LETTERS
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday March 29, 2011
Taking the nanny state to the limitI can remember being with my father in a car on the Harbour Bridge doing 35mph (the limit) in the 1950s when a policeman on a motorbike came alongside and told us to move along because we were holding up the traffic.Today some drivers think nothing of the effects of not driving at the limit because they might be pulled over for speeding, but insist on driving in the right lane.The threat of reducing the margin for error on speeding to zero ("Revealed: margin for error on speeding reduced to zero", March 25) will further exacerbate the problem. Another article ("Stoner vows to reverse speeding law change", March 26-27) states that drivers would be given some leeway to show that enforcement was not about revenue raising.We still seem to be missing the point.Vehicle speedometers have a tolerance of 10 per cent and that tolerance should extend to speed limits if only to keep drivers' heads looking outside the car rather than inside. Whenever one has to look inside the vehicle the possibility of an accident, even on a clear stretch of road, increases.And why would the bureaucratic State Debt Recovery Office be able to determine the impact of imposing the tolerance?I agree with Paul Sheehan ("One small word, one giant leap for NSW", March 28) when he pleads (inter alia): "No to the nanny state. No to more complexity. No to incessant government intrusions in our daily lives. No to the police state imposed on drivers."Geoff Lumsden Castle HillTwo wheels goodIt's too early to say that Clover Moore's cycle lanes are a "monumental blunder", Paul Sheehan. The Bourke Street cycle lane has been officially open for only a few weeks and clearly it needs to be given time to determine if it has been a success or not.There are too many cars on the roads in Sydney and anything that encourages people away from their cars is money well spent.Philip Kewley WaterlooCockatoo IQAlthough appreciating the humour in your weekend editorial about cockatoos ("Look both ways before eating the cladding", March 26-27), I must take umbrage at your assertion that they are remarkably stupid.My 36-year-old pet cockatoo, Arthur, is not caged and his wings are not clipped, but he doesn't fly away because he is smart enough to realise that if he does, he won't get hot buttered toast every morning.If I forget to turn off the outside light after giving him his supper, he will wait a little while before quietly at first, and then with increasing loudness, yell out my name to get me to turn off the light so he can go to sleep.I doubt there would be any other animal that would do that.Allan Thomas LochinvarBlooming awfulWhere have all the flowers gone? Years ago when driving or travelling up the Blue Mountains by train there was a sea of yellow flowers all along the road and railway line. (I think they were Calliopsis.) I have not seen any for years now, only stark embankments.Ken Thompson LithgowGentlemen's gameOne of the things that impressed me about last Saturday's World Cup match England v Sri Lanka was the good spirit of the players on both sides.No bowler snarled or looked threateningly at a batsman when hit to the boundary. Sri Lanka's slinger, Lasith Malinga, got the stick several times but that did not seem to make him nasty. He smiled when he strode back to the bowling crease after securing his only wicket.Murali was seen to glare a couple of times, but that was at his colleagues for dropping catches off his bowling. The England captain, Andrew Strauss, smiled now and then, even when it was certain his side would be thrashed.It was a game played by gentlemen. Refreshing.Don Abey Chisholm (ACT)
© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald
