There seems to be a growing trend among public servants to create controversy – perhaps to show they’re doing some semblance of work! The latest is about safety and imported used cars. For years we’ve had ANCAP ratings, scientifically-proven star safety guides developed using repeatable crash tests, and backed by two governments as well as road safety advocates and motoring associations and clubs, in conjunction with the world’s top crash test assessment body, Euro NCAP.
They have served us well, are continually revised to ensure they keep up with the times, and are without doubt the best way that’s available of assessing whether a car is safe or not.
However, some time ago the New Zealand Transport Agency decided it would create its own “guide” to safety for used cars, based on totally unscientific “evidence” of crashes, without taking into account how the crashes happened, if it was a car or driver problem, what conditions were like, etc, etc, etc. In other words, rule of thumb!
Now this agency – which seems to be a law unto itself – has declared certain cars which were five stars safe when new under ANCAP suddenly become one star under its “guide” the moment they are used. And has further declared that they should be outlawed from importation.
We know “common sense” is often an oxymoron when it comes to public servants, but this one takes the cake.
I’m all for greater road safety, and ensuring that cars in use are safe to drive. However, using a totally arbitrary “guide” when there’s a perfectly sound scientific ANCAP one already in existence beggars belief.
Maybe what we should be investigating is not how to confuse the public with broad sweeping statements that have no evidential truth, but in looking into the NZTA itself, and how it operates.
At the moment we have total deflection away from the real problems. What’s happening about safer roads – not lower speed limits, but making the roads safer to drive on? Better driving – not slowing everybody down to a crawl? Policing texting at the wheel and unsafe cellphone use, not just ignoring it? Not to mention drugged driving.
My personal belief is that the NZTA has lost its way, has no idea how to handle these problems, and so chooses to ignore them, instead skirting around the main issues by highlighting relatively minor ones, not the biggies.
