Police lift fine on mum racer with noisy exhaust

Police have changed the way they measure "boy racer" noise after an uproar over an unfair ticket.

Whangarei's Norma Cates had been dubbed the country's first "mum racer" after she was caught with a noisy exhaust shortly after the new boy-racer legislation came into effect.

However, the mother of two has been let off her $150 fine after she highlighted a "man versus machine" noise testing anomaly.

A delighted Mrs Cates said she was pleased to be let off the fine, and urged anyone caught in a similar situation to challenge their tickets.

She had been fined $150 in May for driving her son's car with a modified exhaust system deemed too loud by police.

Police had measured the exhaust noise with a meter.

However, a testing station passed the exhaust after staff judged the noise emission with their hearing.

Mrs Cates had been driving her son's car after dropping him at a party.

Police had "green-stickered" the car and dished out the $150 fine after recording 98.9 decibels of sound from its exhaust.

The green sticker means the car must be given a new WOF before it is allowed back on the road.

Initially police maintained they could issue tickets based solely on the meter readings.

However, Northland police Inspector Rex Knight said the readings from the meters were to be used only as an indication.

"I ask the staff to use the regulation with caution and common sense."

The waiving of Mrs Cate's fine was fair, he said.

"Because the Vehicle Testing Station passed the exhaust, the fine was waived by the Police Infringement Bureau, which is fair," he said.

Mr Knight added the car noise restrictions had been in place since 1976, and were not new legislation under the Land Transport (Street and Illegal Drag Racing) Amendment Act - more commonly known as the Boy Racer Act.

The new legislation, however, allowed police to green sticker noisy vehicles.

The Land Transport Safety Authority had said it would not expect police to be using the monitoring devices to issue tickets.

LTSA spokesman Andy Knackstedt said he understood police had been directed to carry out simple tests without meters to gauge noise levels.

This would allow consistency between roadside and garage testing.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)