Daily review 30/04/2019

76 comments on “Daily review 30/04/2019 ”

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1. Muttonbird 1

   30 April 2019 at 6:16 pm

   Along with all of Judith Collins' other faults we can add scaredy cat. She's not even got the confidence to take down Mr 5%.

   Or the ability to form consensus. Not really PM material I would have thought.
   • Blazer 1.1

     30 April 2019 at 8:11 pm

     Judith..she's a 'Shonkey Tonk Woman'…give me..give me..
   • Fireblade 1.2

     30 April 2019 at 8:58 pm

     Judith would be popular with right-wing extremists and conservative over 60's, but she's hardly the fresh new face needed to take the National Party forward. She would be a fill-in leader at best.
2. SPC 2

   30 April 2019 at 6:37 pm

   The Credit Contracts Legislation Amendment Bill – first reading in Parliament.

   The PM says they decided to go with a limit of a doubling of the poan in repayment, rather than cap interest rates.

   However pay day lenders could just resort to shorter repayment periods with rollovers – thus 4 such 3 month loans in 12 months – and thus 4 times the value of a loan over 12 months.

   There should be a constraint to a doubling within 12 months of loan values, or this is borderline meaningless.
3. Muttonbird 3

   30 April 2019 at 6:41 pm

   Even Sir Jong Kee is endorsing the corrupt old trout. Takes one to know one I guess. 😂

   Remember both Key and Collins were super tight with Cameron Slater who is now mentally, financially and physically broken from his own corruption and malevolency…takes one to know one indeed.

   https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/04/newshub-understands-sir-john-key-has-shown-support-for-judith-collins.html

   Fuckers, the lot of them.
4. mickysavage 4

   30 April 2019 at 6:42 pm

   It is now just a matter of when …

   “Newshub understands former Prime Minister Sir John Key has shown some support behind the scenes for Judith Collins to be National leader.

   Key would not confirm this to Newshub, only to say, “I don’t comment on leadership issues” – but because of his standing in the party, MPs still go to him for advice and he commands huge respect in the National Caucus.

   An endorsement – or even a subtle nod – could be a game-changer.

   Newshub was also leaked details of the National Party’s Caucus meeting on Tuesday, which included a specific warning to MPs not to talk to Newshub. ”

   https://twitter.com/NewshubNZ/status/1123111319769456640
   • BM 4.1

     30 April 2019 at 6:59 pm

     You better hope they stick with Bridges.

     Collins would be a game-changer, which is why the media is pushing her so hard.

     Bridges is dull and uninspiring. Collins is a balls to the wall sort of candidate, she’ll either soar like an eagle or go down in flames.
     • JanM 4.1.1

       30 April 2019 at 7:08 pm

       Because?
       • BM 4.1.1.1

         30 April 2019 at 7:10 pm

         Because what?
         • JanM 4.1.1.1.1

           30 April 2019 at 7:33 pm

           Actually, I thought I'd deleted that, but as I didn't I was asking why we would want to stick with Bridges and have Judith instead. I think people seriously underestimate Jacinda, not to mention Winston, if she tried to take them on – not to mention our current speaker.

           Besides, too many people are aware of her corrupt practices, and some may have more evidence than has yet been seen fit to reveal.

           It would, I suppose, provide the media with a lot of entertainment which would give them even less reason to provide a decent service than they do now
           • BM 4.1.1.1.1.1

             30 April 2019 at 7:35 pm

             What corrupt practices?
             • McFlock …

               30 April 2019 at 7:44 pm

               Oravida detour comes to mind for a start.

               But Collins is a fool if she wants the poisoned chalice of leadership before the election. Especially with this much lead-in: would have been ok after losing the election because everyone knows she took a hospital pass.

               Collins would be more accountable for a negative result, and unfortunately for her she is as good at making political allies as the rest of her former cabinet colleagues.

               Besides, the mood of the moment is for empathy, not brutality.
               • BM …

                 30 April 2019 at 7:55 pm

                 Oravida would have to be the lamest of all scandals.

                 Nothing but a left-wing media beat up, that any thinking New Zealander could see was a storm in a teacup and a desperate attempt at trying to damage John Key and National.

