All posts in the topic Boy Racers (Short link)

From: paul scott Date: 2008 Mar 10 04:55 UTC Short link

Mayor Bob is out of his depth on the boy racer issue.

While he was pluming and endearing himself  toward  future central body
politics on TV,  film scenes in the background showed the lads pouring slicks
on the road,  burning up,  lifting the cars at rear for burn out starts,
biffing bottles at the law   and so on in Harper Avenue.

Wharrt  ?  No arrests.

Listen up Bob,
Mark Ross [ Mayoral candidate] has better ideas,  and so do I .. we  have a
better plan than your  weak submission to Government to measure noise levels at
90 decibels.
You talking TV PC Bob and it ain’t no use.

Get the big paddywaggon down there,  and maybe some cop dogs

Round up offenders, and place them in the back of wagon.
After each arrest for public nuisance, dangerous driving and so on ..   get the
Cops back on the street and keep them arresting till the burn out noise stops.
Your  TV blurb is good for the middle classes and blonde TV girl Bob,  but  no
good to stop problem.

If the media can take film of the lawlessness then so than the Cops. I can do
it if necessary. Get Citizens to help, enlist film crews for evidence and lay
charges

Charges
Public nuisance,  dangerous driving and so on.
No use standing in the middle of the road for a photo opp Bob.
Answer here Bob.
    

From: W Shaw Date: 2008 Mar 11 00:15 UTC Short link

" We could save more oil by banning school kid deliveries than by banning
burn-out pads...."

 I'm not talking about saving oil when i rail against burnouts, i'm talking
about the obscene ,blatant pollution and disrespect for the environment that
burnouts epitomise. Of course there is also the noise .

Shall we just turn a blind eye to a pastime that belches out toxic smoke and
squanders tyres because someone else is also polluting ? In that case lets all
just give up because there will always be a bigger polluter than you or I and
if they're not going to stop then why should we ?

Should ChCh City Council - and by extension-  Ratepayers, be in the business of
supporting a practise thats very intent is to pollute ?
We're not allowed to burn tyres for a very good reason... slowly this foul
practise (of burnouts) has morphed into a "sport" but only, I suspect, because
most people have no idea what a burnout looks like... lets hold Burnout Comps
in Cathedral Square or in Mall carparks, let people make informed choices about
whether we should be building Burnout Pads.
    

From: Mark Alexander Date: 2008 Mar 11 23:05 UTC Short link

We shouldn't call these drivers "boy racers" or "girl racers" - they won't or
can't equip their vehicles to an appropriate standard to actually race.

We shouldn't call them hoons either - in my youth (only 25 years ago) hooning
involved actually driving, not ruining tyres, making lots of pollution and
didn't involve so much anti-social behaviour.

We should call these spoilt individuals something like "road rats" as they are
a plague we could do without.

I wouldn't provide these road rats any facilities at all. If they are provided
facilities then someone has to set some rules & manage the facility. These road
rats don't want rules - they simply want the freedom to show off and annoy
others.

If road rats would obey rules then  there are plenty of opportunities already
for them to be involved in motorsport. Wanda Shaw has told us how much Ruapuna
Raceway is used and what the effect on the community is. Who wants a road rat
burn-out pad withing earshot of their home? I'm sure Wanda & her community
don't want these rodents back in her neighbourhood at night doing burnouts.

What is needed is more enforcement of the current road rules. Confiscate the
vehicles of the road rats & sell them to recoup the fines and costs of
prosecutions. Make the road rats do community service - cleaning up the rubbish
in our gutters & on our roadsides.

Driving is a privilege not a right & the road rats need to learn this.

Mark Alexander
R.D. 5
Christchurch.
    

From: 'Just Blair' Anderson Date: 2008 Mar 12 10:37 UTC Short link

Boy Racers; Alcohol... ipsofacto youth drug policy in disrepute.

Bob will meet with Boy Racers but his mayoral office staff 'protect him' from
the real debate, intersectorial analysis of crime, security and "drug policy".

