Confiscating pursued cars ‘won’t work’

A WOMAN whose partner was killed by a driver fleeing police says new law changes to combat the problem do not go far enough.

Drivers who evade police face having their cars impounded for a month, or sold, under proposed laws outlined yesterday by Police Minister Michael Woodhouse.

Drivers convicted of failing to stop for police will also have their licences suspended for six months for the first offence, a year for the second, and two years for a third.

Woodhouse, who made the announcement as he opened the Police Association’s annual conference in Wellington, said police would also have the power to impound a vehicle for 28 days if it was used to flee police and the occupants refused to give information about who was driving.

Mandatory confiscation would also apply for second and subsequent failures to stop within a four-year period.

But Bronwyn Hewitt expressed disappointed last night that the Government was not doing more to keep offenders locked up. Her partner, police officer Derek Wootton, was run over in 2008 by a driver fleeing police in Porirua.

‘‘Half the time the pursuing drivers are in a stolen car. So if he thinks that’s a great law change, it isn’t.’’

Hewitt believed harsher sentences were needed. ‘‘The same ones are out there doing it night after night.’’

Those who evaded police knew they could be chased for only so long. ‘‘They know that once they get up to a certain speed the police will abandon the pursuit because it becomes to dangerous.

‘‘If you take their car away they will just go get another one.

Woodhouse said 29 people died between 2010 and 2014 in incidents in which drivers fled police.