Selwyn Times: November 14, 2017

28 Wednesday November 15 2017
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SELWYN TIMES
Fire rages, homes at risk
Patrolling the community
Malvern Community Patrol
Committee member Ian
Dampier writes about what
the committee has been up
to in the last few weeks and
road safety issues in the
area
AS WE rapidly come towards
the end of our fourth year
of operation, the Malvern
Community Patrol continues to
patrol the wider communities of
the Malvern district responding
to various situation as we find
them.
We continue to mount both
rostered and irregular patrols
day and night and respond
to situations throughout the
Malvern district as required.
The vast majority of the
community continue to be
overwhelmingly supportive
of our organisation and its
activities and the detractors are
very much in the minority, and
often our target audience.
To those individuals who
would say that our activities
should be the area of the
police, and only the police, we
would respond by saying that
community problems require
community initiatives and
community solutions. Operating
under the umbrella of the police,
CPNZ provides that structured
community response.
That said, we do not see
ourselves as anything other than
what we are, nor are we setting
ourselves up as something we
are not.
We simply see ourselves as
a community-based volunteer
service that assists where possible
and liaises with other agencies
to provide additional and,
when necessary, a professional
response.
Two weeks ago, the patrol
founds itself assisting the
Darfield police and two locals
to move half a dozen Aberdeen
Angus calves off State Highway
73 in the hours of darkness
that were causing chaos and
represented a serious risk to
traffic.
The previous week the patrol
EYES AND EARS: The Malvern Community Patrol vehicle.
responded in support of the
Darfield police to reports of
youths throwing stones at trains
as they passed through Darfield.
On the issue of road safety,
while a significant element of
road users continue to decry the
police for issuing infringement
notices and fines for breaches
of the road traffic regulations
and labelling this as “revenue
gathering”, the Malvern
Community Patrol is alarmed at
the poor standard of driving on
the districts roads.
There is little wonder that
Selwyn road accident statistics
feature among the highest in the
country as drivers continue to
fail to acknowledge the formula
of factors contributing to road
accidents and blatantly ignore
the traffic regulations.
This includes failure to stop,
failure to give-way, and cellphone
use while operating a motor
vehicle.
Five minutes of observation
at any of the intersections
controlled by stop signs in
Darfield should lead any casual
observer to wonder how much
consideration his or her fellow
road users have for the safety of
other road users.
At least 50 per cent of drivers
fail to abide by the letter of the
law, instead preferring to
treat the intersection as a “giveway”.
One of the other causative
factors in road traffic accidents is
cellphone use.
A prime example is the
number of parents arriving to
drop off their children at the
pre-school on South Tce or at
Darfield Primary School on Ross
St. In the family motor vehicle
while on the phone defies belief.
Why would you?
What on earth would
possesses any adult to be driving
their most treasured and
vulnerable family members to
day care while text messaging or
talking on a mobile phone?
Christchurch’s new Memorial Avenue Gateway Bridge
is open to traffic but we are not finished yet!
There will be speed restrictions and other traffic management on and around the bridge
over the next few months while the project team lay the final road surface and carry out
other work to complete the Russley Road Upgrade.
Please drive with extra care and pay close attention to the signage to ensure you are in
the correct lane to get to your destination. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
More information www.nzta.govt.nz/russley-road
Russley Road upgrade