                 My God, she visited the company her husband worked for while in China and had dinner with some Ovrivida execs.

                 https://www.newshub.co.nz/politics/timeline-judith-collins-and-oravida-2014050512

                 Fucks sake, have a look at this timeline and see how pathetically trivial the whole thing was.
                 • McFlock …

                   30 April 2019 at 8:12 pm

                   Still bigger than slushigate.

                   But I reckon she would be better off supporting someone else to replace soimon, someone more competent than him but still mediocre, and knife the replacement after the next election. Unless the replacement starts to turn things around, in which case she'd have to knife them in a year or just under.
                   • BM …

                     30 April 2019 at 8:21 pm

                     She's the only person in National that has the ability and personality to make this a one-term government.

                     If Collins isn't leading National into 2020, I'd bet everything I own on a Labour/NZ First maybe the Greens? win.

                     So many National voters will do a spoiler vote for Peters it won't be funny, I reckon he'll probably get somewhere between 10-15% of the vote.
                   • McFlock …

                     30 April 2019 at 8:32 pm

                     I think she's the preferred choice for party management, but unless caucus also love her, she'll still have a leak problem. And I suspect there are some junior members who want to sweep aside the old guard.

                     And even if she gets everybody in step, 2020 is the coalition's to lose, and they haven't screwed up too badly yet. Although the budget is coming up – cross your fingers 🙂
                   • BM …

                     30 April 2019 at 8:43 pm

                     I agree with that, it's highly likely Bridges and his supporters would feel quite bitter about him getting replaced by Collins and undermine her for all it's worth.

                     Probably best for Bridges to fail in 2020 and Collins takes over with a clean slate.

                     Looks like it's going to be a spoiler vote for me and try and minimize the damage by making Peters the turd in the punch bowl once again.

                     In this scenario Ardern would be gone by the end of year one, sticking around for another three years where the rug can be pulled out from underneath you at any time probably wouldn't appeal that much.

                     Especially when far greener pastures are on offer.
                   • mickysavage []

                     30 April 2019 at 8:50 pm

                     Spoiler vote to who BM? ACT?
                   • BM …

                     30 April 2019 at 9:02 pm

                     NZ First.
                   • McFlock …

                     30 April 2019 at 9:26 pm

                     If that's the best you can hope for, you need a better party
                   • Psycho Milt …

                     1 May 2019 at 7:23 am

                     Looks like it's going to be a spoiler vote for me and try and minimize the damage by making Peters the turd in the punch bowl once again.

                     That probably is the most damage a National supporter can do to Labour and the Greens at the next election. Peters certainly has proven to be a turd in the punch bowl for them in this term of government – mind you, the voters didn't deliver a mandate for the policies most of us here would like the current government to implement, so I shouldn't complain too much.
                 • TootingPopularFront …

                   30 April 2019 at 8:25 pm

                   Why, if it was a "left-wing media beat up", did the entire National Party apparatus (and the “media” that wasn’t “left-wing”) go to such great lengths to conceal, dissemble and lie about it then?
                   • BM …

                     30 April 2019 at 8:33 pm

                     Because they fucked up and allowed the media to make a huge issue out of nothing.
                   • Psycho Milt …

                     1 May 2019 at 7:26 am

                     It's exactly the fact that National regards ministers using their political position to support friends' or relatives' private business interests as "nothing" that is the problem.
     • Muttonbird 4.1.2

       30 April 2019 at 7:33 pm

       Go down in flames for sure. She can't even organise a coup.
     • marty mars 4.1.3

       30 April 2019 at 8:00 pm

       collins can't even roll bridges – lol – now THAT is pretty useless
5. greywarshark 5

   30 April 2019 at 6:59 pm

   This is malicious isn't it – shows bad faith by someone in authority with the Police ? Who keeps their behaviour within bounds – The ICPC is supposed to be a bit close to them for judgments to be unbiased.

   http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-wrongful-disclosure.html
6. Muttonbird 6

   30 April 2019 at 7:01 pm

   I drove through the Atiamuri crash site yesterday just a day after the tragedy.

   Road cones and signs were in place and tyre marks from emergency services were still raw and visible.

   It's an unremarkable bend but as I'd driven about 1000km over yesterday and today I wondered if the usual mens about speed were relevant anymore.

   What I noticed with my own driving and those around me was that excessive speed was not an issue. I travelled on or around 100km/hr and wan't passed more than once or twice.

