Truckie calls for better roads
A Nelson-based truck-driver is calling for better infrastructure after three hairraising near-misses in as many hours.
Henry McTaggart said in a single halfnight shift, driving three and a half hours each way, he had four cars driving dangerously around him.
‘‘That one Saturday night ... just on the way down I had three different cars, one on the way back, driving dangerously,’’ he said.
‘‘The first one, I’m going up Spooners [Range, on State Highway six], a car passes me on double-yellow lines, sees another car coming and keeps going. I was that disgusted by this person’s behaviour I actually stopped to call the police.’’
He said later in the same night, a couple on a motorbike passed him on double-yellow lines in a strong crosswind.
‘‘They could have easily gone under the front of my truck.’’
McTaggart said he was hesitant to put himself in the public eye, but said he felt compelled to do something, and so was planning on writing to the NZTA with his ideas.
‘‘I don’t usually speak up, but it’s got to the point if no one does anything then nothing is going to change.’’
He said his time on the road had given him plenty of time to observe and think about what would help reduce the dangers of driving, and he was convinced infrastructure was the answer.
‘‘We’ve got more vehicles on the road, bigger vehicles on the road, more people wanting to do the healthy or environmental thing riding bikes; that infrastructure just needs to be updated.
‘‘My pet peeve used to be cyclists; but the more I think about it, it’s actually not their fault or our fault that our roads are getting so dated.’’
He said cycle-paths that took cyclists off the open road where possible were good, and when it came to other drivers, more opportunities to pass would go a long way.
‘‘It’s not practical to have a slow vehicle bay all the way down to Christchurch, but at least say every 20 to 30 kilometres put a slip bay that hopefully a truck driver would be courteous enough to give way.’’
McTaggart’s thoughts echo the ‘‘gold standard’’ of Sweden’s road policy, which is to build roads which are designed to reduce crash severity and therefore reduce fatalities and serious injuries in car accidents and which aspires to zero road deaths. Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter has said the Government would investigate the same system for New Zealand.
However, McTaggart said that in the meantime, drivers on dated roads needed to think twice about their own skills.
‘‘It’s the same ridiculous behaviour ... it’s lack of knowledge and it’s bad habits.’’
I don’t usually speak up, but it’s got to the point if no one does anything then nothing is going to change.
Henry McTaggart