KEY POINTS:
Shaun (Tauranga) Car enthusiast
I am a 23year old boy racer/car enthusiast. Yes Scotty's death is a tragedy but I agree the road is the wrong place for them to be racing when there are places like Meremere and Taupo. But why punish all enthusiasts for the stupid actions of some. Insurance should be compulsory I agree with that. I think a better option should be for police to open an area like Sulphur point car park which has a gate there now which is patrolled by security. Why don't the police monitor this gate and let these enthusiasts in but as a condition of entry the driver must have their license checked and their vehicle checked for warrant and rego anything found out of order their driver is then fined and denied entry. Plus they should search for alcohol to make sure there is none at this event so there is no glass or anything to litter or destroy the property. We aren't going to just go away we have been around for decades just the police used to leave our fathers to do it. So give us some slack but patrol the event.
Give Louis a place to race
I'm a 20-year- old tradesman from West Auckland. I make enough money to own and maintain a very powerful car which I enjoy a lot. Now, my problem is where the bloody hell can I use it? I've had one chance so far to take it to Meremere. It's hardly enticing or practical to do the right thing when open days come up so rarely and it takes near an hour just to get there. Thats only if I only one to go in a straight line for a few seconds. If I want to go round corners, Pukekohe racetrack is just as far, and open even less to the general public. So if the kids just want to do a little burnout, or maybe just give the car a bit of a squirt, is the right answer telling them to go somewhere legal? The authorities have convinced no one. It has been made so illegal to street race that it shouldn't be on anyones mind, but it still goes on. Things obviously aren't happening very efficiently or smartly in government departments. Do they need a bigger sign or a few more deaths to let them know that they haven't got it right? Or just a smack before it becomes illegal. 3 years ago a law was passed to impound cars, have they realised it hasn't worked? Give us petrolheads more options!
Tom (Opunake)
Much of the danger element of boy-racing would be removed if NZ Police stopped lying to and making money off the public. They like dishing out tickets and acting like it is for our own good. If they really wanted to put an end to high speed driving they would make it compulsory for every car on the road to have a speed limiter fitted which would shut the engine down when you hit 100km/hr. The technology is basic and exists and is far cheaper than speeding campaigns and endless dead people. Instead people keep dying and the NZ Police keep getting richer.
Turia Davis
The 'boy racers' get together because they are boys...trying to find their place in the human pecking order. The first test they must pass is to be included in the pack, tested and admired and ultimately, they become eligible to mate. End of story. Isn't that what we all do in our different ways? Many 'boys' play rugby or league or b. ball or just go get a night job..but boy racers like to race. Either let them be or help them to become better drivers, racers or mechanics. Make a difference instead of condemning them to the risks of their somewhat immature attempts to achieve maturity and ascend the 'pecking order'.
John (Palmerston North)
Someone from Auckland wrote in to say "...the road is for cars". Historically and legally the road is not only for cars. If society knew what would happen to the environment, social interaction, and the wholesale conversion of farms to lifestyle blocks, then the first car may not have been allowed on the road at all. I should be able to buy a house in town and walk to work if I want to. The failure of our government to stop the sale of boy racer modifications such as free flow exhausts and pop off valves is rendering my lifestyle choice of in-town living an absolute nightmare. Not everyone wants to live on the periphery of town to avoid the racket. Stop the sale of these noisy modifications and confiscate cars which have them. End of story.
Bowtie (Auckland)
As someone involved in the insurance industry I don't think third party insurance for boy racers is the answer, the reality is that most of their vehicles will be financed and will require full cover as part of their finance agreement. I think for under 21s, there should be a restriction on what vehicles may be driven as part of their licence conditions, just as motorcycles have a cc restriction on learner riders, cars should be restricted to under 2.0l non turbo.
Parents also need to take greater responsibility with their kids by being prepared to set curfews on the time their kids may be out. They should also actively be discouraging their teenagers buying vehicles that are modified turbos, by not doing so they are giving their children a licence to kill.
Anne
If the car has been modified in any way, then it shouldn't get a w.o.f. And maybe allow a restricted licence in work hours
only [to be proven by employer in case of night shift] up to the age of 17rs.
