Windscreen washers rile Rotorua mayor
A call by Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick for a law change to crackdown on illegal windscreen washers has had a mixed response from other Waikato leaders.
She said a change to the Local Government Act was needed to help clean the roads of a growing number of windscreen washers.
She raised the matter at a Local Government New Zealand rural and provincial sector meeting in Wellington last Friday. ‘‘Many people feel intimidated or even frightened when approached by some of these window washers, and there’s often a public safety issue too as they dart in and out of traffic at busy intersections,’’ Chadwick said. ‘‘It’s a growing problem in many cities around New Zealand. As a popular tourist destination, Rotorua certainly needs the tools to deal with illegal windscreen washers before the issue gets out of hand and impacts on our reputation as a safe and friendly visitor destination.’’ She asked Local Government New Zealand to support a change to the Local Government Act and traffic regulations to allow infringement notices to be served and offenders fined.
She was pleased to champion the matter for her community and hoped other council leaders would join forces with Rotorua and support changes to legislation.
Hamilton Mayor Julie Hardaker said illegal windscreen washers were a problem in the city a few years back, but was less so now. A council bylaw banned people from washing vehicle windows stopped on the road within 50 metres of an intersection and police had enforced the bylaw in the past, she said.
Hardaker said Chadwick’s calls for councils to be able to serve infringement notices, or enforcement mechanisms such as an instant fines, had merit.
Hamilton Deputy Mayor Gordon Chesterman appreciated some motorists had concerns with windscreen washers but he had a ‘‘less uptight’’ view of them.
Although they did not pay tax, they were gainfully employed and generally pleasant to deal with.
‘‘My own experience has been to raise my hand to indicate stop and they don’t wash the windscreen and walk away. Occasionally I think ‘yeah, my window is pretty dirty’ and I give them $2 to wash it,’’ Chesterman said.
‘‘It’s a difficult area to police. It all happens in a flash, the lights change, the car moves off, and the washers go back to sitting on their fence.’’