Rudeness in Parliament

I sometimes watch Question Time in Parliament. I have noticed that the person from the Government answering a question does not eye the person, but looks away. To me it shows that they are rude and do not have the guts to look the questioner in the eye.

The females were the best at looking the questioner in the eye, particularly Paula Bennett and Nikki Kaye who were the best.

The best men were Chris Finlayson and Nick Smith, and the worst were Steven Joyce, John Key and, especially, Bill English. decline in road deaths.

Will they therefore now be honest enough to admit that their latest initiative, to inflict a zero tolerance regime through the the Christmas-New Year holiday period, was an utter failure?

The suggestion of having no tolerance for ‘‘speeding’’ vehicles from December 1, was supposed to be some sort of magic formula for reducing road fatalities.

In fact, through the holiday period, 16 people died on the roads, more than double last year’s seven deaths.

It is tragic that there are any fatalities. Just imagine the anguish caused to all those families.

But is it time now for the police to admit that merely continually reducing the speed limit (or enforcing it to a ridiculous degree) is simplistic and even counterproductive.

New Zealand First police spokesman Ron Mark was spot on last week, when he called the zero tolerance speed campaign a ‘‘failed experiment’’. He accused the police and the Government of stealth taxation via speeding fines. I agree with him.

I wish the police resources were used properly, instead of branding a driver going 56kmh on a wide road in low traffic and good weather a ‘‘speedster’’.

As I drove around this holiday period I felt there was more erratic driving than ever. Was this because drivers were constantly checking their speedometers and braking, rather than merely driving smoothly (and safely) as in times past?

The fact is that the ridiculously tighter speeding restrictions do nothing to lower the number of road deaths, because they target the wrong people. They are hitting the drivers who might be going a few kilometres an hour over a stated limit, but are not in fact ‘‘speeding’’

The idiots, who are belting along our roads at breathtaking speeds, and are often impaired by alcohol, are the real culprits.

Why don’t the police spend their time chasing them instead of hitting on easy targets and quick revenue gathering?