Listeners find out that you might get a speeding ticket if you speed.
And Marcus learns there's more than one Christchurch.
LISTEN ABOVE
You're listening to the Marcus Lush Nights podcast from News Talks.
I'd be a seven. Welcome, my name's Marcus hit or twelve. Couple of announcements. There are sheep, a couple of sheep on the Bluff Road and as I came to work tonight, just bluff side of Green Hills, they came out of a drive. They came under the fence. I chase most of them back, but there's a couple just wandering. To just be careful because they could reappear on the road, and I hope they don't. But that's I called the I called the Bend TA on an eight hundred number. I don't know what they're going to do about them, because I'm sure and this they see them, they won't catch them. But anyway, they are there, although they are aware of it, so yeah, I don't I would have liked to have got them back behind the fence, but that wasn't to be. The other information I've got is State Highway One. It's closed near the intersection with Pookie Pooky Road here my Tonguey following a crash. Two vehicle crash was reported to the police just before seven pm. Initial indications are that there are serious injuries. Motorists revised to avoid the area and to expect delays. So look, there will be no doubt. If there are serious injuries, that means that it won't be a quick resolve. So I will do what I can with NZTA to find out whether diversions are implaceful. That I don't know the area that well, I don't have to straightforward diversion or not. But as soon as that is posted, I'll bring that information to you. You yourself might have that information. If you have, get that to us, and I will do what I can to bring that to you. Yes, So here we go. Due to a crash State Highway one, the intersection of Pooky Poggy Road is now closed. Please delay your journey or consider an alternate route. The crash appears to be just before Taikoda Road, So I don't know which roads are suitable for trucks. But if you turned right at him Atungy and went that way and then go on to the main drain road and came back up to State how I won that way, that might work for you or any of those other ones. But you'll need to turn certainly right at hematungy. If not before, someone might have a better diversion and place for a better diversion for you. But that looks like it might be there for a while. I will keep you updated on that. And that last update was at four past eight tonight. Greetings, welcome. My name is Marcus Seedle twelve. I imagine they'll be breaking us tonight because it seems to be the season for breaking news and some good shows this week too, talking about the problems with sky TV and they're servicing. Yeah, so it's been a good week of talk back and there's been a lot of other stuff. What were talking about Monday down, I've just tempor escape me, but it always comes through to it. But there's been some goods. What was the first one Monday? Oh yeah, the birds on the car, that's right. And the resolution with the birds on the car is the car is now clean and the birds have not come back. So if you've got problems with seagulls nesting on your car, just put it through the put it through the rubber up and that seems to work perfectly. So yeah, I thought that was good. There are all sorts of very good solutions for that one. So I'm glad we resolved that anyway, But do come through if you've got breaking us for anything else. You want to talk about the numbers eight hundred and eighty ten, eighty nine nine to text. If you do want to come through, what I want to start with tonight, and I'm sure you will have something to say about that. And what I'm talking about is those plug in toasted sandwich makers. I've rediscovered mine, got it out for the kids. They said that's what they want, and boy, oh boy, it's been great. Just a couple of things I need to say about those toasted sandwich makers. Firstly, you need the right bread, which might sound complicated or straightforward, but the trouble the bread these days. You go and get perhaps like a cheap not a cheap like a basic white loaf because it tends to be better for toasted sandwich. But what I've found with so many of the loafs now.
Hang.
We'll just I'll just go to this as something is Sarah Marcus. Welcome, I'm Marcus.
I'm a first time caller.
Nice to hear from you, Sarah, thanks for reaching out. Welcome.
Yeah, and this one talk.
About the police ticket being issued, right now for speeding on the road. Anybody who speeds over ten kilometers over five kilometers limit on Smell's Road in Botany, there are about eight cops uh with speed guns, stopping almost I would say, every car that's passing by, because Smells Road is a curve road, and you turn, you stop. You're stopped and asked why are you speeding? And I said, I'm not speeding. I'm just driving my normal road speed fifty kilometers an hour. And they stop every car, just issue a ticket and the in merit.
Points did the issue you at the did they issue you a ticket?
Sarah?
Yes, everyone. I could see about nine cars with me stopped and everyone being issued ticket, and the corp runs back on the road to stop another car. So every car, almost every car is being stopped and issued a ticket.
So the speed limit I presumer is fifty Yes it is. I'm looking at that on Google's and how fast you going?
They said it's fifty nine, but I felt I was driving fifty or fifty two. They just stopped and said you were driving at fifty nine. They showed me a radar and said this is fifty nine. No photos, no photograph of this speet just the radar, and you have to believe that, yes, they are right, because he's a police officer.
I think that's pretty standard, Sarah. But I think you go. I think their guns are pretty well calibrated. If they say it's going fifty nine, I'm sure you are going fifty nine.
It could be.
How much was the fine?
The fine was eighty dollars and twenty demerit points.
What are you on with you demerits zero?
This is the first one, But I feel frustrated after hard days of words.
Driving and I'm hearing it.
Male's road is an everyday road going back home after work.
It's easy to get in the psychology because it looks like a bit of a main road. To go a bit faster than you're supposed to go, that's your mistake. I think, yes it is.
I agree, but I it's just a normal curve road. You're driving on that curve road. And I don't know the reason why there are eight cops.
No, I don't know why. I see there's some more calls about that serap, so I'll go to that. But a big day of first for you, first time you've called talkback, first speeding ticket. It is celebrate that go for the three peet loler ats Marcus good Evening.
Yes, I wonder when this sort of stuff was going to start happening. All our roads and Packernger were sixty ks and changing them over to fifty k's was a major for them because there's signs all over the place. But they are all roads that go to the motorway to move the traffic. And now they've put the fifty ks and even the buses are going sixty k So are they going to give the bus drivers tickets.
The motorway Auckland's Motorway? Remember those ads? Well don't it?
Yeah?
Okay, so you're the you think psychologically you want to drive faster.
No, no, it's not that we've had we've had. First of all, they did packering a road for sixty ks because we had major problems with cars banked up to Howid or Highland Park at times, and so.
It's been a.
Problem for like forty years. I mean, the Pama Bridge was two lanes and they changed it to three lanes so they could have it in the morning for traffic to go two lanes, and then asked Mount Wellington will you help pay for the extension on the bridge and said we don't want all your traffic because they're all end up on the Pama roundabout which has all been changed now. But our roads to Howick are all sixty ks. That's a whole of packering road except the bit that goes to Pamia by the bridge that was reduced to always had been fifty k's and to Rack. Our drive right through to Botany through the Chapel Road is all sixty k's.
And hang on, Lola, you have to take it right back because I feel a tap has been turned on with you. Are you saying Smales Road has recently changed from sixty to fifty? Have I got that right?
Yes?
It has. It was sixty ks.
When did they change?
Smales Road goes straight over over Harris No Springs Road, onto Allen's Road and onto the Highway Highbrook Highbury motorways. So it's a straight line all the way through through I'm not sure whether it's Highbury or Hybrook.
Don't get muddled up.
And that goes onto the motorway and so you know, I mean they have changed the whole district how it travels for like thirty years, and now they come in and then they change it, you know what I mean? Okay, so everybody will.
Change go down to the them.
We'll be going back forty years when all the roads were all clogged up. It's already bad enough now and it's going to get worse. We never had proper transport and packeringer. It only serviced mainly Pakeering Road. Now they've started putting it on Cascades.
Road and Reeves Road.
But the flyovers going in on Reeves Road, so we've got a lot of things going on. The busway is going through. It's just chaotic. Have you been pickering turned upside down and inside out and around the wrong way?
Have you been pinned?
No, but a lot of people are doing sixty and seventy k's on the roads. We never had any We never really had cameras because they didn't have cameras for sixty ks. They only had cameras for fifty k's. But now they've got cameras for sixty ks. Okay, So yeah, I mean they just let the whole area go, just get on with moving around, and that's not been a problem, but now it is going to be a problem, a major problem. And I don't know how they're going to deal with it because we don't have the trend.
The roads to get the people out of the area.
You're not just talking about Packering as all. How it's as well, but how it always had the back road to on Chavel Road and the other Murray's Road or something that went through to Pappatoi like Ormiston. But of course we didn't have that in Packering because to ruck our drive wasn't completed. We just had a bridge in the middle of nowhere. So yeah, if they if they had cops all on these roads, they'll catch hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people because it's how they can be driving. When they did it on Packering Road, it was a trial area because it was totally residential, but we didn't have the accidents.
Can I just say, can I just say something? Yeah, because you're going on a bit of a rant. Do you think if the limit is reduced from sixty to fifty then the roads are going to be more congested?
They are definitely m most definitely there'll be a major traffic problem, and plus there'll be more accidents because you.
Think there'll be less extent if people are driving at a safer speed.
Well, people were more keyful and more alert. I mean, if you've got to packering a road that was.
We are a nationwide audience, lower and all the information. It's probably more than people need. Yeah, but why are you so passionate about You haven't been pingned? But what's No?
I haven't, but I can see what they're going to do. If they're on Small's Road, that's a road that that road goes straight through to the motorway. When you when you cross Springs Road, you're onto Allen's Road, which goes to Yeah, so.
You hang on, hang on, So no more ses, you say, if they're policing that this is just the beginning. They're going to do this team policing everywhere and it's going to out and that's a good hang on? Is that a good thing to be enforcing the speed limits?
Well, we've never had fifty k's before, We never had it before.
Yeah, got it now though.
Yes, I know.
