Aidy and Clare

Have been reading a lot about boy racers and them being a problem in NZ.
But how bad is the problem really?
We are hoping to move to Taruanga, so anyone who lives near there I would love to know your opinion on the issue.

Cheers

chc4me

I'm in Christchurch where the 'boyracer' issue has had a lot of coverage. The local council changed it's bylaws to stop 'cruising' around the centre city. It was common for 10-20 cars to drive around in groups looking for a social gathering or sometimes to race. In my opinion, the police are on top of the issue with both local and national Government support. We still get the odd car over revving engines and travelling at high speed - but you get that everywhere.

Jan n Neil

The ChCh boys (and girls?) have moved north out to Ohoka, West Eyreton, Swannanoa. I regularly see new tyre marks from doughnuts etc on our intersection, and bits of tyre rubber, after a dry Saturday night

Though they won't be going up the road again in a hurry - the farmers all got together, blocked off both ends of the road with tractors with sharp pointy bits on the front, and then phoned the police


Jan

RobClubley

Excellent

mwhite1962

Hi
Only been here a couple of weeks, but havent seen or heard any boy racers although i am sure there here somewhere as in various stretches of road you can see the doughnutting as evidence and we are in Rotorua, it does seem to be confined to the country side though.

sirplug

There is a well publicised 'Boy Racer' problem, only because there is little else happening. Any UK town has the same problem. We see and hear them here but no more than we did back in Blighty.....The biggest problem being that 15yr old kids can drive what car they can afford and not need to insure it, so where your average 17yr old in the UK has a Corsa, here they have Subaru Imprezza's.....

harrogate girl

God good old farmers!!!!hope they dont arrive at Woodend!!!

Stormer999

Could do with them over here..........

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12311184

P18PPS

I don't think the problem itself is any worse, what is worse - as previously stated - is the 15 year old - mainly boys - who are allowed to get behind the wheel. Last weekend there were 3 killed in one accident caused by a 16 year old driving a car full of his mates by Waihi (a short drive from Tauranga) - two 15 year olds in one car were killed, a further 2 hospitalised and a father of 4 in the other car was also killed.

Unfortunately it's an ongoing problem, but with so many small townships and kids who grow up on farms the argument to allow younger teenagers to drive is a difficult one.

If you add to this immature male brain alcohol and drugs the problem obviously increases.

(I say male only because it's been scientifically proved that a male brain takes longer to develop the risk/danger/speed element).

simonsi

That was real handy in the days of "hey son, go and fight that sabre-tooth tiger", not so good these days.

Would be ok if it was purely a darwinian matter and they simply harmed themselves but of course they don´t as evidenced by the father of 4.....

Am Loolah

My understanding is it's a National problem, probably due to the lower age of driving, the optional insurance and therefore the souped up cars available to anyone of any age.

I've lived in Papamoa/Tauranga for nearly 4 years and it doesn't affect me at all on a daily basis.

However, my teenage daughters have known several kids who have been injured or died in car accidents, including the kids in the Waihi crash mentioned earlier. Whether that's to do with "boy racers" or the supposed "2 degrees" of separation that is NZ, who knows?

It would never have put me off moving here.

sr71

I disagree with blaming the low driving age - I'd be interested to see how NZ compares to the US where most states minimum age is 15, and quite a few only 14.

There is a mentality issue in NZ I think too.

Stormer999

Young male driver....no perception of danger.....testosterone driven especially when able to show off.....none or very little driving skills or experience...15, 16, 17, 18 no matter just look at the accident figures in any country in the World and see why most insurance companies try to chase them away with massive premiums.
It is a mentality issue....... that of a young male, forget the nationality thing...think back boys...wev'e all been there.....remember....

westie1234

It is part of NZ culture to drive around in modified cars, whilst in your late teens etc. I had a great time doing it, dont see it as an issue.

RobClubley

I think we're talking about two different things here.

One is boy racers - by which I mean idiots who drive around like lunatics in stupidly loud cars doing donuts and burnouts and racing on public streets.

There's a difference between driving around in a modified car (which is something I do by the way) and cruising up and down until 5am and using every traffic light for a race (which we experienced the time we stayed in Christchurch a couple of years back)


The second issue is the poor driver training, young inexperienced driver thing which has been discussed to death on here many times!

Have you seen the criteria for passing your restricted license? All it needs is to show you have basic control of the car and not much else. It doesn't even specify use of mirrors as a requirement.
You can drive on a restricted license for ten years.
That's disturbing!