I drove into Auckland against the tide of Easter traffic yesterday. It was at a standstill, people getting out of their cars and walking around. The brand new road and expensive tunnels just north of the city let the traffic now flow about a further two or three kilometres, then it jams up, the same as before. Wow, $40 million plus spent just to shift the queues up the road a little.
I’m sorry if this sounds cynical, but it does seem a collosal waste of time and money. Now they are talking more seriously of extending the motorway further north to Wellsford, another 10-20 kiolometres .
It seems so simple but we overlook the basic fundamental problem, the number of cars on the road.
I guess we are challenged with a rugged terrain and sprawling population, but surely we could find other ways to go up north, by train, by boat, by shared transport.
I am no different from anyone else and love to do my own thing, have the freedom to jump in the car and head out of the city. But sometime soon we all have to shift the way we do this.
Spending more and more on roads, buying more and more cars, just does not make sense.
I notice too my moods in the car, my judgement of others on the road and how they drive is huge. I am at my nastiest, my darkest thoughts about others are in the car.
Road rage is such an un necessary state, and yet it consumes us, and this week in the city an innocent and lovely old man died the victim of road rage.
It is not able and it is not sussed to be in such a state that the value of a car, an ego upset, rises above the value of a human life.