Editorial: Spinning wheels

OPINION: Wheels are spinning in the head of one of Invercargill's city councillors, but he's not getting any traction, writes The Southland Times in an editorial.

Invercargill's boy racers have come to the council wanting it to provide them with somewhere to do burnouts and skids, to drink alcohol and hang out with their mates.

Because, see, otherwise society has only itself to blame if they continue to do so in public streets, in the time-honoured manner, with the time-honoured consequences that are occasionally tragic, often damaging and reliably galling to the wider community.

Cr Wayne Harpur can think of the very spot; the council's carpark on the corner of Don and Deveron streets, just half a block from the police headquarters.

Why not close that area for the youngsters at weekends, he suggests. After all, older people would quite like it if they were all in one place, rather than all over town. And with the fatherly eye of the police looking down on them, those young scallywags would just have to be on best behaviour.

Certainly, neither the actual drivers among them, nor the underaged, would be able to indulge in any of that liquor that would be flying around – otherwise, why, it would amount to a few people spoiling it for the rest, and that wouldn't do at all.

Question: who could possibly countenance, let alone support, not just providing a compact area to combine young people, cars and drinking, but also setting it up in a part of town that has been shut off to alcohol because of problems created in the past by – let's shuffle through our files here – here it is: young people, alcohol and cars.

Yessir, in Cr Harpur's fantasy world, you'd never expect any problems to have resulted from, say, the ILT's Sugar Shack just down the road, which became notorious for the grovelly, belligerent activities outside.

Nobody is telling young car enthusiasts that they can't have fun. But, yes, authorities do need to be authoritative when it comes to rules.

In earlier stories, prompted by fatalities that are apparently best referred to indirectly, The Southland Times has reported on programmes being operated for those who just want to test their cars and have a bit of excitement doing so. Notable was the example set in Ipswich, Quensland, where – in combination with an unabashed climate of police crackdown and toughened laws – "test and tune" nights were held at the V8 Willowbank Racing circuit and Queensland Raceway for those who, as mayor Paul Pisasale put it , were "just trying to meet a partner ... just trying to impress a girl. They're not hardened criminals".

But such venues do have one thing in common. Proper controls on boozing, and the cars must be street legal.

As correspondents to this paper haven't been slow to point out, the south has motorsport clubs that have nothing at all against youthful adrenalin. At regular open days you can speed and lose traction, testing your machines and yourself. The rules there are basic, sensible, and what you'd expect from any halfway responsible outfit.

It is so telling that those who approached the city council wanted a boozy climate to be seen as an acceptable part of the mix.

On the face of it they would have nothing against some oversight to make sure rules were obeyed. As Cr Norman Elder put it, if the youngsters were given their own city location they would have to "agree to be responsible and not cause any damage".

Ask yourself; what could possibly go wrong?

- © Fairfax NZ News

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