Driving ‘like a Kiwi’ ill-advised

The front-page article Racist note shocks car owner (Feb 25) is likely to provoke a mixture of responses from readers, as it should.

My initial reaction was annoyance, until I identified the (presumably unintended) irony contained in the message. Its author instructed the car’s driver to ‘‘act like a Kiwi’’.

Does this edict mean – at least in the Christchurch context and, potentially, in the Queenstown one – that that driver is being encouraged to tailgate other drivers; break the speed limits; run red lights; fail to stop at intersections marked with large, prominently displayed, STOP signs; fail to stop at amber lights when that can be done safely; drive high-centreof-gravity vehicles as if they are highperformance sports cars; and generally to exhibit idiotic and selfish driving behaviour? Let’s hope not.

If this is what is meant by acting as a Kiwi person should – and if the recipient of the note chooses to not behave in this ‘‘Kiwi way’’ as I believe she will – then I would much prefer to be sharing the roads with her.

I strongly suspect she is more literate and numerate than are many Kiwi drivers. With her driving on New Zealand roads, my survival prospects will likely be enhanced. For that I am most grateful.

Dr Gregory Lee, Avonhead

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shooting without warning. This happened when such a visit ended with police dog Gage lying dead and his handler being rushed to hospital by a colleague.

The clock cannot then be turned back, enabling the officer to change his mind about being armed.

Sad to say, we live in today’s world, and we need to think of the safety of our police officers who face daily abuse and violence. They cannot be expected to deal with such things armed only with a polite request to ‘‘come quietly’’. against her, has to become the way of the future. The alternative spells disaster and ruin in the medium to long term.

Tony Devenish, Hillsborough

Brian Ward, Papanui

Karen Marra, Sockburn