Seth
Unfortunately, as with so many problems, the easiest solution is a patch-up job, which works well in the short term but doesn't actually address the real problem. New Zealand car and driving culture is very strong, but the level of responsibility and car skills taught to kids when they start driving are very weak. (A similar problem exists with our attitude to alcohol). Confiscating cars is just a patch-up job, but does seem like the best solution we have so far. Make it well known that dangerous drivers with dangerous cars will have them confiscated and the kids will think twice. Also as important is the setting of sensible regulations.
Austrokiwi
The compulsory insurance idea is very workable but take it a step further. In some European countries, it is Insurance companies that issue licence plates. No insurance no plates. There is another step that can take this further: Punish finance companies that lend money on cars to unlicenced drivers. If a finance comapny provides finance to an unlicenced or uninsured driver they loose the right to recover funds from the driver on the basis of irresponsible lending! Should a borrower loose their licence after a contract has been signed the Finance company is legally bound to be repaid in full or must reprocess the car.
Cyclist
Punishments after the event presumes police are able to catch the people involved and undeniably prove they were involved in illegal activity. The deterrent will only work on those who get caught and only after they have already broken the law. It will do nothing to stop others who, let's face it, by nature of their endangering bystanders and other road users, and irritating people trying to sleep, don't care about what happens to other people; even other racers. The best remedy is prevention - provide somewhere isolated for them to indulge their passions (within reason; people can't expect that just because they enjoy doing something that they should necessarily be allowed to do it). Skatepark analogy is a good one, although you have to factor in the fact that the dangers of boy-racing are orders of magnitude greater than involved in rogue skateboarding.
John
We need to ask ourselves what the cost to the country is of the consequences of "boy racing"? Deaths of innocent people, Police, damage to property, ACC costs, public disruption .... Surely the cost of building racing strips outside of towns where these guys can go and get their thrills without cost to the police, public etc would be lower. Anyone then found racing on the streets would have no excuse and could be hit with confiscation, fines (for parent) etc. Insisting on insurance wouldn't change the habits because irresponsible dads & mums provide the extraordinarily expensive modified vehicles anyway and insurance will not deter them. We also need to restrict anyone under 21 to unmodified vehicles of less than 1500cc. No compliance - lose the car and sell it to pay police/ACC/damage costs.
Lower Hutt
Compulsory insurance? Look, these guys break boy-racer laws, vehicle lighting laws, exhaust noise laws - why not the insurance laws too? All this will do is hit the law-abiding 750,000 who currently don't have insurance. And once it's compulsory, the insurers raise the prices because you can't do without it (just look at the UK), so it will hit those of us who do have insurance, too. In short, it'll hit everybody except the boy racers. Neat.
Brian Tonkin
Why are the car dealers and aftermarket dealers not being asked the question, why are we arming the weeny boy racers with lethal weapons?. Surely LTSA can come on board and make a stand in support of this crackdown on road carnage, why should we get to pay taxes to support this death machinery and its aftermath. How many people will continue to bury their heads in the sand and ignore the reality of lowered drinking ages and party pills and rights of passage that allow senseless pain and affect so many families.
A dad in Wellington
My seven-year-old boy almost got tagged mid-day on the oft-used racing route up our street. The "boy" racer was late 20's early 30's. A man in years, an irresponsible boy in action. If the goal of society is to change such antisocial behaviour there must be consequences for such individuals choosing to not change. First, however, the behaviour must be recorded. A simple three-part strategy would probably work. (1) Allow communities to add speed cameras to trouble areas at their discretion with some sort of matching funds scheme. (2) Permanently confiscate the cars of offenders on some sort of modified 3 strikes rule, sell them with proceeds funding more cameras as needed. (3) Compulsory insurance with penalties for infractions and modifications. This plan gives communities power to act, punishes repeat offenders, and limits access to equipment for a targeted group.
Ken (Pakuranga)
"Boy-racers" ,"gangs", "pitbull terriers" cannot be banned as they cannot be defined in a way that would not include bona fide car club members, motorcycle club members and dog club members.