But people have been driving like that for thirty forty years. How do you just suddenly change everything? I mean when you have a lot of traffic, I mean, the only reason they changed it all was to move the traffic. Now they want to slow it all down. So now all our roads are going to be congested. We need another road. Okay, Well they're putting the flow of us so people can go from packering a road straight over rees road onto the motorway. That stops them going further up and turning left and then turning right onto the motorway. So yeah, but it'll be interesting to see what happens. But they have put new a new sign out slow down, and you know, and it might.
Be we've got a new police chief. It might be the new police chief making his mark.
Yeah, but everywhere else in Auckland, it's like fifty k's like normal, but it's not like that in tackering it. It was always sixty k's. And now they've created a major problem where people are going to be like ten and fifteen k's over the speed limit because it was always sixty k's.
You sound really full on about it, Lola.
Well, I'm concerned that the thousands of people are going to get pings. That's what I'm concerned about. This is just money gathering, if you put like, they've put the speed limit down to thirty k's and a lot of people have objected to that, and they have go so slow and you know, I mean that is the same things what they've done to Packeringer.
Now you live in Peckering, I do, okay.
But it's going to be interesting what they're going to do because Chris Christopher Luction said they were going to put the speed limits back to what they were and Auckland Council says that's going to cost a lot of money. We can't afford that. So what's going to happen? The Prime Minister says they're going to put the speed limits back now now they're pinging people for doing fifty for over thirty k.
That is the police's job from for speed limits.
Yes, but they put it down so they could get all these tickets.
So okay, Lola, thank you for you, thank you. I've never known people to get so worked up about us beating ticket. Maybe I've got the wrong attitude. I've always thought, you get caught, you get caught because you haven't really reused to the signs. It's a sign coming into Vicargo and it's a fifty's k zone and the side obscured by a railway signal. I got caught there once and I wrote them a letter and they didn't let me off. Subsequently, I've been caught there again, which tells me it wasn't because the railway signal. I was going too fast. That's just the way I go into town. So we're slow to learn. And when I get a ticket, I don't ring talk bag. Well, just pay it because I realize I've been going too fast through that area. But the denial for people to want to blame I can't work it out. But anyway, she had quite in depth knowledge about Paktanga, So yeah, go figure Jeffer's Marcus, good evening.
Yeah, Marcus, I've got a bone to pick about packering the highway as well to give.
Do you want me to give you Lowis's number?
No, not really. Hey, what happened was back when the easy Ta had their road to zero kilometers per hour, they changed all the speed speed limits.
Yes and.
Yes they had a consultation process about it, and you could put your consultation, but they had every single block, so to actually what you're saying about it, you had to have your say about like thirty blocks, just the long packround.
With all your complaint need to be specific about every single But you didn't want the speed to go go up and.
Yeah, exactly, and then they put it up anyway because no one wanted the speed. And it wasn't just pickering a highway there. It was pretty much all these roads that were sixty k's and industrial areas.
Now, Jeff, can you just hang on there because it's probably something that people want to want to talk more about, So don't go anywhere. Just I'm liking the way you're talking about it because you're coming in at a goods. Just call your jets. No, don't call you jet because you JITs are fine. Hang there, I'll be with you soon. So just back to you, GF okay. So they rode to zero. They proposed to drop the speed limit from sixty to fifty. As Lowis explained, a lot of the streets around Pakong that part are at sixty. So I understood that there was all this campaigning. And I sat in council in Vicago when they want to lower some speed and there are all sorts of people turned up and they thought it was the worst thing in the world to be lowering speed limits. Despite what the cop was saying about damage to kids that got head outside schools, let's put that aside. Didn't win national good and they say and they were going to actually overturn a lot of those speed reductions.
Well they did. And the funny thing is I'll just down Packering the highway and actually come up the hill. Sam and Brownon's offices are right there on pack around the highway, which is probably why he wants to speed them. It will pack because the whole area it's it's it's the sixth biggest busiest road in New Zealand, Packering Highway and it's a six lane highway. So it's not just it's not like a side road that's got looked away.
It looks like, as Sarah said, it looks like quite a speedy road, doesn't it.
Yeah. Yeah, it used to be seventy kilometers how to be fair, back in the day. And it's then they put it to sixteen honuts dow under fifty. And it's not just this road, these industrial roads around Packer and East Tapacky that have all been changed from sixty to fifty that have no right being the fifty that they are main thoroughf youw and the only way you've actually got to get anywhere, and if you live in Howick, I think it's about six maybe seven kilometers to the motorway at fifty kilometers an hour. Yeah, it has happened a big and.
Pack your Your theory is that the speed of roads are important if you've got to if they're a major arterial, because you've got to get where you've got to get in a hurry.
Well you've got to get there, and if you're doing it every day, it takes quite a bit of time. I disagree with the lowis about the about the revenue gathering, because everyone drives over it still drives at sixty and I've never seen anyone get tickets since I've been driving along here. So I think it was just that whole campaign that New Zealand Transport Agency had, They funded a whole lot of councils to reduce their speed limits.
But didn't they reckon that they were going to overturn the reduction in the road to zero that the National National God and they sort of a mandate that people didn't want slower speed limits, therefore they were going to increase them all again. Isn't it Have I read that right?
They did? They did say that, and that's the police say put out. But I've had pushed back from councils. As low As said, it's I think it's a cost making thing. And I don't think Wayne Brown wants to spend any money on UP and Transport they bought in these speed reductions. He doesn't want to give thee any money if he can avoid it, because UP and Transport, to be fair, are terrible.
They are.
They have been awful over the past many years. So yeah, So anyway, that's my two things.
If you've got a ticket on that particular Mails road.
Oh not smails. As I'm packering a highway about ten years ago, got pulled over. I was going thirteen kilo. This is when I was sixty, so was going maybe thirty fourteen is an hour over and a cop came out with warning let me off with warnings. I was pretty lucky.
Okay, nice to hear from you.
You.
Thanks for hanging over to you. Stay there, Marry, I'll get to you. Do you all can focus. This is Pakaranga in the highway. Good evening, Mary, it's Marcus. Welcome and good.
Evening, Marcus.
I've just traveled along that mount packering a highway and it is it's been fifty for about oh two or three years.
Now, So it isn't as if it's just happened.
It has been like that for.
A little while.
So it happened just and there's a lot of those roads as you see, it has all changed to fifty. Yeah, and they used sixty. So it's often a sudden thing. It hasn't just happened. It's been like that for some time.
But people's emotions still, people's emotions still seem quite fresh about it, don't they.
Yeah, made she got so carried away and she was talking about Highbury where the High Brock sort of thing.
Well, to be fair, to be fair, she didn't say she was confused and that some of those suburbs are quite confusing. So slight sympathy with her on that one.
But yeah, okay, yeah, okay.
Do you know do you know were there a lot of accidents there for them to reduce the speed or it all seemed to go quite well.
Oh, it was fine.
It was just when.
The areas around town where they all went to what was it thirty from fifty and all that sort of carry on, It was all to do with that hu. So it's it's you know, it's something that happened a few years ago. Three years ago middle of Auckland.
And I guess that went from yeah, and Mary, for those that don't know Auckland that are listening, I guess Packeranga Howard. Those suburbs. They are slightly unique because they are suburbs that are a long way from Auckland, and unlike the north Shore or West Auckland or South Auckland, there is no motorway from there into town. Is there? So no exactly, So the journey is longer than anywhere else because they haven't got a motorway. So I can understand that feelings could be a bit strong in that area because they haven't got a motorway to jump on too. Yeah, okay, thank you, Mary, nice to talk to twenty one away from nine. Keep your calls coming through. It's all about traffic and it's all about Parker Anger. And yeah, I think that's quite a fair point because they haven't got a way to get on, so you just got to tune it through. I've worked in radio with quite a lot of people that lived way out way out there and where they live where did old.
Oh?
I was gonna say, Bonnie doone, but Donnie more, I think, and honestly you know they'd be leaving it four in the morning to get to work. It's miles out, so you can understand why they get sort of slightly testy about the traffic. But that's what happens when you look at those green meadow subject It all looks nice when you look at it, but you know it's a long time in the car. Hello, Ash, it's Marcus. Good evening.
Hello, good evening, Welcome Hi there. So yeah, I was also one of the drivers that got stopped on Snall's Road.
And were you were you like, were you like Sarab that it seemed like an indignity and a surprise that they were pinging because everyone goes along there hunky dory, and just it's part of it. I don't quite know what Sarah was about, but you might like to tell me how what it was like for you. Did you feel hard done.
By the thing? Is it felt like they were looking for something else? There were so many police officers they.
Will be kind of I'll be looking for gang pittches.
Yeah, that's what I think. And I feel like maybe it's been a slow day or something, because Sir, I was going nine I was going eight kilometers.
Yes, which is it? Which is ticketable? Isn't it? Because that's I mean, that's almost twenty percent over the limit.
Yes, I understand that, but about only just a bit over a year ago, this was a sixty road. And I'm not too sure what you know, people are getting ticketed for because I've just finished up over time at work from town and I'm just you know, it's been a tough day and I'm coming home and just wanting to relax, just put on the news and you know, drink a beer and just yeah, it's just a bit frustrating, you know, like work hard and this is what happens, and just not happy about it. You know, I understand, like it's just so easy to go eight kilometers above the speed limit. It just takes less than a second to accidentally just look away and there we go on this on the.
