Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

Read http://www.stuff.co.nz/4856247a11.html to find out what NZ is really like

He would know - it happens every weekend

Good question


Heres what one organisation thinks of the carnage that happens nighly in New Zealand


http://scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0902/S00011.htm

Absolutely right

Cant put it much plainer than that!
Clean, green quiet New Zealand?


Agreed

Who would want to live in New Zealand???

Re: Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

Oh How awful!:ohmy:

How many people were killed, sorry injured?
Were there any guns, knives, machetes, crossbows, baseball bats, pea shooters, water pistols used?
Was there much damage to property?:blink:

So it was a load of bored, noisy, spoilt kids making a darned nuisance of themselves and disturbing the peace of law abiding citizens trying to make a living. Annoying, frustrating but not enough to put me off NZ.
Why don't you and a group of friends [also annoyed] identify the culprits- take their photos, video them. Get a newspaper to publish them with a report on their mindless antics- offer a reward for readers to identify them- take it the police-or better still name and shame them and their parents on every place possible lamp-post/library/rotary club venue/tennis club/golf club/etc;) You get the idea. It's amazing how embarrassed parents can bring down the wrath of god on their off spring.
For those beyond parental control- the evidence should support your demand for more pro-active police action.

But don't let the antics of bored mindless yobs, trying desperately to be something, to be noticed in their mummy's cars, turn you against your own country when it has so much going for it.

Over the past 6 years I have become aware that 'boy racers' have become the bane of kiwi society. Are there no disused airfields or large tracks of land , which could be turned into some supervised race track++++ associated training in car maintainance/dismantling/rebuilding/customising?
Local Government grants + a small contribution from local businesses could help funding. It could evolve, where the kids offered small car service jobs to the community for a small donation.
OK! Ok! And pigs will fly.
But if enough people on both sides thought it could work, then it might!

Re: Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

Who would want to live in New Zealand???[/QUOTE]


Me and many many others. NZ is NOT immune from shite..the place is full of it..just like all other countries. I left the UK because I could NOT find my 'happy' place there..either georaphically or psychologically. (By the latter I mean that I 'fit' way better in this odd country than I ever did in the UK..I guess its a meeting of oddness!!)

BUT there are many millions who its fair to assume ARE happy or content in the UK. I am very content to live here..forever even possibly. We live in a nice quiet town in an even quieter neighbourhood..the only thing you can hear at night are owls! I know ChCh is a bastion for BRs and even there I understand that there are places where you can live away from the knobbers who like to ruin soooooooooo many people's lives.

NZ also has huge drug problems, domestic violence, shite driving generally and many many other irksome features. But its a bit of a sweeping statemant saying 'who wants to live here'.

Don't let the brainless wankers in their crappy cars put you off coming here. Just find somewhere they will not bother you. I have to say it was just by luck that we found this place..but they say you make your own luck aye??:thumbsup:

Re: Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

Are there no disused airfields or large tracks of land , which could be turned into some supervised race track++++ associated training in car maintainance/dismantling/rebuilding/customising

That has been tried at various times. I know the reasons (excuses?) that 'they' say it hasn't worked is for a number of reasons
1. the attendees want to street race, not be on a track.
2. alcohol - if it is an 'official' thing then spectators wouldn't be able to take alcohol with them. Note: They still legally shouldn't with a street race either, but I suppose the difference is they think they won't get caught
3. Insurance and liability - who is liable when something happens?

I agree btw that it would be great to get them into a private area, but I can't see it happening due to the fact that some of the ones featured like the lawlessness of it.

I think the problem is that some areas do have a huge problem with boy (and girl) racers doing their 'circuits'. However, to say that this type of gathering is everywhere throughout NZ wouldn't be correct. The cars probably are everywhere-cars are cheap, as is insurance (and yes, many who drive those cars are insured - although the ones doing a circuit may not be).

But there is a distinction between having a car and modifying it a bit and this kind of behaviour. NZ - like a lot of countries where people drive rather than use (or have) public transport has car enthusiasts. And yes, some of the people with their momo steering wheel and their big bore exhausts are enthusiasts, not criminals.

It's a matter of stopping the criminals or risk takers, not the enthusiasts. Many of the people on illegal street races, or just a circuit, may not yet be criminals (although the fact it is illegal could indicate otherwise!!) but the risk taking which results in death or injury certainly could be considered criminal. When a girl was run over in Wellington (Cambridge Terrace) one of the perpetrators said in transcripts, after being asked if he felt any remorse "Well, she shouldn't have been crossing". Although, to be fair, the other driver was genuinely remoresful about her death. Saddened me to hear that really.

Re: Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

It appears to me that the laws are already in place to give these automotive anarchists a very hard time indeed.
This begs the question, when are the police going to start doing the job we pay them for and start busting some serious ass?

Re: Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

This is an interesting problem although it has a half solution. Ususally young people gather in crowds and cause trouble because they have no interests or are bored and want to start fights.