We need to get rid of bleeding hearts and get tough laws and enforce them. The boy- racers, for example, could be culled by making car insurance compulsory. If insurance companies won't ensure them, tough. And as for affecting other drivers, tough there too, they need to be taken off the road as well. How anyone can argue that a car should be allowed on the road uninsured is beyond belief. I hope your car, fence or whatever gets hit by one of them, that will change your tiny mind. Confiscate their cars for six months, not one, for first offence. And charge them storage fees at full commercial prices. 2nd offence it should be sold and the money can go to the dreaded "Consolidated Fund", that will rub salt into the wound, heehee. If it is daddy's car, so what? it was either loaned knowingly, or it was stolen. It will kill people regardless of who owns it. Get it off the road. Let me make the laws I will fix the problem. We need to get draconian sometimes.
Westy
Its all very well people saying the boy racers should be banned. The more you ban, the more the boy racers will do it illegally. Why don't the cities provide a place where the boy racers can go to let off steam safely and under supervision. And yes I agree that 3rd party insurance should be compulsory but why not add it to the car registration like they do in Queensland. There everybody pays 3rd party insurance everytime the car gets registered.
Paul (Wellywood)
I think this is just another one of those topics that "old" people and "youngins" will never see eye to eye. Its true boy racing causes trouble but I take my hat off to any one that can stop it, While your at it stop drugs and alcohol and possibly stop yourself smoking cause that kills as well y'know. Dont get me wrong, in no way do I approve of this "boy racing" rubbish I think its just idiots showing off their inability to gain any personality and are filling in spaces with stupid looking cars, But look at the situation realistically..Ban boy-racers and it'll go underground, make compulsory insurance? Watch how many of them will actually insure their cars (not gonna happen)..Make boy racer tracks - will reduce a number of them but wont get rid of the problem. Solution: Stop giving them publicity! You're giving them the equivalent of celebrity status. Oh and too the people that do/ will blame computer games for the problem...Re-think that, Im an adamant computer gamer as are many of my friends..None of us do drugs, none of us race, we're all sportsmen and we like to go out to town for fun nights all the time...How do games in anyway affect us?
Mouse (Hamilton)
The trouble with today's kids is that there is nothing for them to do in the evenings. If they are thankfully not in the pub, then what else can they do, but hang out on the streets? Then naturally follows a bit of bullying, which results in the victim eventually striking back, or a whole lot of showing off and self proving going on. With the results seen in the boy racing. If we want to do something about the behaviour of our young folk, then we have to address the social problems that modern society has imposed upon them.
Damage.inc
The problem with the Lawa and all the negative ideas the public come up with is that the general public see any expensive car or modified car as a boy racer. I am a admin of a car club and we find a big problem with the across the board attitude of the public, I personally have spent thousands of dollars on my car, I am 30 years old so not some young hoon. The thought of getting a mere scratch on my car is depressing enough let along thrash it to death. But we do go out cruising on Friday and Saturday nights and are relentlessly hassled by police for simply having a shiny car. To put all these punishments in place because a simple few is wrong utterly wrong. The road deaths in NZ caused by boy racers is almost unmeasurable - your average family man is the main culprit to deaths on NZ roads. In a perfect world where only the trouble makers get punished is a great vision but that is not the case. The police view any car that is above standard to be a hoon or lawbreaker so many car lovers are punished daily for simply taking good care of there cars, Lets get realistic. Punish those breaking the law dont make laws so that all can be punished.
9 buged grandsons
9 grandsons who are all old enough to get grans leacture about driving safe and with in the law. My rules are: 1/ make sure your car is road safe with warrant/rego - if not it will be clamped by Gran. 2/ a big must have full insurance no if or buts. 3/ will not be modified. One found out over the weekend if you don't listen to Gran, your car is clamped and a for sale sign is put on it this is done because Gran is part owner of all their cars as I brought them. My name stays on them until they are twentyfive and can prove they have sat a defensive driving course .And I will clamp their mates who speed with them in their cars. i have made the tuff rules for these kids as I have lost afamily member and two very close friends kill in road accidents.
Greg (Hamilton)
We are guilty of stereotyping young men in hot cars. Mature men in fast cars kill more on our roads, principally because there are more of them. Speed cameras and tougher enforcement are addressing this. The Friday and Saturday night problem remains however. Spectators are as guilty as the drivers. "Boy Racers" are "bad" drivers. Perhaps "unskilled" is a less ambiguous term. My 77 year old mother can spin wheels and do skids. Whoopty tip-truck. She can also drive safely, a far greater skill demonstrating discipline and a host of other attributes not generally found in youth. Canada does not have a boy racer problem. Canada has compulsory full insurance. For young people the added expense dictates less powerful, more practical vehicles. Here we should make it simple. No insurance? First offence; no car for a month, pay fine, towing and storage. Second offence; pay Court costs, towing and compulsory to attend destruction of vehicle by crusher. Free admission to victims' families. A host of other driver problems solved too. People with terrible driving histories (speed, drink, careless, etc.) would suffer too. Those with good records; the only change is increased safety.
