Posts Tagged ‘safety’
right hand give way rule
I don't know much about rest of the world, but as many reported, in western countries, especially countries where people drive on the left, only New Zealand got this special rule, and 2/3 of the Herald readers think it should be scrapped.
Here's how I take this issue - just consider the following questions:
- Which one is more dangerous for driver and other road users - hanging in the middle of the road waiting to turn right, or turn left?
- Which one is expected to take more time to complete? Or let's put it in another way, which one is likely to hold up the traffic?
I think the whole debate is a no brainer. I just don't understand why so many people out there find this rule "confusing" - what part of the "give way to your right" is too hard for them to understand? If they don't understand traffic codes, who let them pass the tests?
Or those people just want to take less attention while driving? As I understand, this right hand give way rule does require extra caution from drivers - check whether there is any cars there waiting to turn right, and check mirrors to see if there's any traffic on inner lanes.
But paying your full attention to the road isn't what you are suppose to do while driving?
I think this rule is a classic case of kiwi ingenuity - solve right turn problem with one simple rule. The real problem is not the rule, is the drivers we have on the road.
This blog does not contain melamine.
Just something fun from chinese blogsphere.
The stamp is a parody of the tainted milk scandal in China. Chinese characters in the picture means "this blog does not contain melamine. Approved by General Administration Responsible to Grant Quality Supervision Exemption(a parody of China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision).
Related news(Chinese): To restore consumer confidence, a "no melamine was found in this product" sticker is added to the cover of all dairy products produced before September 18th.
Another victim...
The milk scandal in China is possibly hitting the consumer confidence there harder than expected. Dairy products from milk to ice cream are all found to be contaminated.
The white rabbit creamy lolly has been one of the most popular lolly in China, and has been found of being contaminated by melamine.
Most people born between 70s - 90s in China, including myself, consumed the "white rabbit" at some stage of their lives. I even brought it once here in New Zealand - they are more than lollies, they are ... how should I put this, a kind of your childhood memory.
If this brand also falls in the scandal, I really don't know what food is actually safe in China - I can assure you that this is not an isolated food safety case. People deliberately add all sorts chemicals to nearly every type of food, and we've been eating those everyday.
This country needs to have a serious consideration on its economic development policy - it just CANNOT override other things like food safety - enough is enough.