He intends to talk tough and do nothing, pretending there is no legitimate
debate surrounding this issue. Yet he need look no further than his Sister
City.. Seattle where CIVIL SOCIETY has addressed its self to this issue.

The principal objectives of the Seattle initiative are: reductions in crime and
public disorder; improvement of the public health; better protection of
children; and wiser use of scarce public resources. It is notable that
"stressing youth development in general and the maintenance of healthy
behaviors and healthy relationships rather than a fear-based approach" has been
core to the solution there.

Initiated to address:
- the failure to reduce problematic drug use, particularly among children;
- dramatic increases in crime related to prohibited drugs, including economic
crimes related to addiction and the fostering of efficient and violent criminal
enterprises that have occupied the unregulated and immensely profitable
commercial market made possible by drug prohibition;
- skyrocketing public costs arising from both increased drug abuse and
increased crime;
erosion of public health from the spread of disease, from the concealment and
inadequate treatment of addiction and from undue restrictions on proper medical
treatment of pain;
- the abridgement of civil rights through summary forfeitures of property,
invasions of privacy and violations of due process;
- disproportionately adverse effects of drug law enforcement on the poor and
persons of color;
- and the clogging of the courts and compromises in the effective
administration of justice, as well as a loss of respect for the law.

Professional and Civic Coalition for Drug Policy Reform


The King County Bar Association has continued to strengthen links with other
organizations in the professional and civic communities. Nowhere else in the
nation has such a coalition of groups been activated on drug policy reform
issues to this extent. The KCBA Drug Policy Project is guided by the Steering
Committee, which meets regularly and includes the current and former KCBA
presidents, the KCBA executive director and delegates from the following
organizations:



King County Bar Association (www.kcba.org)
Church Council of Greater Seattle
King County Medical Society
League of Women Voters of Washington
Loren Miller Bar Association
Municipal League of King County
National Alliance on Mental Illness of Washington
Seattle League of Women Voters
Washington Academy of Family Physicians
Washington Osteopathic Medical Association
Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility
Washington Society of Addiction Medicine
Washington State Bar Association
Washington State Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Washington State Medical Association
Washington State Pharmacy Association
Washington State Psychiatric Association
Washington State Psychological Association
Washington State Public Health Association

The Washington State Bar and Medical Associations, with encouragement and
guidance from the KCBA, adopted their own resolutions in 2001 stating official
positions on drug policy.

I offered to bring to Christchurch one of the prime movers of this concept,
Senator Roger Goodman, under teh auspices of Mr Gary Moore's "Time To Talk" but
it can be assumed from the non-response from Mr Bob Parker's office that he
would rather cow-tow to his inner city developers need for alcohol outlets than
seek durable and sustainable evidence based solutions...
    

From: Andrew Groom Date: 2008 Mar 13 21:37 UTC Short link

On Fri, 2008-03-14 at 10:09 +1300, Margaret wrote:
> Perhaps we need to go back to the beginning. How are these young people
affording these cars, the fuel and the tyres?
> Is credit too easy in this country? I think it is, not just for young people
buying cars but adults buying household goods, cars, holidays in fact, anything
they want. The nation is now paying for it with high interest rates.
> Everyone needs to learn to save first, spend later. Sure, not so much fun NOW
which is what everyone wants.
> The driving age needs to be raised, alcohol sales restricted to 10am to 12pm
and deposits on finance brought back.

Yes, it would be interesting to get some more youthful perspectives on
this forum :-) Perhaps if you're young and you see how difficult it is
to save for a house, maybe you just don't bother and spend all your
money on cars, alcohol, drugs, etc., instead.

Unfortunately, us grownups have shown the way to some extent, by
assuming that owning a house *was* saving your money so why put any
actual cash aside ? That strategy is starting to look a bit faulty now,
isn't it ? Unless you've already managed to get debt free ...
    

From: Natalie Date: 2008 Mar 13 23:37 UTC Short link

WELL SAID Karen !!!

I am very very skeptical about police officers. I would rather have less
police than more. That's a sign of a healthier society, as Blair said.

