Widespread reductions in speed limits could be coming to Dunedin and its rural surrounds. Photo: ODT files
Today's Letters to the Editor from readers cover topics including the proposed speed limit changes, Michael Woodhouse's departure and the difficulty of revoking knighthoods.
Speed limits: report from the front line
I work at Dunedin Hospital and regularly see injuries, often life-threatening, due to motor vehicle accidents.
The proposed speed limit reductions in the draft speed management plan will reduce the number and severity of injuries from car crashes as well as the number of pedestrians and cyclists hit by cars. This is not speculation; a large and credible body of international research shows lowering vehicle speed reduces death and injuries. Other benefits include children being able to walk, bike and scoot to school safely, less noise, lower vehicle emissions, money saved on fuel, and more people who are not in cars feeling confident to safely use our streets.
The downsides? It may take a few minutes longer for people in cars to get where they are going.
At the hospital, we will have fewer trauma patients occupying hospital beds, allowing us to provide more elective care.
Matt Jenks
Dunedin
The need for speed
The release of the draft speed plan provides for some ridiculous suggested changes that will totally slow up the city. I am fascinated that some areas have been strategically excluded from these suggested reductions, especially some streets which have suffered car v pedestrian accidents while others that are accident free are penalised.
I support Malcolm Budd of the Automobile Association that variable speeds around schools should be in place, but not a proliferation of speed signs at every intersection to have us changing up and down from 30 to 40kmh during a journey.
The draft says that the heart of speed management is constraining higher speeds. In reality it is not the speed limits that are the problem, but rather the speeds at which many people choose to travel. I would suggest that an increase in enforcement of the existing limits with higher penalties for those who choose to speed too fast could well do what’s needed and earn revenue for the city.
Are we going to sit back and become plagued by speed humps everywhere, and redesign roads at great cost to ensure speed reduction? Wouldn’t it be more effective to improve the drivers’ licensing skills to teach drivers the importance of obeying the rules?
Janine Race
Dunedin
Limits and logic
Public consultation on wholesale reductions of city speed limits is being carried out during September and a public hearing in October is scheduled.
However, in Cr Jim O’Malley’s response to the National Party’s condemnation of these sweeping changes we get the distinct impression that the mooted changes have been pre-ordained, and that any public "consultation" will thus be a sham.
Underpinning these changes is Waka Kotahi’s delusionary "Road to Zero" mantra.
When you drill down to the actual causes of vehicle crashes, many involve anti-social or criminal neglect; there is an army of lunatic drivers out there who should not be behind the wheel of a vehicle at all and until this factor can be eliminated, Waka Kotahi’s policy is doomed before it starts. By far the majority of Dunedin drivers are managing perfectly well under the existing speed limit regime; there are tens of thousands of vehicle-kilometres travelled each and every day without incident.
Speed limits that are not set to intuitive and logical levels invite contempt for the law (just observe the massive non-compliance in the new 40kmh zone on Portobello Rd); the proposed 50kmh limit for Portsmouth Dr is one such example of this abrogation of logical thinking.
This is a classic case where variable speed limits (with electronic signage) would be a much more sensible idea.
[Abridged]
Jack Crawford
Macandrew Bay
Soon to be former National MP Michael Woodhouse. PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERY
Plea to make Dunedin and Taieri marginal seats
The response from the Labour MPs for Dunedin and Taieri over the hospital rebuild showed that they were representing the party line to us instead of standing up for us in government.
This is a complete reversal of what our governance ought to be.
Our MPs are supposed to represent us in Parliament; our regional interests should be first and foremost in the minds of our representatives. They have therefore failed the people who voted for them.
To get the support for Dunedin, our hospital and lower South Island health services, these electorates need to become marginal seats.
Voting Michael Woodhouse for Dunedin would do this and would also give the fingers to Christopher Luxon for dumping him.
Marginal seats, like squeaky wheels, need oiling. The power to get Dunedin oiled is in the hands of the traditional Labour voter.
Please consider making Dunedin and Taieri marginal seats by not giving your electoral vote to Labour.
Peter Foster
Waikouaiti
How diverse is it?
Firstly, my best wishes, from a Labour supporter to Michael Woodhouse on his untimely departure from the House. He will be missed as a strong advocate for Dunedin and the South generally.
It does, however, raise serious questions about the supposed "diversity" of the National list. So far all we really know is that it includes (at least) two bullies. Not much diversity there.
[Abridged]
Barry John Salter
Invercargill
Cancellation of knighthood not straightforward
Recent reports that James Hay Wallace has had his knighthood cancelled are probably not entirely accurate.
Wallace’s appointment as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (KCNZ) was announced in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours. He both received the accolade of knighthood and was invested with the insignia of a KCNZ at a ceremony on July 28, 2011. Following his conviction and imprisonment a notice appeared in the New Zealand Gazette on August 21 this year saying that his appointment as a KCNZ was to be cancelled and annulled.
The accolade ("dubbing") has historically been the way in which men are created knights. The statutes of United Kingdom orders require men being appointed knights to receive the accolade before being invested with their insignia. A curiosity of the statutes of the New Zealand Order of Merit is that they do not include the same provision: the accolade is not prescribed as a prerequisite for investiture as a KCNZ, although in practice all KCNZs (and also Knights Grand Companions) are dubbed.
The Gazette notice about Wallace mentioned only his expulsion from a level in the order and not from the status of being a knight in a generic sense. If the accolade made him a knight, there is no evidence that he has been deprived of that status. If it did not make him a knight, the ceremony was a meaningless charade and an empty ritual.
Having been conferred with a ceremony, knighthood historically could be revoked only with another ceremony, one of ritual humiliation, although in the UK that has long since been commuted. Expulsion from an order has never in itself revoked the status of knighthood: without letters patent (under the Seal of New Zealand) to deprive him of his rank, James Wallace would appear to be still a knight. In the interests of justice and integrity of the honours system, Wallace should be validly and properly deprived of the honour of knighthood.
Gregor Macaulay
Mornington
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