Isn't that the whole point? Isn't that the whole point of law enforcement? That driving comes with an element of responsibility. You've got to be aware of the conditions and aware of the speed you're going and aware of the limits. I mean, for you just say hanging about, I had a hard day at work, and you know, poor me cut me some slack. That's what the traffic and forces are against, because when you get in the car, you've got to obey the rules.
Yes, you do bring up a fair point there, and what I'd like to say is that this is an unnecessary speed limit on the area because the or the speed limit the more you know, drivers, not just myself, tend to be a bit more frustrated, and because of their frustration, they tend to make mistakes or you know, just tend to go a little bit faster, a little bit five k's faster so that they can get home quicker.
You know.
It's just one of those things where it's just a bit unnecessary. It's I understand it's for well, this is why I think that it's a bit complicated, because if it's for safety, then what's the you know, it's a bit silly in my opinion. I don't think it's a fair speed limit for the area. I feel like people need to get to places, people need to do their things. It doesn't make sense in my eyes why there would be a reduction.
So you don't believe that people in charge of putting the speed limits up have got any clue about what's going on.
I believe that those people don't actually live in those areas. That's what the issue is. I feel like maybe they see some statistics over here in there, but I don't think that New Zealand drivers want to be limited to you know, I imagine traffic longer every year.
I imagine the statistics. They look at accidents and the injuries from those accidents, and it's their job to put it. It's their job to put in limits so dangerous roads are made safer. That's what I imagine an other criteria they are looking at.
Yes, but in my opinion, I'm not too sure if everyone would think this way. But the slower the limit is, the more traffic builds up, and the more traffic builds up, the more frustrated drivers are. So you're frustrated out, they're more likely they are to make risks, or take risks, or just drive a bit faster.
Sorry, So you think the faster the speed limit, the safer it is.
No, I don't agree with that statement. I do agree with a fair speed limit on the area because safety should be the number one thing. But in this case, well in my case, I was ticketed for going eight kilometers above the speed limit. And I feel like everyone's made that mistake in their life.
That's sixteen percent about that's sixteen percent about the speed limit.
Yes, but come on now, fifty eight kilometers. I feel like I'm not gonna. I'm still looking at the road. I'm not gonna, you know, like i can still see the traffic lights and everything. It's not like I'm going I'm not going one hundred and twenty and a fifty. I'm not going eighteen of fifty. I'm going fifty eight sixteen percent?
Is that really?
Like, you know, is that really eighty dollars and twenty demerit points? You know that? That's what I just don't understand.
How what was the cops men are like?
Sorry?
What was the cops men are like?
It was quite friendly, but I I guess I was a bit frustrated and he took.
That very well.
Oh that's good. How much was the ticket? How should you said? The ticket was eighty bucks?
Eighty dollars?
Yes, okay, okay, we'll see another thing. Gsh but thank you for coming through twelve away from nine. I'm looking at the speed limits on the NZ plus website. If you he says, fine, was eighty bucks? Apparently, if you finds eighty bucks, you've got to be eleven to fifteen k's above the speed limits. So it sounds to me he said he was going fifty eight, he must have been going sixty one to sixty five. Could someone law enforcement confirm that with me. That's my understanding as far as the demerits go, because I think Sarab said he had the old demerits to neither twenty expreeding the limit by more than ten but not more than twenty is twenty demerits. So unless they've changed it, I think people are going quick and they said they were. Tis Marcus, welcome, good evening.
Yeah, good evening, Marcus. I sort of just dropped into the conversation and heard ash, poor old esh. Yes, if only he had been paying due care in attention, they would have been able to spend that eighty dollars or bear, but now he can't. So you know, uh, pay due care and attention. And I would suggest.
It's kind of amazing that someone get a ticket, but it's not their fault. That's what I couldn't believe. It was seemed to be because he was working hard. Well I can't, I can't quite work it out.
Yeah, it's a terrible thing. I am, you know, while I work hard and I seem to well, I've been lucky to avoid tickets by not speeding, so that's kind of awesome really, And I don't even drink beers. So but while I am driving, I like to focus on the driving, and you know, not being distracted by other thoughts.
Makes me a certain. It makes me a certain about sympathy for the police as well, if that's some of the rubbish they have to put up with people saying, oh, well, you know. The theory that the faster the speed limit, the more efficient the road will be, the less accidents, you see.
A good thing as well as to you know, if you're going to work, were you're going to anywhere, leave it earlier. That way you don't have to speed. And you know, if you are tired and you've had a big day, just sill, you know, And it's always there's a limit, not a target. You know, within reason, you don't want to be driving too slow, but you don't have to, you know, it's not a target.
Hearing you, Tim, thank you be if Marcus welcome.
Hello Marcus. I've been regularly listening to your program for a number of years now, and just lately you've been talking about the taxi drivers in Auckland.
Yes.
Now, I had the pleasure of going to Auckland today and having to use the taxis on two occasions, and I just want to tell you I definitely wasn't overcharged. I had the best possible service from two very nice taxi drivers.
That's great. Were you nervous about it? Do you think it might go bad for you?
I was a bit apprehensive, but I did ask how much, not so how much, just an estimate on how much it would cost, and they told me and they were true to their word.
Okay, Oh that's great. That's a really good story, Ben.
And the interesting the thing was it was the same price to get from A to B and then from B back.
To A, which is what you want.
So I knew neither of them were not telling me Porky.
Yeah, that's good. Okay, I'm pleased with that, Bev. Thank you for coming through about that. It's all about the driving, and it's interesting discussions on speed limits, and particularly as we're in a situation that's been a serious exident of the hamitangy straight. So there are always serious accidents. I mean, we are in a country with that accident free. But yeah, there must be certain places where you commute where it gets kind of frustrating because you're stuck in traffic, and that's a problem for the ages that's not going to go away. There is the Eastern Busway that's been built out between pam Meuer and Botany, which I'm quite excited about. But I imagine most of these people that are complaining, they will be people that will be stuck in their cars because probably they're going to commute which public transport won't work for, or because they want to surrender their car. But I'm finding for every interesting that people's first place to go is very much to blame the police for revenue collecting and blame the speed limit as though it doesn't make any sense. And I would imagine there's been a lot of online talk and a lot of people encouraging them with those views. I just don't know how relevant they are. I'll get to the text before long. You might have something else to say about this would be good to hear from you. Eight hundred and eighty ten eighty nine two nine two to text. It's all about speeding at dropped the speed limits across Auckland's are terror roots, then strangled them with cycle lanes and transit lanes, and then put a chair on the top by clogging up the suburbs with speed humps. Marcus, my husband was going fifty five and a fifty You got a thirty five ticket, and that's correct. I know I paid it his fault. Love your show, Glenn, Marcus, best but worst health wise cartsnack smarties. Oh yeah, very timely conversation. This is two texts come together. Free timely conversation with me. I've been speeding today. Driving is a huge part of my job. I can't afford to lose my license. Marcus Ashes complaining about eighty dollars should be two eighty eight kilometers, that it's been a vegetable or not have been struck by a car. Where are we with a term vegetable? Is it a term that's probably fallen out of phase? It feels kind of harsh. Doesn't it get used to it? People? It's now a police state. For goodness sake, Adrian, it's Marcus. Good evening.
Welcome, Yeah, good evening, Marcus. I just wanted to make comment on the the eash Tammockee basically Eric Paclanga and speed limits. What happened was at the Walk and Transport was asked to do a survey about the accidents that have been happening, like traditions been run over and things like that, and it was to look at specific areas around the you know, the region. But what they did was instead of doing a survey and doing some investigation, they actually just did a blanket speed reduction. They didn't actually do what they were asked to do by the council. So we got this blanket punishment of twenty kilometers in our reduction in most places from what it used.
To be a year ago.
Like I think it was so to me, it's just like revenue gathering. Even Meor Brown has been complaining.
About it on adient. How do you know that they didn't do any investigation into what the damage.
Is that it was on the news, it was the local news and meyor Brown is not happy about it.
Like the.
What was on the local news there was a story that said they're not going to look into the investigation of the exidents.
No, they didn't investigate specific areas, which the how a council wanted them to do. They just did a blanket punishment across the whole region of twenty twenty kilometers reduction and doing the survey of these particular tricky areas where people have been knocked over and killed or it was an older lady the last or was an older lady that was knocked over at a pedestrian crossing at Cascade Road, I believe it was.
So they just said, so they did do something because she was killed. That was that that.
Yeah, they didn't do what they were interested to do, and that was a specific look at different tricky points that people were getting hurt at. Or you know, they just did a blanket, just blanketed the whole area of the twenty kilometer production.
Although this one seems to be from sixty to fifty doesn't on smales.
Yeah, yeah, well it used to be.
Smales of sixty, but the Tahara range drive was actually eighty used to be eighty kilometers at the peak and was reduced down to fifty.
So it'll sell your paper that they didn't. It's not evidence based at all, is that right?
Yeah, it was just they were asked to do a survey and they didn't. They just had a blanket reduction.
And how's how's affecting your commute? Everyone sounds pretty hot and bothered by is that.
I'm a driver.
I'm a shuttle driver, so it profects me quite a lot because I can't keep my times up in that. You know, you get stuck in the traffic and you miss You get customers that are absolutely brassed off because you don't get there in time. You might be ten minutes late or something and they've got to catch an aircraft. And you know, you get stuck in traffic anyway, so you lose time and you never get it back.
This is the airport shuttle.
