Now here's an interesting article:
"Hero or thug? The tragedy that drove Roger Brereton over the edge" [Samantha Gee and Tony Wall, www.stuff.co.nz, 3 January 2016]
And another view on the same incident:
And this one might make Roger Brereton (pictured right) a little grumpy again:
"'Shocking' driver given education on driving in New Zealand" [Sam Sherwood, www.stuff.co.nz, 5 January 2016.]
So the twat who might have killed Roger Brereton has a $150 fine, and another
idiot who might have caused a fatal crash receives "education" after
video evidence shows him crossing the central line multiple times. The list of such incidents goes on; look at "Further Reading" at the foot of this article. Brereton has been receiving some flak in the media for the way he reacted (punching a tourist) when he found himself in a similar situation to the one that killed his friend, not that long ago.
I wonder if Roger Brereton's critics would be quite so harsh if they'd experienced what he'd experienced?
In one of the same articles that criticised Roger Brereton, I was surprised to read that only 6% of “car crashes in
New Zealand is recorded as involving an overseas driver.” I think it’s true that the recent media
coverage around the amount of crashes during the height of the tourist season exacerbates
our country's xenophobia. The 5-point
quiz, whose results I have posted up and down this article (Q1, left), is a clever way to
make us re-think our prejudices.
I scored only 2 of 5, and my wrong answers are in red. However, I can tell you that the problem is real. In fact, I'm lucky to be alive today, to write about my
own experience.
In early 1999, I drove from Alexandra to Christchurch,
in the South Island of New Zealand. I remember
the day precisely, as my fiancee (now wife), Karyn, described it as “the worst birthday”
she’d ever had. She was in the car with
me.
I say, “car,” but it was actually a four-wheel-drive utility
vehicle. That’s “ute” to you
colonials. We were moving Karyn’s
contents back to Christchurch after 2 years of storage with her parents. The ute we drove was laden to the hilt with furniture and belongings. And by the time I’d tidied up my
mother-in-law’s handiwork, the load was – after a few stops - quite stable.
We drove north up the “Inland Route,” as opposed to up the coast of
the South Island. The Inland Route is
beautifully scenic, but involves driving in two of the most challenging passes in
the country; the Lindis Pass and Burkes Pass.
Both are heavy tourist routes, as they are arteries to the tourist
destinations of Alexandra, Queenstown and Lake Wanaka.
We survived the Lindis, but on the Burkes Pass in the early
evening, we encountered trouble. I was
driving up a slow, long hill, and the ute was feeling the weight. There was a sheer slope up, against the left of us. And we were driving along the hill of a valley, so there was a steep drop on the right hand side of the
road. As well as that, there was a lot
of green, so I felt I was driving through a forest. As I looked ahead up the long hill, the road curved
to the right.
And as I looked again, a car – a white saloon car – came
from out of the green at the top of that hill, and he was clocking up a fair speed.
But he was driving on the wrong side of the road.
“Oh my God, he’s on the wrong side of the road!!!!”
screamed Karyn.
“Calm down,’ I reassured, “he’ll realise he’s on the wrong
side.’ Probably a tourist, I thought.
Still he came. He was at full speed. He didn’t move over. He was coming straight towards us.
"HE’S NOT MOVING!!! HE’S NOT MOVING!!!! HE’S COMING RIGHT AT US!!!!!" Karyn screamed for all it was worth. “FUCK!!!! FUCK!!! FUCK!!!! FUUUUUUCK!!!!!!”
I couldn’t believe it.
The car wasn’t shifting. He wasn't slowing. He wasn’t
going to move over. We were heading for a head-on! What do I do? No room to the left – it’s a sheer wall
up. Shit. Shit. Shit.
I wrenched the steering wheel round at the last minute and
hauled her onto the other side of the road.
The ute wobbled and hurled and leaned - I
thought I was going to lose her. Shit,
she’s going over! I could see the sheer
drop down below to my right. I looked up
and left - and the car roared past me.
Still on the wrong side of the road.
Unbelievable.
Incredibly, the ute stabilised. And I pulled up. Karyn was apoplectic, hyper ventilating. And who could blame her?
I looked in my rear-view mirror – and the car had stopped! The car had stopped. Had he realised what he’d done? What had just happened? What had just been avoided?
“The car’s stopped.
Do you want me to go out? Do you want me to say something? Do you want me to go over?” I didn't know what I was saying, what I wanted to do.
Karyn shook her head.
“Shall we keep going?”
I asked. And Karyn nodded this
time. She was still shocked to the core
by our experience - by our miraculous escape.
What would I have said if I'd confronted the driver?
Worse, what would I have done? Shocked, emotional
and distraught, would I have initiated a conflagration, like Roger Brereton?
So we did nothing. We
drove on. But an hour or two later in Ashburton, I had
uncontrollable shakes and couldn’t drive any further. That was when it hit me. So Karyn had to
suck in her own shock and finish the last hour, probably still traumatised herself.
Roger Brereton (left) was another traumitised, distressed driver, reacting
to a similar situation in which he’d already experienced loss, before;
“The incident hit
close to home for Brereton, who recently lost a friend in a similar accident.”
[Samantha Gee and Tony Wall, www.stuff.co.nz, 3 January 2016]
“Roger Brereton is a bully, a thug and an embarrassment to
New Zealand.” [Jonathan Milne, www.stuff.co.nz,
3 January 2016.]
He's not a bully or a thug. I would probably have reacted exactly as Roger did, if
I’d confronted the driver who almost killed us. Roger Brereton is a normal man, acting in a
normal way, demonstrating the normal emotions from a near-death experience.
FURTHER READING:
"Lindis Pass crash inquiry under way" [Otago Daily Times, 4 January 2016]
"Serious crash blocks Lindis Pass road" [One News, www.tnvz.co.nz, 4 January 2016]
"Five people suffer serious injuries in Lindis Pass crash" [Emily Spink, www.stuff.co.nz,
3 January 2016.]
"One million foreign drivers are on their way here, but should we be afraid of them?" [Bevan Hurley and Che Baker, www.stuff.co.nz, 27 December 2015.]
"Foreign driver accused of injuring six in wrong-side TeAnau-Milford crash" [Hamish McNeilly, www.stuff.co.nz, 18 December 2015.]
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