   What I did notice though was a moment's diversion of concentration on a bend led me to be a meter or two away from the proper line. I'm talking about in car and out of car distraction on poor quality roads. It's as simple as checking the speedo, clock or fuel gauge. Or reading a road sign for slightly too long.

   These are normal processes when driving so the conclusion that our roads are not fit for purpose must be reached.

   Time for median barriers of some sort I think.
   • BM 6.1

     30 April 2019 at 7:09 pm

     People not paying attention is the killer.

     Fuck the median barriers, people just have to get it into their thick heads that when they're driving you concentrate on your driving and that's it.

     Checking your phone, arseing about with whoever is in the car will get you, you’re family and innocent people killed.
   • JanM 6.2

     30 April 2019 at 7:15 pm

     I don't live in the Waikato, but my sister lives in Putaruru so I am fairly familiar with the roads all around. Every time I hear of an accident my blood runs cold because I know the chances that the accident is so likely to be in her area, and yet the roads seem no worse than anywhere else, and a lot better then some. What's going on?
     • Muttonbird 6.2.1

       30 April 2019 at 7:25 pm

       I'd say it's because those roads are most driven by locals and as such locals drive longer distances at greater speeds on average roads.

       I don't agree they are good roads – SH3 south of Te Kuiti is dire – far worse than Tauranga to Katikati which seems to be the black spot of choice these days.
       • JanM 6.2.1.1

         30 April 2019 at 7:37 pm

         I didn't say 'good' I said 'no worse than'. If you want to see dire you should take a look up here in Northland!
     • Rosemary McDonald 6.2.2

       30 April 2019 at 7:50 pm

       Every time I hear of an accident my blood runs cold …

       Our home is on SH39, a rat- run bypass between Ngaruawahia and Otorohanga. Not a single passing lane and at least 15 speed controlled corners on just the fifteen or so k's I regularly drive. Or more so my grown kids who live in the house while we're up North. That 'blood runs cold thing' many times, thanks to the multitude of fatal accidents we hear about on the radio. Not the first time we have folded our tent and driven to an area where there's cell phone coverage just to check on the offspring.

       The solution is for drivers to slow down. Just slow down and give everyone more time to react.
   • Pat 6.3

     30 April 2019 at 7:20 pm

     not saying case here but cell phones
   • Rosemary McDonald 6.4

     30 April 2019 at 7:42 pm

     No road will ever be twit proof. It would be neither possible nor practical to put median barriers on all our roads…so then what? Impose lower speed limits on un- twit proofed roads? Have special licenses for those with the proven ability to drive defensively and to the conditions? The rest have to stay on the roads with median barriers?

     I see where you're coming from Muttonbird but it's just not practical, and it ignores the fact that on the whole, Kiwis are crap drivers.

     Impatient. Arrogant. Attention span of hyperactive fleas. Extraordinarily easily distracted. And that's just the bad drivers. Most of us are simply too casual. We simply don't engage 100% with what we are doing. Defensive driving courses should be mandatory, and I'm inclined to agree with some that perhaps we should all be having refresher practical driving tests every ten years or so…or sooner if pinged with driving offenses.

     Awful, awful tragedies.
     • BM 6.4.1

       30 April 2019 at 7:46 pm

       True, I've driven so many km, not once did I think this is a dangerous road.

       99% of crashes are down to driver inattention or driver stupidity
       • Rosemary McDonald 6.4.1.1

         30 April 2019 at 7:53 pm

         Ye gods and little fishes….I find myself agreeing with BM.

         Having said that…Muttonbird has a point…our roads take no prisoners.

         Strewth….we should all be much better drivers as a consequence.

         Why the hell aren't we?
         • patricia bremner 6.4.1.1.1

           30 April 2019 at 8:39 pm

           We talk of our driving population, often forgetting the millions who visit, plus the trucks and vans now on our roads, replacing freight trains

           Roads have been improved, but our modern cars are able to accelerate in a very few seconds. When stopping distances are understood and the forces of a collision grasped, driving defensively makes so much more sense to those who see this demonstrated.

           Seat belts are fundamental, yet we still have people going through windscreens.