Yeah, I do shuttles. Shuttle runs and you know, pick traffic in the mornings, and that the highest speed limit was a lot better. You know, you're getting slow traffic now. Plus plus you've got all the roadworks. They're putting cones out. Even MEA Brown has made a common that he's not happy that there seems to be hindrance for drivers, you know, not being able to get to where they.
Want to go.
He's looking into it, actually, and at the placement of all these cones everywhere, every fifteen hundred millimeters, you've got a cone. It's just whoever's got chairs and cones is making a fortune.
It's me and Brown getting back and people should be quite like him.
He's in, but he's not happy about these.
Is he going to get re elected? A lot of people talk about.
Him, Yeah, I should think so.
He seems to weigh in on things that he thinks are a bit unfair. You know, I'm the public and that, and after all, it's just is revenue gathering. And you know the police could be better used somewhere else, I think than praffic.
So all traffic enforcement is just reveruere gathering.
Well, I think so, because what else is it. They can't tax us anymore, they can't text us anymore, so it's free money, and it's.
It's probably it's probably the deterrent. Because there was two people that we've got tickets today that were driving home well above the speed limit and they thought they were justified to do it because they've worked hard at work all day.
Well, I don't agree with that. I mean, I drive regularly and I'm on an e road, so it tells me if I'm over you know, I've got like a five k buffer where I go, it'll ping, It'll ping me and it goes back to the boss. I've got like yell. It goes yellow, and it's green when I'm in the right speed, and then it goes yellow and then it goes two baggers red and then it pings me and it sends a signal back to the boss. So I'm on an e road where it tells me if I'm getting up in the speech. Because you know, you've got a lot to focus on. You've got the traffic, you've got your speed, you've got.
The chit chat, don't they Oh there.
You go.
GPS that I'm watching too. In the next corner I've got to take and you know, so you've got a lot going on, so you can be distracted and it can creep up, especially from the vehicle. Like some of the ones in the city are thirty kilometers an hour in the central in Auckland it's thirty kilometers and then it's like a dartboard. It goes thirty forty fifty in a radius in the central city. To hold a vehicle back like a transit or something like that, a thirty kilometers, you've got people tooting you, you know, behind you because they don't want to pay the speed of them it. But I'm on an E road, so I get pinged if I go over.
Thirty the zeroads you keep saying you're on.
It's like an electronic monitor. It works on GPS and in every area that you're in on the road, it marks the speed and it picks it up on like a clock.
It's like a little okay is it called an E road?
Yeah?
E road?
Yeah, yeah, like a road.
Okay, Edwin, thank you. Wow, I'll get to the texts. I don't really well anyway, who knows, but there seems to be a bit of misinformation. But I don't know what the facts are around us. I don't know what. I don't even know how would know what the decisions, how the decisions were reached, whether there was an investigation. But you know, as we know, these days freeze the proper misinformation because people are hot on this. Hello, Colin, it's Marcus.
Welcome you know Marcus.
How are you good?
Thank you? Colin?
Yeah.
Look, do you think I'm Do you think I'm independent enough with this discussion?
Yes?
I think you might be.
Okay, Sometimes I wonder.
I drive between Palmerston and Wellington, Wellington and Palmerston at least once a day, sometimes twice a day. And it was interesting because so reduce the speed limit between O taking and Levin.
Hang on, can I just push pause? Colin? I just I hate to do this too. You just Kevin's just rung. He wants to know if anyone else saw the meteorite north of Nelson just now, anyone else saw the meteorite? Get In touched? Did keverring you downary text? Yep, sorry, Colin, we just had a meteorite.
A lot.
We're big on metwrits back to you. You drive between Parmiston North and Wellington, actually Wellington and Palmerston most days, is that what you said?
At least twice a day? Yeah, twice a day. So so so it was interesting. They put the speed limit down between Livin and Go Techy. It was one hundred k's went down to eighty k's when I first started driving on that particular run. We every probably three months, roughly four times a year, there'd be serious excellent on that road and the road would be blocked for three or four hours yep, and we would you know, we would be delayed getting our trucks down to the ferry to go on the ferry south and you're sitting there for four or five hours sometimes just waiting, and quite a lot of us were quite annoyed. They're putting it down to eighty from one hundred, and my vehicles are maximum truck that's on the.
And I put it down. So you said, they put it down from one hundred to eighty, right, yep.
Year and we got we got a bit concerned about that because we're always racing for the ferry and when I say racing and the speed limit, but always trying to get down time and that. And once they put it down from one hundred to eighty, this was about two years ago. So the first two years we were being held up off and sometimes we'd go over to the Hawk's Bay and down through the Wiry and I played with the ram attuckers to get to the ferry. Once they put it down to eighty, there's only been one accident since, which was a tenth that rolled over and nobody was injured.
Wow.
And then I've got a mate who commutes to Wellington from the Rue and he said, you know, he says, since I've put that stag limit down, there's been no excellence if I have to do two minutes longer and save spending three, four or five hours waiting while the road's got while they pick up east from a bad accident, he says to me, it's nothing, you know. And the interesting thing is, on our runs we allowed two hours ten minutes and our trucks from our depot and parvessed into the ferry in Wellington, and that hasn't changed with the speed limits production.
The speed limit means that your journey takes exactly the same amount of time. Is that what you're saying?
Basically, it's the other variables that cause it. And the two variables are people driving it much slower than the speed limit. So if they're serious about trying to get people more efficiently to places, they need to need to have two lane roads so that the slow cars can go and run in the past cars in the other and the second one of the road panes and of course spin up pion a truck. You can see the you know, you can see the road cones and the huge number of them, and so often they seem to be unnecessary to the level that they are. You know, this time and time again, I end up driving on the wrong side of the road. Pass road cones enough, I think, or there's something hppening at one end and I've got a couple of miles off.
There's something with the whole election cycle in the last government and the desire to make the road safe safer, and somewhere along the line, the whole discussion was lost about speed lim it's been safer and people thought there were votes and people now to drive as fast as they like, and that's where we are now, and people kind of whipped up a frenzy about that. And I think people are you know, but none of their arguments are evidence based. It all appears to be just people saying, oh, well, you know, it seems to be anecdotally based. It's taking them longer to get to work or something. So there's still put a lot of anger around that. People are angry. I think people are just angry because the cities are most are so barely planned that you live out in packeting and there's no roads to get to work because there's no public transport system. So that's basically what they're angry about, and they just go on and on. But yeah, they seem to be upset about it.
Well, I, as I say, I was quite annoyed that they were going to reduce the speed on it. So I've sort of had to change the tune because the reality of what we're experiencing is to different to what I thought would happen, you know what I mean.
And we can never see the results of that because I think most of them have been flipped back around now so that so they are have gone back up to where they were. But look, I don't know the situation.
I know that hasn't happened on any of the roads that we're traveling on. It may do in course. And the other thing.
They're still down to eighty your roads, are they?
Yeah, yeah, they're all still laid down. And it's interesting too because now they've put the razor wire all the way from then to o Techy as well. But you know this, the reduction and of us been held up by road accents had disappeared before they put in, so that there was two years we were always having to have, you know, wait for road excellence, and there's been two years where the speed was down and now they've got the razor cutter. And the thing that does surprise me the number of times that I'll go up and down and I'll see, oh, you know it's been hit. So yeah, it's quite amazing, quite astounding us. You know how many times that can take me out.
Pretty good evidence there, Colin. I appreciate that anyone's seen the meta writers will let me know a lot of texts. I've had no time to read any of them out. Here's what people have said getting out of how work on the Pocketinger Motorway is a nightmare most times of the day. It's not in the speeding that is the problem. I was hit while stationary on traffic on Pack Highway Bird by a big AUDIUV. The lady was speeding and texting, wrote here, vehicle off and nearly mine plus a few years for me to recover. It's amazing how many people are on their phones. Regards Mark. Oh gosh, I saw that MP was on their phone. Did you see that? Had to apologize texting at the lights, Surprised to see that and a sign written car goodness me. Sue's red main rang a Taichi MP. It's been a big week for the minute. Sue's red main caught texting at busy intersection YEP, looking down on her phone as she texted using both hands. So it was the classic one. We've all done it. She was texting it appears and the light had gone green. Terrible that you get a fight, don't you. You're looking down looking up but bad and a sign written car Marcus speed camera near the rocket and Palme North got me twice, doesn't get me now, shorn Marcus. The new bridge to go from one side of Palmea Base and the other has been built on puckling A Road and we'll move into its new position shortly. It'll be exciting to see it move into place, Marcus. One of the worst things around Botany Pakodunger Howick is people running the red lights. It's quite scary, Marcus. We're a group. We were a group of eight adults leaving Eden Park after the Colplax concert last Wednesday. Consequently, we needed two taxis to take us to the same airport hotel. One taxi had his meter running and charged ninety six. The other taxi didn't run his meter, in charge one thirty for the same journey at the same time. A complete ripoff, Marcus. It's not so much the work I enjoy said, the caveats the people I run into, Marcus, don't shuttles use a GPS to predict the estimated times of arrival. The police are in the business of law enforcement, not income gathering. Don't speed and you won't get pinged enough from the precious folk of Pakeranger. Please lull Sandy, Hi, Marcus, hope you don't mind. Is it illegal to sell cartons of Chinese cigarettes on Facebook marketplace disguised as double happies? Watch your view, Ron, it's Marcus. Welcome o, goat.
I just want to say I've seen a flash, like a small explosion in South Taranaki five past nine. I don't know if it was a media I just thought it was space junk, so I thought i'd just let.
