Road Safety Week was a reminder that the vexed question of an upgrade to SH2 between Tauranga and Katikati is not disappearing. Strident calls for a referendum and the views of various central government MPs and local councillors, messrs Bridges, Muller, Mitchell, Morris, Brownlee etc., seem besotted with the notion that an upgrade must be done.

All experienced motorists I have contacted state categorically the opposite view; that the problem is not the road itself but the standard of driving on it. I challenge any of those mentioned to produce a proper cost/benefit analysis that demonstrates the economic benefits of an upgrade. I am not holding my breath, which leaves the only other argument advocating the case – driver skills – which is a flawed emotional premise that suggests that all state highways from Cape Reinga to Bluff should be twin-lane-separated roads. No way.

Let us drop this crazy upgrade notion and firstly look at the speed limits, which are an annoying hodgepodge, and reduce them to say, maximum 80-90km/hour. The time difference to Katikati is about three minutes. Secondly, spend more funds on upgrading the skills of all road users, for the benefit of everyone.

P Hickling, Papamoa Beach.