John MacDonald: Here's why ECAN speedster needs to hit the road

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

ECAN regional council chair Peter Scott has to go.

You’ll remember the fuss earlier this year when he admitted to Newstalk ZB that he’d been farming illegally on his South Canterbury property without the appropriate consents.

And how, after that blunder, he disappeared for a while - ECAN spent $66,000 on a 10-week investigation - and then he was back again. All G.

Well, not “all G” actually, because it’s now been revealed that he’s been hooning it in the car the council - or ratepayers - provide him as part of the job.

And I actually think this is way-worse than the consenting bungle he confessed to.

So how about this? Since January, Peter Scott has broken the speed limit in his regional council ratepayer-funded vehicle 678 times - at speeds of up to 157 kph.

I’ve done the numbers and this equates to at least 75 times a month, or twice-a-day, seven days a week.

Now these aren’t infringements. From what’s been reported so far about this, it’s unclear whether any of these did result in Peter Scott getting tickets.

But I think it's safe to assume that, because he was still using the vehicle up until the end of last week - when he handed it back - I think it’s safe to assume that he didn’t get any speeding tickets.

But he gave it a good go. Breaking the speed limit at least twice-a–day, seven days a week since January this year.

These were all recorded on the GPS system ECAN has on all its vehicles so it can make sure people who use their vehicles aren’t speeding.

And, as far as I’m concerned, he has to go. For two reasons.

First reason: can you imagine any staff member getting away with this level of speeding in an ECAN vehicle?

They wouldn’t. But, as long as Peter Scott remains chairman and a councillor, anyone working for ECAN has every right to tell their bosses to sod off if they try to take them to task for breaking the speed limit in a council vehicle.

The other reason Peter Scott has to go, is that he isn’t just the chair of ECAN - he’s also the chair of the Canterbury Regional Transport Committee.

And this is where things really start to drip with hypocrisy. Because, if you thought it was hypocritical enough for the chair of the regional council to be farming without the proper consents, get a load of this.

The Canterbury Regional Transport Committee is an entity that involves all councils in the Canterbury region - including ECAN - and NZTA. And the number one job of the regional transport committee is to implement the Canterbury Regional Transport Plan.

So Peter Scott is in charge of that committee. And that committee has to make sure that all the councils and NZTA are singing from the same song sheet when it comes to transport and roads.

Now this plan has three key objectives. One of them, which is particularly relevant to Peter Scott speeding in his council car, is to reduce deaths and serious injuries on Canterbury roads by 40 percent by 2031.

Previously, Peter Scott - who chairs this committee - has said: "Canterbury embraces the Government's moves to reduce the road toll.”

This is the guy who, since January this year, broke the speed limit in his regional council ratepayer-funded vehicle 678 times, at speeds of up to 157 kph.

This guy, who chairs the regional transport committee which says “poor decision-making by drivers is leading to deaths and serious injuries on our transport network", is a complete hypocrite when it comes to road safety..

He’s the guy who has overall responsibility for implementing a plan to reduce deaths and serious injuries on Canterbury roads by 40 percent over the next seven years. Yet, when it comes to his own driving, he’s actually part of the problem that his committee is trying to fix.

For me, this is the major reason why Peter Scott has to go. He has apologised, handed back his council car and says he will do a defensive driving course.

But, in my opinion, he’s a hypocrite whose goose is cooked.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.