Says Cactus Kate:
I'm glad this National government has its eyes on the large issues. Like who goes first at a give way sign.
Discuss.
Says Cactus Kate:
Discuss.
11 comments:
Cactus Kate doesn't live here and therefore isn't dealing with the rule on a daily basis.
The sooner the rule changes, the better.
Wouldn't you rather have them doing that and arguing about the flag than putting in more rules and red tape that are the real roadblocks in this country.
It is a good rule change because it is more intuitive.
Victoria did this change in 1991 (+/- a year).
I was living there then and it just seemed to happen.
By the end of the first week you were hardly aware the old rule had ever existed and when I ask Victorians about it now they can only vaguely remember it, if at all.
Then, by today's standards anyway, the media and politicians didn't quite sweat the small stuff so much.
As it is really quite a trivial change to implement I expect that during the lead up plenty of opinion will be solicited from academic "experts" accompanied by a sanctimonious "education" campaign from the government
I just wish they would stick to trivial stuff like right of way rules.
Unfortunately they only serve as a decoy wile bigger statist crap is pushed through.
This issues on which the media fixes its attention isn't necessarily the one the government considers most important.
And while most of the cabinet are men, they are capable of doing more than one thing at a time :)
No Lucia, Cactus Kate drives all around the world on different combinations of each side of the road and sides of the car with very different road rules.
And still (touch wood) manages not to have an accident.
Stupid drivers will still have accidents regardless of the rules.
The issue is that is this the real issue in NZ that we need decisive action on or are there more important educational campaigns to have?
Ah, but Cactus, only NZ has this stupid rule.
I would have agreed with you, a while back, that it really didn't matter. Until some fool almost crashed into my door (stopped 30cm away) because for some reason he thought he was at an uncontrolled t-intersection and had right of way.
Had the give way sign not been there, he would have had right of way. But it was there, I was blocking his path waiting to turn into the side road and he almost rammed me.
Yes, stupid drivers will have accidents regardless, however, they will injure others in the process. The new rule is far more intuitive, and I can't wait for it to come in. I wish they implement it more quickly.
It's obviously more important than borrowing a quarter of a billion bucks a week.
The problem is that New Zealand culture is absolutely obsessed with setting rules and people doing what they are told.
The sooner road rules are decided not by politicians, but by an association of road owners who set standards among themselves based on their own needs and the needs of their customers, the better.
Though it is worth noting North Korea has less road rules than New Zealand (and it has quite a few cars nowadays).
Oh for heaven's sake Lucia Maria.
I've driven a left hand drive car on the left and right sides of the road in different countries. A right hand drive car on the left and right hand sides of the road in different countries. Nothing is more complicated than that on the road.
In foreign countries the give way rule is quite simple - foreigners give way to locals because if you hit one you are always as the foreigner, to blame. NZ should revert to that rule if they wish to prevent foreigners having these accidents.
Americans drive on the "other" side of the road to NZers and that causes accidents every year with tourists, based on the logic of this move to change the giveway rule, NZ should just give up and drive on the Americans side.
It's no credit to yourself and the excitement of your day that you "can't wait" for this rule to come in. That idiot who almost hit you will almost hit you no matter what the rule as he knows the rule, he's worked with it for years, he just was not paying attention.
You can't legislate for that.
"foreigners give way to locals because if you hit one you are always as the foreigner, to blame."
Good idea. And if two NZ'ers meet at an intersection, they can either race across and the winner gets to claim right of way. Or they could recite their whakapapa, and whoever is the 'least foreign' gets to go first.
The endless parliamentary select committees and groups and task forces and meetings and bureaucratic shit that go into changing a law like this are mostly in place to consult associations of road owners who set standards among themselves based on their own needs and the needs of their customers.
Then the wants and needs of the associations of road owners who set standards among themselves based on their own needs and the needs of their customers are taken to more parliamentary select committees and groups and task forces and meetings and bureaucratic shit.
Then all of the wants and needs are balanced as much as possible so the endless whining of different groups is appeased as much as possible because we live in a democracy.
The rules are changing because it makes sense. The rules are in place because it makes sense. Just because there's a rule, it doesn't mean it's a cultural obsession, nor does it mean 'The Man' is impinging upon your freedom. And asserting the opposite just makes you look like a whinger.
I've read this blog for a while, agree with a lot of the thoughts (to an extent) and can see that the people here are generally intelligent, but attitudes like this are just pathetic, to be fair.
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