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Monday, April 25, 2022

Garrick Tremain: More Tinkering


That this government spends record amounts of our money on political spin and social engineering is evident from propaganda campaigns to which we are subjected - none more reprehensible than the $5.3m commercial on the government’s 3 Waters intention.

Also frequently aired is a puerile presentation aimed at convincing us that a reduction in speed on our roads will increase our safety.

Our road toll statistics are about as bad, and sometimes worse, than they have ever been - this despite constant bleating to take care, drive to the conditions, etc, etc...

THE FACTS ARE:

*As bad as they may be our roads have never been better.

*Vehicles have never been safer to travel in.

*Driver education, though far from ideal, is better than ever before.

*Traffic policing has never been stricter.

*Penalties for misdemeanours have never been higher.

*There have never, in my lifetime, been fewer intoxicated drivers on our roads.

Despite all these improvements the traffic accident rate does not decrease.

SO WHAT HAS GOTTEN WORSE? 

Just one thing ... the number of vehicles on our roads at any given time.

It would seem therefore, that only a fool, would advocate for increasing traffic density and numbers.

There are two ways to increase the number of vehicles on our roads at any one time... extend the length of the journey by 1) adding distance or 2) adding time.

By reducing speed (as proposed) by 20% (eg. from 100kmh to 80 kmh) we increase traffic volume by 25%  - eg. from 500 vehicles to 625 vehicles.

It is simplest of simple mathematics, yet it has not been mentioned by, or probably even occurred to, the whiz kids in the PM’s think tank or the floors of juveniles employed at Waka Kotahi.

(Has anyone else noticed that the changing of Ministry names into Te Reo seems to coincide with poorer performance?)

With a background in farming and advertising, Garrick Tremain is one of New Zealand's best known artists and political cartoonists. You can see his work on his website HERE. 

4 comments:

Steve said...

Absolutely spot-on …. simple logic and commonsense are foreign concepts to the morons who masquerade as “leaders” in Wellington ….. even the worse that our ball-less opposition parties refuse to call the bastards out for their tyranny. God defend New Zealand …. or is that Aotearoa ? Am I allowed to even ask anymore ?

Lesley Stephenson said...

Agreed but what about the increase in the number of idiots behind the wheel.....Perhaps the result of our education system .

5th generation Kiwi said...

Agree with most comments and facts except "traffic policing has never been stricter" On the open highways, maybe but is this just easy revenue gathering. In urban areas its very rare to see policing of drivers or enforcement of road rules or license, warrent and rego checks. An example is the ear splitting noise created by gang operated Harleys. All thse bikes are operating illegallybut that fact is ignored by our woke police. Louts doing burn outs or speeding around city and urban streets are also ignored. This behavior only legitimizes and enhances bad behavior.

AndrewC said...

Along the same thought pattern. I wonder if anybody considers that global warming is caused by population. Perhaps the obvious thing to do is decrease the birth rate and not have 10 billion people by 2035. Lets have a population the can be sustained on our small planet.