           "Phones are dangerous but we still have swipers and texters. Utter madness. You are right about refresher courses Rosemary.
       • Andre 6.4.1.2

         30 April 2019 at 8:39 pm

         You've never experienced a corner that tightened up a lot and gone off-camber? Never been on a long straightaway that had a hard-to-see dip deep enough to hide oncoming traffic with no warning clues it was there?

         There's a lot we could do but don't in road design and markings to help less-skilled drivers safely negotiate our roads. That's a fact that has come clearly into my view through helping my eldest learn (with my twins starting to learn in 6 weeks. Be afraid)
         • patricia bremner 6.4.1.2.1

           30 April 2019 at 8:48 pm

           Good luck Andre, but still send them for two or three official lessons, as they teach all the new skills, show them the traps for beginners and take them over the driving test route. (Had a Traffic Officer friend who taught privately after taking the Defensive driving courses for years). Cheers.
           • Andre 6.4.1.2.1.1

             30 April 2019 at 8:59 pm

             Definitely for the driving lessons.

             I gotta say, there's a few things they expect drivers to do that I honestly think make things more hazardous. Like overusing indicators every time you go past a parked car on a narrow street. So nobody can tell when you actually want to turn into a driveway or something instead of just that you're going past a parked car. Plus the way they watch the speedo like a hawk and don't allow for speedos being 3% to 8% optimistic (that's an international standard BTW).

             Once my eldest got his restricted, there was another couple of weeks unteaching him some of things he had to do to pass the test, and teach him how to more go with the flow instead of pissing off everyone around him.
       • Grant 6.4.1.3

         1 May 2019 at 12:55 am

         Whenever I get on the open road the thing that scares me the most about other drivers is the widespread failure to keep left. I agree with Andre about the lack of driver training for open road driving. I realised very early in life that this was a skill set I needed to develop fast and I worked hard at developing the ability to read the road ahead, working out how to set up a line through a bend and disciplining myself to stay left and drive to the shoulder delineator. It's my observation that a lot of drivers are scared to get close to the shoulder because they haven't worked out how to judge exactly where their offside wheels are in relation to the shoulder and so their whole driving style is based around driving to the centre line instead of the shoulder line.
       • gsays 6.4.1.4

         1 May 2019 at 7:47 am

         I agree about driver inattention vs road condition.

         My 16yr old son on his restricted license, 100km road, had a driver not stop at a stop sign. He didn't have a chance to brake or swerve.

         Thankfully for us, airbags saved him from serious injuries. The ute he was in was extremely written off.

         Unfortunately the 30something driver's mother in the other car passed away at the scene. He was using Google maps to navigate from Hawkes Bay to Taranaki.

         Just before the the stop sign there is a slightly raised railway crossing. The driver said that as he had crossed the railway line his aattention was then looking further down the road.

         Inexplicably not seeing the stop sign nor the main road.

         Hallelujah for airbags.
         This incident has impacted my driving. STOPPING at stop signs and having another look and taken the edge off my main cruising speed. Both in the car and on my motorbike.
   • mauī 6.5

     30 April 2019 at 7:48 pm

     New Zealand roads are some of the most well engineered in the world and considering the terrain they have to cover too.

     Barriers aren't the answer either, huge costs involved and too much area to cover. I think it's very easy to get up in a safety overreaction when it's impossible to make our roads accident proof.
     • Rosemary McDonald 6.5.1

       30 April 2019 at 8:00 pm

       New Zealand roads are some of the most well engineered in the world and considering the terrain they have to cover too.

       100% agreement. I am constantly awestruck. A trade that should command much more respect.
   • Andre 6.6

     30 April 2019 at 8:24 pm

     Just doubling the budget for yellow paint would make a big difference.

     Next time you're out on the open road, keep an eye out for the little white crosses on the side of the road and note how many of them are near a low visibility corner that has a dashed white centreline around the corner.

     Anywhere that's not safe to pass should have centreline markings that show that. Corners with low visibility should always have double yellow centrelines. When coming up to a corner where there's not enough visibility for passing, the centreline should change to dashed yellow (your side)/whatever is appropriate (other side) around 250m before the corner, then change to solid yellow (your side)/whatever is appropriate (other side) about 120m before the corner.

     When they did this between Puhoi and Warkworth, speeds around the corners dropped noticeably, and tailgating and other aggressive driving also reduced. Solid yellow lines down the centreline do a good job of communicating to drivers that there is some extra hazard here to pay extra attention to.

