Watched the TV News tonight and yet again all the Police can say is we are speeding and we need to lower the speed limits. After decades of rolling out that same lame excuse. When, when, when, will they open their minds to the fact that, just maybe, other factors are behind why their decades of over Policing speeding has made no impact what so ever on the road toll.
Sadly we have had two terrible head on crashes that sparked today's Media flurry. Southland one on a perfectly straight road. Taupo on a slight curve with double yellow lines. Both sections appear to provide good forward visibility. Yellow lines by the way mean don't cross to the other side. The other side being deceased.
How fast any of these vehicles were going is irrelevant if they were capable of staying on their own side of the centre line. Whether they were doing 80kpm or 800kpm they would have safely passed each other on their respective sides of the road. Just maybe, just maybe, crossing the centreline is why they struck each other head on.
The Taupo crash was between two families in people movers. Really! to come out within hours saying speed is the problem. Brilliant investigative work. Yeah right, I see MPVs tearing around NZ at 160kpm plus all the time. The only thing speeding here was the rate the Police jumped to that conclusion.
Lets take a wild guess that in each tragic case one of the drivers somehow wandered across the centreline. An essential element for a head on to occur. Speed in these situations determines the extent of the damage but even at 80kph a head on is going to kill so don't blame exceeding the speed limit for causing the crashes (unproven at this point in time). Another wild guess could be mechanical failure, blowout or that a driver was distracted or tired.
If I got a dollar for every time I saw someone driving with a phone in their face I would be a rich man. Maybe the Police should follow that advice and make the Government rich- with the unexpected surprise of reducing the road toll. Pigs will fly before that approach happens.
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