New Zealand

General election outcome may swing on Auckland light rail

The government will probably lose the general election if it continues with its proposed Auckland Dominion Road Light Rail project, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

Up to 10,000 vehicles may be written off after recent floods

The recent catastrophic floods in the Auckland region may have caused more vehicle damage than any other single event in this country’s history, says the car review website dogandlemon.

Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson says:

“As of last Friday, about 4000 vehicles had been written off by insurers and sent for auction. Many commentators expect that figure to at least double.”

The inconvenient truth: lowered speed limits have not reduced road deaths

2022’s high road toll was not bad luck, but bad management, says the car review website dogandlemon.

Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, says:

Trucks do the most damage on our roads, but pay the least towards fixing them

20% of the road toll involves trucks. Seven members of the same family died in this head-on collision with a truck near Picton. They were not speeding.

 

A call by the Road Transport Forum for increased spending on roads is “utterly hypocritical” says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

New Zealand’s 'Third World' roads claim more innocent lives

The police and government are pushing discredited road safety strategies, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, says:

“For years we’ve been told that lowering speeds and a heavy enforcement of speed limits would lower the annual road toll. This has proved to be untrue."

Calls for more police pursuits misguided

Calls for the New Zealand police to resume active pursuits of fleeing car drivers would not reduce crime and would lead to multiple deaths, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

Criminals openly selling stolen cars, and getting away with it

Criminals are exploiting the vehicle registration system to sell stolen cars without penalty, says the car review website dogandlemon.com

Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson says:

“Thanks to an incredibly slack vehicle registration system, criminals are stealing vehicles, then simply going online and transferring the ownership. They then sell these stolen vehicles and walk away with the cash.”

“Worse, the police seem largely uninterested in catching these criminals.”

Government ‘asleep at the wheel’ over road safety

The New Zealand government has utterly failed to take effective action to lower the road toll, says the car review website, dogandlemon.com.

Congestion charges hand over our roads to wealthy motorists

Congestion charges penalise poor people and fail to deal with the reasons for traffic congestion, says the car review website dogandlemon.com. 

Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson says:

“Congestion charges discourage ride-sharing and encourage wealthier people to use cars. But cities like Auckland weren’t built by wealthy people; Auckland was built by poor people who often had little choice but to drive to work.”

Why the government’s road safety strategy is failing

Road safety strategies targeting the average driver have been a dismal failure, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is a respected road safety campaigner, says:

“The vast majority of deaths over Christmas involved reckless behaviour. Road crashes involving reckless behaviour are rarely caused by the average driver. Instead, these accidents are usually caused by the very young, the very poor, the very distracted, the very reckless and the very blotto". 

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