Posts by Terry Baucher
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Having read the Coroner's report (thanks Russell) it's sad that the "common sense" comment has drowned out the rest of the report which was pretty thorough. I'm sure someone else has already said this but I would like to know why he didn't make any recommendations about sideguards for trucks given the citations he gives.
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I feature as one of the statistics in the 2011 report. 22 months ago I was time-trialling towards the city on a Saturday morning at 7.30 when I noticed a car u-turn about 200 metres in front of me (the driver later said she turned into a side road and then came back out). The car was well over to the left so having seen the u-turn I thought she would either park or accelerate away. As I started to overtake her (on the right) she did another u-turn. Her second in 100 metres (if that). It was my first crash in over 30 years of cycling here and in the UK.
My crash was a good example of the unpredictibility of too many NZ drivers. They seem unaware of what's going on around them. WIth power steering and automatic gear boxes I think this will get worse before it gets better and the problem is compounded by the presence of mobile phones and other devices. Because I had seen her u-turn I made a decision I wouldn't have if I hadn't seen the first u-turn. But then again who could expect a car to u-turn twice inside 100 metres?
I finished up with seven broken ribs, a broken shoulder blade, broken collarbone and a punctured lung. Mercifully I suffered no head injuries. The lung healed up very quickly but I have now had to have a second operation to permanently plate and repair the collarbone.
The driver was very apologetic and pleaded guilty when charged getting a six month ban and some community service because as a single mother of three she couldn't afford much in reparations (although she did pay $500).
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Someone earlier said that NZ would not be in the top 100 most shithouse countries for driving. That's probably correct if we're looking at the world in total. However, by comparison with those countries we do measure ourselves against then we're top ten/top five.
The NZTA has finally got around to publishing its annual report on motor vehicle crashes in 2011. The international comparisons have changed over the years & now focus on deaths only. On a deaths per 100,000 population NZ in 2010 was 5th behind South Korea, Greece, USA, Poland and Portugal.
NZ's deaths per 100,000 population fell by 25% between 2000 and 2010, in Portugal it more than halved between 2000 & 2009.
Like it or not our driving standards are poor and the road toll is not improving to the same extent as most other western countries are managing.
Here is the international statistics section of the report
The full report is at http://www.transport.govt.nz/research/Documents/Motor-Vehicle-Crashes-in-New-Zealand-2011.pdf
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SImultaneously, Imperator Fish has released his politician of the year and it's remarkable how many of the words of the year are John Banks related to the extent perhaps he should have been called the Twatcock of the year.
http://www.imperatorfish.com/2012/12/my-politician-of-year.html -
To be fair to AIG I can see your point Kyle. It is IMO a good deal for them as part of their rehabiltation (for want of a better word). I just think it is a very poor call by the NZRU.
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It’s a serious scandal; Key whips out the Brash/Muldoon crisis handbook.
Well at least he won't have to answer any questions about Dotcom. Today.
I'd say tomorrow's Question Time could get a wee bit testy.
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Field Theory: All. Black., in reply to Kyle Matthews,
_I’m not sure why that is a problem?_
Maybe a suggested headline might help "Bailout recipient blows Federal Cash on sports sponsorship"
A lot of Americans are doing it tough right now as a result of the GFC induced recession of which AIG was a colossal casualty receiving a massive loan and being sold to the US Treasury. In that context looking to spend cash its been lent to keep it alive whilst millions have given up looking for work or run out of unemployment benefits is a wee bit near the knuckle I'd say.
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OnPoint: MSD's Leaky Servers, in reply to Matthew Poole,
F**k. Me. That sounds like a serious amount of work. How long would it take to implement? Would the MSD network remain unsecure until it was done (if I understand you right, yes)?
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Field Theory: All. Black., in reply to Lea Barker,
The US Treasury still has a 15.9% stake in AIG and the US$182 billion loan was only repaid last month http://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Pages/aig-182-billion.aspx
In other words AIG was negotiating with the NZRU whilst it was majority owned by the Federal government and had not repaid its loans. I can only conclude that the NZRU (a) didn't care & (b) is so broke that they had no option. To borrow a phrase "The All Blacks are Lions managed by donkeys"
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I'm intrigued by the fact that MSD use Veda to pursue those "clients" who owe it money. Leaving aside the appalling security issue, are we all happy that MSD is contracting out a core function of Government? SUch a move is tailor-made IMO for security failures at some stage.