Richard Steele
I went for a long drive last week. Actually, I took eight days off, unusual for an old stay at home like me, but I had some business to attend to, a health appointment or three, and some favourite relatives to catch up with.
And I have some observations to make. There are less cars on the road now. The price of fuel has impacted on people, and we have to be more economical and make our litres last longer.
That message has not yet got through to the owners of four-wheel drive utes, or sporty European cars, who are obviously too important and too busy to tick along at a modest 90 to 100 kph.
Most drivers were happy to maintain these speeds, and that shows sense and maturity, as we all get held up together at the next road works anyway.
This brings up a more important discussion.
Wouldn’t we be far better off if we thought about each trip and planned our driving habits better, to reduce our personal fuel consumption by 20 per cent to save ourselves a few bucks, to save the country, and then the world?
I’m not suggesting doing away with the long weekends away or annual holidays, I’m just proposing that we think about every trip and decide one at a time if it is really necessary.
Do you really need a V8 four by four to drop the kids off at school, or to go to the supermarket seven days a week?
Twenty-five per cent less motoring folks, and only road maintenance required. No more would we need to rip up 10-year-old roads into Tauranga, no more Mount Messenger bypasses, no more new tunnels and bridges for the Auckland harbour.
Driving would be a pleasure again. When did anyone ever think queuing on the motor way was an intelligent way to spend two hours a day?
Then there is motor racing. I like a nice reliable car as much as anyone, but do we really need petrol heads going around a track 500 times – encouraging wannabe race car drivers to buy vehicles twice as powerful as anything they could reasonably need?
Making public transport better is a no brainer too.
So is making the railways work properly and getting trucks off the road. But from where I sit, railways worldwide are rarely efficient.
Personally, I believe high fuel prices are here to stay. Cynically, I believe those to benefit most from the attack on Iran will be the American oil companies who have not been affected by the Strait of Hormuz being blocked, but have jacked up their prices anyway,
With the prospect of further oil shocks becoming more common, the sooner we in our little nation can change and adapt, the better off we will be.
So start this week folks, accept my challenge to drive 20 per cent less. Beat down the oil barons by using less of their product.
