Call for leadership on campervans

A campervan on Portobello Road, Dunedin. Photo by Peter McIntosh.

It is now nearly a week since my casual, although heart-felt, comment at an Otago Conservation Board meeting that I would like to ban all campervans sparked a furore in the campervan industry.

I should explain that this was in reference to commercial rental campervans, not domestic owner-operated mobile homes, but this was not reported in the ensuing Otago Daily Times article.

I attracted some criticism from a few campervan rental companies, to be expected, and my comments were labelled ill-considered by one politician, which I found rather amusing considering I, like everyone else in this country, have spent ample time stuck behind campervans to consider the problem very thoroughly.

I have also received huge support in favour of my views.

Since then, the debate has been diverted on to freedom camping and has focused on waste disposal, which was one of my concerns, but the issue is much, much bigger than that.

Here are the problems as I see it. -There is an ongoing proliferation of rental campervans on the road.

The problem is not going to just go away.

It's going to get worse.

Auckland has its traffic and motorway problems, but the rest of New Zealand has campervans.

The inefficiencies of travel and congestion are having an impact on the economy, not to mention our quality of life.

There are serious waste disposal problems and not only is it unsightly to find excreta and toilet paper tucked behind trees at almost every popular stopping place, it also poses genuine health risks with the introduction of diseases likely.

It also has a negative impact on the very industry that creates it.

There are also safety issues, with many of the tourists used to driving small cars, sometimes on the other side of the road, suddenly faced with driving truck-weight vehicles that are of considerable dimensions.

There have been several accidents and many fatalities.

Just two weeks ago, a local Wanaka girl was forced on to the road edge by an oncoming campervan that had strayed across the centre line, and her car skidded and rolled.

Fortunately, she was unharmed but the car was a write-off.

The campervan driver continued on down the road presumably unaware of the trouble caused.

Many of the campervan companies are foreign-owned and the rentals are prepaid.