The 1979 restrictions brought coloured windscreen stickers announcing the weekday car owners had promised not to drive. Thursday proved the most popular choice. A thriving black market followed. Forty-three percent of vehicles secured exemptions.
The first person prosecuted under the original scheme was caught driving at 3.45 am – after falling asleep in his car following a party. His designated non-driving period had begun at 2 am.
Petrol consumption fell by a paltry three per cent. The policy was abandoned.
But the story got me thinking. Which of the 1970s’ other good ideas might be worth reviving?
They were halcyon times for a teenager growing up in Auckland.
If you wanted a holiday job, you first had to join a union. In my case, the Storemen and Packers Union. Card-carrying membership was required before the first box could be packed.
The drinking age was 20. If you happened to be 18 in your first year at university, this was a rather obvious design flaw.
Telephones came attached to walls by cords long enough to reach the kitchen bench, but rarely the couch. Television remotes had cords as well. Freedom had limits.
Imported goods were largely theoretical. If something was branded, stylish or made overseas, it was either unavailable in New Zealand, or cost a year’s wages. Import licences protected New Zealanders from the dilemmas of consumer choice. And foreign appliances.
Telethon was the year’s great national spectacle. The country gathered around the television for 24 hours while Selwyn Toogood urged us to give generously. The Osmonds appeared. Lauren Bacall also came and asked what on earth was going on. We understood her confusion. We watched anyway.
Wage and price controls. Think Big. Public debt rising from $4 billion to $22 billion in less than a decade. Britain disappearing into Europe just as New Zealand discovered the risk of depending on a single export market.
There was also trouble in Iran.
Rogernomics eventually rescued us from the 1970s. Yet oddly, the Petroleum Demand Restraint Act still survives.
Nearly half a century on, Treasury is again projecting persistent deficits and a debt crisis. The 1970s, it turns out, did not need reviving. We managed that ourselves.
Still, it’s comforting to know we can stop people driving on Thursdays.
Roger Partridge is chairman and a co-founder of The New Zealand Initiative and is a senior member of its research team. He led law firm Bell Gully as executive chairman from 2007 to 2014. This article was sourced HERE
But the story got me thinking. Which of the 1970s’ other good ideas might be worth reviving?
They were halcyon times for a teenager growing up in Auckland.
If you wanted a holiday job, you first had to join a union. In my case, the Storemen and Packers Union. Card-carrying membership was required before the first box could be packed.
The drinking age was 20. If you happened to be 18 in your first year at university, this was a rather obvious design flaw.
Telephones came attached to walls by cords long enough to reach the kitchen bench, but rarely the couch. Television remotes had cords as well. Freedom had limits.
Imported goods were largely theoretical. If something was branded, stylish or made overseas, it was either unavailable in New Zealand, or cost a year’s wages. Import licences protected New Zealanders from the dilemmas of consumer choice. And foreign appliances.
Telethon was the year’s great national spectacle. The country gathered around the television for 24 hours while Selwyn Toogood urged us to give generously. The Osmonds appeared. Lauren Bacall also came and asked what on earth was going on. We understood her confusion. We watched anyway.
Wage and price controls. Think Big. Public debt rising from $4 billion to $22 billion in less than a decade. Britain disappearing into Europe just as New Zealand discovered the risk of depending on a single export market.
There was also trouble in Iran.
Rogernomics eventually rescued us from the 1970s. Yet oddly, the Petroleum Demand Restraint Act still survives.
Nearly half a century on, Treasury is again projecting persistent deficits and a debt crisis. The 1970s, it turns out, did not need reviving. We managed that ourselves.
Still, it’s comforting to know we can stop people driving on Thursdays.
Roger Partridge is chairman and a co-founder of The New Zealand Initiative and is a senior member of its research team. He led law firm Bell Gully as executive chairman from 2007 to 2014. This article was sourced HERE
5 comments:
Buying a 2nd or 3rd car was popular back then.
That 2nd or 3rd car was still a rusty Toyota.
The 70's were absolutely God Awful.
But the rose-tinted blinkered view of youth will always persist.
No thank you for any repeat or regression.
Carless days were a bad joke, and we were "told" even back then, earths oil resources would be gone and depleted in 20 years.
Union graft and corruption was everywhere as all business needed to account for "shrinkage" if using NZ rail freight.
The education system encouraged bullying and people's children were regularly "beaten" by teachers having a bad day.
There was carnage on the road drink driving was the norm and forget about extending any courtesy to cyclists.
I holiday abroad was a rare and newsworthy event.
We had only 3 TV channels but was surprisingly good compared to now, as we yearn for those quality dramas as opposed to the low budget borderline pornography and obscenity infused "reality" shows that pollute our small screen.
Surely work from home is the answer for the spoilt brats of today that can do so. Of course they will insist that the lower caste continues to go to work so their groceries, alcohol and ready made meals can be delivered to their door whenever requested.
Re CXH 3:10
Intrigued by your definition of "spoiled brats".
Which seems to be "people who likely work in technical fields that demand high levels of cognition"
This group likely use the "widely available technology that allows them to work remotely."
The world is a rapidly changing place and failing to utilize the full advantage of technology would be a waste.
You also oddly refer to a "caste system".
We live in a democracy, and the majority of people move between socio-economic class / levels during the course of their lifetime and are not restricted by some third world caste system.
Most of us prefer this system to the Marxist dystopia I suspect you endorse?
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