Local Opinions Matter

There has been quite a lot going on one way and another, but I will focus on community engagement through consultation, the type we have been invited to participate in over the last few months, and speed.

Our opinions on a variety of plans and topics have been invited including cats, dogs, water, trade waste, sports investment plan, annual budget, stopping marine pests, how much capital banks should have, the right to end your life with dignity, fireworks, speed limits, the next big dormitory suburb in our community, and use of rural land, to name a few that I have noticed.

Often there is outrage from campaigners and lobby groups that they feel they are not being listened too, their views were not taken into account during the decision making process and that consultation does not work.

The opportunities we get are mostly to provide feedback on proposals and looking to understand our concerns and the aspirations for our community. Furthermore there is an expectation that there is an obligation on us as citizens not to take democracy for granted and to engage in matters which will affect us.

However I do worry that rural, less populated communities have their voice overwhelmed by the urban dwellers. This was illustrated in the results of the Fire Works Ban consultation. The Council published a detailed analysis of the near eight thousand responses. As I recall round 73% of the responses were from urban dwellers. How do we get our rural voice heard in any significant volume amidst what we already know to be a very ill-informed urban view of agriculture and what that community does do?

And there is yet another issue which has been illustrated by the speed sign consultation. Apparently 90% of the roads in the proposal to reduce speed limits are in rural areas to counter the number of deaths and injuries on Auckland’s roads. Speed is attributed as a major factor, and the topic of speed limits is an emotive and polarising issue. Changes need to make sense to people and be backed up by evidence.

The number of fines handed out as a result of being caught speeding last year was more than three times higher than in 2017 and 20 times more than it was in 2013. The numbers are mind boggling. In 2018 there were 1,191,484 speeding infringement notices issued. That means on over a million separate occasions, drivers simply ignored the safe speed road signs. And why?

Research in NZ has shown that drivers in general, and novice drivers in particular overestimate their driving skills. As one researcher noted, drivers, “... have poor insight; they overestimate their skills and underestimate the difficulty of driving.”

Other research showed that drivers tended to overestimate the time savings at high speeds and underestimate the time savings at lower speeds. However most drivers were aware that increasing speed above 100km/hr would use more fuel.

So in short, drivers generally don’t give a damn about road speed safety signs; believe they are much better drivers than they really are; overestimate the travel time saved through speeding; and although they know speed will cost them more petrol, they do it anyway.

So we think reducing the road safety speed limits will make a difference how?  

 

First published in the Franklin County News p14 May 9th 2019