, the amount of surface water is amazing.

Then we have my pet hate, Warrant of Fitness.

But before I touch on WoF again, let’s revisit the statistics. Why are there no documented statistics on Number of Fatal Incidents?  Not deaths, but actual incidents.  If we have dropped from 250 fatal incidents  killing 800 people to 50 fatal incidents kill 366 that is better than still having 100 fatal incidents killing 366 people.

Without this critical statistic, New Zealanders’ are being lied to. If a van crashes killing 8 people, that is very, very bad. But it is one incident. Far worse is four incidents killing 8 people. The authorities need to capture and publish clearly the number of fatal incidents, not just the death toll.

Why?

Because perhaps we can then take the focus off speed and put it back into three other areas that are far more important.

1.  quality of the fleet

Our vehicle fleet quality is shocking.  And in fact, one part of it in particular. Shock Absorbers.  Tyres and Shock Absorbers are what keep you on the road.  Yet Shock Absorbers have to be almost destroyed before they fail a warrant.  One bad Shock Absorber can send a car out of control in even slow speed manoeuvres, let alone high speed ones.  All Shock Absorbers should be replaced every 80,000km at most, and as part of the  warrant of fitness, all Shock Absorbers should be electronically tested.  Anything more than a 5% discrepancy between each  of the four wheels will require all four to be replaced.

2. driver skill

Raise the driving age to 18. Require a practical defensive driving course as part of the license process. Teach drivers how to react to unexpected situations, don’t just assume they will know like the current system. If they can’t handle a skid, they don’t go on the road in a one ton killing machine. All drivers should sit a practical test every five years and a defensive driving refresher every ten years.

3. road quality

The roading infrastructure needs to be upgraded, and quality improved.  It is simply unacceptable not to have adequate drainage on roading in New Zealand, and the maintenance cycle needs to be improved.  The paint used, and the use of Cat’s Eyes on ALL roads needs to be mandatory.

What’s the primary objection to these three things?

MONEY

Yet this is a bit of an oxymoron.

Improve (1), (2) and (3) above, and the reduction in monetary and emotional loses will more than cover the cost of implementation.

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Posted in New Zealand, Transport

Feb 18

The Three Tales of Abraham

I’m not a religious person. I have faith, but not in any spiritual or superior being. And that faith is based on my firm belief that we as individuals make our own destiny, our own choices.  Sometimes events or people have made choices that impact us, and despite what we do, we can not change the influence those people or events have over us.  We then have to work within the bounds of those influences, still taking action and making choices.  My belief structure is very loosely based on Taoism.

To put it in a spiritual context, does the rock fight the river eventually being forced into the sea, or does it change into a pebble and continue on with it’s existence, the water washing over it.

Now, back to the subject at hand. Despite not being religious, I do find religion fascinating.  In particular, I find Islam, Christianity and Judaism most fascinating. The similarities are astonishing, but probably more intriguing is that all three say the other two are wrong, more or less. Yet let’s take an example of how close they can be.

Abram, who changed to Abraham at some point is a fine example.

Bruce Feiler described Abraham as “the shared father of Jews, Christians and Muslims, the patriarch of the Hebrew Bible, the spiritual forefather of the New Testament and the architect of the Koran.”

How can this possibly be if only one religion is the true religion? Surely one must be right, and two must be wrong? Or have the powers that drive these religions simply lost their way?  Could it be the “God” in his various guises is playing some cruel joke at the expense of the many millions who have died over the centuries of religious wars stretching through our history.

Abraham’s sacrifice of his son, Isaac, is still a large part of two of the religions. Yet they hate each other. Why is it that these religions can not see that the most likely cause of their differences is the term “lost in translation”. Over the years, they have split and segregated into three separate religious engines yet their fundamental bases are just too similar to discount.  Most of the differences are subtle to say the least.

It is time for the non-religious of the world to stand up and say enough.  These three religions have caused so much death and destruction. It is time for them to come together and celebrate their similarities and share their differences.

If there is a God, it would probably please them greatly to see their children come together and embrace one another with love and understanding.

I truely hope common senses prevails in my life time, but the hatred between the three has been there a long time. It will likely take a common enemy for them to come together as one.  Perhaps that is the ultimate test of faith?

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Posted in Conflict, People, Religion

Dec 08

Frailty

Today I drove past a fatal accident.

Some poor guy made a judgement call and crossed in front of a bus going 80km an hour in his white Ford Telstar station-wagon. His judgement was wrong, and he is dead, a few weeks before Christmas.