You know about the same time. keV saw it too, looking south from South Taranaka. Is that where you were?
No, it was just at landed and the panic straight in front of me, something about just like mini offensive. What do you want to call it?
Yeah?
Five past nine?
Did you actually see it? Land?
It sort of exploded, so it wasn't very far above okay above the ground, so.
Coming out of the sky.
Thanks Ron, that's good.
Into.
Everyone else has seen that, So there's a website. You can go to the plot that you've seen them. Also, that's important Marcus pecking for a last minute trip to do the Queen shit if grandad Gym from Wama who asks unpacked and ready will miss you for the next few days, sorry, Marcus. Restrict card dunies an Awkland between ten and two. Auckland traffic flow has gradually been strangled by poor or a lack of planning for the population and associated housing growth experienced roading not keeping pace with that growth, loss of lanes two and inadequately used by buses and T three vehicles, a host of speed bumps, cycle lanes and so on. Auckland public transport is inadequate as a substitute. All the lines are frequently with the speed limits. We'll pivot to some of the topic. You're more than welcome. A text through says high Marcus. Now the speeds and some of chrost Church City roads. Now the speeds on some of Chrostitch City Roads have reduced to thirty kilometers. The phase of the orange light is still the same and should be increased to reflect the lowest speed limit. People getting honked at when going through its nale speed when it's turned red. It's a fair point to make about that one. It's what you're saying. Lower you're going, you're going slow. You need a longer phase. Was that just to stop the stration? Also to the meteorite that's cut down somewhere between Maniah and Nelson. I can tell you this motoring news. Just one new car launched in the last year has a handbrake, a manual handbrake. It's going the way of manual cars. It's becoming less popular new models as manufacturers make electronic parking breaks the norm. There you go. I like a hand I didn't know the foot break were electronic, if that's what they are saying, So there you go. The one is the Dacus Spring, the only new car launch in the past twelve months with a manual handbreak. Something very satisfying and put about a handbrake on. It's one of life's most satisfying gestures. I don't know if you can retroit a handbreak to your car. Probably not. It's just something I've got to say farewell to. So that's happened. By the way, giraffes have joined the world's endangered species list for the first time. How many ticks there would be. IS's it going to be a million giraffes? I've got no idea. I'd say two hundred thousand. Yeah, I don't know how many it would be. Giraffes are facing serious threats and the population has fallen sharply from one hundred and fifty and nineteen eighty five to around ninety eight thousand. That's not mean at all, is it. That's heartbreaking, Louise, it's Marcus.
Welcome um high Marcus, Oh giraffe. Yeah, that is heartbreaking. Oh, Anyway, I think there'll.
Be enough on this.
I think there'll be enough on the zoos.
I hope, So, I hope. So handbreaks going, oh yeah, Actually, when I think about it, my sister bought a brand newness and four wheel drive thing he's past under I think last year, and that didn't have a handbreak and the guestic and everything, and I thought, this is either driving.
You know what I like at a handbreak is you can visually see that it's on where it's a foot break. You can't see it because it's way down on that bit, down with your feet with all those all those levers that you don't even look at.
Yeah, exactly.
It's just nice.
Yeah, going to step too far?
Yeah, I'm happy about that. Ye, well I marched a part.
And speeding. Well that road in Auckland. Here moment goes to sty alarm.
There.
No, most of most of those big roads and Auckland people just sixty or seventy.
The situations, they've reduced the speed and everyone's just gone at the old speed and they're be able to do that because no one stopped them. But now now they've got more serious. Is that what you're saying.
Yeah, well, I'm a reform speeder. I had a problem. I had a nickname back and mid two thousands of lead foot Lily. Yeah, I just thought of speeder. But well you do around Auckland's But I moved down here and I got tinged about four times in six months.
And you'll say you can drive. You can say you can drive around Orton speeding and no one pulls you over? Is that right?
Oh?
No, no, No. I did get a number of speeding tickets to a when I was in Auckland, but came down here and I didn't know where all the speed cameras were so and now on the gorge and places like that, and anyway, I've now got a car that's got a cruise control in it. Never had one before, So I just set the cruise control to one hundred k's and that's not although there's the cap the expressways now one hundred and ten between all tacky and where Matthey not over ten miss and gullies amazing.
I don't know.
Yeah, yeah, it's great.
It's a great way providing your roads not too windy. The old press control's good value. Sometimes you get yourself aything. I wonder if I can leave it on cruise control through that corner, and that's probably a bad way of thinking.
Yeah, yeah, I mean the roads down here are pretty straight.
Actually, yeah, that's what you want.
Yeah, exactly most of the time.
Lead foot Louis lead lead foot Louis, lead foot Louise, lead foot, lowis, brilliant, take care, lead foot Lewis, thank you. Fourteen to ten here till twelve minameers Market's good evening, eight hundred and eighty ten eighty catch off the breaks in of it. By the way, there's a weather event happening, very bad thunder and aucland I've got an email someone's wrung the newsroom also too, if you've been struck by lightning or you've got any weather breaking news, let us know about that. So very bad thunder and Auckland a very very bad thunderlight So it's been differencing good and bad thundering. It's all thunder is bad, isn't it Well, No, it's all the same, isn't is it good? There's not much of a variation between thunder apart from how far away it is. Right, if the thunder and lightning are close together, you could get struck. I guess that's what I'm trying to say tonight. What most people have been on about is the fact there's been a blitz of cops police on Smaal's Road and they have been issuing tickets during wash hour, and everyone that is called the show is furious a because the speed limit there shouldn't have been reduced because it doesn't look like a fifty k road even though it goes through a big residential area. So that's a problem. And the other thing is that even though the speed limit was reduced, people thought they could still go at sixty because it was important of people to go at sixty to get all the cars out of that area. So I've been a lot of denial amongst people then thinking they could drive with immunity. But they've been ping tonight and they're not happy. They've got fines and demerits. Jane, it's Marcus. Welcome, good evening.
Hi.
How are you looking at the window? Trees are blowing, rain, thunder, lightning everything. I can see it out my bedroom window.
I'm going to wait for a thunder strike. Is it far away?
Not too bad?
We've had sunder just a minute minute to go end lightning, and there's a tree outside of my bedroom window which I'm upstairs, is blowing again, just about just about blowing off its branches.
Okay, good strong ones, Thanks for that now. Brian, it's Marcus. Welcome here.
Marcus.
How are you, Brian?
Brian? Good? Good dad? Yep, good dad.
Yeah, well you want to be it up here in Mount Rascal. I'm on the corner Mount Albert and Standingham Roads and I've just disconnected my antennas because with the radios and all that, and we've had five strikes of lightning and it's just lighting.
Up the whole room.
Is it quite close?
Well, a massive around about three seconds between the lightning and knee thunder.
Okay, how long does that mean?
Well, that's not that far away.
It's hugely about ten twelve seconds.
I forget the equation.
Yeah, so it was good.
It's unusual for me to disnnect my radio antennas. Yeah, as I said, there's a few bobs with the radios.
How did you know to disconnect them?
Do you take you where the co ACX comes into the back of the radio. You're hanging around a cicket out the window. How do you mean the lightning will come down and come through the co acxs and everything like that and go back out.
Three seconds, right, Brian? Yeah, thousand, one thousand meters it's a kilometer away.
Yeah, well that's not that far away.
You're multiplying. You multiply the number by three hundred and forty.
Oh it's something I didn't know.
Yeah. So if it's one second, it's throwund forty meters away. Three seconds it's a k away. If it's simultaneous, you're a lightning ride.
Well, yeah, I played safe. I was laying in bed and the room just looked up just like I had a light on.
Like an X ray.
Yep.
But how did you know to disconnect.
Soon.
As soon as I heard the first one, I left the radios going actually, and I heard they've they heard a bit of a noise about an hour or so beforehand, and you could hear a bit of banging out in the air, out in the atmosphere from the antenna's vertical antennas.
Oh, well done you. You've saved yourself a spot of bother there with getting it fried from the back door.
When there's six grand six grand per radio a little bit a little bit expensive, you know what I mean.
I ensured for lightning, No, why not?
Never thought of it?
Brilliant Brian, Thank you Marcus. Well, my ears are literally ringing from that clap of thunder here in Auckland. Carl arms went off and the lightning was amazing bright. Nothing on the weather websites, though Mark has been a farm. I have a rope hanging from a dead tree at my back door. If it's my weather guide. If it's swinging back and forth it's windy, and if it's wet it's been raining.
Leo.
Good on your Leo, Marcus. We are in little Manly and fung A Padrah, Auckland, and crazy to hear that thunder and lightning happening is awesome, starry night here, have a great Christmas, Alana. So what do you got guy? What's the lightning happening at your place? That's something also too. No reports of weather damage to the newsroom so far. And where are we with traffic policing in Auckland, particularly going out to pack Alanger. People got ticketed tonight and they seem hot and bothered, and I can't quite work out why, because that's what they do. They enforce the speed limit. It's their job. So it's quite of extraordinary the level of anger around people getting speed and tickets. This is on Smale Road, which was sixty. It's down to fifty. People were still doing sixty and god a ticket and they felt injustice. High fee, it's Marcus, good evening, high fee. Welcome, Hi, how are you? You're good fee? How are you all right?
Oh?
I am actually driving enterbaying the law.
Well that do not normally.
No, I do normally because I'm not an idiot. The reality is people get all up in arms because they don't want.
To take responsibility.
Yeah, it's always.