     Even though the Atiamuri crash site already had double yellows, I'd hazard a bet it would make a significant difference elsewhere. FFS, even late 90s Zimbabwe could mark their roads better than we do.
     • Pat 6.6.1

       30 April 2019 at 8:54 pm

       yellow is invariably ignored by idiots…you could double yellow the entire state highway network and there would still be head ons
       • Andre 6.6.1.1

         30 April 2019 at 9:07 pm

         There would still be some. But not as many. The utility of yellow paint is much more as an aid to the inexperienced and unskilled to help them not make mistakes.

         That one simple cheap solution doesn't fix all the problems isn't a reason not to do it, it just means it's only one part of a multi-part attack on the problem.

         Behaviour control for idiots needs quite a different approach. Personally I'd like to see all patrol cars be mufti, with instructions to be looking for idiots and ignore minor speeding (unless the minor speeding is in itself quite dangerous).
         • Pat 6.6.1.1.1

           30 April 2019 at 9:19 pm

           it is unusually the inexperienced or the unskilled that ignore them…the fact is we are appalling drivers, and getting progressively worse…driverless cars cannot come soon enough, or better still mass public transport
         • Rosemary McDonald 6.6.1.1.2

           30 April 2019 at 9:20 pm

           Behaviour control for idiots needs quite a different approach.

           That driver…the only one in a long line of traffic who thinks that if they just duck in and out of line, passing one or two cars at a time, they'll get to wherever it is their dying to get to all the quicker.

           Nab that bugger. Stern talking to. Make them ride with police and emergency services to get first hand view at how fragile the human body is. Get them to spend serious time in a spinal or head injury unit. Or a burns unit. Still driving like a twat? Implant device than disables any vehicle they sit their sorry arse in.

           Sincere best wishes with the Offspring's driving lessons…and Patricia's right about the professional lessons to finish them off. And defensive driving…https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/112321299/kiwi-drivers-lack-of-ability-on-our-roads-scares-former-supercars-driver-greg-murphy
           • Andre 6.6.1.1.2.1

             30 April 2019 at 9:42 pm

             IMO Murphy missed a couple of big issues we do poorly on here.

             Driver training and testing for most new drivers happens entirely in urban and suburban environments, with maybe a quick diversion onto a motorway from one exit to the next. Sure it's the most intense driving environment with lots of different stimulus from different directions, but crashes are mostly just bent sheet metal and minor injuries (unless you're a pedestrian or cyclist). But most serious injuries and deaths occur in open road crashes. Unfortunately the only training and testing my kids are getting in open road driving is from me, not from anyone with professional expertise.

             The second big issue is about attitude and behaviour towards other drivers. One of the first things I talked about with my kids is how when they first started, they woulod be hesitant- they wouldn't be sure exactly what others expected and they would slow or stop in weird places, which is dangerous so we try to move them through the hesitant level as quickly as possible. The next level is relaxed – where they know what they should do and what others expect and they do it. But if something unusual happens or someone else makes a mistake, it doesn't bother anyone and they just deal with it and move on. Then the next level is assertive – where they can use "body language" to head off someone that looks like they're about to pull a dick move that's going to mess up traffic and that they're comfortable accelerating hard to use a smaller than ideal gap when traffic is busy.

             I tell them I want them to be relaxed, but able to shade into assertive occasionally when needed. And that I never want them to go to the next level of being aggressive, coz that's when the chances of people getting hurt goes way up.

             But none of the training materials or any of the instructors really have much of anything to say about attitude and how that relates to interaction with other road users.
             • Pat …

               30 April 2019 at 9:58 pm

               and none of that can account for idiots
               • Andre …

                 30 April 2019 at 10:13 pm

                 No it doesn't account for all idiots.

                 But it might help some be not quite so idiotic in their late teens and early twenties. Certainly my mates and I never heard anything like that in our early years of driving. If we had heard things like that and had it modeled for us, it might have lowered the peaks of stupidity of some of the things we got up to.

