Bay second worst area for boy racer problems

Bay of Plenty has the second worst boy racer problem in the country, according to police figures.
A September report to Minister of Police Judith Collins showed the region had 223 "boy racer" offences between January and the end of August last year, behind only Canterbury with 243.
 With the Western Bay of Plenty, the region also includes Rotorua, Whakatane, Taupo and Tokoroa.
Waitemata - which  takes in North Shore and West Auckland, had 220 incidents, Waikato 185 and Central 173. Auckland City had the least offences with 77.
Western Bay road policing manager Ian Campion said the high number of incidents in the Bay of Plenty was a reflection of the hard line being taken on boy racer offending by the region's police.
However, he said beaches  at Mount Maunganui and visitor destinations  such as Rotorua would always attract more boy racers than somewhere  such as the South Island's west coast.
Mr Campion said the figures related to boy racer offending including burnouts, unnecessary speed and acceleration, pouring diesel on the road with a strong focus recently on noisy and illegally modified vehicles.
Mr Campion said in 2003 and 2004 Western Bay road policing had a dedicated boy racer team but it was now something policed by all staff.
Canterbury road policing manager Al Stewart said the offending rate was high in Canterbury because it was a reasonably affluent area where young drivers had easy access to motor vehicles.
The region's wide, flat roads also provided good opportunity to race, he said.
Mr Stewart said police did not use the term boy racers as it was emotive and incorrect, preferring to use "anti-social road users", or ASRs.
Mr Stewart said the the main offences were not racing, hence the move away from the term "boy racer", with nuisance offending more of a problem.
Nuisance offending  included noise and anti-social behaviour, smashing bottles, property damage, urinating in peoples property and pouring diesel on roads to do burnouts.
Since August, Canterbury police have created a dedicated ASR team within the Road Policing Group to combat the problems.
"Canterbury police recognise that this activity is a major cause of concern to the general public, especially residents and business owners who live and work on the main ASR routes," Mr Stewart said.
Mr Stewart said the team actively policed known ASR drivers and areas, visiting complainants from recent incidents for statements to locate and prosecute the drivers concerned.
Auckland City had the lowest figure because of the small area, the high level of policing and the fact there were not many places to race in the city, said Auckland road policing manager Gavin MacDonald.
Auckland City stretches from Avondale and Blockhouse Bay in the west, north to the Harbour Bridge and south to Mangere.
Problems caused by ASRs plagued the inner city a few years ago but these had stopped, due to the inner city's 30km/h speed limit, the thinning of the roads on Queen St and the increase in pedestrian crossings, Mr MacDonald said.