Get a grip. That’s my advice today to the people complaining about the music festival planned for the area near Bottle Lake Forest, in Christchurch, over the new year period.

Because I think the organisers are treating you very well and going above and beyond.

The Rolling Meadows festival is normally held at Waipara, north of the city, but the organisers hope to have it in Christchurch for the first time this year.

And because it’s near people’s homes, there have been complaints and there’s even a petition doing the rounds, with people worried about the noise and disruption. The organisers have listened and they’ve done a couple of things. Which I’ll get to.

When I was thinking about where I stood on this, I almost settled on the side of the residents, because of the numbers. The number of people expected to attend and the number of vehicles that are expected in the area over the three-day period.

They’re not insignificant. Up to 10,000 people are expected to attend, with 5,000 expected to camp on site, and 4,000 vehicles a day are expected on the only public access to the festival car park.

So there’s going to be a lot of people converging on that area over those three days from December 29 to 31.

But what I came back to is it’s just for three days. Three days when quite a few of the locals are likely to be away on holiday, anyway. Three days when the organisers are going to be bending over backwards to try and keep these people happy.

First of all, they’ve offered to pay for alternative accommodation for residents. They’re also going to hire people to patrol the streets, deal with rubbish and keep homes safe.

What’s more, it’s understood they’ve gone even further and have also offered to finish the performances earlier each night and reduce the noise levels.

That’s still not good enough, it seems. Which might be making the organisers a little bit nervous because they’re yet to get consent from the city council. They say that if that doesn’t happen, they’ll just go back to having it in Waipara.

Sure, the music blasting late into the night might be a pain in the backside if you’re not into it, but it’s just three nights.

Good on the Rolling Meadows organisers for going the extra mile. Some people though, will never be satisfied.

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If the amount of money spent on ACC claims over the past five years for e-scooter injuries doesn’t convince you that tighter laws are needed, I don’t know what will.

And if the amount of money spent on ACC claims over the past five years for e-scooter injuries doesn’t convince you that NZTA made a big mistake deciding not to make e-scooters subject to the road rules - again, I don’t know what will.

The figure relates to injuries all over New Zealand. But it appears that us lot in Canterbury have copped it the worst. Or maybe we’re the most reckless.

The flatness of the place probably has something to do with it. Because, Christchurch especially, is brilliant for riding anything.

Which is maybe why new data out today shows that, in the past five years, there have been more e-scooter injury claims in Canterbury than anywhere else in the country.

Here, there have been 1,761 ACC claims lodged by Health NZ. Compared to 1,378 in Auckland, which has way more people - they’ve had claims.

The $55.6 million in claims between September 2020 and now has the AA saying - again - that there aren’t enough rules around e-scooters.

Saying it’s crazy, for example, that it isn’t illegal to ride an e-scooter drunk. And it wants alcohol restrictions for e-scooter riders.

No argument from me on that one. It is crazy.

The AA also thinks it’s crazy that there’s no age limit and no mandatory helmets.

No argument from me on both of those, either.

But it’s going to be very tricky to do anything about any of those things as long as e-scooters aren’t considered or treated as vehicles.

Which is the big mistake NZTA made, when it gave e-scooters this dispensation. Just so the private e-scooter operators could get their way and operate without any consideration for the road rules.

No licence required; no obligation to follow the same rules as other road users; no previous experience required; no helmet required. There’s not even a speed limit enforced. Plus, you can ride anywhere and everywhere.

The other thing about this $55.6 million in ACC claims, is that e-scooter owners and e-scooter companies don’t pay ACC levies.

People bang on all the time about people coming here from overseas and getting free ACC cover - the reason being that you can’t sue in this country and so we have to provide cover for people from overseas.

The exact same thing is happening with e-scooter users.

Private owners and people who use the hire scooters get free ACC cover. which, over the past five years, has cost us $55.6 million in claims.

The AA says time’s up and tougher rules are needed.

I’m saying that isn’t going to happen until we classify e-scooters vehicles.

That’s the nub of the problem and that’s what needs to change.

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Today on Politics Friday, John MacDonald was joined by Labour’s Reuben Davidson and National’s Matt Doocey to delve into the biggest topics of the week.

On today’s agenda: the manhunt for Tom Phillips and his children has come to an end, but the coverage has only just begun. There’s a fresh plan to restore the Christ Church Cathedral, and the Government has announced some new offences for shoplifting.

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