If I am to pay $750 in ACC/rego fee for my bike I want the fright to sue!

[JimO]

it was a light purple and wasnt on long

[Motu]

Cheers. But cant see anyone with a purple beard.

He's wearing a floppy black hillbilly felt hat....about 3/4 of the way through.

[slowpoke]

So now I want the right to sue the bastard who caused me to crash! I take him/her to the cleaners and he/she will pay until he/she dies! Because I fuckin get them. And if they hurt my kids by their actions in an accident I will make it my sole purpose to make their life a misery!

Yeah, and also open yourself to be sued. Catch that mirror when you are lane splitting, someone claims their kid is now too terrified to ride in a car and there goes your house. Nice vision mate......not.

[mctshirt]

So now I want the right to sue the bastard who caused me to crash! I take him/her to the cleaners and he/she will pay until he/she dies! Because I fuckin get them. And if they hurt my kids by their actions in an accident I will make it my sole purpose to make their life a misery!

As long as you accept that you and your kids can be sued for any alleged harm you cause others - you must be a lawyer to like that idea. That low roar you can hear is the sound of thousands of lawyers rubbing their hands together like Monty Burns

How many hours of decent lawyer time do you think $750 will buy? Once lawyers are involved it's not about truth and justice - like motorsport he with the most money generally wins

[Starky307]

Mmmmm......so what do you call "Working For Families Tax Credits"?? A person with 1/2/3 etc children gets a payment and effectively pays no tax. Their neighbour, same age, same job, but no child pays the full whack of tax. How is that fair? Why should one person be treated so differently to another?

People disabled by sickness (spina bifida, motor-neuron disease) get taxpayer support often while not being able to earn any income. Why should you pay for that?

That is the benefit of living in a country WITH a social conscience, we don't cast those less fortunate out on the streets to fend for themselves.

[Naki Rat]

The downside of ACC is that we can't extract compensation or vengence directly on those that screw up and cause us injury, including slack medical practicioners.

The upside of ACC is that we aren't forced to pay crippling insurance premiums, health service costs and tradesmen's rates to cover the risk of litigation.

After spending 25 years in Canada my partner couldn't believe how cheap house and vehicle insurance was in NZ. They are a fraction of North American rates due to the lack of needing to insure against the likes of the delivery person who sues you for having slipped on your front entrance because you failed to de-moss it, or the notorious 'whiplash' claims in vehicle accidents.

A friend now living in Texas pays $800/month medical insurance for his wife, son and self, and was recently caught unwawares and paid $675 to treat an ear infection. The asthma treatment for his son that costs $15 in NZ is $200 in the US. These cost differentials are largely caused by the insurance risks borne by the medical system.

Another frien's return to NZ was due to a large part in the stress and expense placed on him in protecting and insuring his Californian plumbing business against malicious litigation. On arrival in NZ he mistook the annual insurance premium on his imported Ford pick-up for a monthly cost such was the difference in insurance costs

ACC ain't perfect but it's a hell of a lot better than the 'right to sue' alternative. It just needs tweaking to make it work better, and I don't much like being the means by which they tweak it.

[oldrider]

Having seen first hand what the liability i ndustry has done in North America to insurance premiums, medical costs and people's mindsets in terms of relating to your fellow humans, you do NOT want to go there

But the National government is taking us there without the right to sue as well!!!

Back to basics with ACC........or else! That may even mean returning to "Liabour" shudder, shudder!

They stuffed it up too! Where to go???