Cory
All these self appointed experts on the news answer to everything is to create a law. This changes nothing, people need to wake up to where the youth are getting the impression that binge drinking and hooning around is ok. They get it from you, the so-called adults. Kids are funny people they love to try and copy people, maybe you should set a better example.
Don
I think compulsory third party insurance is a good idea if not to drive the boy racers off the road (if it works!) then to lower the premiums for other drivers who obey the rules and have paid huge amounts to insurance companies over the years to cover all the ones who have failed to be bothered to take out insurance in the first place. And it might even curb drunk drivers who dont care about other peoples property and road rules. Yes insurance is expensive in the early years (alot cheaper than other counties as I know form experience) but gets cheaper as you get older and prove your driving to your insurance company. Lets get a decent public transport system up and running first so the ones that cant afford insurance can at least have some form of fast and timely and something that runs 24/7 like they do in London. People still have to get from A to B and have some fun too at a reasonable cost.
MattN
Although I carry full insurance on my cars, I personally have lost hundreds of dollars, over 2 accidents involving uninsured drivers, in both cases the uninsured driver was completely at fault, but had no cover and no way to pay for the damage. I lost excesses and several years of no claims bonuses as a result. My insurer lost thousands of dollars. As far as I am concerned, this money was stolen from both of us. The full cost of third party cover is currently being carried by fully insured drivers, through increased premiums - just another 'tax' on the middle income, socially responsible citizens of this nation. If you cannot afford to carry 3rd Party insurance you cannot afford to drive. Will this solve the boy racer 'problem' (assuming there is one, which is still debatable) - it won't make one scrap of difference. However, I don't care about the motivation, bring it on in the name of boy racer problem solving.
Matt (Pukekohe)
It has been said many times before that the solution to this problem is to give them somewhere to do this safely, it cant be stopped by just enforcing compulsory insurance. A majority of the financed "boy racer cars" as the media dubs them, are covered by compulsory insurance via the HP agreement that they are purchased under. There are tracks such as Champion dragway Meremere that exist, but they need to be local to the main centers so people dont have to travel too far, otherwise it will happen on public roads. The people who say giving them a controlled environment to do this in wont help, are just burying their heads in the sand. I am annoyed with the whole situation as the "boy racers" tarnish the image off all performance car owners... the sooner they are off the streets and into a controlled environment the sooner the police, and parents can breathe easier, and the sooner anyone with an interest in performance vehicles can stop being tarred with the boy racer brush.
Outback driver
Why have fines? Why bother with 3rd party insurance? The boy & girl racers dont bother to pay the fines that they incur, so why bother paying another charge. Why not impose mandatory 1 year licence suspension, not that this will stop them from driving either, and then offer the choice of 250 hours of community service (ideally in a place where the impact of motor vehicle accidents is apparent) and if that is not complied with, 1 year imprisonment. Enough is enough. Yes they may be young, Yes they may be foolish youth pushing the boundaries, but isn't it time we showed them what the boundaries actually are?
Mark C
I don't understand. Why does the government presume these young boy racers are going to worry about breaking the in regards to insurance when they don't care about the laws relating to speed, reckless driving, sustained loss of traction etc and now manslaughter and so on? Doesn't a lack of insurance look like a minor thing in comparison to the laws they already, routinely break.....Just ridiculous. What about the young people who are not boy racers, why do they get punished? Where does it end? Once more an erosion of personal responsibility by a governement gone power mad in its belief it knows best and rules with an iron fist.
Warren PowellMaking 3rd party insurance compulsory is just another law for boy racers to ignore. A more effective answer would be to put horsepower limiters on all vehicles owned by those not on a full license (easily done in today's cars that have computer controlled engine management systems) and to insist that all modified vehicles are inspected under the Low Volume Vehicles Act, which checks engine, suspension and body mods for safety and legality.
