Frustrated and confused by ineffective changes to Mosgiel roads

ON driving in Mosgiel, it would appear there are severe cases of arteriosclerosis around the streets.

The edifices around corners are supposed to be a safety device. I fail to see how this works.

I ask what surveys were done to prove these are effective in the arena of safety, how the surveys were done and what other means the council undertook to come up with such ludicrous proposals.

I also ask what ratio of accidents have occurred at the corners, in particular, where these blockages have been set up.

What surveys were done to ascertain how many pedestrians use these footpaths at the intersections?

On the corner closest to my home, which my parents have owned for over 60 years, there have been no accidents involving children and very few involving vehicles.

A cyclist is actually being put at risk in having to cycle around and into the lane of cars, leaving a car moving in the same direction to have to cross the centre line.

A person waiting to cross the road may feel they are safe in walking out to the line which is drawn closest to the lane. In fact, by doing this they are standing closer to the moving traffic than what they would be standing on the footpath waiting for traffic to pass.

It would make it easier in a moment of inattention, by either the pedestrian or the person driving the vehicle, to misjudge and have a serious accident.

It would be by far the safest, and more costeffective, to simply put a stop sign on each corner and judder bars prior to the school.

By all means put in ‘‘no stopping’’ lines around the corners but not so far as to take away parks which inconvenience not only parents picking up and dropping off children but also the houses which they are outside of.

Election

Jennifer Thomas

Mosgiel

DOES our recent election suggest a reawakening of the social psyche?

A rejection of the hegemony of negativity and sleazy, selfserving cant that has become the dominant schema of social discourse institutionalised over the past few decades — perpetuated by those lacking the motivation and spine to think for themselves.

Jacinda Ardern’s example of intelligent, knowledgeable, genuine and rational expression and thought contrasts the disingenuous and destructiveness embedded in our society — and that progress into our postpostmodern future requires positive, realistic and open minds capable of confronting the devious intent of cant and reinvigorating our appreciation of individuality, independence, critique and humour that is necessary for personal and social lives of genuine quality and value.

Richard Barber

Andersons Bay