Four vehicles recently impounded by police in Hawke's Bay. Police impounded 289 vehicles from HB motorists from October to December 20 and 1113 in Hawke's Bay so far this year. Photo / NZ Police
Four vehicles recently impounded by police in Hawke's Bay. Police impounded 289 vehicles from HB motorists from October to December 20 and 1113 in Hawke's Bay so far this year. Photo / NZ Police
Police have impounded more than 1000 vehicles off Hawke’s Bay roads in 2022, and they say they have no plans to ease their driving crackdown over the holiday season.
Inspector Matt Broderick, road policing manager for Eastern District, said they had impounded 35 cars in December so far for alcoholand driver’s licence offending.
A further 24 boy racer cars have also been impounded for antisocial driver behaviour, and that means a total of 59 vehicles will not return to their owners in time for Christmas.
“So far during this last quarter of 2022 [October-December], police have impounded 289 vehicles from Hawke’s Bay motorists [174 for alcohol and license offending and 115 for antisocial drivers],” Broderick said.
“This is a significant effort to keep Hawke’s Bay roads safe, but it would be a more pleasing result if police reported that everyone they stopped was driving safely and impounded no vehicles.”
He said in the previous quarter, a total of 310 cars were impounded, and meant the October-to-December total was on track to be similar or slightly higher.
There were 252 vehicles impounded in the first quarter of the year and 262 impounded in the second quarter, making a total of 1113 vehicles impounded in Hawke’s Bay this year so far.
“It is consistent. I think the concern is that it is not trending down,” he said.
“We’re not getting the message out there that we are catching [dangerous drivers], but we are catching them and those numbers support that.”
He compared the work police are doing to a race between the tortoise and the hare, slowly and steadily making the roads safer with each impounded vehicle until driver behaviour changes.
Inspector Matt Broderick, road policing manager for Eastern District, said it was a small minority of problem motorists who were getting their vehicles impounded. Photo / NZME
He said it was a small minority of problem motorists who were getting their vehicles impounded.
“This is a really small group of people compared to the overall motorist public, but it is a persistent group that is not getting the message.”
Impounded vehicles are held for 28 days and the owner must pay a fine to get their vehicle back by the end.
Broderick said earlier this year about 25 per cent of the vehicles impounded were not returned to the owner for several reasons, including the cost of recovery exceeding the value of the car.
Broderick said police urged motorists to drive safely for the holiday season.
“Wear a seatbelt, avoid distractions such as cellphones; keep to speed limits and particularly this time of year, do not drive whilst impaired by alcohol or drugs.”
