Councillor takes on Wellington’s boy racers
Move over Crusher Collins, there’s new sheriff in town: Crusher Condie.
Or, in Wellington City Councilspeak, associate transport portfolio leader councillor Jenny Condie is introducing a plan to council to consult on a traffic bylaw, part of which is looking at how to control, restrict, or ban ‘‘cruising’’.
Condie confirmed that the bylaw change, if it did come about, was designed to be a crackdown on boy racers. She said this was in response to complaints especially about noise and speeding in the city’s outer suburbs, often in new subdivisions with wide roads and fewer homes.
The bylaw won’t quite give council the powers to crush boy racers’ cars, which the courts can already do for repeat offenders thanks to now-National leader Judith Collins’ 2009 Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill, which earned her the title Crusher Collins.
But it may lead to the council introducing a bylaw banning cruising at certain spots and times and give noise or parking officers the power to issue fines. Condie said, in most instances, police were still the best to deal with the illegal aspects of boy racing.
Wellington road policing manager Inspector Wade Jennings confirmed there appeared to be a trend of people meeting up to cruise the streets, a problem which affected several districts across the country.
‘‘There is a minority group who has little regard for road safety and the communities they are affecting with their behaviour – and we are determined to put a stop to this.’’
Condie said other solutions may be road changes, such as speed bumps. ‘‘We are going out to ask people for more information, to see if there is a problem.’’
Council papers described cruising as ‘‘driving repeatedly in the same direction over the same section of a road in a motor vehicle in a manner that draws attention to the power or sound of the engine of the motor vehicle being driven; or creates a convoy that is formed otherwise than in trade; and impedes traffic flow’’.
The Land Transport Act bans drag racing and other vehicle nuisance activities – such as doughnuts – and gives councils the power to make bylaws to control, restrict or prohibit cruising.
Council papers show that there had been complaints of boy-racer type activity at nights around Tawa and Grenada North. Convoys of cars had been reported cruising in Johnsonville and Ohariu Valley, as well as racing in Kilbirnie, Strathmore, and Melrose. ‘‘Driving in this way is dangerous, both to the drivers themselves and other road users, as well as causing disturbance and upset to those living nearby,’’ the papers say.
Council papers show the council can impose restrictions or bans for cruising on certain roads and can introduce fines, but council staff pointed out it could be hard for parking officers to enforce.
There was also concern that banning cruising in one spot may just push it elsewhere.
Condie will introduce her paper at a council committee meeting on Thursday.