Keep the rally cars off the city’s roads

REGARDING the Rally of Otago.

Living in Dunedin’s central business district, we expect a certain amount of noise (empty trailers hitting the bumps on Jetty St, street racers etc) but Saturday morning at 6.40 was completely beyond the pale.

The noise of the first ‘‘rally’’ car can only be described as 50 rabid dogs with megaphones — made worse by the car having to wait at the intersection of Jetty and Princes Sts for a green light. It was revving that hard it set off a parked car’s alarm.

This was followed by some more cars over the next hour, although it appeared there was a different route taken by others (turning on to the oneway street from Portsmouth Dr).

Eleven hours later, different ‘‘rally’’ cars were revving up at the same intersection.

I am angry at being woken, but frustrated at the organisers’/drivers’ lack of consideration of the public.

It is clear that these cars, although street legal, are not suited for city/ suburban driving, needing high revs to make a simple hill start at Jetty St and having trouble driving smoothly in the traffic of Andersons Bay Rd.

It is time for the organisers to acknowledge that the collation/ inspection point needs to be moved to an area where the vehicle’s movement has a minimal impact on the public.

There is no positive PR in driving through the CBD and suburbs. Surely a move to industrial land or one of the air facilities on the Taieri is due?

Bill Ingram

Dunedin

SO the police can’t put their finger on the reason for the cluster of car crashes (ODT, 16.4.18)?

There was a car rally in the general area of these crashes. I had contact with a rally driver whose car left the road in the Waipori forest and was saved by a tree from the river.

Those involved in the road accidents might not have been directly associated with the rally but the rally would likely have transmitted zoom ripples through the region’s roads. Allan Golden

Dunedin