Our planners and bureaucrats and politicians are using safety as a reason, rationale or excuse to help implement many of their changes. These changes to the way we live, drive and work together, may in fact have very little if anything to do with safety.
Safety seems to be the new religion of the politicians, bureaucrats, planners and the clipboard brigade. It is very difficult to oppose a change made for “safety”.
We all see, with the clarity of hindsight, how many of the government’s actions have been much more about control than health.
Part of the government’s rationale for the imposition of a myriad of authoritarian Covid rules was that it was for our safety and that of others. You could argue that the reason why so many people complied was that they believed that was essential to keep themselves and others safe.
Auckland Council and AT (Auckland Transport) are masters of the art of using safety as an excuse.
In fact, a recent AT “safer speeds campaign” has much fanfare about SAFETY.
Safer speeds apparently mean speed reduction – just look at the disaster of Auckland Central streets with 40km/h and indeed 30km/h speeds on central roads 24/7!
In the pursuit of this wonderful goal, AT decided that a whole block of Mt Eden streets (more than 18 quiet residential streets) needed their speed limit dropped to 30km/h because there was Maungawhau School smack in the middle of the block.
The only justification given was that it would be safer for the kiddies. This may be true. But why specifically 30km/h for all these streets? Remember this is slower than the speed limit of 40 km/h in temporary school zones that are found near schools on main roads (which were also imposed on us in the name of safety).
A note to AT, asking how many road accidents with kiddies had actually been recorded in the Mt Eden block slated for 30km/h, was met with silence. Then, as if by magic, the proposed speed limit reduction proposal was dropped for the Mt Eden block in the next flyer delivered. It wasn’t magic: it was Mt Eden residents responding to the AT stupidity of 30km/h 24hours a day 7 days a week for twice a day school travel for limited days in the year.
Safety has also been used as an excuse for Auckland’s wild proliferation of sleeping policemen, traffic calming measures, Sump and Suspension (S&S) destroyers, or whatever you call the speed humps in roads. Here are two examples out of the multitude that have been installed recently.
Particularly annoying concrete sump and suspension (S&S) destroyers have been put in outside St Cuthberts School on Market Road. Annoying because it is a harsh concrete bump and annoying because, despite the school doing really well with lollipop patrols twice a day, AT nevertheless decided to put in a 24/7 S&S destroyer. The fact is that during school times the lollipop patrol was doing the job. I could be wrong (and I hope I am) but did St Cuthberts School have a lot of serious road accidents involving kiddies on the crossing?
Another VERY annoying S&S destroyer is in place on Sandringham Road at the Burnley Terrace shops. This is so harsh that it causes huge queues and traffic disruption both ways, as drivers slow to less than 15 km/h so they don’t have their sump or suspension destroyed. There are no schools in the vicinity but one thing that we can be very sure of is that a traffic light controlled crossing would be better for traffic flow and pedestrians.
I am sure that you can think of many more examples of changes foisted on us in the name of safety. Don’t even get me started on workplace safety, which has gone from simple common sense to needing a clipboard of forms and a lawyer to understand your responsibilities.
The very next time you see a change or a proposed change in the name of safety, look carefully. Don’t buy the “It’s for safety” excuse. It is likely to have very little to do with safety and quite a lot to do with reducing opposition to a planned change.