These "boy racers" have an interest CARS they just have no where to express their interest if you give them a controlled arena for them to meet and supervise it they would be off the streets. They would happily pay for it they seem to love spending money on their cars.

Re: Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

The idea of an off-road area for the hoons to do their stuff was put forward in Chch.. but because of the polution associated with the rubber released during excessive wheel-spinning it was refused ..:ohmy:

Re: Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

Yes, it seems ChCh has a hoon problem and I'd check out any street very carefully on a Friday night before buying a house there. But a reason not to emigrate - oh come one, that's a bit melodramatic. Actually, if a regurgitated news story is enough to make you reconsider emigration, then yes, cancel your plans because you're probably not committed enough to make a decent go of emigration.
To add some balance to this story, which was well covered in the media today:
- This was not just another weekend in ChCh. It was the influx of car enthusiasts for an annual car show.
- The police impounded over 70 vehicles, issued over 300 infringement notices and made 17 (if my memory serves from radio this morning) arrests. So, I think we can say that they are trying to do something about this problem
I agree though - tougher laws required on noisy exhausts.

Re: Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

Simple question, why not just make a law that drivers of modified cars must be 30 years or older?

I adore nice, I really do, cars from classics to modern muscle. However exhausts made to excessive produce noise (because they are in most cases), shiny chrome wheels that have been scuffed, bodywork hanging off, hand painting and primer/filler don't constitute an exciting car for true petrolheads.

Beauty:
http://www.sportscarcup.com/cars/red...onda-c12-s.jpg
Beast:
http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/8302/car20ft.jpg
Beauty:
http://www.caledonianclassics.co.uk/...ey%20050cs.jpg
Beast:
http://the-car-club.co.uk/Images/Pic...006%5D-400.jpg

See how this works? Hopefully there will be some new legislation regarding insurance requirements that will kill them off :thumbup:.

Re: Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

Some things that NZ could do to start tackling the boy racer problem:

Make any vehicle which deviates from the manufacturers standard specification un-warrantable. ..No Body kits, loud exausts, even non standard sound systems.. and if a car has no warrant, then it cant be registered.

Introduce compulsory insurance and make any non standard car uninsurable.

Neither of these will directly stop BRs of course, but will give the police much more reasons to arrest. So if they see a non standard car.. instant reason to stop and arrest.

And if all else fails, confiscate and crush (or better still, break for legal spares and crush the rest)

Re: Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

Car modifying is a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide and there is no way you will ever get laws passed to stop people modifying their cars. Where would it stop?
Add a new feature such as cruise control or parking sensors and the car becomes illegal? Replace the wheels, add a roof rack, change the aerial. and the car becomes illegal?

Sensible regulations are what we need - noise limits on exhausts, stop people adding things that clearly don't fit, like too-wide wheels, intercoolers poking out of the front, that sort of thing.

And then we need the police to get their arses out from behind their radar guns and start taking an interest in things like loud exhausts, front bumpers missing, bald tyres worn down to the canvas, body panels missing, people running on space saver tyres for weeks at a time, that sort of crap.

Disclaimer: I am a car enthusiast and I own a mildly modified Skoda Octavia with window tints, big wheels, go-faster engine parts. And a quiet exhaust. It will do 2.35 times the speed limit, but it never will on a public road :D

Re: Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

Plus as a car enthusiast I maintain that people should be given the freedom to have the car they desire (if they can afford it!), modify it within common-sense legal limits, and drive to the shops in a 6.2 litre V8 if they feel like it.

But they shouldn't cause danger or inconvenience to others whilst enjoying said vehicle.

Re: Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

From the other side, we have a 17yo son who has a hot car, but he is not a boy racer. We live in Timaru, which is about 2 hours south of Christchurch. Whenever my son drives to Christchurch he gets stopped by police, even if he is driving at 50k, and he has had fines in Christchurch for things that have been passed on his WOF in Timaru, simply because he is 17 in a hot car.

Christchurch youngsters want a drag strip, and I can understand the sort of problems that might entail but it would get them off the streets.

Re: Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

To address a few of the points made above:

"Why don't you and a group of friends [also annoyed] identify the culprits- take their photos, video them."

- what and get stabbed, bottled, or beaten to a permanently disabled pulp?

"This is an interesting problem although it has a half solution. Ususally young people gather in crowds and cause trouble because they have no interests or are bored and want to start fights."

- Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island , situated between the mountains and the sea - there are a million things to do. Boredom is no excuse (why do people seem compelled to find excuses for the illegal behaviour that these scrotes choose to indulge in?)

"Are there no disused airfields or large tracks of land , which could be turned into some supervised race track++++ associated training in car maintainance/dismantling/rebuilding/customising?
Local Government grants + a small contribution from local businesses could help funding"

- I don't expect ratepayers and local businesses to pay for my hobbies. Why should they be forced to support the interests of these far less deserving individuals?

Cheers,
Steve

Re: Car Mayhem is getting worse in New Zealand (if thats possible)
 

Its not a sweeping statement- its a question.
You need to learn English.
And you havent quoted me correctly in any case