The hitchhiker's guide to local government
Tuesday, 22 January 2019
A Dunedin City councillor hitchhikes to work most days instead of driving after he nearly died in a crash two-and-a-half years ago.
Aaron Hawkins – and his extended thumb – is a familiar site on the main road out of Port Chalmers, about 13.6 kilometres from central Dunedin.
The 34-year-old often hitchhikes to the Dunedin council offices and says the different mode of transport is not just a way to talk to captive voters.
'We will find out in October whether it has been advantageous or detrimental.'
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Hawkins got his learner's driver licence after he and his wife moved to Port Chalmers three years ago, but he put his driving plans on hold after a near fatal crash in 2016.
Hawkins had to be cut free from a vehicle he was a passenger in after it slid on black ice and smashed into a power pole in Christchurch in June 2016.
'That didn't really inspire me to continue down that path [of learning to drive],' he said.
'Even if I could drive, I don't think I would because it would mean getting a second car for my family. It makes more sense for my wife and toddler to have access to that.'
So out came the thumb.
The councillor said the longest he had ever waited for a ride was five minutes.
Those offering a ride fitted into three broad categories: friends and neighbours; 'generous people who have no idea who you are … that's all good and humbling'; and those who knew who he was and who offered him '15 minutes worth of feedback on local government affairs'.
Some people asked what he did at the council, which he found to be 'a tricky question'.
'Governance is not easy to explain, and so the simplest way of answering that is we do everything and nothing at the council.
'[Hitchhiking] has been a great exercise in terms of getting fairly honest feedback from people you wouldn't necessarily get turning up to make submissions on the annual plan, or resource consent decisions.'
Hawkins, who has been a city councillor since 2013, said the decision to hitchhike was also an environmental one.
He opted for public transport to return home at the end of the day, and would consider cycling once the shared pathway to Port Chalmers was completed.
'I would love to be able to bike to work, but I'm not brave enough to take on heavy traffic.'
He was not aware of any other councillor doing something similar.
'I haven't seen any other hitchhiker's guide to local government.'