New Zealand's Relative Size Part 1

As the UK looks to unhitch itself from the European Union, here is an interesting to-scale comparison of the size of NZ versus the UK and Ireland from thetruesize.com

New Zealand's Chatham Islands (east of Christchurch) are slightly larger than the Isle of Man (UK) but are about 680km from the mainland, or a little further than the distance between England and Switzerland.

The exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of NZ is approx 4.1 million km2, about five times bigger than the UK's, and we have the largest ocean in the world at our doorstep.

NZ Exclusive Economic Zone (NIWA)

UK Exclusive Economic Zone (Wikipedia)

The Royal New Zealand Navy has two offshore patrol vessels and four inshore patrol vessels to cover its entire EEZ against the likes of illegal fishing, drug smugglers and biosecurity threats.

In June smugglers were caught landing half a tonne of meth on remote Ninety Mile Beach at the northern tip of New Zealand - seemingly by keen eyed locals.

Thankfully we have not yet had to deal with the moral angst and the human carnage of people smuggling and refugee boats (yet).

What's wrong with this sign?

Or, more to the point, what's wrong with our relationship with cars?

Auckland Transport's Downtown Car Park

The message here is clear - pedestrians need to watch out, cars have right of way.  Which makes sense right?  It's a car park - you shouldn't be jaywalking down the ramps when there are perfectly good stairs available.  Albeit a little less convenient maybe, or maybe you just haven't noticed them and are walking where it feels natural to, in order to get where you are going to.  So watch out!  You're in the way!  Don't blame us if you get run over.

This is pretty much the generally accepted rule in New Zealand.  If it is a place for cars: car parks, the street you live on, the local shops; you had better watch out - scuttle across that pedestrian crossing, that's a car!  It has important places to go!

Sign reads: 'Caution Motorists Have Right of Way' - Takapuna Beach shopping area (Google Streetview) 

As a recent arrival to the UK, I was astonished that pedestrians merely had to hint that they wanted to cross a road or negotiate a car park and traffic would immediately stop to give way, regardless of what the rules actually said.  As it turns out, the Highway Code is not far different from ours, but people seem to interpret it in a very different way.

From the UK Highway Code

Others have reported similar attitudes in the USA, Europe and even our neighbour Australia.

But here in New Zealand the culture is still firmly that the car is king, and will remain so as long as councils and transport agencies keep putting up signs reminding us of the fact.