Time to look at the road safety leaders
Your editorial Saturday “Get serious about Road safety” is a long standing repetitive Australian mantra, as deaths and injuries continue at an alarming rate, and have not decreased for 10 years. We are still in the middle league of nations for road trauma.
Police and safety experts are powerless in the face of mostly stupidity. And overall road deaths are now rising again in every state but NSW. Maybe we are on the wrong track here? The only bright light is the ambulance and hospital trauma care system, which is excellent, we rarely hear that “they died on the way to hospital”, if you arrive there, you will live, with injuries well attended.
In Tasmania we have hundreds of kilometres of narrow single lane roads, where vehicles pass at less than a metre apart, doing a legal 100 km/h each, an unsurvivable 200km impact. Simultaneously drivers are talking with passengers, fiddling with dashboard and radio buttons, sneaking a look at text messages, often getting drowsy with the warmth, add in drugs, alcohol, youth, poorly maintained and ageing vehicles, unused seat belts, and reducing fatalities becomes a huge task. The human behind the wheel is the main problem, and the eventual solution is probably the driverless car.
Sweden, the world leader in reducing road trauma has taken an engineer’s view, with a 99 per cent compliance with speed, installing over 2000 detection cameras, breathalyser toll gates and making crashes less frequent and more survivable with crumple zones, traffic separation, separate bicycle lanes, pedestrian overpasses and tunnels, and has more than halved the Australian death and injury rate. Let’s look to the leaders.
Bryan Walpole
Sandy Bay
On notice
Dear premier and treasurer. Handouts to Collingwood netball team. No return. $400k handout to failed Longford Motorsport event. Where has the money gone? $100k to Clarkson for advice on state football team. Paid, but no return. Mr Ferguson lurches from one disaster to another (let’s not even consider the mess in the health department). And now no money for extension to the Sorell causeways, or any other road building projects. You guys are on notice. Time to go.
Craig Hills
Bellerive
I will do the job for less
I was appalled to read (27/5) that the government is shelling out $540,000 pa. for the sinecure of Governor of Tasmania. If they think this anachronism is really necessary they could save money by auctioning it off to the lowest bidder. Myself I would do the “job” for $200,000 and moderate use of the wine cellar. Also I would remain in my own residence and have The Big House converted to temporary accommodation for the homeless – a win-win for all. Any retreat from $200,000?
Stan Forbes
Battery Point
Airbnb stampede
Of the 23,700 residential properties in greater Hobart whose boundaries are Taroona, Mt. Wellington and Creek Road 6900 (19 per cent) of these are rentals. From the latest Council statistics of 850 (4 per cent) are now registered for Airbnb. Registered but not necessarily active as due to the
council’s endeavours to close that option of converting to Airbnb in the future there has been a stampede to register with an eye to the possibility as a future Airbnb operation.
Chris Merridew
Sandy Bay
Get rid of Putin
You know it never ceases to amaze me of the gall of the Russian hierarchy in their political whinging, whenever the US or allied nations visit locations near, but outside Russia’s sovereign borders, “US flexes muscles in Putin’s backyard”, Mercury May 26. As part of NATO they are entitled to visit another member, Norway. They were invited to visit, not invade, and obliterate the local population! Russia has no conscience when it comes to harassing or intimidating neighbouring countries, or using their own people, or mercenaries as cannon fodder. I’m sure that most of the Russian population would not support the war in Ukraine, if they could see the real picture. The sooner Putin and his cronies exit this mortal coil, the better.
John Holley
West Moonah
Salmon demands
I am not a bit surprised that the new Brazilian owners of Huon Aquaculture have demanded that changes be made to speed up the salmon farming approvals process in Tasmania. I recall the slight of hand when the state government changed the 10-year Tasmania Salmon Plan to a Tasmania Salmon Plan in November 2022. Dropping the 10year reference was explained by the Department representatives at a public meeting as enabling the plan to be more dynamic or responsive. I stated in a talking point in January 2023 that I feared the industry would demand changes to the plan immediately after it was completed. Here we are, 25 days after the plan was released by Jo Palmer and the companies are making demands.
The plan is all about facilitating what the industry wants while omitting action on anything the community wants. In terms of the key community concerns about farms in inshore areas, the final plan says on page 10 “The government will support planning proposals in areas that are further away from land, higher energy, more exposed and deeper waters” while adding three exemptions. This says it will facilitate new offshore farms but makes no mention of closing inshore farms.
The plan also states “government will look at policy settings to incentivise the relocation of existing inshore operational and dormant finfish leases to areas further offshore, particularly leases that may be constrained for social, economic or environmental reasons.” So taxpayers’ money will be offered to companies if they want to move inshore farms.
Peter McGlone
CEO Tasmanian Conservation Trust
Thankyou
Congratulations to Jacqueline Ward and The Mercury for sharing such a heartfelt story of resilience and dedication. Jacqueline, your story is very inspiring and I wish you and your family every success going forward.
These are the stories that I enjoy reading.
Mel Jones
Kingston