Burnout ban in a can
A solution to troublesome street racers could be in the can.
A can of special paint that is, with a trial of a new special sprayon anti-skid surface in some of Hamilton’s most plagued spots.
The Hamilton City Council began applying the surface in the past week to three streets, in an effort to take the spin out of racers’ illicit meet-ups.
Any possible solution is being welcomed by those in the motorised hordes’ path.
In McKee St, a cul-de-sac in the industrial heart of Te Rapa, Anne and Jim Walker’s business Protech Automotive is under siege most weekends, with a trail of debris and rubbish left across the road and their garden.
‘‘We have it on camera anywhere from 10pm to 4am or 5am, sometimes they will stay for half an hour, sometimes an hour.’’
Anne said they complained a number of times to the council and began a petition for action on the road around August.
‘‘They used to buy small oven trays that they would put under their back wheels, put oil on the tray, and it would make them skid. And we would find the trays with holes in them in the cul-desac.’’ They admit the street racers will probably just move on to somewhere else.
Another business owner, who did not want to be named due to fear of retribution, has been chased by street racers.
‘‘I went down in my ute to see [if] the neighbour was all right, and they came down and jumped out of their car and tried to climb across my ute and rip the door handles off. And then we took off, and I was doing about 100kph down Maui St, and they would drive up next to me, box me in, jam me against the kerb.’’
He said the offenders were teenagers and let go.
He believed there could be up to 200 cars in the cul-de-sac, blocking business driveways and leaving their rubbish behind.
‘‘They park in everyone’s car park. They [defecate and urinate] in everyone’s gardens, they are disgusting, and they throw stuff at the buildings. The rubbish up the road, the cans, glass and the gas canisters they huff out of scattered across the road.’’
Late last year council put up a sign ordering no vehicles under 3500kg during night hours, which helped move street racers on – sometimes. ‘‘They would bring trailer loads of tyres and just change them over and keep going and keep skidding.’’
The council is scheduled to lay the anti-skid surface in McKee St, Mexted Pl and Crawford St – its top three problem areas on Thursday and Friday nights.
Council network operations team leader Robyn Denton said they had been working with businesses and people who live nearby to do something about complaints over burnouts and other antisocial driving antics.
‘‘The high-friction surface is a special type of layer on the top of the road to give tyres extra grip and make it harder to lose traction and skid. If you are just driving normally, you should not notice much difference.’’
The product is similar to the council doing a reseal. A sticky layer, which is very strong, gets added on top of the normal road surface in a special pattern.
‘‘We are trialling different types of patterns to see if one might work better than another,’’ Denton said.
The surface should last more than eight years, depending on wear. It will be grey to blend in with the road surface as much as possible. It is estimated to cost about $30,000 to apply it to the three streets and will be subsidised 51% by Waka Kotahi.
The council said it was a common product used on the road – for example on tight corners to give more traction. However, it will be the first time the council has used it as a deterrent. It has been used overseas successfully for that purpose.
Denton said the council would continue to work with police near the roads with the new surface to see if there are changes but don’t want it to be seen as a challenge.
‘‘Where we will trial the highfriction surface in the future will be based on where we receive complaints from the public and police, and locations with high risk of health and safety.’’