Someone else's fold, like oh for me, but you know, not me I'm great on pop, but I don't do anything wrong, you know, which is a motorcros excuse.
And.
It can, in my opinions, are so to drive now that people have become lazy, they don't take any notice. That's why they I mean defectively, you don't need to do anything.
Out And.
I would go I would go as far as saying that because there's been so much talk about it been revenue collecting and madness, and people have kind of really politicized the speed limits that people now feel justified by not obeying them, which is.
Weird to me, But that veteroric has been around for years. I mean, because I've got a few decades on my blog. In the eighties, you know, there was in or they're just collecting revenue, you know, the traffic cops. You know, anything that impact your own pocket is deemed to be revenue gathering of just taking money off you. I mean I get the occasional because you know, I have to make sure that they're doing their job, but or I think you the better speak or I'll drive along. This is just like I've just driven from I was a lu this morning and I'm driving down through kind of make you now that you kind of get distracted, and so it's a fair cop. Before I get a speeding ticket, it's my responsibility. It's not the poor chap who's out there. And I would rather be pulled up and been told hey, you're speeding it and raining myself in than be responsible for hurting myself or someone else because I'm just in my own little bubble. I'm not self governing. I'm not my own little country. The laws here that you must do things, you know, it's like you know, you've got indicators and your cam and to use those as well. We're a seat belt And it's not all about revenue. The chat earlier talking about the speed limit down there old Turkey and they're not getting people, you know, killed. I think that's a bonus really, And you know, is this simple say responsibility in stomping happens?
What's I mean? People are blamers, aren't They don't like a blamer? Thank you? Fe Garriott's Marcus welcome.
Hey, hey Marcus, just coming back from from ray from working and coming down towards people just like tail getting me. I was doing just on a a case. There are tail getting of a taking down those straights there and then we get to the bren Dorwins and now I've had a fifteen minute wait with the roadworks. So really all that speed that they've been doing is really just a waste of time because it's just, you know, they they're so dumb. If I've come from on a regular basis, they must know this roadworks here at nights for Ben Dowins. It's just mad really, So what.
Do we say about that? Is that people are Is it that time of the year where people are driving crazy? Is it what it is?
I don't know.
It just seems to be like a bit of a mad rush. But but you know, it's a Thursday night and like how there doesn't seem to be a lot of traffic on the road, and then all of a sudden you've got to big build up because of the delays on brend Duin. But you know, it just seems senseless because here they are racing and doing stupid things close close to yellow lines, and here we are are money ten meters behind them. You know, It's it's just gets gets really silly in a way sometimes and perhaps and sometimes GPS usually has roadworks on their on their systems I'm not using mine, but yeah, I think that anyone else seems to think that they can just use you be at four x fours and go right up there, right up your backside and then overtake it just stupid. Really, I don't know why to do it, Marcus. So I don't know whether it's just the time of the year or whether everyone's just in a rush nowadays to get home, you know.
I mean, I've got to say that I am quite happy that we have road policing, you know, and I have been a victim of road policing and have had tickets, but I'm glad they're there because I mean, there are some idiots, and I guess for all idiots from time to time, but I try and drive well, you know, there's time that you know you need a reminder. But yeah, I'm hearing you on that one. Gary Saliot's Marcus. Good evening and welcome, Hi, Sally.
Hello, Hi, I was just listening to a bit about your speeding drivers, and well, I think is there's so many images and TV programs and films with unrealistic power chases and special effects of people speeding and it's supposed to be exciting, but you know, just people think they're in some sort of film. I just want to they speed and you know, so selfish, I don't think about anyone else.
Well, it seems as though tonight that people have rung up the show and they've been really outraged by getting a ticket for driving sixty k's on a road where the speed limit was sixty k's and it's been reduced to fifty k So this is not the grand theft auto territory. This is just people entitled to think, Okay, for a hard day at work, I can drive home at the speed limit that used to apply on that road. They don't seem to realize. They don't seem to realize that that the authorities have reduced the speed limit on that road because the speed limit must be dangerous. So think, oh, well, I don't believe that that's just revenue collecting. I'm going to continue to drive at the old speed, which seems to be art.
They know perfectly well, that's that the speed limits. The speed is speed limit has changed, so it's not really any excuse it.
There's no excuse. But they will argue to the end of time that they need to get to work, and you know, I was surprised how hot and bothered people were about that.
It.
Well, no one likes getting a ticket, but you know, you just got to take it on the channel. And if you've been speeding for whatever reason, then it's not accessible. Is it broken the law? You need to need it, just stuck it up.
It's much better when you get it's much better when you get a ticket in the mail, because that way you don't.
You haven't got that still pretty bad.
Well yeah, but you're not angry, but yeah, but I guess it's not effective because your behavior has not changed at the time, whereas you know, you actually if you get in the mail, you don't realize where you were when you were speeding. So I agree with you.
Sort of general mentality of rules are made to be broken. That's the mantra that seems to pervade the public.
But there was also a lot of discussion that people thought that the police were when they decided to reduce the speed limits. And we're always heard that they want to do that because the police thought the road limits were dangerous and they went around and they for consultation. They said that they wanted the speed limits reduce, and everyone ridiculed them and became an election issue, and they've kind of revoked that, but it's still like the legacy has been left that people now don't respect the police's ability to work out what the road limits should be.
I just think it's a bit of a shock because the police have shown, you know, discretion or let people off, and to have let people off for quite a few years and not really doing their job to police the speed limit and other things.
Have you experienced it?
I thought they I thought they had been I thought we had cops up trees and all sorts of stuff. I thought they'd been quite good at enforcing stuff.
No, I think it quite often so you quite often you quite.
Often see people not policing.
Yeah, Like I was, I was next to a.
Police car waiting, waiting at a traffic light, and a cyclist just went straight through a red a red light right in front of them.
They didn't do anything, you know, I mean, the cyclists are going to jypardize themselves, aren't there? The cycles is not going to kill someone else?
Well, well, I just cause an accident and then of course that's not their fault because they're a cyclist.
But I don't know.
That cyclists. I don't think cyclists have ever led to anyone else being killed. I mean cyclists of revolvable on the road because anyone texting can hit them and they're not going to survive.
They are quite someone tried to avoid a cypelist because they've gone through a red light, then they could smash into another cane and someone could be killed. Okay, I mean I think a fist on the road, they should be following the road rules like it went.
Now, Yeah, but they're not. Yeah, but the cyclists aren't killing people. So people in the double cab due to the killing people the cyclist are the ones that have been killed. Because because of so much drivel that's been said, people seem to hate cyclists. Anyway, I'll get in trouble, Carrie. It's Marcus. Welcome, Good evening.
Good evening, Marcus. Yes, I was just tuning into your channel tonight before I go to bed, and who'd you're talking about skits and policing and diving And I'm aged fifty four years and I can recall in the early nineteen nineties there was a merging of the Ministry of Tense Sport and the New Zealand police they've merged together.
Can they recall that, yes.
With your pattern, Yes, yes, And I think it's actually quite interesting because I don't I personally don't think it was a great choice by government to do that, because I think policing and transporting and the community are quite different. And you know, I can recall at that time of working in the police, it was around about nineteen ninety one nineteen ninety two, roughly. At that time, I was a civilian in the police, and so I maybe had a little bit of inside knowledge, but I can't recall if I gained the knowledge at the time or later in life. But I understood that. You know, there's a lot of benefit to the mu Zeualm Police emerging with the Ministry of Transport because they gained a lot of the Crown budget for vehicles, and also they gained the ability to gain revenue from issuing traffic tickets, whereas previous to the merge of the police and the Ministry Transport, the police didn't have the ability to really oh well, I suppose, you know, maybe drinking in a public place, issuing infringement notice, but they didn't really have the power of a high revenue game. And I can recall distinctly, and I'm sure Mark Alis can as well from the All Blacks, that it was a wrong choice for the Ministry of Transport to merge with the mw Zeum police. Ellis, Oh well, I can recall he was, you know, his lobby chat but he was a university student in Otago and he was riding a moped without a helmet on and a lady who was previously Ministry of Transport officer became a police officer and she charged him and convicted him. And at the time Gordon Hunter, he was also a police officer, but a true as such was the coach of Mike Alice and there's a bit of a conflict about that one. But my point here is that it was the reason that they moved was because of the revenue generating exercise by Crown.
I don't know if that's the case. The questions, questions, hang on, hang on, hang on, freaking hang on here are freaking me out. No one did a city. I haven't even asked you one question the road toll. I don't necessarily know the reason they combined was for revenue collecting, right, So I don't know if that's correctperise, not yours. I don't believe your expertise, Carrie. But what's the road toll done? What's the road toll done since nineteen ninety? Has it gone up or has it gone down? Bearing in mind there's more cars on the road, well.
Given simplicities of statistics and higher volume of people traveling on the road, and less focus on traffic because the police moved with the ministry retreats, for I would assume marks that it was a lot higher since nineteen nineties.
But anyway, so you.
Think road hang on carry Carrie, the road toll has halved. But yeah, any for the questions, I kind of enjoyed that way that was delivered. I've heard some interesting things this week. The person said, Hi, this is my first time to call talk back this Actually, this is my first time to call anyone. Remember that guy, I remember that to the end of days. Good evening, Dennis, ats Marcus.
