Getting tough on boy racers

Posted on 31 August 2006

Article by Nicholas Boyack, The Wellingtonian, August 31, 2006

IT IS time to get tough with boy racers. That's the word from Wellington City councillor Ian McKinnon and senior sergeant Richard Hocken (pictured), who say that boy racers just do not fit into Wellington City. Mr Mckinnon says that Wellington is a compact city with many people living and socialising within a relatively small central area. Having large, powerful, noisy cars racing through the city centre is a recipe for disaster, he says. "We are a wonderfully intense city and many people live and work in the city, and enjoy the city. The synergy with boy racers just does not work."    - Boy racers in the central city on Friday and Saturday nights are particularly dangerous, as there are often intoxicated people wandering around.

One option that might have to be considered is closing off Courtenay Place to cars on Friday and Saturday nights, Mr McKinnon says. Boy racers congregate in Kent and Cambridge terraces but there are also a number of other spots they like to gather, including Oriental Bay and the Mt Victoria lookout.

As well as the boy racers, he says there is a definite "hoon element" that likes to play loud music and drink. They often park in residential areas and are a major annoyance for residents. As well as the noise they make, they throw bottles out of the cars and create a mess that someone else has to clean-up.
Mr McKinnon prefers not to use the term "boy racer, saying it "glamorises" what is often antisocial criminal behaviour. "The sooner we stop calling them boy racers the better, for it somehow implies adolescent pranks and it is certainly far from that.

"Most involved are in the late teens into their twenties, sometimes older, they are earning as evidenced by what they have spent on modifying their cars, and not all are males. Street racers might be a more accurate description but even that has a partial ring of acceptable excitement about it...they certainly pose a danger to others [and themselves] and they certainly don't give a damn about others in the city. Wellington doesn't need, nor does it want, boy racers as part of the city."

Mr Hocken says the boy racers come from the lower North Island and he has even encountered one who has driven down from Gisborne. He agrees the term boy racer is not an accurate description. A surprising number are female, and some are in their 30s.

It is difficult for police to deal with them, he says, as police can be stretched on Friday and Saturday nights. Boy racers also use scanners to monitor the police. However, police regularly confiscate cars, act on complaints and try to keep pressure on the boy racers. A clampdown on noisy exhausts is likely as he believes that many have illegal exhausts fitted. Both men agree that it is essentially a social issue.

The council has implemented a number of traffic calming measures and Mr McKinnon believes the police do a good job in difficult circumstances. Mr Hocken says his men spend "hours and hours" dealing with boy racers but there is no simple solution. "We are limited. There is no way my staff can spend eight hours on every shift on this"

Mr Mckinnon says parents and the community need to accept greater responsibility. "The big picture is, this is basically a social issue." Keeping the police informed as to what is happening is important and he says that even if the police can't respond, at least they know there is a problem. Both also agree that giving the boy racers a venue will not work. There is nowhere suitable in the city and it is effectively legitimising anti-social behaviour. They say such a venue would soon attract the hoon element and there would inevitably be behavioral issues