It made me think.

If I die my family is well looked after, but what might happen in the future?  Will my son go bad without a father figure?  Will my wife spin out of control?  Have I left enough money to make  it a little bit easier to adjust to a life without me?

All these thoughts washed across me as I drove past the tarpaulin covered car at 8.15am this morning.

When i got home, the first thing I noticed was a dead Kingfisher chick on our driveway.  It’s legs stuck at awkward angles and the lifeless eyes were a stark reminder of what my imagination showed me behind the pale blue tarpaulin earlier in the day.

It’s the eyes.  I have seen many dead creatures, and the lifeless eye always cut to the core.

Today, I realized the frailty of the human condition.  Our life, or our death can be formed in a second.

And I wondered, not for the first time, what would it feel like to die?

I also pulled out “Some Girls Wander by Mistake” by Sisters of Mercy – an album I have not listened to for years.

I feel vulnerable today.  I feel frail.

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Posted in Death, Transport

Jun 09

Incarceration

Incarceration – it is something that I have thought of many times in my nearly 38 years on this planet.

Why? Because many years ago I learnt the difference between freedom and incarceration can be a single choice at a given moment in time.

I recently heard a story from someone who had gone along to see a woman called Celia Lashlie. Obviously, because of Chinese whispers it may not be 100% accurate, but it does cover the gist of the situation.

A young man was at a bar, he was a good young man. He had excellent school marks, and a great testimonial from his school. After a few drinks, an event occurred that was to change his life forever. He overheard a bouncer removing a patron for being disruptive, and the patron was verbally abusing the bouncer, including making racial comments. The young man, of the same race as the bouncer, took offence and hit the drunk patron, who fell, hit his head, and died. The young man is now in prison for a moments foolishness and bad luck.

Now, some would say he got what he deserved. But I have been that young man many times in my life. At parties, bars and pubs. Striking out in anger or stupidity or in the defence of a friend or even simply to try an impress a girl. I have done it sober and intoxicated.

Any one of those occasions could have resulted in me being in prison had fate decided to escalate the event.

As the father of a 2 year old, my greatest fear is for him to be involved in such a silly situation, either at the receiving end or the instigator.

The greatest challenge I see ahead is providing the environment that my son can develop the good sense and self esteem to never put himself in such a situation.

On a side note, I just found a blog of a guy who is about to go into prison. Very very bizarre, but also though provoking.

The Rabbit Hole

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Posted in Law and Order, Parenthood, Responsibility

Aug 16

Drugs, The Law, And Common Sense

So, David Henderson is now a criminal.

His crime; using cocaine or more accurately getting caught.

His punishment, likely the loss of control of his successful international business and the inability to travel overseas ever again.

Does a conviction for personal use of drugs justify the impact of that conviction has on society? When convicted, people can lose their job, or their busines, as is the likely case for David Henderson. Does that do society any good? No.

Prohibition of alchohol was a complete failure, and the prohibition of drugs is also a complete failure. When it impacts the lives of people like David Henderson it is undeniable that the so called crime is victimless except through the application of the law. He used cocaine as part of his entertainment, in the same way many people use alchohol, cigarettes or even driving fast in their cars.

Should he have a conviction? Did he hurt any one? Was he in control of a vehicle while under the influence? Did he use machinery? Did he rob or attack someone? No.

But he is now a criminal. For enjoying himself.

Use of drugs should be legalized across the board. Would the ‘P’ problem exist today if there was no prohibition in New Zealand? Unlikely.

There are problems with alchohol in society, and there is an argument that society would have an even bigger problem with legalized drugs. But the thing is, that problem is already there, and the big difference is, because one is legal and the other is not, people often do not get help until they have truely gone down a very dark path.

I personally know several alchoholics, and I know also several drug addicts. Guess what, the alchoholics get help, the drug addicts only do so when they hit rock bottom.

Outnumbering the drug addicts and alchoholics are the work-a-holics. They do far for damage to our society than the others, but that’s their choice.

That is what it comes done to. Choice.

I can go down the road and buy beer, and get drunk in the privacy of my own home and it is nobody’s business but mine. If I go down the road and buy cocaine for my own personal use, I am technically a criminal. But for what?

The current arguments to keep drugs illegal just do not stack up. There are already problems. But they are hidden under the guise of a responsible society that does not acknowledge the drugs are already there.

Legalization and regulation of drugs is the only answer that will ensure people like David Henderson are not made to be criminals for victimless crimes.

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Posted in Law and Order, New Zealand