Council does have bylaw to stop Kaikohe's errant riders

Kids on pushbikes are still causing concern in Kaikohe's main street - and the FNDC has a bylaw to prevent it. Photo / Debbie Beadle

It turns out the Far North District Council does have a bylaw to control errant motorcyclists and cyclists on Kaikohe's main street, after earlier saying it did not.

Appeals to the FNDC earlier this year, over the manner in which children and others were riding pushbikes, and motorcycles, in Kaikohe's main street failed to produce results.

One concerned Kaikohe resident asked the council to enforce the "relevant bylaw", but was told the council didn't have one. But actually, it does, and residents hope it's now enforced to make the streets safer.

Last week a council spokesman reiterated that there was no bylaw. But when he checked he discovered the Skating and Cycles Bylaw 2007, which actually came into effect on December 21, 2012, which prohibits "the riding of skateboards, roller blades, roller skates and similar devices in certain defined public places, in order to promote public safety and the effective regulation of pedestrian and traffic movements on footpaths, roads and public places within the Far North District".

"It is also intended to assist in the control of the use of cycles on footpaths."

In Kaikohe the bylaw specifically covers both sides of Broadway, from the Station Rd/Park Rd intersection to the Broadway/Mangakahia Rd intersection, and the Marino Place carpark.

It further states that "No person shall ride a cycle on a footpath or on a lawn, garden or other cultivation forming part of a road within the area outline(d) within the schedule to this bylaw in a manner which is careless, dangerous, or causes an obstruction or annoyance to any person or persons using such footpath".

Any device used to breach the bylaw could be impounded for five days, if the owner or rider had previously been personally required to desist, and had been advised of the council's authority, after paying costs not exceeding $50. There is also provision for a maximum fine of $500 upon conviction of committing an offence.

The concerns raised earlier this year involved children and youths riding bicycles and motorbikes on the town's main street, showing scant regard for vehicles or their own physical wellbeing. Others defended them as just kids having some harmless fun who did not deserve to be "picked on" by the police or anyone else.

One resident said the problem with bicycles had become increasingly concerning during recent months. The worst problem was on the main street, Broadway; whether they were on bicycles or motorcycles, they tended to ride without helmets, on the wrong side of the road, and wove in and out of traffic "playing chicken".

Cyclists, generally in groups, had also taken to hanging around outside shops and ATM machines, blocking the footpaths for pedestrians.

Another resident said last week nothing had changed.

"Last night they were down at New World, eight of them, going through the enclosed foyer area," she said.

"They had not a care in the world about shoppers. They then headed back down the main street, in the dark."

Many of the bikes were "high-end, $3000-$5000 worth, not something you'd expect to see 14-year-olds on", she added.

The council spokesman said he believed motorbikes would be covered by the Land Transport Road User Rule 2004, which banned the driving of vehicles on footpaths, except for mopeds or motorbikes used to deliver newspapers, mail or printed material to letterboxes if the controlling authority allowed such use of the footpath.