Food for thought - government looking dumber than expected

[R-Soul]

http://www.gizmag.com/motorcycles-reduce-congestion/21420/

So perhaps by encouraging more bikes on teh road, the financial benefits from having millions of people not late for work overcomes the dangers predicted by ACC?

[Hitcher]

Government policy analysts (NZTA) have moved on. They're not interested in congestion any more. Their focus is now on safety.

[Scuba_Steve]

Isn't this old news? I'm sure a study showing exactly the same came out 2 years ago. But I guess alot of studies just repeat each other nowadays & it still don't change the fact... Bikes are Awesome with a capital Z :Punk:

[haydes55]

Latest news! Common sense been confirmed! :bleh: :laugh:

[Hitcher]

Latest news! Common sense been confirmed!

Except that this "common sense" has no currency with those who are writing rules and setting standards.

[haydes55]

Except that this "common sense" has no currency with those who are writing rules and setting standards.

Common sense is far from common to politicians. What do we expect when we have politicians getting paid so much money they are amongst the countries higher earners, they get flown around in helicopters to avoid congestion, have chauffeur drivers and generally live a life distant from the majority of the country they are supposed to run. We can't expect them to make smart choices that will benefit us mere average folk.

[FJRider]

Government policy analysts (NZTA) have moved on. They're not interested in congestion any more. Their focus is now on safety.

True .... motorists in their cars in traffic jams ... ARE safe ...

[haydes55]

True .... motorists in their cars in traffic jams ... ARE safe ...

Nose to tails rarely kill anyone, more nose to tails, ratio of fatalities per crash goes down. Manipulate figures to sound good :msn-wink:

[Hitcher]

Common sense is far from common to politicians. What do we expect when we have politicians getting paid so much money they are amongst the countries higher earners, they get flown around in helicopters to avoid congestion, have chauffeur drivers and generally live a life distant from the majority of the country they are supposed to run. We can't expect them to make smart choices that will benefit us mere average folk.

Oh that it was so simple. Politicians are easy fodder for lobbyists. But they're just the passers of laws. They're not the writers of regulations nor the setters of standards. Those functions are enshrined with public servants, amorphous and anonymous and where the real power lies. Understand that and you will have moved to Level 1 of understanding the processes of government.

[pritch]

Except that this "common sense" has no currency with those who are writing rules and setting standards.

Not just this particular item. Common sense can be in very uncommon in Wellington. (Present company excepted.)

[R-Soul]

What I thought was interesting was that the effects of easing traffic congestion do not go up in direct proprotion to the number of motor bikes - which is common sense- but that the effects of motorcycles go up in exponential relationship to the number of bikes. The article states that you only need a small proportion of motorbikes (like 10%) in the overall demographics to ease (or eliminate) traffic congestion very significantly.

Can you imagine the cost to goverment in lost taxes from all the lost productivity from 1/2 million people getting to work late (say 15 minutes each)? How many man hours a day is that?

At an average wage of about $25/hr, and say 30% tax, that makes:

500,000 X 1/4 X 25 x 30% = $937,500 a day!

How much is ACC costing them a YEAR?