Racers to face $1000 fines
BY GLENN CONWAY
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Politics
Boy racers repeatedly caught "cruising" Christchurch's main streets could be fined up to $1000 under a New Zealand-first bylaw that could be enforced within months.
But Christchurch City Council staff say the council's bylaw could be open to legal challenge and "problematic" to manage.
The council will be the first in New Zealand to exercise new powers under a law change last year that enables local bodies to control, restrict or ban cruising.
The Christchurch bylaw would apply to the four main avenues, and favourite boy-racer areas of Sumner, and would apply at nights from Thursday to Monday.
Mayor Bob Parker said the bylaw's biggest impact would be tackling noisy vehicles, which he said made up about 95 per cent of the boy-racer problem.
He said the move could be seen as draconian, but the council and police needed powers to tackle the boy-racer problem.
He expected wide public support for the bylaw, which he hoped could be enforced by the middle of this year."We are going to solve this problem and, measure by measure, we are getting there," he said.
People breaching the bylaw could face a range of penalties, from a $150 ticket to a fine of up to $1000.
Transport Minister Steve Joyce, who instigated the anti-cruising law change, said the bylaw plan was "encouraging".
"If you have a specific problem area like the four avenues, this is designed to cope with that," he said. "It is not the whole solution, but it is a tool that could be useful."
Joyce said the bylaw would be enforceable.
"The legislation got a fair going-over in terms of the definitions and how it is administered. It seems a relatively straightforward definition," he said. "The police feel it is workable."
Council staff are proposing a one-hour period for the cruising bylaw. If drivers use the same stretch of specified road more frequently and have an overly noisy vehicle or are in a convoy, they will breach the bylaw.
Staff said that because it would set a precedent, the bylaw faced an increased risk of legal challenge. They believed, however, it would be a reasonable and permitted limit on the right to freedom of movement because it banned cruising, not all motorists, on particular streets.
A paper on the draft bylaw, to be tabled at the council meeting on Thursday, says 40 per cent of all infringement notices issued by police last year for "anti-social road-user activities" were in the areas where cruising would be banned.
Police would enforce the bylaw, although the council may pay for cameras and new registration plate-reading technology.
The staff paper said three issues prompted the need for the bylaw – "wheelies, doughnuts and drifting" happening across the city, boy racers being attracted to the four avenues, and the same groups later congregating just outside the central city.
Public submissions will close on March 25. The council will then hold a hearing before preparing a final draft of the bylaw.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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jake #91 you may love your teaspoons but you can't tell others what they should be interesting in, any more than they can force you to love cars more than just for transport
Pete, #87 -
You would do well to remember the words of Benjamin Franklin. "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
The Police do not need new powers. They already have a whole bunch of laws that they do not enforce properly.
WHY DO YOU ALL KEEP CALLING BOY RACERS ANTI SOCIAL???
ITS EVERY BIT SOCIALABLE YOU IDIOTS, WE GO OUT TO SEE OUR MATES AND DRIVE AROUND N MEET OTHER PEOPLE?
WOULD YOU RATHER US GO AND START FIGHTS WITH PEOPLE IN TOWN LIKE ALL THE COOL GUYS DO LOL !!!:P
#84 Tony
It is views like your simpleminded one that worries people like me.
You ASSUME that because someone drives a certain car they are a trouble making boyracer. Ever heard the saying "dont judge the book by its cover"???
One thing that does interest me though is that your 2yo plays with cars that resemble boyracers cars.. A boyracer in training maybe??
Car enthusiasts - cars are for transport. If you want to be an enthusiast - collect teaspoons. It is time to reclaim the streets for people - not for cars.
This law is absoulute crap! Personally i do own a car that is classified as "boy racer" but so does my mother who is in her late 40's, we both are sick of being labeled and picked on by the police for such petty fines such as having fog lights or a nice sounding exhaust (which is legal!). Yes ill happily admit i cruise and attend so called "meets" but honestly some of us are out to have a good time meet some new people and enjoy the night we work all week and our pay goes to doing up our cars so why cant we show them off? Also i know many people who aren't interested in the "clubbing" or getting trollyed at home so what are we meant to go do now that the one thing we look forward to is taken away from us. Maybe the Police should really meet us all and see who we really are, because honestly we are harmless and fun loving. When the NZ police and Bob Parker all decide to "man up" and stick to their job description let me know, for now im staying on the aves and each fine i get for so called disturbing the peace i will fight, because at the end of the day i thought NZ was a country of free choice and opinion, not a dictatorship!
@ Tony #84
What about "pimply faced teenagers" circling the block looking for a car park? How are police going to differentiate between them and actual boy racers? Oh that's right, it's ok to disciminate against teenagers.
Your whole comment makes you look far more immature than the "pimply faced teenagers". Grow up.
To Tony #84
That really gets up my nose!
Either the law applies to everyone or it doesn't.
As long as the teenagers are not doing anything illegal, why should they be targeted?
In response to #74
My post is just to highlight how angry I, and I'm sure others feel about boy racer behaviour in the city. Don't lose sight of the big picture. This is another string to the bow of the police, and we need more. I don't believe this bylaw will impinge on the rights of average law-abiding citizens going about their day to day business. On the contrary, I think it will ENHANCE my rights to move about the city as I please day and night without obstruction, harrassment and intimidation from the very vocal boy racer minority in this city. From what I understand of the article, Joyce has instigated this law change in co-operation with the police. No winging. No complaining. Just stop what you're doing, and let the police get on with the job.
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Its bs, Why not let people show off there cars doing aves. Basically you'll be better off letting people do aves then people cruising around residential area's. -.-