NZ First wanted 1000 more police. they COULDN'T FIND them. So they lowered
their standards, and accepted those who couldn't do anything else in society
than to be 'official' bullies. Look at the sheriff attitudes in the States.
It's appalling... Actually Queensland police were said to be just as bad..
in the 80's.

The problem is that the police are now funded in such a way that they don't
have to ACCOUNT for the funding... especially when drugs are involved. They
have unlimited amounts for searching for drugs. And the more drugs that they
find, the more THEY think drugs are a problems.

Drugs equals alcohol too.

So the government gives them more money to 'investigate' drug crime, as
drugs as really really bad for you (well, that's what police keep telling us
because it benefits their 'cause')

It's the same with the boy racer bill. The more they target and arrest and
confiscate cars, the more the police can say 'LOOK , we proved it, it IS a
problem'... so they go on having legal license to continuing doing the same.

That 'boy racer' bill does not fit the bill for human rights. I can't
believe that parliament got away with it!

I see guys in their cars and I sometimes ask them... 'how many times have
you being stopped by cops'. They are being harassed !!
Can I say.. they are being 'bullied'.

Look at Karen's story ... they even PROVED that his car couldn't go that
fast. That is APPALLING for them NOT to be listened to.

So the circle goes... police can't hire good quality police so they hire
those out of high school who fit the mentality of 'we'll get them'. And
those with a social conscience leave the police force because they
themselves don't want to be bullied.

It's a cat and mouse game with HUGE consequences-- social, political, and
economical.

Boy racers !?! just the starting point of the attitude our society has
towards drugs and boys minorities in general- legal and illegal and those
that should be legal.

Thanks Karen for telling us the other side of the coin.

I see a lobby group starting... go girl go!
well..boy too :)
    

/Natalie


On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 11:06 AM, Karen <email obscured>> wrote:

> hello there,
> I am a mother of two teenage boys 20 and 22 obviously they are both into
> their cars.  The fact is the problem at present is that with new laws being
> introduced frequently parents are at their witts end as they cannot control
> their children.  I on the other hand have had control of my children from
> the start but this does not stop them being pulled over by the police
> randomoly and getting issued with speeding tickets for uneccessary
> excelleration etc... instant loss of license for 6 moths.  Good you would
> say.
>

From: Brian Sandle Date: 2008 Mar 15 03:25 UTC Short link

Hi,

GROWING UP

I was interested to see boys of 20 and 22 years of age referred to as
'teenagers'. I had thought 'teen' meant up to nineteen. The inference is that
there are 'boy' racers of much older age who have not 'grown up'.

Human behaviours can modify with age, including those of autism with its
intensity but lack of understanidng of other's feelings.

 I remember, I think, in one of the books on Waldorf education (Rudolf Steiner
approach) about how children can develop through having regular events in their
lives. It might be music lessons, or feeding the chickens.. Such rhythm allows
them to develop their will, and I think it is that a developed will enables
them to control their own behaviour.

SUSPICIONS ABOUT MOTIVES URBAN COMPACTION

Writers have to be quite venturesome to write on this discussion group, because
we tend to expose one another to quite some analysis. Do I see the police under
attack for making business for themselves.? But police can be helpful. And
obviously health care workers can be, but I have heard some bad tales in USA
where dieting promoters can get the overweight with available insurance to
travel to another city for treatment, then get them psychiatrically  confined
till their insurance runs out. But anyway I get suspicious about all sorts of
market matters.. Maybe you can help me through the suspicion that one driver in
developing a compact urban form, where people have little land at hand for
gardens, is going to reduce people's alternatives to paying large amounts of
money for food.


In Cuba when the oil supply stopped from USSR they started converting car parks
to gardens. The price of oil is going up faster than many were forecasting. We
should have such thing in mind when planning.

There is also the impact of quakes an floods on the sewerage in a dense urban
form. The dense dwellers are very vulnerable. There will usually be some sort
of food around in say a 1/3 acre section. Plus the rules for stewardship of
biodiversity and the activity in that could be added.

