Jo Raphael: Street racing law blows a lot of smoke, but no real consequences

Street racing is a nuisance, but there needs to be an outlet for car enthusiasts, writes Jo Raphael. Photo / File

Opinion

How do we solve a problem like street racing?

And a problem it most certainly is, as was demonstrated on Saturday night in Tauranga, when hundreds of cars gathered in Welcome Bay to - well, I don’t even know what the goal was.

Was it to see who had the loudest engine? Who could produce the most smoke from their tyres? Who could annoy the most neighbours?

Whatever it was - it had the desired effect.

One Welcome Bay resident says he saw a “mob of people”, and in another incident on the same night, a mum described trying to get her daughter, who had trouble breathing, to the hospital only to find 11th and 15th Ave intersections blocked.

“There was constant engine revving, people doing lots of donuts and drifting. I also heard lots of yelling and cheering in response,” the resident said.

Footage of the gathering shows a car performing drifting and skidding manoeuvres that appeared to get awfully close to the bystanders.

I get it. The noise and disruption can be absolutely maddening.

I also had a frightening experience with illegal street racing while living on the Gold Coast.

I was driving along the Gold Coast Highway when street racers in front of me forced me and the cars in the lanes on either side of me into a rolling stop - we were slowed to about 30km/h, which allowed racers ahead of us a clear road to do their racing.

It was highly co-ordinated and over in a matter of seconds, but was frightening nonetheless.

It’s clear these clandestine, anti-social gatherings are being organised on social media group chats, which prove challenging for police to monitor.

Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell’s accusation that police are overstretched, and Police Minister Ginny Andersen’s response that Uffindell is wrong, are both, in my opinion, unhelpful.

Yes, we get that the Opposition’s job is to hold the Government to account, but instead of lobbing barbs over party lines, I would prefer to see some solutions being offered.

There is legislation in place - the Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill adopted in 2009 by the then-National government, aptly nicknamed “boy racer legislation” - which allows police and courts greater powers to seize and order the destruction of offenders’ cars.

It was hoped the threat of having a car crushed would be a deterrent to illegal street racing.

But the law came into effect in 2009, and the first car to be destroyed under the new legislation happened in 2012. In 2017, only three cars had been crushed.

It doesn’t appear to me this has been effective. I doubt this generation of street racers is even aware of this law, and if they are, they thumb their noses to it, safe in the knowledge it’s unlikely their car will be destroyed.

One solution, posed by Rotorua’s Leon Khan, suggested that he open a skid pad, intended to be a safe space for those in the car community. He was met with all sorts of bureaucratic red tape, but I don’t believe his idea is dead in the water.

If legal street racing events can get over the line, I believe it would do a lot to deter anti-social and dangerous behaviours. This idea should be looked at more widely across the country.

However, while petrolheads are constantly allowed to organise their dangerous street parties, disrupting others’ peace and quiet and generally being a nuisance, they will still pose a danger to innocent people.

It is essential people report them to the police and that police ensure responding is a priority.

Illegal street racing and burnouts are unacceptable and put lives at risk. But they are not going to magically disappear, and while tougher penalties and even more vehicle crushing might help, I don’t believe those measures will solve the problem.

We need our community leaders to come up with innovative ideas that take these drivers off public roads.