Safe As - Central Otago

[Jantar]

I counted around 27 attendees in the room, including the organisers. Most were middle aged or older, but it was pleasing to see two young drivers there with their employer's support, (one of these is a motorcyclist). There was a large police presence for the small number of general participants, and as expected, they did tend to follow the enforcement line. Two of the cops are also current motorcyclists.

I was a bit disapointed, but not suprised, that the whole meeting was focused on those things that can be easily identified and targetted, but little was known about more serious killers like fatigue and drugs. It is my opinion that if we want to be serious about reducing the road toll then we should be looking at the primary cause of accidents, rather than focussing on redcing the effects once an accident has occured. By concentrating on speed as much as we were at the meeting, it is obvious that the focus is on traffic enforcement, not on accident prevention.

Most police representitives were not aware of recent advances in drug detection, and when the subject was raised the quetion was asked about what tollerance level would be needed before driving would be affected. Sorry, the drugs we are talking about are illegal in the first place, so there should be no tollerance allowed.

One senior police officer made an off the cuff comment that he would prefer to see no fines for traffic offences, but just more attention to demerit points. Well done that man.

I did manage to raise the issues of the 70 kmh limit for learner riders, and how this is more dangerous than travelling at the same speed as other road users.

There also seemed to be some support for limiting the HP available to learner riders and drivers rather than a straight cc limit.

Some other suggestions made appeared to be ones that would actually increase the dangers of driving and reduce the awareness of drivers on the road. I'll make further comment on these once the full list is published on the SafeAs site.

[paturoa]

was there anyone writing down what was said?

[Jantar]

yes, Each group had a scribe, and all points raised were put up for all to see. Everything raised will be published on the SafeAs website.

[paturoa]

crash! - thats the noise of me falling off my chair

[Jantar]

crash! - thats the noise of me falling off my chair

Central Otago isn't like the big cities.

First of all, the local meeting was well advertised on the radio, in ALL local papers, and at the Chatto Creek Motorcycle club meeting.

Second, the local road safety organiser's boss was present.

Third, He is mate of mine (the boss that is), and I know that everything presented will be published.

[Blackbird]

Nice going Malcom, there's hope yet.

Geoff