RECREATION IN A COMPACT URBAN FORM

In the Green Party submission to Plan Change 1 to the Regional Policy Statement
the need is put for a compact urban form which gives people access to work,
school and shops via climate-friendly transport. But what about to recreation?
which is the reason for this article being in this thread.

The Green Party submission refers to community greens, or enclosed open air
spaces in between groups of dwellings. But what sort of recreation can happen?
It looks like parties – booze markets, because the sort of back yard with lots
of things to do won't be possible playing with solar energy plumbing &c.

The Green Party suggest an ongoing forum into the effects of urban compaction.
Will this proposed forum go into it?

How do we encourage other forms of recreation than car driving, and also
recreation which takes a car to get to it?

In my submission to the RPS change I gave data on the importance of gardening
as recreation. I was working out some of that submission on this forum so you
may have seen some of this:

 <http://users.snap.net.nz/~bsandle/RPS_submission_Sandle.pdf>

the morgan's valley photo is better here

<http://users.snap.net.nz/~bsandle/morgans_valley.jpg>

Second stage of submissions in support or disapproval of the origianl
submission closes on 28 March.

I haven't had much comment on my writing on this discussion group, too
embarassed to say you agree with some points?

Brian Sandle
    

From: Natalie Date: 2008 Mar 15 22:50 UTC Short link

There was a forum about noisy cars which was lead by Nicky Wagner =
politician = party politics.

From what I heard about the forum and live public meeting which was held by
Nicky (National in disguise) is that not everywhere were able to talk and
voice their opinions when asked because some people in the audience  were
very POOR LISTENERS to the point that they shouted down the person trying to
give their voice to the issue.

Guess who was trying to voice their opinion? the political rivel, Labour.

Which makes me very very doubtful about Nicky's agenda in all this because
she allowed her rival to be shout down-- even when someone in the audience
said that they were interested in "what the guy had to say."

When I said 'go girl go' to Karen... I really meant "go parents go!" No need
4 politicians because they don't listen.  All they are interested is being
elected and  looking as if they are interested.

It's just too easy for this to become an election agenda.

It's NOT just about SOUNDS BITES!
    

_____________________________

Wendy mentionned about banning an open bottle of alcool in the car IN ORDER
to give POWER to the police to stop their car.

They don't need a reason anymore. They stop cars just because they can...
they'll say something like "we'll looking to see if your rego is expired"
(although they can do it from their car's computer system)... or even
better, I smell something like weed coming from your car (they can still say
that, but cops forget that that's was challenged in court and they lost)...

So making even more rules and laws about where we can drink, which streets
we can park on and how loud is too loud... is not very effective.

The more you make something illegal, they more you glorify and/or try to
challenge the law, the rules of the land.

An example BZP.. made it illegal and now the cops are saying that people
will go to the gangs (hello?). Well done politicians... you really solved
that one, hein?

*We all want the same outcomes... the difference is how we get there...

*/Natalie*
*

From: Nathan Dale Date: 2008 May 09 02:58 UTC Short link

I was catching up on the new on this subject the other day and i was surprised
to hear about a man who rammed a carload of Boy racers with his vehicle and
then proceeded to throw something through another vehicles window, resulting in
injury. There are also reported incidents where people are placing nails and
screws on the roads to puncture the tires of "Boy Racers" cars, last time i
checked they weren't the only ones using the roads and this could have serious
consequences to anyone who came across such a trap.
Does this new vigilante attitude not scare anyone else?
I myself am 26, Married and we own our own home. I consider My wife and myself
to be polite responsible adults and yet since our car matches the description
of a "Boy Racer" car we are targeted by the police when not doing anything
wrong at all. It is people like us who are likely to be affected by public
vigilante groups as emotions get high and things get out of control.
There are plenty of young people interested in cars who are responsible and are
getting blamed for the actions of a few, some of us are willing to help with
the situation but are often met with attitudes of disbelief and mistrust.
I think that if we treat the general problem with maturity and deal with the
idiots that are not willing to be responsible then the problem can be sorted
out with little or no conflict, However in order to do this we need to all act
maturely and responsibly in order to reach a solution, starting with listening
to each side and not getting on high horses and jumping the gun.
Anyway lets get on with being proactive and do something about the issues
rather than sitting at our computers battling it out with quotes, misconstrued
facts and insults.