                 It's not a problem with one silver bullet answer. There's just a whole lot of incremental improvements across all the different aspects of the problem.
                 • Pat …

                   30 April 2019 at 10:26 pm

                   am not sure why but you seem to be assuming that the idiots are predominantly young and inexperienced where my observations are that is far from the reality….idiocy is prevalent across all demographies
                   • Andre …

                     1 May 2019 at 5:29 am

                     Those in their early-20s (aged 20-24) are significantly more likely to die as a result of a road accident. In 2016 there were 39 deaths in that age group, equivalent to about 21 per 100,000 people – about three times the rate for the total population.

                     https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/97953239/road-toll-which-kiwi-road-users-are-most-at-risk
           • Psycho Milt 6.6.1.1.2.2

             1 May 2019 at 6:13 am

             That driver…the only one in a long line of traffic who thinks that if they just duck in and out of line, passing one or two cars at a time, they'll get to wherever it is their dying to get to all the quicker.

             As someone who does that a lot, and has had to pass up to five at a time, I can tell you that they're not just thinking that, they do get there a lot quicker. And the number of crashes caused by someone overtaking multiple slow drivers where there's plenty of room to overtake them? None that I've heard of.

             If you're forming an 80 kph convoy behind a camper van or crappy old truck, don't feel superior to someone who doesn't see any reason to join you in that convoy, just let them past: keep left and use any length of hard shoulder if there are people waiting to pass: keep a good following distance so there's room for overtakers to pull back in: try not honking your horn indignantly as they come past you. Driving slowly isn't a virtue.
             • Rosemary McDonald …

               1 May 2019 at 8:28 am

               I can tell you that they're not just thinking that, they do get there a lot quicker.

               Really? So why is it so common to meet up with that 'gotta pass' numpty at the next set of lights or bottle neck that my man and I now consider it normal? And we are in a heavy vehicle doing 90kph.

               My guess is that you, in your haste and desperate bid to demonstrate your superior driving ability, simply are not registering the other vehicles around you.

               If you're forming an 80 kph convoy behind a camper van or crappy old truck, don't feel superior to someone who doesn't see any reason to join you in that convoy, just let them past:

               Make no mistake sunshine…I am more than happy to see your rear disappear down the highway. I have no desire to get caught up in your suicide bid. Unfortunately, as I noted above, 15 ks down the road or so and there you are….stuck in the same convoy as the rest of us.

               try not honking your horn indignantly as they come past you.

               Now that is interesting. If you are getting honked at when passing another vehicle, could it be because you are driving in a manner that disregards the existence of other road users and the honker is simply trying to get you to realise there is actually a live human in that vehicle you just passed…or forced off the road in the on coming lane?

               Driving slowly isn't a virtue.

               Yes Psycho Milt, of course you're right. Better dead with your ego intact than stuck in traffic eh?
               • Psycho Milt …

                 1 May 2019 at 8:46 am

                 So why is it so common to meet up with that 'gotta pass' numpty at the next set of lights or bottle neck…

                 My comment assumes the person is driving long distance. There's not much point in passing all the slow-vehicle convoys if you're only travelling 50k.

                 My guess is that you, in your haste and desperate bid to demonstrate your superior driving ability, simply are not registering the other vehicles around you.

                 Now that sure would be dangerous driving. On the contrary, overtaking tends to focus the mind very strongly on what other vehicles are doing.

                 If you are getting honked at when passing another vehicle, could it be because you are driving in a manner that disregards the existence of other road users …

                 One isn't privy to the thinking of other drivers of course, but the circumstances it's happened in suggest to me there are just some people who regard overtaking as inherently dangerous driving. I might just as well honk at them for queuing up behind a slow vehicle, driving too close to the vehicle in front, not using the hard shoulder to let others past, and leaving people like me half a dozen vehicles to get past, but honking at other people because you don't like their driving is a dick move.

                 Better dead with your ego intact than stuck in traffic eh?

                 Overtaking slow vehicles is not inherently fatal, just like driving slowly is not inherently a virtue.
                 • Rosemary McDonald …

                   1 May 2019 at 8:59 am

                   For the last six years or so our regular trip is between south of Hamilton and north of Kaitaia. Our observations of the 'gotta pass' brigade is generally focused on the sections of SH 1 or SH 16 where there are few, if any passing lanes…(on which of course we slow down to 60 or 70 ks to encourage everyone to pass us.) The traffic lights are generally the ones around Warkworth and the southern approach to Whangarei. And the usual pinch points at the Brynderwyns, Pohuehue, Dome Valley, etc.

