Kerre Woodham: Another weekend, another boy racer gathering

Almost four months to the day, on the 30th of June, headlines were trumpeting a police crackdown on boy racers. In Wellington, police issued 138 infringement notices, 19 vehicles were taken off the streets, five vehicles were seized by bailiffs because of unpaid fines, three were impounded, 11 were either pink or green stickered due to compliance issues, 420 people were breathalysed, one person was arrested, and a stolen Subaru was seized. From one boy racer gathering in Wellington.

On that same weekend in Canterbury, 171 infringement notices were issued, 33 vehicles were pink or green sticker due to safety issues, seven people arrested for disorderly behaviour, four people summoned for excess breath alcohol, one person had their license suspended, six vehicles were impounded. Four were seized by bailiffs for failing to pay fines.

And again, on the same weekend, Bay of Plenty police issued 163 infringement notices for vehicles impounded, 14 green stickers issued ordering vehicles off the road, three people arrested, seven summonsed for driving with excess breath alcohol, one person's license suspended.

So a big crackdown. Cut to this morning and one of the big stories of Labour weekend was a nasty gathering of boy racers in Wairarapa. Boy racers who hurled fireworks, bottles, and rocks at police on Sunday night are now facing a range of charges. The operation ended with violence when officers were confronted by a large and aggressive group on Waingawa Road near Masterton.

Masterton Mayor Gary Cafell is calling not just for the book to be thrown at anti-social boy racers, but its spectators too. He told Tim Beveridge yesterday that spectators are there, seemingly in support of those who are causing the anti-social behaviour, he said, I know they're creating a problem for police, maybe they need to be looked at as well because they're basically complicit in what's being done. And they are. I know that Mark Mitchell and Simeon Brown are trying to look at beefing up laws surrounding boy racers and maybe they will look at spectators as well, because without the spectators there wouldn't be the gatherings. It's basically a game of whack-a-mole.

You saw what happened in June - you get a large contingent of police officers who direct their efforts and their attention onto boy racers, and they go in there and they pick up law breakers. You cannot say that they're hassling legitimate car enthusiasts when you look at the excess breath alcohol, when you look at the violence, when you look at the failure to pay fines, when you look at the infringement notices, when you look at the non-compliance of the vehicles themselves.

There are always two schools of thought: ‘Ah, come on, we all did it. They're just young lads letting off a bit of steam. It's so bloody boring in these small towns and they love their cars and they spend a lot of money on their cars and they just want to show them off and we all grow out of it. I'm an old boy racer and I still love my cars.’ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then there's the other school of thought that they're dangerous oiks, they don't care anything about the safety of others, they don't care about the property rights of others, they don't care that we're trying to get some sleep, they should be hung, drawn and quartered in the town square, they should be shot.

And I think somewhere there's a happy medium in that. They're law breakers – you don't have a non-compliant car if you're a car enthusiast. You want to show off your car, you want to make sure that it's road worthy and that it's safe.

I've heard every excuse under the sun from boy racers. It's not fair. They (other people) should build us a burnout pad. Well, you spend enough on your cars, why don't you do it yourself? Why don't you pay to see just how good you are and go round a track? Got enough money for your cars, got enough money for the hideous RTDs that are littered all over the road after you've been there, you should have enough money for an entry fee to see just how good you are against real drivers.

We have a fine history of motor sport in this country. We also have a less salubrious history of entitled oiks who see it as some sort of game. Not too dangerous because they don't want to risk everything, gives them a bit of a thrill to go up against the cops. But I don't really know what the police can do. They can direct all their attentions and all their efforts over a weekend, and they can certainly get their arrests, and they can certainly disrupt them for a while, but again, like Whack-a mole, up they pop. Another district, another weekend.

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