Kind regards,
    

Ike

From: Peter Tuffley Date: 2008 May 22 04:46 UTC Short link

Nicky Wagner wrote:

>  young people often feel victimized by the public and the police.


As was said in Parliament in another context recently: Diddums.

For another perspective, see





FWIW, I support Marks suggestion that the term "boy racers" should be
ditched.
I quite like his suggested alternative of "road rats";but perhaps the
Press
might consider inviting readers' suggestions for an alternative
with some kind
of prize for the suggestion most expressive of loathing and
opprobrium, and a
commitment to use the phrase instead of the present ridiculo9us epithet.

As for what should be done to/with the little rats and their
vehicles, I'd be
for turning them (the vehicles at any rate) to scrap before the eyes of
the aforesaid rodent. (If they complain that life will be unbearable
without their
wheels, they can always be invited to sit at the wheel and go through
the crusher too...
;-)

W Shaw wrote:

> Having seen police cars leaving this area with shattered
> windscreens, having seen these boyracers in mobs
> throwing stones and bottles at  passing cars, having picked up the
> appalling rubbish after their burnouts, having
> had our property tagged, vandalised and watched our neighbours
> cowering in fear when squadrons of boy racers
> descend upon our area, i'm sorry, i have NO sympathy at all. Sorry.

No need to say sorry, IMHO. If the police can't cope  or aren't
allowed to deploy the means by which they could
cope, albeit. with rather drastic results  then perhaps it's time
for the NZ army to be called in to "aid the civil power";
its Light Armoured Vehicles carry equipment that could dispose of
road rats in very short order.  Perhaps unfortunately,
pigs are more likely to fly...
    

From: David Lloyd Date: 2008 May 22 22:39 UTC Short link

Howdy

Ike Andoit wrote:

>I cant believe the mature responses like, crush them in their cars or unleash
the army on them!
>i would have thought that this was a forum that more mature and responsible
people attended to actually post some relative and helpful comments.
>There are many ways to solve this problem and I along with others who are
passionate about cars are willing to help out
>
What are some of the ways you would solve this problem?
    

David

From: Nathan Dale Date: 2008 May 22 22:56 UTC Short link

Hi there,

I have attached a PowerPoint presentation which i put together for the Mayor
and Nicky Wagner who i contacted at the beginning of March about my proposal.
I am certain there would be some tweaking needed but it was a rough draft of my
idea anyway.
I have also included a file on the forum and news research i did (not hugely in
depth but it was enough to give me a general idea of the situation when
accompanied by my experience with people in the "Boy Racer" scene.)
As well as an abbreviated collection of the relevant comments from my findings.
Hope this helps,
    

From: Peter Tuffley Date: 2008 May 23 02:10 UTC Short link

Apologies for a recent intemperate post on this subject.
    

From: Nathan Dale Date: 2008 May 25 20:53 UTC Short link

I must ask you though Brenda, How are you certain it was a "Boy Racer"
responsible for that? It could well have been a family picnicking or a bike
riding vegan greeny who works for the spca ans sponsors 20 children that left
the marks. I know it was more likely a hoon but unless we are certain then it
is dangerous to make such assumptions without the evidence.
As far as the rising petrol prices go i guess they will just drive less and
gather "park up" more. a lot of them are still living at home and have little
or no rent to pay and are earning between $500-1200 in the hand a week so
petrol prices are most likely not noticed as much since they have a larger
disposable income.
I would also like to hear some feedback regarding my proposal if anyone would
be kind enough to take the time to read it.
Thanks again,
Nathan
    

From: Nathan Dale Date: 2008 Jun 23 20:33 UTC Short link

Did anyone attend the "stop the noise" meeting last night? I am curious as to
what the consensus was from the meeting.
thanks.
    

