One night, 200 tickets: Boy racers stung with fines, arrests, and impounded cars in Hawke’s Bay

Four vehicles impounded by police in Hawke's Bay earlier in December. There were over 200 infringements issued to drivers, 10 vehicles impounded, 14 driver's licences suspended, four arrests and three drivers being processed for alcohol-related driver offending on Boxing Day. Photo / NZ Police

A single evening of boy racer chaos saw over 200 infringements issued to drivers, several vehicles impounded, and several arrests made.

Inspector Matt Broderick, road policing manager for Hawke’s Bay, said police responded to a number of “motoring enthusiasts” intent on anti-social driving behaviour on Boxing Day.

He said most, but not all, of the infringements issued that night would have been related to boy racers.

As well as the infringements, he said 10 vehicles were impounded, 14 driver’s licences were suspended, four arrests were made and three drivers were processed for alcohol-related driver offending.

Altogether 15 people will be appearing in court for a variety of offending and 18 additional vehicles received notices to prevent their further use on the road for safety reasons.

Broderick said police were disappointed by the driving behaviour, but understood that most road users wanted to be safe on the roads.

“We assure those people that police will continue to focus our efforts on those whose driving behaviour puts themselves and others at risk, particularly as we head into the New Year period,” Broderick said.

“Expect us to be anywhere at any time.”

He said police staff across Hawke’s Bay were continuing their efforts to keep roads safe from anti-social road user behaviours in the lead-up to and during the Christmas period.

In the week of December 16 to 22, police impounded 17 vehicles for anti-social behaviour alone, and a further 16 for alcohol and licensing offences.

Broderick said police in Dannevirke and Central Hawke’s Bay carried out fatigue and impairment checkpoints on December 22, including one in Central Hawke’s Bay, Waipukurau.

Of the 700 motorists spoken to, he said three people were processed by police, two for alcohol offences and one for being disqualified from holding a driver’s licence, which resulted in their vehicle being impounded.

The recently impounded vehicles add to Hawke’s Bay’s annual total, which sat at 1113 vehicles impounded as of December 20 and is now 1156 including the 33 from December 16 to 22 and the 10 from Boxing Day.