Council supports 'Highway Robbery'

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 532, 19 April 1994, Page 5

Council supports 'Highway Robbery'

A nation- wide campaign to persuade the government to use road taxes collected from road users to be used on road maintenance and improvement will be launched tomorrow, and the campaign is supported by Ruapehu' s council. The New Zealand Local ' Government Association, the New Zealand Automo-

bile Association and the New Zealand Road Transport Association are combining in this campaign to demand that the current level of money from petrol tax as well as the increased revenues generated by greater use of New Zealand 's roading network, be put into the Land Transport Fund. ,

At last Friday ' s meeting Ruapehu District councillors agreed to support the launch of the campaign, which involves the distribution of pre-printed mailers addressed to the Prime Minister, by setting up roadside stations on major highway s to hand the mailers out to passing motorists tomorrow. Banners are being prepared to capture the attention of passing motorists. (Out of the many suggestions as to how traffic might be stopped it was generally agreed that Cr Joe Murphy wearing his RSA Santa Claus outfit on State Highway 49 at Taumarunui would be the most effective!) Mayor Workman expressed the hope that the Road Safety Department could be co-opted to advise and help in this traffic-stop-ping and leaflet distributing campaign. Two suggested sites were State Highway One at Waiouru and State Highway 49 in Ohakune from which these mailers can be collected. Points put forward by the coalition include:

□ Each year taxes and levies are taken from all road users to pay for road maintenance and construction. □ Traffic on New Zealand roads has increased by 20 per cent since 1989, but spending on roads has increased by less than one per cent (after inflation). □ From the extra traffic the government gets more money from taxes on more fuel and from the registration of more vehicles. □ The Land Transport fund is already expected to have a surplus of $92 million by July this year. The group asks will this money be spent on roads. □ New Zealand roads are getting worse, traffic jams are getting bigger, there are accidents because of poor maintenance and unsealed roads, there is a shortage of funds for promoting and encouraging public passenger services. □ The group claims they are not asking for more money from the taxpayer - just the right to use the money paid by road users for roading purposes - now and in the future.