From: Colin King Date: 2008 Jun 24 08:47 UTC Short link

You maybe correct but they to will grow up -  buy their own home settle down
and raise a family so what's so wrong with us letting them know what we expect
If we have failed our young males pray please tell me what did we do to our
young males we sent to Europe between 1914 -19 and 1940 - 45 and would you have
a thought regarding the values previously learned from those sacrafices and
presently lacking that young ones perhaps are missing today
Colin king
    

--------------------------
Sent using BlackBerry


----- Original Message -----
From: paul scott <email obscured>>
To: Canterbury Public Issues Forum <email obscured>>
Sent: Tue Jun 24 18:48:02 2008
Subject: Re: [Canterbury Issues] Boy Racers

boy racers will continue noise,
they are angry boys, and it because we have failed our male children,
Bob Parker one term MAYOR wants NATIONAL  politician status.


paul scott
North avon,
Info about paul scott: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/scottpaul

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From: Nathan Dale Date: 2008 Jul 13 22:51 UTC Short link

I originally thought that Christchurch was a fantastic city to live in. However
my views on that are sadly changing.
I attended the meting for stop the noise. I had gone to offer some assistance
with resolving the problem by offering a younger persons view and that of
someone who is interested in cars and has become a side effect of the current
"solution" but i was shocked to hear just what is going on.
First of all i will mention that people avoided sitting near me, most likely
due to my age. I sat there and listened to every one speak, our Mayor, the
Police officer in charge of the "solution" and those who were asking questions
etc and i did so quietly and not interrupting them.
I heard such statement from police such as the fat that they are pulling people
over and ticketing them if they appear to have a non factory exhaust, it
doesn't matter if that exhaust is legal, it is up to the ticketing officer to
determine if the exhaust is too loud, they can also include the blow off valves
as being too noisy on turbo cars as well. The police office stated that it
wasn't their responsibility to test the vehicles noise level, so they don't
have to prove that it was over the limit, that was the duty of the LTSA.
it seems they are all still behind a new "loud exhaust = small penis - pinky
finger" campaign to bring it to the attention of the public and those
responsible. which to be honest i find rather childish especially since these
are the people who are supposed to be in charge of our city.
in fact the whole meting felt like a school yard atmosphere, including the
bullies.
As i said i waited for every one to say their piece and when the opportunity
came to ask questions i asked these: 1. perhaps rather than issuing the alleged
offenders with fines and 25 demerit points off their license perhaps since they
have admitted that it is not the polices responsibility to test the noise level
that they offer them a chance to get the car tested within a set period of time
and if the car is in fact legal then the demerit points are credited back to
their license and the fine wiped as they would not have broken the law, since
everyone in every job has bad days this could be dangerous to leave such a big
consequence up to the decision of an individual, i also mentioned that i
understood that it must be hard dealing mainly with scumbags all day and that
it is understandable particularly in their line of work to have those sad bad
days. my main reason for asking this question which i mentioned at the time was
to get away from the negativity that the "boy racers" feel towards the police
as i believe that targeting a specific group, in this case them, is picking on
a wide range of people of whom are only 2% of the driving problem on our roads.
the response i got  from the police officer was that he believed they should be
picked on as they have had plenty of warnings, I agree that if they are
breaking the law then that is fair enough but the fact remains that they are
using 20% of our police resources to target 2% of the problem, it simply
doesn't make sense to me, especially since people like myself who are law
abiding and have factory exhausts on their car which happens to fit into the
"boy racer" category are getting targeted with them, as well as the fact that
they are ticketing people and issuing demerit points for offenses they cant
prove as breaking the law. not to mention that the police officer in charge of
all this couldn't even answer someone's question on how the cars are tested for
noisy exhausts.
My second question was this: Would it not make more sense to test a broader
range of vehicles and find out what passes and what fails the proposed 90db
limit so as they are not seen to be targeting a specific group. the reason i
asked this question is because i have read in a car magazine, i think it was NZ
CAR or something similar that is aimed at middle age people with standard cars,
that they conducted tests and found that buses failed, most Harley Davidson
motorbikes failed, and brand new Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores failed. if
they tested a broad range they could then say well these are the ones we should
concentrate on fixing as they have failed, this way it is not only one specific
group that is targeted and alienated.
I said that in my opinion they are not going to get anywhere by targeting the
whole group as they will only antagonize then further and create a bigger
problem. I also stated constantly that i have no problem with the noise limit
being lowered to 90DB and that i was there to help. I had even put together the
proposal which i uploaded to the forum to said police officer and the mayor.
While i was asking these questions i had people standing up and interrupting me
throughout, making comments like "ask some proper f-ing questions" and making
statements like "Buses don't operate at 1am"
these were adults, and were in my opinion very disrespectful and rude.
especially considering i sat there and listened to them without interrupting or
being disrespectful in any manner.
I am also on the email list which gets facts on the bust that police have done
on this matter and this morning i received an email stating this:
Weekend 27, 28 June as follows

