Life's little messages!

Kia Ora,

Obviously I have missed life's big messages or I would be wildly rich & making a difference right now. But sometimes life has a way of sending messages to confirm what you have said.

So it happened yesterday. No sooner had I said those targeted little issues are connected to the chronically bad driving in this country in my previous post than I was nearly a victim of that chronically bad driving.

Where I am based is a road that used to have a much higher speed limit. It has now been lowered(for a few years actually) to 50kmh. Not that you would believe it as it is not uncommon for vehicles to use it as a drag strip & I am not just talking about the boy racers.

It means that exiting this site can be dangerous. On one end is a wide corner where you hear approaching vehicles brake heavily from one direction to be able to get around. The situation yesterday was as I exited with a vehicle just appearing at the corner I had to brake as a turning truck was taking longer than normal to get in. No problems if the vehicle at the corner was doing the speed limit.
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After checking my speed to avoid the truck then starting to continue I suddenly hear a horn been leant on & see this vehicle approaching very fast.

As usualy the reaction of the person was like I was at fault. As one occupant here says, now they just carry on in normal speed to emphasize the point of the speed limit. This I did & the vehicle which had been speeding continued to tail gate down the road. So after they turned off I went back & found their registration(rather distinctive vehicle) so it can be reported to the police.

Hopefully this will bring the 'revenue gathering' to our street. Though a constant action they take at one end of this area seems to have no effect on people.
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This is very topical at present here in New Zealand due to a bad weekend of road accidents resulting in deaths & in particular cycle deaths.

One programme to teach people about road rules was highlighted on TV last night with Invercargil having pre schoolers learning the rules & been given a high visability vest. A very early start to education on road rules.

But will it work?

When I cycle I wear a high visability vest, yet drivers still don't see you. As a driving writer said yesterday "NZ drivers only tend to look ten metres in front where as drivers overseas look or plan up to hundreds of metres in front. Something I have been told off for doing by a New Zealand passenger.
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It is always interesting how life sends these little messages as if to ram home a lesson or point. But like the police, when working security the first thing that comes to mind when people are breaking driving laws "what else are you doing or are up too?"

It is the little things that give you away.

As I recount often, I was once nearly hit by a bad driver whilst legally crossing the road. By reporting them to the police it transpired that first the vehicle wasn't supposed to be on the road, then the driver had outstanding fines & finally the two occupants when pulled over had just come from a burglary.

What lesson will life bring to my attention next?

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Here we go again!

Kia Ora,

Well the news last night was another crash resulting in the loss of life due to a 'police pursuit'.

Straight away the finger was pointed wrongly at the NZ police.

It doesn't matter these days what happens the finger is never pointed at those who are at fault.
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Earlier this week we had the break in of a chemist store that resulted in a scuffle then the death of the offender.
It has now been revealed that the offender had not long been recently released from prison in part for causing a death in a vehcile accident, but also burglary & drugs offences. He was a career criminal from information out so far.

But it is the owner of the Chemist store that is under investigation.

That is not the police fault though as they are just their job as required. The finger just gets pointed at them. They are dammed if they do & dammed if they don't.

Then the night I was attacked there was a police chase resulting in the drivers death. It is now my opinion that that crash & those that carried out that attack were connected. The two survivors were in hospital with me that night, feeling very sorry for themselves.
Why? They were with a criminal. He was at fault.
Policing Today
Three weeks later there was the accident on Morehouse avenue here in Christchurch which resulted in three deaths.
On this one I got a bit of a shock when the photos of the two males who died were published. It appears to me they are two of the people who attacked me. The police though been so busy have not been able to get back to me yet, so I cannot confirm that by identifying the person who first fronted me if he was in that vehicle.
Picture of the funeral of one though gave the impression he was involved in the gangsta culture.
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Then we get to the accident last night. Well known to police, disqualified driver in a vehicle with no warrant of fitness or registration first sighted doing nearly double the speed limit(how not to attract attention).
All the traffic accidents have been in Christchurch & just as I write this a boy racer has tried to do a burn out just out front, followed by what sounded like a crash. But on going outside there is nothing, so lucky this time but we are expecting one again.
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All ready the media is focussed on what the police can fix.
Why the police?

It is quite clear from the above examples that previous crime is an indicator of the likely hood of someone running. That & the media focus on how the police disengage if the driving gets too dangerous. Not to mention video games & movies that glorify it.

What the focus should be on is how the police are underfunded, lack the numbers to impact on all crime & in major metropolitian areas need helicopters in the role of what the military know as force multipliers.
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The other area is driver education in school. At present the economy world wide is collapsing. One way to cut some of the unemployment is to add extra requirements for the school system such as drivers education. It would mean more time in the system but would require instructors, but down stream it is likely to cut costs invovled in death & injury, not to mention costs to police where funds could be focussed elsewhere.
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In general NZ driving is extremely poor & so starting with good driver education could change that.

But we have to stop blaming the police everytime there is a crash as a result as a 'police pursuit' or as the NZ Police Association called them 'fleeing driver incidents'.

The only person to blame is the driver of the car that flees the police.

http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz

Why do People do it?

Kia Ora,

Why do people do it? That is get involved in an accident then run!

In the last two days with the bad weather there have been two hit & run accidents.

True the first person was wanted by police, realized they were turning to chase him, but once he knocked down an 80 year old woman you would think the crimes would be in the back of his mind.

Initial reports were the police weren't even in sight.

But then I suppose you can't expect that much these days after reading that burglars had twice hit a community groups shop. They are only trying to help people.

Then this morning comes the report of a cyclist killed in a hit & run on the outskirts of Christchurch.

With the weather over the last few days you would think people would be heeding the police call to drive to the conditions.

I didn't even have to go far to see bad driving. Heard someones brakes then a vehicle sliding & bang. Right outside the office. Most people would of looked at the young guy who was driving the highpowered car as a bad driver & most do take this corner too fast (50 km area but many approach at a 100kmh & in dry weather you see all the brakes go on), only this time the vehicle he hit was on this side of the centre line, as the vehicles coming the other way are usually speeding too & keep cutting the corner.

No injuries but really one for the police to sort out as sure each side would think the other is in the wrong.

                                        http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz