M Maunders (The Weekend Sun, May 3) is out of touch with reality. The biggest threat to the world is climate change.

Tauranga people use their cars and other vehicles more than any other city in New Zealand. This causes high levels of greenhouse gas emissions which we have to reduce, and road maintenance costs are very high.

This causes health problems and has a big impact on our economy.

I have travelled, myself, in most areas in the North Island and Tauranga drivers are the most unsafe drivers. That is why the Tauranga area has the highest road deaths in New Zealand.

We do have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and people need to use buses and bikes and the use of freight rail and passenger rail to get the emissions levels down.

People need to accept that they have to do that. Road maintenance and building roads has to be kept at a reasonable cost to the tax payers and rate payers each year.

Hilary Burrows, Papamoa