60 Speed

42 Noise

13 Seatbelts

12 Licence Breaches

2 Pink Stickers

1 Green Stickers

1 Vehicle Impound

Friday Night was by far the most productive. Saturday as you know rained for
the WHOLE night.

The boy racers met on Sat at the Ferrymead Mitre 10 for their drive. There
would have been about 100 cars that turned up which for them would have been
quite a good turn out considering the weather.

We had about 8 police car assisting with disrupting them which was very
effective. The never really made it half way through their plotted course.

We just kept diverting groups of approx 10 car down other street until it
fizzled out.

Now firstly i would like to say that those numbers are most likely minimal as i
am sure that if they concentrated as much effort into policing general road
users as they do "Boy racers" then the numbers would be much higher.
Secondly for the police to know where and when a cruise was to occur then it
must have been an organized event, there are no comments to say it was a
troublesome cruise ate all but yet the police felt it necessary to use 8 police
cars which probably means 16 officers to interrupt and break up the organized
event. I would like to know how they split the traffic up as surely it is not
legal for a police officer to just decide that you are not heading that way,
you are going to make a detour and go somewhere else. Surely this is harassment
and i would be surprised if there wasn't grounds for legal action. if they
weren't breaking any laws then why target them. surely a harmless drive is not
against the law.

As i said earlier, I am beginning to no longer feel proud of our city. it is
becoming a police state if you are interested in cars.

I have started the process to start up my own car club where i intend to have
such events as cruises and treasure hunts, I had every intention of using the
money from the events to give away petrol vouchers and also compliant exhausts
and I was also going to push the notion that those who are being targeted can
win the day by becoming responsible and taking action to beat the police and
public at their own game by making the choice to become legally loud so that
they have nothing to complain about. the only thing i fear is that the anti
youth movement will step things up and find something else to complain about
until there is nothing left for young people to do in Christchurch but socially
acceptable things such as get plastered and go to a rugby game.
    

From: Andrew Groom Date: 2008 Jul 14 05:09 UTC Short link

Hi Natalie,

On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 11:36 +1200, Doglinks NZ wrote:
> They got to friend C's house and picked up the both friends. Four people in
> the car by this stage. The friend they picked up drove back to Friend A's
> house. another fully licensed driver.
>
> AGAIN, they got pulled over by the cops. Another ticket.
>
> The mother was so angry with the cops because the car got towed for 28 days
> and didn't understand what the problem was since her son was wise enough to
> ask his fully licensed friend to drive. She did acknowledge that her son
> didn't ask permission, BUT for the cops to steal (my words) her car and
> taking away the parents role as being a parent... in the good old days when
> cops were 'police officers' and who knew everyone, the police officer who
> ring the parents and ask what was going on. How far we've come...

Just to get this clear, did the car get towed on the spot when the
second ticket was issued ?
    

