Roar of disapproval greets boyracer law

The National Party claims new rules will make the problem of noisy cars and boyracers even worse.

National MP Nick Smith claims new regulations are so vague, "you could drive a 100 decibel V8 through them".

But Minister of Transport Safety Harry Duynhoven disagrees.

Dr Smith said new land transport rules required that an exhaust system "must not be noticeably or significantly louder than it would have been when the motor vehicle was manufactured".

He said advice from lawyers was that this was less stringent than a 1976 regulation making it a requirement that every motor vehicle have "a silencer which is effective and in good working order".

Mr Duynhoven said that the regulations had not been weakened.

In a process begun by the former National government, land transport regulations, which dated back to 1976, were being translated into Land Transport NZ rules. This involved replacing old and inappropriate wording.

Mr Duynhoven said a test case had been taken to the courts by an exhaust fitter who had argued tickets issued under the old regulation could not be enforced.

Noise tests done when vehicles were first manufactured were conducted in a laboratory, sealed against external noises.

The argument heard by the court was that a traffic officer using a decibel meter was not operating in the same scientific environment as when original noise tests were done.

The judge had ruled in the exhaust fitter's favour, Mr Duynhoven said.

Consequently, the wording for the rule was changed.

Mr Duynhoven said police used a subjective test, "i.e. the ear on the roadside", when determining whether an exhaust system was too noisy.

Police in Christchurch had recently clamped down on noisy vehicles, sending 30 cars back to garages to see if exhaust systems met Warrant of Fitness standards and had also issued more than 100 tickets to owners of noisy cars.

The system was working, Mr Duynhoven said.

If a WOF tester saw an exhaust system had been modified and could hear that it was "noticeably or significantly louder" than if it had not been modified, the vehicle should not get a WOF.

But Dr Smith claimed New Zealand had the weakest exhaust noise rules in the Western world.

"We need to introduce clearly measurable exhaust noise limits like those in Australia and ensure they are checked alongside exhaust emissions at each Warrant of Fitness check," he said.

Mr Duynhoven said the problem with noisy cars was not new.

"The generation before me raced Ford V8s with side valves and straight pipes ... It's called youth.

"But the police do deal with it."

- NZPA