Best of 2024: John MacDonald - This is the most pointless piece of road safety advice

Do you know what the most pointless piece of road safety advice is? Drive to the conditions. 

I get it and it’s well-meaning. But it’s pointless. A waste of breath. Because some people are incapable of doing it. 

And it would seem from some of the reports in the past 24 hours about those two buses which went off the road yesterday on the Twizel-Tekapo highway after hitting black ice, that perhaps the drivers of those buses knew nothing about how you should be driving in sub-zero temperatures.  

So they either didn’t know how to drive to the conditions - or just didn’t care.  

This isn’t a one-off, either, by the way, and, I reckon the time has come for us to stop mucking around with this “drive to the conditions” nonsense and do one of two things. 

We either follow the lead of some European countries and make winter tyres mandatory on all vehicles. Or, as soon as we know temperatures are going to be sub-zero where there’s a state highway, we close the road. We don’t wait around until the road is frozen over and it’s too late. 

I see the guy in charge of the bus company involved in yesterday’s crashes is disputing any suggestion that they were going too fast.  He would say that, though, wouldn’t he? 

It’s not like he’s going to come out and say ‘oh yeah, those muppets I pay to drive my buses have got no idea about driving to the conditions’. 

So, instead of relying on some bus company owner in Auckland, I’m going to give more credence to the eyewitness account of a chap by the name of Tony McClelland, who was on the road at the time. I bet he isn’t buying what the bus company guy is saying, either.  

He was driving from Christchurch to Omarama. And he’s been in the news saying that the road conditions on that highway yesterday morning were the worst he’s ever seen. 

He hit black ice himself near Tekapo Airport, nearly lost control of his van and almost ended up in a ditch. So he called the police and asked them to close the road. 

Here’s a quote from what he’s saying: “You're looking at minus-5, minus-4 degrees, foggy conditions - that State Highway should have been closed. No doubt and it wasn't. There's just a big black sign up by the airfield saying 'dangerous conditions, black ice'. That's how people die."  

Thankfully, no one did die. One person has serious injuries and two others have moderate injuries. And thank goodness those buses ended-up where they did - off the road and not in the middle of it. 

But back to Tony McLelland. Once he’d called the cops, asking them to close the road, he thought about turning back but decided to press-on. But he stuck to 60kph. And it wasn’t long after that that he saw these two buses “flying out of the fog”. That’s what he’s saying. 

And here’s how he describes what he saw. "They were not doing 60. They were not doing 80. They were doing at least 100, probably a little bit more." 

And he obviously drives that road quite a bit, because he says it’s not uncommon to see drivers hoofing along at 100 kph during winter, when there’s black ice on the road. 

But this sort of nutbar driving happens everywhere. Less than two weeks ago, police caught a driver doing 134 kph in icy, foggy conditions on the road to Aoraki/Mt Cook - with the whole family on board. 

This was on State Highway 80. It was around minus-3. 

The day after that, the police came out with a warning, saying the number of people driving at “horrendous” speeds in winter conditions is appalling. 

Over a two-week period, 26 people had been caught doing

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Do you know what the most pointless piece of road
safety advice is? Do you know what the most pointless
piece of road safety advices? Drive to the conditions? I mean,
I get it, and it's well meaning, but it's pointless.
It's a waste of breath because some people are just

(00:34):
incapable of doing it. And it would seem from some
of the reports in the past twenty four hours about
those two buses which went off the road yesterday on
the Twizul Tekapore Highway after heading black eyes, that would seem,
or has been suggested at the very least, that perhaps
the drivers of those buses knew nothing about how you
should be driving in sub zero temperatures, not to mention

(00:54):
the fog as well, So they either didn't know how
to drive to the conditions or they didn't care. This
isn't a one off either, by the way, and I'll
get to that, but I reckon the time's come to
stop mucking around with this drive to the conditions nonsense
and do one of two things. We either follow the
lead of some European countries and make winter tires mandatory

(01:17):
on all vehicles, or as soon as we know temperatures
are going to be sub zero in the area where
there was a state highway, we close the road. We
don't wait around until the road's frozen over and it's
too late. Well, that's what I reckon. We need to
do one of those two. I want to find out
what you think. I see the guy in charge of
the bus company involved in yesterday's crashes. He's up in Auckland,

(01:40):
so we know all about that road. I see he's
disputing any suggesting that they were going too fast. But
he would say that, wouldn't he. I mean, it's not
like he's going to come out and say, oh yeah,
those muppets. I've paid to drive my buses no idea
about driving to the conditions. So instead of relying on
some bus company owner in Auckland, I'm going to give
more credence to the eyewitness account of a chap by

(02:00):
the name of Tony McClelland, who was on the road
yesterday morning. And I bet he isn't buying what the
bus company guy is saying either. So he was driving
from christ Church to a Marima and he's been in
the news, saying that the road conditions on that highway
yesterday morning were the worst he's ever seen. He almost

(02:22):
came on stuck himself. He hit black ice near Techapool Airport,
nearly lost control of his van, almost ended up in
a ditch. So what he did is he got on
the blower to the police and asked him to close
the road. Here's a quote of what he's been saying
about the conditions. Quiet. He says, you're looking at minus
five minus four degrees foggy conditions. That state highway should

(02:42):
have been closed, no doubt, and it wasn't. He says,
there's just a big black sign up by the airfield
saying dangerous conditions, black ice. That's how people die. End
of quote. Thankfully no one did die. One person I
has serious injuries and to others have moderate injuries. And
thank goodness, you've probably thought this too. Thank goodness. Those

(03:04):
musters ended up where they did, off the road and
not in the middle of it, but back detained McClellan.
So once he'd called the cops asking him to close
the road, he thought about turning back, but he decided
to press on. But when he did press on, he
stuck to sixty ks no faster. And it wasn't long
after that when he continued his journey that he saw

(03:25):
these two buses flying out of the fog. That's what
he's saying, the quote flying out of the fog. And
here's how he describes what he saw. Quote. They weren't
doing sixty, they were not doing eighty. They were doing
at least one hundred, probably a bit more. And he
obviously drives that road quite a bit, because he's also
been saying that it's not uncommon for him to see
drivers hoping along at one hundred k's during winter when

(03:48):
this black ice on the road. But you know, this
sort of nutbar driving happens everywhere. Less than two weeks ago,
you might remember this, less than two weeks ago, police
court a driver doing one hundred and thirty four k's
in icy, foggy conditions on the road to Audaki Muntkook
with the whole family on board. This was on State
Highway eighty around minus three degrees. And the day after

(04:11):
that the police came out worth a warning. Remember they said,
the number of people driving it horrendous speeds and winter
conditions is appalling over a two week period, twenty six
people had been caught doing speeds over one hundred and
twenty one hundred and twenty k's over one hundred and
twenty k's in icy conditions. So what happened yesterday, it's

(04:31):
not an isolated one off, It's happening on an all
two regular basis, and just telling people over and over
again to drive to the conditions. It's worthy, but it's lame,
which is why I think we need to do one
of two things. We either make winter tires compulsory on
all vehicles, or we closed state highways based on the

(04:51):
weather forecast, not the conditions at the time. So if
the forecast says there's going to be a severe frost
in the morning, bang, we closed the road the night before.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
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