Economics

The New Zealand National Party’s $500 million pledge to fix potholes does not address the major cause of our damaged roads, says the car review website dogandlemon.com. 

Dogandlemon.com editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, says:

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.”

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.

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.”