From: Kevyn Miller Date: 2008 Jul 14 13:35 UTC Short link

Nathan, If you want public support to stop this excessive level of enforcement
you need to emphasise that the focus on "boy-racers" is compromising the Road
Safety to 2010 Strategy. To be able to do this in an informed manner you need
to start with the original consultation documents and submissions, available
here:
http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/strategy-2010/index.html
and here:
http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/publications/2010.html

Of particular importance is the absence of any reference to a boy racer or
young hoon problem. The activity the submitters wanted the Police to target on
Friday and Saturday nights is alcohol. The proportion of fatal crashes in which
alcohol is a contributing factor has increased from 25% in 2000 to 30 in 2006.
In the same period alcohl offence prosecutions increased 25%, speeding
infringement notices increased 100% and other infrigement notices increased
200%. These figures come from the two reviews of the strategy implementation to
2005. These reports are available at the MOT website, search for the author's
names: Breen and Duignan.

You will find copies of the Safety (Administration) Program in the engineering
library at the university. You will need these to compare the funding increases
and enforcement hours for each road safety target area: speed, alcohol, seat
belts,etc.

20% of Canterbury's road policing resources are being targetted at noisy
exhausts. This means that none of the additional funding provided to implement
the Road Safety to 2010 Strategy is actually being spent for it's intended
purpose. As Transit has not received any additional funding for highway safety
engineering, relative to the baseline years used in the discussion document the
strategy is, in fact, entirely dependent on the additional funding for
enforcement of serious offences.

Also note that the target of fewer than 300 deaths in 2010 assumed continued
traffic growth of 3% per annum. Thanks to skyrocketing fuel prices there has
been less than 1% traffic growth p.a. The demographic profile of the decrease
in the road toll between 1999 and 2004 has occurred just once before - between
1973 and 1977. That profile is unique in that the reduction of passenger deaths
was twice as great as the reduction for drivers and the reduction in the under
25 age group was double that of the over 25 age group. Entirely consistent with
a reduction in high occupancy recreational travelon the open road as a response
to an unexpected and substantial increase in fuel prices. Without these two
consequences of the fuel price increases there is a high statistical
probability that there would have been no reduction in the road toll at all.
Entirely what would be expected if the additional funding for road safety
enforcement has been substantially redirected to tackle a high profile public
nuisance problem. Land Transport NZ financial statements indicate there has
actually been a decrease in spending on highway safety engineering in the Major
Projects category that outweighs the increased spending on Minor Safet Works.
That does suggest that the diversion of enforcement resources may be unique or
unusually large in Canterbury.

As long as there is a strong public belief boy racers are the only ones
sufferring from the high level of enforcement there will of course continue to
be strong public support for that high level of enforcement. If the public can
be educated on the risks that this diversion of resources is creating for
themselves and their own "law abiding" children then we will either see the
enforcement resources being used where they were originally meant to be used or
additional resources provided if the public considers noise pollution to be as
important as saving lives.
    

From: paul scott Date: 2008 Jul 16 05:08 UTC Short link

Kevyn Miller can be hard to read, but famously stated on this column that
a mistake on the road, should not be a death sentence
if we can prevent it.
I heard on the grapevine that Kevyn Miller is about to receive the
Medalli of Quixote
    

From: Nathan Dale Date: 2008 Jul 16 23:23 UTC Short link

Thanks Paula, Irinka and Kevyn for your kind words and assistance.


I have had it suggested to me that with the current fuel prices and the recent
statistics on crime in Christchurch etc that perhaps the fact that they are
wasting such a lot of money and resources on the seemingly small problem that
it might be worthwhile contacting a news crew to do a story on it. Not sure if
i want to go down that road yet but hey at least i am getting good feedback.
I am glad that it isn't just me who thinks that there are some serious issues
with the way that this problem is being dealt with. I agree that the best way
to solve a problem is to get everyone involved to sit round a table and to talk
things out, unfortunately with the maturity of the people who attended that
meeting i would suggest that it would only end in a screaming match.

Thanks once again for the support.

Kind regards,
Nathan