                   Having said that…even on the motorways around Auckland we'll catch up with vehicles that passed us with a hiss and a roar ten or twenty ks back. On one hand its amusing that these drivers seem blithely oblivious they are not actually travelling any further than the rest, but it is also quite frightening they are, well, oblivious.
                   • Psycho Milt …

                     1 May 2019 at 9:33 am

                     Ah, I see. The upper North Island is a driver's nightmare that I do my best to avoid. Most of my open-road driving is between Rotorua and Wellington.
   • bwaghorn 6.7

     1 May 2019 at 6:26 am

     Ever noticed how most people drive out by the center line . Roads are wider than most realise if everyone drove to the left of their lane they would greatly lower the head ones .

     Its saved me more than once .
     • Graeme 6.7.1

       1 May 2019 at 7:18 am

       That's to follow the visual cue of the centre line, rather than visualise the whole road. And to look for overtaking opportunities, and block the driver behind from doing the same. In short poor driving skills.

       A large downside of driving to the left of the lane is the same drivers as above who interpret your action as an invitation to overtake and tailgate until they can. Moving back to the middle / right of the lane moves them back to a better following distance.

       The problem is virtually none of us have had proper driver training, we just meet a minimum standard of vehicle control and road rules and then get shoved out to learn as we go. Combine that with a natural tendency to want to cram 10 – 12 hours into an 8 hour day, and we get what we have.

       Greg Murphy was calling for better training and regular retesting a couple of days ago, which even looking through his large conflict of interest, is a very good idea.
     • Andre 6.7.2

       1 May 2019 at 7:51 am

       There isn't a "one size fits all" for good road position. The physical road environment, how you are driving, what other road users around you want to do are factors.

       If I'm just cruising at 90-95ish because I'm not in a hurry and can't be arsed continually watching for cops and keeping an eye out for cops or have a trailer on, then I'll be as far left as reasonable without kicking up stuff off the road onto cars behind, and try to make it easy for cars behind to pass where there's opportunities.

       If I'm more pressed for time, then I'll be closer to the centreline and closer to the car in front, for visibility, being able to pass quicker and safer where reasonable, and to communicate to the vehicle in front that I want to pass.

       On residential streets I'll also stay close-ish to the centreline – because soft easily damageable hazards (kids, pets, cyclists) are most likely to suddenly come from the side of the road

       As far as being able to save yourself from a head-on on rural roads, knowing how to safely put a couple of wheels at speed onto an unsealed shoulder is a big one that a lot of people don't know how to do. Getting off the brakes before the wheels leave the seal and being smooth and gentle with the steering goes against instinct and has to be learned. It takes a lot of rural driving experience and/or specific training to learn it, which mostly city drivers won't get.
       • bwaghorn 6.7.2.1

         1 May 2019 at 12:24 pm

         As long as you're comfortable with the fact that you are 3 feet closer to a head on when your in ready to pounce mode all good i guess
         • Andre 6.7.2.1.1

           1 May 2019 at 12:29 pm

           You're also in a better position to see it coming and react early, rather than being totally caught by surprise when the vehicle in front suddenly dives to the left.
     • Rosemary McDonald 6.7.3

       1 May 2019 at 8:37 am

       I have noticed that the most helpful improvement is a newly painted white line on the left hand side. Especially at night or poor visibility.

       I try to drive so I can just see that white line through my left wing mirror.
7. joe90 7

   30 April 2019 at 7:10 pm

   A rather long, cheery read for a Tuesday evening.

   The asteroid was vaporized on impact. Its substance, mingling with vaporized Earth rock, formed a fiery plume, which reached halfway to the moon before collapsing in a pillar of incandescent dust. Computer models suggest that the atmosphere within fifteen hundred miles of ground zero became red hot from the debris storm, triggering gigantic forest fires. As the Earth rotated, the airborne material converged at the opposite side of the planet, where it fell and set fire to the entire Indian subcontinent. Measurements of the layer of ash and soot that eventually coated the Earth indicate that fires consumed about seventy per cent of the world’s forests. Meanwhile, giant tsunamis resulting from the impact churned across the Gulf of Mexico, tearing up coastlines, sometimes peeling up hundreds of feet of rock, pushing debris inland and then sucking it back out into deep water, leaving jumbled deposits that oilmen sometimes encounter in the course of deep-sea drilling.