Welcome, Good evening, Marcus. I've just got back from a couple of weeks in China. One point four billion people. I reckon there was one point three billion driving cars when over there, and very very controlled at pedestrian crossings where they stopped you know, except for the hundreds of electric scooters that just carried on. And I want how the Chinese crossed the district crossing, and it reminded me of that video clip you see of the wilderbease crossing the river and crocodiles going for them, where when the crowd moved across, they pushed the older people first, the younger people at the back, and us middleis were stuck in the middle. And it was all orchestrated and the way we went so that the people in the front and the back took the hit, not that I saw any, but it was so so much a reminder of the wilderbeest crossing the crocodile and fested the river. But that that apart good drivers.
Much of the cars electrical patrol.
About for electric now forty it's about that and yeah, the tour guide said almost half enough. And but little scooters like little vestlers, hundreds of them. They had scooter lane, so they keep them off the main road and they just ran so quietly that you had to look twice and make sure one of these guys would take you out. But again, if you did step out by the state, they stopped and sort of smiled and I was very impressed. And impressions of Chinese people and uh is generally that very pushy. I said to the tour guide you, well, your countrymen are very pushy. And he said, with one point four billion of US, if you don't push, you're going to be left behind.
Well did he like that? You told him like that, you told him your impression of his countrymen.
Yes, yeah, he was very.
Found that interesting. Did he well, here we go with quite pushy yep.
Yeah, no he was, and he agreed with it. He said that he's been overseas. It's sevel overseas, says see seeing others. But he explained it and justified it. And once I thought about I thought, oh, well, fair enough, that's where they do it. Notwithstanding if they come to they going to do what they want, you know that. Yeah, did you.
Find your travel experience broadened you?
Yes?
And no.
I had thirty seven years in the Navy and traveled extensively, so it was yes, another one of those, but a different venue, you know, not not under not under the way we used to do it. Then it was absolutely. My late wife wanted to do the Great Wall and the Chericotta warriors, and she passed before we got a chance to do it. So one day I said, I'm going to China, rang up my son. He said, can I come to it? And I said, as a companion, but not as not as my minder. I'm seventy eight, So maybe he thought, and we did the Great War. It brought us to tears. This place was so listen, so much of an impact was standing there, going good God.
You know.
Did they tell you about the construction and the mortar the Great Wall?
Yes?
And where they got the stones from?
And what was the moti made of?
Uh?
A human human? Perhaps human beings?
I wondered when people?
He said, when people died on the wall, they were put into the wall. And I said, oh, is that a cultural thing? And he looked at me Riley and said is.
But the was the mortar made of rice and eggs?
I do not know.
I can't remember. I can't remember, No, no, I can't remember. I do know that the human humans who died on it didn't leave the wall, so you know where they put them? Whatever sort they're not big enough to bury. Nearly estimates vary, but up to a million people lost their lives doing it.
What was more impressive the wall or the warriors.
The wall inasmuch as when we got there they got to fit an actress point that two hours out of Beijing. So when we got there was only about fifty people on the wall. And afterward I didn't climb all the way out the Sunday. I climbed a bit, and by the time we'd finished, there would have been five hundred people on the wall. When we got to Terracotta warriors, big big pits with the warriors in it, we would have been eight to ten people deep. And this crowd that just moved slowly around the pit and you went with it, you know now, which was about I think both both for different reasons. The warriors were just mind blowing a first view of them, then bang and they're there. One funny story he told me. He said, there was a German tourist who loved and very common loved the warriors. So what he did is he made himself a warrior's uniform painted at terra Cotta, and somehow, they don't know how, got into where the warriors were and stood there with the warriors. I said, why he loved the warriors? And one day he sort of scratched his shoulder and somebody saw it. This massive hall that holds a couple of thousand people. The two of God said empty at about thirty seconds.
It sounds like folks, sounds like folklore to me.
Please carry this guy out. Yep, yep, lovely story. Yeah.
Oh, I appreciate you coming through, Dinners. I like the way you said Riley too. That's not a word that we use often enough, he said, Riley. Good evening, Sam Ats Marcus.
Welcome, Hey, good evening. I have listened to some of your or your conversations, not about speak limits and stuff like that. Yes, I mean, I've got a bit of a funny one, and they help people think their good drivers and whatnot. I'm going to a course of do a heavy truck license. Were all asked if we're all asked if we we thought we were all good drivers, and new one put the hand up, So I'll put my hand up to you good as driver, And then you know, we we ended up sitting through the course and at the end of it, we've got to have a drive with instructor. My team came around and then I've got on, I've got on the track and we sit off down the road, got fifty meters and I got told to pull over. Your rubbish, mate, your rubbish. How you being to go home? You must be tired every day, you must be You got some bay techniques, So okay, then accept that that my ego was a bit bruise. But the end of the day, he's the instructor. So he gave me some pointers, gave me some whatnot saying what to do for these things. So when I got home, I grabbed another little truck that I was allowed to drive, and I practiced for about four or five hours that afternoon, going up and down one single road, backwards and forwards, trying to perfect what he was telling me to do. Come the next day, got on the truck, put down fifty meters again. Oh mate, you've so improved, you know, And I was so happy about it. So I took everything that he taught me on board right up till today. I'm not perfect driver, not saying it. I'm like, well, they're here my moments and whatnot. But through education from someone else, I managed to try and stop the bad habits of what I was doing. Thinking I was all that to me, It's like when you're driving a vehicle. It's suck a loaded gun. Just off for get us anyway. And I think sometimes when the police is lower or raise or lower to speak them it I think as for as for a reason, maybe there's been too many car creatures. You know, we have these rules today. Someone's either passed away, you know, died and passed away, or some debt due to an accident, which gives them statistics to think that this road is unsafe. That's not of thing anyway. I'm not too sure that's a.
Due to an.
Excellent come on, just Sam, if you don't mind me asking you, right, yep, what were you doing wrong?
My cornery, my breaking my following distance?
My we're all.
Instead of because I was using the old one hand technique, you know, with the theory will and leaning forward and whatnot like that when he taught me a technique where I should be just using just the front of the steering wheel instead of going around in circles pushing pull technique and being in the correct gear to go around corners all the time. Because the trucks the truck struggles end up taking it on board and using the private vehicles and my jennies and trips with the family have been a lot more enjoyable instead of being more tense in that sort of stuff you known before.
Now this was this was a commercial driving instructor. Is that what they were?
Yeah, yeah, so year they were. It was a class too to start off with. And now like past five and or they've been through all those instructing courses in there. But I think, you know, there's a lot of a lot of education. Must like I've made all my children go through defensive and the rest of the new skill control, all these things, whether there's all these play a part. And I don't know if people realize that, you know, when that's speeding, all these factors coming to I know you've had a hard day at work, you'll you just want to go home. But for me, I think driving is a problems not not right. You know, we will changed with our attitudes, not that break when it comes to driving. We I think we own the road, think we can and you've got everage this.
Out, pull up someone else.
You know, you can do some real place work in But I I think my personal opinion is probably a little bit smaller. But yeah, the police are doing as much as they can. You know, they're doing as much to patrol the roads, and they're not picking on us, that us who's crossing the line. You know, we've fifty say it's fifty k. Soon we'll give fifty five, sixty fifty five. You know, so many hess and the will today there if we just slowed down just a little bit, well we'll get to A to B in a lot safer men area. But fast paced will today people are just so much in a hurry. Well, I think some education is that we're coming up through the grades, coming up through the really no restricted for you know, it's ongoing maybe ongoing leaning things.
Us.
Okay, Hell, look I appreciate you coming through you so I think I've take it on board what you've said. So thank you for every much for that. It's nice to hear from you. Shout out to Sam. Awesome call got on for swallowing as pride and taking on board the advice with the instructor. Although I don't know how you could practice your following distance on country roads. Should it be the law that car headlights must be put on during daylight hours? What a load of bs plice have never a seed revenue from infringement notices? Jeez, I wonder what talkback will be like when congestion charges, kicking posts the next elections, pocketing a highway, maybe a prelude, Mac, I'm there for it. What do you think about con gestion charges? A good idea of it, how dear they Gary has just gone past then exit on the Brandurwins just after he spoke to us, So there we go is not involved with there's an accent on the brandurwins. I tell you who's in trouble. That's that woman. She's a piece of work. Remember Captain Tom that worked for walk for COVID around around his house. Well, jeez, that daughter has seemed crooked. She pocketed one point five million pounds from the book deal and none of it has gone to charity. You beware of charities. So often there's someone in the background looking taking advantage of Paul governance and just pocketing loads of it. Do get in touch if you want to. But listen to those people whinding about their speeding tickets was the first hour. But man, where they fall on talking mainly about people and their mentality when they get speeding tickets. Because whenever I have had a speeding ticket, my initial reaction is oh, phlip cheapers. My reaction is normally oh, I actually don't know what my reaction is. I mean, it's never pleasant, and your initial reaction is probably one of refusal to accept in denial. But quite quickly canes are well, fair cop, and you move on. But tonight's initial callers that were ticket it on Smale's Road in Botany, would you call it Botany? Their reaction was, how dare people ticket us after a hard day's work driving sixty k's on a road that was always sixty k's and we still do sixty k's even though the speed limit has been reduced to fifty. It was a master class in denial and a sense of entitlement. Anyway, Marcus, interesting call from the women discussing the amalgamation of the the mot the Traffic Safety to put division with the police. Notwithstanding the priority of the police nowadays seems to be more involved in criminal activity. The numbers of death through road extens have considered be reduced. However, there is no doubt the reductions of deaths are due to safer highways constructed more motorway expressways which prevent the head on its prevalent in the years prior to the merger. Ray, Yes, thank you, Ray. If anyone was involved in the merge, they might let us know what was the reason behind the merge. It's a long time ago. I would say a number of the reasons that the road toll has dropped is that our attitude towards drink driving has completely changed. Seat belt wearings become a lot more prevalent, The roads are safer. We've got that movable media barrier on the Harbor Bridge, and cars a lot safer, I would think. But there's no doubt all matter of reasons. Dylan, as Marcus could evening.