Citroenjunkie
I think compulsory insurance is the answer. Yes there are those who flout the law, but this will provide another avenue to allow the police to act and maintain law and order. It would have as a spin off, better insurance premiums for those of us who have unblemished driving records and also would provide all drivers with the security that, should they be in an accident their costs, or if they were at fault, the other drivers costs, are covered.
Nick (Auckland)
Another brilliant idea to collect public money and spend it on things like million-dollar state houses or months-long debate about smacking! This will make it even harder for people to afford a car considering the fuel price rise and taxes, and even more dangerous on roads since boy-racers who have insurance would think they are bullet-proof and don't need to pay for the consequences.
Carol
I think its a shame we always have to wait till something terrible happens before we take action, No making them get third party ins, wont make much difference, take their bloody cars away. Thats the only way you will get them to take notice, the law needs to take a harder line, an the government well they spend so much time fighting with each other,there a bunch of idiots to say the lest, wake up NZ. Get tougher.
Auckland
This issue "blown up by the media" & politicians in recent weeks is nothing more than a pimple on the bum of NZ'ers bad driving habits. To many deaths occur from the very bad NZ drivers, in all age groups and genders. Too many older people in my age group escape penalty with expensive lawyers when they should have their cars seized and be treated in the same way as these young people. I am in fear of bad drivers from all age groups who get away with it as they see nothing wrong with how 'they' drive. Leave this minority group alone - perhaps educate them as a mean to resolve a problem created when the Government created the current 'very stupid' driver licence law.
Garry Mitchell
Kids driving at 15, no insurance, fast cars, using the highways and local roads as race tracks. Sounds like a new movie? No, this is everyday NZ. A start would be to raise the driving age to 18, tougher driving tests for all, car insurance should be compulsory for everyone, and confiscation of cars for certain offences.
Then if you want to further improve overall road stats and reduce the dead toll, improve the highways. Using what are effectively C class roads as major highways, with no passing lanes is also part of the overall problem.
Auckland
Third party vehicle insurance should definitely be made compulsory as a matter of principle. No one should suffer financial penalties or hardship through no fault of their own, which advanced countries such as the UK and Japan have long recognized. It's not a boy racer issue.
Erin Dinneen
Boy Racer or bad driver? I don't really care what they are labelled as, but I feel I should at least be protected via a compulsory third party insurance that can at least have my car repaired due to any incompetence that their driving may have.
Paul (Chch)
Compulsory insurance may not stop all boy-racers but it will certainly make it harder for a lot of them so I say go for it.This pathetic PC environment has so much to answer for. The sooner we get leadership that is prepared to get hard, the sooner we can nail these guys that insist on ruining it for everyone else. (And that is true for so much more than just cars.) The mayors naively say it is not any one issue to blame. In fact it is exactly one issue to blame and that is the political correctness that is pervading New Zealand society like a cancer.
Jon (Auck)
I want to know what a boy racer is. I am 29, I drive a lowered car with big wheels and a loud exhaust. Do I race? No. Would I like to? Yes. Do I drive up and down Queen Street with my sound system blaring making a loud noise, people hanging out the windows shouting and whistling at girls walking past? No. But to the granny I overtook on the way to work this morning who was doing 20kph in a 60kph zone, dropping a gear to get that little bit of extra grunt, I may certainly seem like a "boy racer." I think the government needs to put up or shut up. In spite of having drag strips and race tracks around, they're still out of the way, and also there are not nearly enough events to keep us happy. It costs too much to compete with retarded rules, where as a bit of a burn down an abandoned street in the middle of the night is not only very cheap, but the kids can do it at all hours of the night. I'm not condoning street racing or reckless driving, however there are a lot of deaths on our roads that are cause by non-boy racers, who most times are more careless and have less skill than the boy racers.
Danii; Car Enthusiast / Club Founder
It is very unfortunate that there was a death caused by illegal drag racing and I personally don't agree with the illegal drag racing - there's a time and (plenty of) places for dragging to be done; in public is not one of them. My friends and I have recently opened a new Club for Car Enthusiasts like ourselves - with the plan to pull away from the "boy racers" that are causing trouble on the streets and trouble with the Police. However, for the Government, or whoever, to set laws to stop Boy Racers is ridiculous - it's going to make them rebel more. As mentioned by one of the other Your Viewers, there was a big uproar when skateboarding was big in Auckland; so they built a skatepark! Why condone skateboarding and not car modifying - it's a hobby as much as anything else? I agree with punishing the idiots on the road who are putting themselves and others in danger.
