Letters to the Editor

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School bus vs Nutters
I am one of your local school bus drivers, and I have had enough of the motorist ‘nutters’ who do not slow down for my school bus when letting children on and off. I am compelled to write to everyone and make them all aware of the risk of not slowing down while passing a school bus.

I drive on loose metal and tarseal roads twice a day and really enjoy the kids on board and the scenery. What I do not enjoy witnessing is speeding traffic going past my bus when I have stopped, well in excess of the allowed 20km per hour.

There are all kinds of `nutters' speeding past my school bus – some are locals I recognise, some are visitors from out of town – in their cars, trucks, tractors and motorbikes.

Look people, you grownups have more sense. Slow down for school bus signs. I am proud to be a school bus driver. I have been trained by my employ-er to get the kids home safe – advanced driving, NZQA qualifications, first aid certification, medical fitness certifica-tion as well as the abil-ity to work with children. The last thing I need is some `nutter' scaring the hell out of me while I stop for these kids.

I am also convinced that the safest way to get students to school and home is by bus. It not only saves costs and con-cerns for the parents trav-elling on busy roads, but also sets the children's focus for the day ahead when they are commu-nicating with other chil-dren on the bus.

To conclude, I can say a few motorists are very good with the rules, how-ever there are many who don't care. If you are that ‘nutter’ I am writing to, and reading this helps you slow down passing a school bus next time, then we will all be happy school bus drivers. In my opinion if the status quo continues, I am afraid it is not a matter ofif some child gets maimed or killed in our area by a speeding motorist pass-ing a school bus, but when.

Marty Searle
Mangawhai


EcoCare suggestion
Dear John Robertson, thanks for your response.

Each connection to EcoCare has cost us about $40,000.What will it cost us for the next thousand connections to the Mangawhai wastewa-ter scheme? How much is it to install reticulation, additional pumps, more irrigation and to buy land

for more irrigation? An-other $10 million? What are the annual mainte-nance and power cost for EcoCare?

May I makesuggestions to find a serious solution:

- Let the private sector do the job. Competition is mostly the best way for an effective operation.

- Sell our EcoCare scheme for the best price to a private operator un-der one condition: Let everyone have the possi-bility to choose the system he wants. No obliga-tion to be connected to the scheme.

-Set a standard for the purification everyone has to achieve. Set up an 8-monthly check like WOF and let EcoCare compete with a variety of domestic systems.

-Let the best purifi-cation systems get a bo-nus. Perhaps the MangawhaiResidents & Ratepayers Association and friends of our estuary will donate a prize.

Christian Simon Mangawhai


LPG fills explained
Responding to a recent letter to the editor (Market Heart of Com-munity, Nov 10), on behalf of GAS Mangawhai I would liketo point out our policy for LPG fills.

The bottles can only be filled by one of our three male staff mem-bers, allof whom are qualified. As stated on our blackboard at the GAS shed, bottlesare to be dropped by12 noon and will be ready by 4pm. This has been our poli-cy forthe last five years. However, weendeavour to accommodate our cus-tomers whenwe can.

We do apologise for any inconvenience caused to any of our cus-tomers, and wepride our-selves on the quality of service we provide.

Sheila Hassall
Mangawhai