Good evening, mate, How are you good?
Thank you Dylan.
Hey, I'm just hearing the speed and I think so. I also proud I got kids. We used to play on the roads back home, back home, man, back in Sri Lanka.
Oh yes, yeah.
So.
The thing is what people need to understand is the faster you go, the longer it takes to stop. Really, hence, usually you inside cities where people across you would current for law, you know, so putting it into perspective, right, if you had fifty kilometers, I just did a bit of calculation while I was waiting takes it up twenty I think about twenty five meters to stop from the point where you break the setting in about a second power reaction back. Yes, And if you're going at sixty, that's about thirty five meters.
Yes, so it's like an extra forty percent. The distance increases by forty percent.
Correct, So red you seen speed in congested area, there is the way to go. Really don't know why people don't can understand that.
You know, people, I think they are. I think most people think they're better drivers than they are. I think that's one of the problems we're facing.
Yeah.
True, no one ever admits that they're a bad driver. Are you a bad driver?
I don't know, really, man, it's not because I've never actually gotten any tickets, you know, kind of it's on the speed limit. I always get complaint on the white thing waiting so slow.
So wow, you aren't planning you're going so slow?
Well, if you look at it right to get to your point, right, So I need another calculation just to see doing five doing five kilometers at fifty fifty kilometers pan hour, right, the difference between that and going at fifty eight kilometerspan hour In one of the people, the people who call them. There's only about a fifty second difference, so what's one minute?
In a way, I think people were really upset that the speed limits changed, yes, and that's what really freaked them out. They thought, hang on, it's always people.
What I know.
It's about talk about people hate change. It's the worst thing in the world.
But change is always happening. Every second while we talk. World is turning. It's something that we have to accept, I guess.
And they like the way things always were. We change, We're all changed resistant and it's weird, isn't it because interfect you know. That was a big part of the election, was people saying they wanted to go back to the old fast speed limits, even though it seemed as though people have been killed outside schools and things, but people just wanted to go back to the way it was.
Yep, that's true. I think what should happen is with all the data and all the connected systems that are there, the government should come up with a way where the speed changes according to the to the to the congestion, Like, for example, is there are more people the speed kind of producers, there are you know, more people than the speed kind of increases because all the cities are going smart, right, so you have so much of data were being moved through and efficiency comes in that kind of way, right instead of going up doing a blanket speed change in some areas where literally sometimes people don't even you know, walk, that's probably the way to go ahead. Because we all talk about data nowadays, right, collect data, not data based data driven changes. Maybe that should apply to the speech changes as well.
I don't know that people would cope.
True, true, that's true.
Well, everybody will have to get.
Used to it.
I guess, yeah, I don't know about time changing.
I mean, I mean, I think I think the problem with most people, particularly in Pakaanga, they're stuck in cars because there's no other option, and they they're an hour and a half getting to work, an hour and a half getting home. It does the hidden and.
That is very true.
It's very badly planned. I would say that Auckland is kind of badly planned.
Right, Yeah.
Absolutely.
I was in Open for a long time man before I moved down to Canterbury christ So one of the reasons I left Auckland was I used to work on the show and it took me almost an hour to just get to work and it's just waste of time. And yeah, pretty bad. It's it's overpopulated, the roads are not coping well.
In that sense, it's a it's a failure of planning correct and.
In that sense, you know, radius in the speed really doesn't make any difference because how fast they're going to go, you probably can't. There have been so many times I look at the eighty or the one hundred and I look at it and say, oh, I'm actually doing five of the book.
It's not even moving.
How's your commute down Frostection? Is it committing Christ You're right.
It's it's it can get congested, but it's not like Aukland, so you can't really compare. Yeah, so it's like, you know, I thirty in fifteen minutes it's all gone. And nowadays there's a lot of construction going on in the One Zealand Stadium there, so I work around there and yeah, in a middle condition, but it's literally nothing. When I look at the time that you would I would have spent going to work in Okland, it's nothing, really nothing.
I see the roofs going on that, am I right there? I saw that today the roof's going on.
There's a lot of construction going on. Mate, one day on this side, the.
Other day it's on the other side.
You know, I think the guys really, I don't know if they're really ashy to get it poor done sort of out.
Well, it must be coming, it must be due to open because I saw they've they've released the Warriors Fick fixtures for next year and they're playing u Castle there on Intact Day. That's the the Inxact Day features. That's only December January, February March. It's only four months away, so it's it'll have to be finished. Yeah, So I'm excited about that because the.
People probably why that's probably why man, they're working to other day.
Do you work on that? Are you not working on that site though?
Are you?
I am I.
Ride a school work or dig the musk stool box and the muss so that's really cheap.
But you actually work on the construction of the stadium.
No, no, no, I just work very near, okay, very near.
Understand. I thought you might give us an insight into it, Dylan, But about the opening date, that's all. I wasn't frying. By the way, there are reports online that it is snowing in christ Church, blue sky. There's reports online that it's snowing in christ Church outside now really, really, what about what's name is page snowing in christ Church? Surely it's not. There's reports it's snowing in christ Church. Can you believe it? I'm going to predict that next year snowing and Croach now can't predict that after the event, can I if anyone's got information about that? Is it cold? Does it seem like it might snow Marcus? We and Parkland's no snow here Lowell Marcus eleven degrees in Lincoln, warm chairs. Karen Marcus. Not snowing in Kashmir. Christ Church not even cold, Margaret Marcus, Snowstone, christ Church, I love and Waltham. I presume it's I live in Woltham, but I'm sure they love in Waltham too. It's a cold, still night. But isn't snowing? Not snowing? And christ Church but very cold, Marcus, not snowing North are dry as someone's joking as it's not cold? Great show as per usual, Marcus. It's not someone's pulling in. I've just got out of bed to look and woke up the wife and now I'm in trouble. Marcus, I just got to be to check for snow. You've got me hook line singer Nathan. No, well, my producer alerted me, and we're normally pretty good at working out what's going on. What about I've been Oh, yeah, no, I don't well, I don't know, but now I've wrecked the show because that was our topic for the last hour, that it's snowing. So we've got some more information about that. Get in touch, but I'm not seeing anyone posting anything. Oh hang on, sleep now turning into snow christ Jewitch? Is it christ Chitchen Dorset?
Is it?
I think we're talking in the UK, Dan, So, I think we're in christ Church, Dorset, So that would be my post on that one. Is there a christ Churchen Dorset? It's snowing and christ Church Endorset people there? We go then own that one and that's good though. That's a good self over. At least got people out of bed. Then I am having up predictions for next year. How desperate am I? Ah? So it's snowing and christ Church Endorset people, Dan said, my bad. By the way, the hospital and christ church. It's a capacity twenty four hour surgeries. Currently capacity is able to accept you patients at this time. I presume that's our christ Church, not Dorset s it's Christ Church, New Zealand. We are talking traffic and enforcement of fines. If that is something you can mention or talk about, that's what we're on. I wait one hundred and eighty Tian nine to nine two detect market still twelve not snowing in Belfast, that's Belfast christ Churche. Also, yep, jump in if you want to talk here on midnight. My name is Marcus. Welcome twenty five past eleven romance along from twelve. I look forward to what you've got to say. Oh eight hundred and eighty, ten eighty and nineteen ninety the text do get in touch? Have you got anything to add? Yep, yep, yep, yep. I never knew there was another Christ Jurge. Hello, Ian, it's Marcus welcome, Hello, Hi in Hi, How I.
Am macusid thank you in now you've got me out of bed and all that sort of jazz. And it's no, it's not starring. It is a wee bit cooler, but it's not too bad. But we've had weather up and down here like yeah yeah, and talking about that you've made a cars and your speed and everything. There was a crash on Manchester Streets today at Gloucester Street. You know it's the one my street. The foot paths wide is the street? Are there? Yeah?
I'm listening.
Yeah, yeah, it's the crazy thing, all the speed business.
I think.
I think there's a lot of people living in the middle of christ Church now and they walk and go on scooters and bikes. I think things have changed, things have changed.
Yeah, it'll all change. You'll all die though, whether you've got any money or not.
Yeah, that's right. But yeah, how old are you in? I don't change it.
I don't need to know, oh ninety years old?
Goodness may thank you. Nice to hear from you in By the way, you will be pleased to know that the Center Parade is going ahead this weekend. I think in christ Church I think we call that Canterbury, do we. So it's about to happen for Sunday. Christ Church is seventy sixth parade and this year there have been additions to make them safer. Each float has been checked by health and safety officers. Seat belts and safety bars have been added where needed, including the Santa Float where the elves will now be secured in place with seat belts. There will be sixty food stools also there at the Kenty Agricultural Park, so it doesn't even go through the city anymore. It goes around the park. That's lame Hope, Sonya Soups. There sixty food vendors, two dollars, fair eyes, bouncy castle and entertainment on two stages, but there will be safety belts for the elves. You might want to ring up and say PC gone mad, Health and Safety Gone Mad.
For more from Marcus slash Nights, listen live to News Talk sat BE from eight pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio