Don't mistake Kiwi traditions as the law

Friday, 15 February 2019

Banning cars from populated parts of some beaches is not a total ban, writes Greer Berry.

OPINION: There's something strange happening when a person voices an opinion and it is seen by many as an attack on a long-held Kiwi tradition.

After my column about cars on beaches appeared on Stuff this week, responses varied between acknowledgement of similar sentiment to outright offence at the mere suggestion of a change to The Way Things Have Always Been.

Gary, via email, summed up his thoughts, writing: 'It's tradition. I have photos of cars parked three deep on Manawatū beaches from 50 years ago. If you don't like it, go to The Lido.'

Sadly, Gary appears to have missed the point of the debate and instead opted to rely on his ruminations of halcyon days where all was right in the world, where change is the enemy and where everything is rosy and carefree.

* Clamp down on beach driving**

The reality is adaption is part of the human condition and the way communities develop is by evolving alongside changes in research, experience and technology.

Decrying 'nanny state' every time a suggestion is made that a change might be needed to aide the wellbeing of others – including the most vulnerable in society – is an argument that does nothing to strengthen anyone's perspective.

Where once it was the Kiwi way to smash a dozen beer and drive home from the rugby club with your kids in the back not wearing seatbelts, which was thought of as a perfectly acceptable way to conduct yourself, these days that behaviour would send the masses into a flurry of social media backlash.

It should surprise no-one that those were also the times when the road toll in New Zealand regularly reached more than 700 – maxing out at 795 in 1987.

Rules, changes, bylaws and different perspectives matter. They are the backbone to the realm in which communities operate within.

Suggesting banning cars from populated parts of some beaches – not a total ban, as those who failed to read the full story latched on to – is common sense and should be seriously considered by those voted in to positions of power.

Horowhenua mayor Michael Feyen's offering that everyone should just apply 'beach manners' to a situation where some drivers approach beach driving as an untouchable birthright is laughable.

Surely, it will only be a matter of time before the righteousness and arrogance applied to this situation by some will see a person seriously injured or killed, and a driver saying: 'But it's a road! I'm allowed to be on a road in my car!'

Foxton Beach Surf Life Saving Club is not asking for a complete ban of vehicles on the beach, it just wants some assistance in being able to increase the safety of the work it does – voluntarily – to assist us.

Foxton families want a choice to take their children to a part of the beach without the added stress of monitoring car movements.

And that isn't too much to ask, and trumps any historical daydream about years gone by.

There's enough beach to go around and plenty of space for a vehicle-excluded zone to quell those who still demand their beach experience be inclusive of four wheels.

Who needs to protect a precious eco-system anyway, eh?

Greer Berry is a Stuff news director in Manawatū