That's not what boy racing / being a car enthusiast is about, it's about meeting new people with the same interests, making new friends and showing off the effort you've put in to your vehicle.. Why punish everyone when the majority aren't doing any harm?
Shane Phillips
I'm a 19 year old male and live on the shore, but I'm not a boy racer. I would like to start off by saying to those who have the idea that the government should use our money to build legal drag strips are wrong. A prime reason why they go for street drags in the middle of the night is because it is illegal and that is part of the thrill. I think compulsory insurance as well as tougher penalties are the only way to go, sure it will not altogether solve the problem but it will help. For those teens who say that they should be left alone otherwise they will do it underground have no grasp of what the family must be going through as a result of what happened on the weekend.
Lani (Auckland)
Driving home from work yesterday in the rain, two "boy racers" decided it would be a great idea to "drift" around the roundabout. One of them lost control and nearly ran off the road, the other was almost hit by an oncoming car as he swerved onto the side of the road. Really cool! Note the sarcasm.
Matty (West Auckland)
There are a few issues here... When folk get run over, its not the boy racers fault. Its the 15 year old girl that was walking around alone at 10.26pm's fault. Its the over zealous spectator cheering on the racers on the industrial road at 1o'clock in the morning's fault. Its the guy that was reading a newspaper and attempting to cross one of the busiest streets in Auckland and gets hit by... wait, not a boy racer, but a bus! And then a few days later, another downed pedestrian hit by a bus on the same road.These are all recent events. And each one, the pedestrian was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Christchurch incident, happened a few days after an episode on Shortland Street where that girl drove through the school and attempted to run that guy down. Its Shortland Street's fault for portraying this sort of behaviour. Maybe ya'll should lessen the blame off the drivers, and more onto what silly things the public do to put themselves into such hazardous situations.
Sara (Auckland)
Ok, it's not so much an age thing. I'm 19 years old, I drive a nice car that I have worked extremely hard for. I dont go speeding around completely smashed thinking I am invincible, mainly I'm driving between my house and my fulltime job. When things like this happen everyone blames it on age. When comparing things wouldnt it almost work out that people who cant be considered "youths" anymore cause a lot more than we do? We're all human beings and all have the ability to use our brain when it comes to being responsible. Why should I be made to drive something less that 1000cc or be unable to drink until I'm 21 etc, to pay for something I didnt do? Stop blaming age, it's not an excuse.
Lindsay
Boy racers? Not likely! They don't deserve the title 'boy', or deserve the word racer!!.. more like yobbo steerers!! It really does not too much intelligence or skill to smoke up the tyres, or drive fast in a straight line.I'm a motorsport nut!, 58 yrs old and been racing on the track since I was 17. I love competition, and driving fast, but I strictly confine that to the track, under controlled conditions. This,is something that most of these 'yobbo steerers' will never do, as it will show them up for the seriously lacking drivers?? That they are. My son is 19, loves cars, and has his own. He's a careful driver on the road, but seriously competitive on the track where he gained most of his driving experience. So, come on you clowns! Apply for your motorsport licence. It's only a few dollars. We will see you on the track....... or are you too scared? I think so!
DRFT10 (Auckland)
People label boy racers as scum; This scum are people that you rely on day to day to live your lives. Solution: get a group of these "Boyracers" together to discuss this issue, We can not rely on older generations to understand what is required, there for they will not be able to come up with a suitable solution. I personally could not think of a more interesting Job of finding out what is required from these groups and how we can resolve the situation. Look at the westie story; this guy got a huge grant to study his own kind. Why not look at doing the same thing?
Bevan (West Auckland)
It's not rocket science. Compulsory third party insurance as reported online today would be an effective start to reducing the problem. What I don't understand is why the motorcycle licencing system isn't replicated for cars. Impose limits on motor vehicle power and modifications in the same way and if a learner/restricted driver wants to drive the "bigger" family car, then they must be accompanied by someone holding a valid licence for that type of car. If the people in charge of fixing the problem can't figure out such a