   The damage had only begun. Scientists still debate many of the details, which are derived from the computer models, and from field studies of the debris layer, knowledge of extinction rates, fossils and microfossils, and many other clues. But the over-all view is consistently grim. The dust and soot from the impact and the conflagrations prevented all sunlight from reaching the planet’s surface for months. Photosynthesis all but stopped, killing most of the plant life, extinguishing the phytoplankton in the oceans, and causing the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere to plummet. After the fires died down, Earth plunged into a period of cold, perhaps even a deep freeze. Earth’s two essential food chains, in the sea and on land, collapsed. About seventy-five per cent of all species went extinct. More than 99.9999 per cent of all living organisms on Earth died, and the carbon cycle came to a halt.

   https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/the-day-the-dinosaurs-died

   alternative link for those who've used up their monthly freebies

   http://archive.li/8uWyN
   • Anne 7.1

     30 April 2019 at 8:34 pm

     Wow! That is some story. Makes one realise just what insignificant little creatures we humans really are, albeit with superior brains… if only we would use them to help ensure our survival.
     • Bruce 7.1.1

       30 April 2019 at 9:19 pm

       George Carlin on saving the planet

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHgJKrmbYfg
       • Pat 7.1.1.1

         30 April 2019 at 9:46 pm

         correct…and potentially very incorrect….venus springs to mind
8. SPC 8

   30 April 2019 at 7:35 pm

   The government built in some guarantees for safe nurse staffing with Health Boards, why are they not doing the same with doctor staffing/hours of work?

   https://www.asms.org.nz/news/asms-news/2018/07/30/government-led-accord-on-public-hospital-safe-nurse-staffing-levels-welcomed/
9. Muttonbird 9

   30 April 2019 at 7:40 pm

   Oh look, Dr Cut-n-Paste has gone behind the paywall. He'll be happy he's preaching solely to his own audience now…

   https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12226627
10. Dennis Frank 10

    30 April 2019 at 8:52 pm

    Oz election looming, half the electorate are underwhelmed by both dinosaur parties (all parties actually): https://www.roymorgan.com/morganpoll

    "A special Roy Morgan SMS Poll conducted for the Australian Futures Project last week on April 17-18, 2019 with a cross-section of 1,546 electors shows 27% of electors are yet to make up their mind who they will vote for in next month’s Federal Election and 44% of them say no party is addressing the issues that matter to them."

    A quarter of the electorate currently undecided, only a 2% gap, so no matter how useless the govt keeps proving itself to be, seems like the opposition keeps trying to prove it can wriggle under the extremely low bar they've set!
11. Incognito 11

    30 April 2019 at 9:27 pm

    No wonder that Indian students are so keen or even desperate to study here. Knowing their stories might give pause to some people who accuse them of coming here and abusing the system.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/112362614/faulty-marking-software-blamed-for-20-student-suicides-in-india
12. Rosemary McDonald 12

    30 April 2019 at 11:53 pm

    Assistant commissioner Richard Chambers said the fact 80 per cent of the population was using 16 kilograms a week of meth "was a lot" and disappointing. He described the data as the "best information we have ever had".

    So, I read the above and damn near fell off my chair. (And since I'm not using any meth, does that mean some poor bugger is using 32 kilograms per week?)

    It is late and I am weary, but even the Young Person thought it an unfortunate quote from an article chocka block with poorly presented data.

    And if this is the best they can do….

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/112352168/meth-nzs-top-drug–its-in-the-water
13. vto 13

    1 May 2019 at 6:09 am

    Let me tell you what I find very annoying right now in NZ…

    The idea that NZ is a hotbed of extremism and hatred, or even in anyway extreme and full of hate.

    The Christchurch terror attacks were carried out by a foreigner.

    It was a foreign attack on NZ soil for fucks sake

    We are doing our country a significant disservice by forgetting this at all times and assuming it was a New Zealand thing.

    Bullshit

    See main article in New Zealand Geographic magazine for a prime example of this.

    .

    I'm over it and am pushing back on anyone who claims it is a New Zealand thing.

    Once more – it was a foreigner who attacked

    Like it was the French Government who sun k the rainbow warrior – it wasn;t fucking us.

    .

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