John MacDonald: There will always be cars and idiots

There are two things certain in this world. There will always be cars and there will always be idiots.

That’s why this move by the Government to make it easier to seize and destroy cars won’t get rid of the boy racer problem. But it’s better than nothing and good on the Government for doing it.

At the moment, the police can only seize or destroy a boy or girl racer’s car if they offend three times. We’re talking about three offences, in particular: taking part in illegal street racing; fleeing from the police. and getting involved in an intimidating convoy.

So do either of those things three times, and the car can be taken off them.

But, once this new legislation is passed, there’ll be no second or third chances.

Which I think will help the police no end because, as the law stands at the moment, they have to have evidence that someone has offended three times before there’s any chance of taking the car off them.

Which is probably why only three cars have ever been seized and crushed under the original legislation that the former-National government brought-in back in 2009.

So it’s a problem that politicians have been trying to solve for a fair while now. And not just at central government level.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from News Talks AB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
You know, there are two things certain in this world.
There will always be cars and there will always be idiots.
That's why this moved by the government to make it
easier to seize and destroy cars won't get rid of
the boy racer problem, but it's better than nothing, and

(00:33):
good on the government for doing it. So at the moment,
here's how things stand. At the moment. The police can
only generally seize or destroy a boy or a girl
racist car if they offend three times. And when I
say offend, we're generally talking about three things here. One
taking part in an illegal street race, two fleeing from

(00:56):
the police, and three getting involved in what's described as
an intimidating convoy. So you do those things three times,
or it can be proven that you've done those things
three times, the car is taken away from you. Remember
two that this is separate from what the cops can
do now if they find a vehicle that's been so

(01:16):
modified that is not roadworthy or road legal. But once
this legislation has passed that was announced by the government yesterday,
there will be no second or third chances or as
Police Minister Mark Mitchell said on the news last night
I saw him, he said, quote, instead of three strikes,
it's now going to be one strike, which I think

(01:38):
will help the police no end. It's not going to
get rid of boy races, but it will help the
police no end, because at the moment they have to
get evidence together that someone has offended three times before
there's any chance have taken the car off them. You
imagine that, which is probably why only three cars have
ever been seized and crushed since the original legislation came

(02:01):
in under the former National government back in two thousand
and nine. Why Judith Collins is now she's been crushing
Colins ever since. So it's been a problem. The boy
racer things been a problem that politicians have been trying
to solve for a fear while now, and not just
at central government level. We've tried over the years. In
christ Church as well. The Council brought in the no

(02:23):
cruising zones, which are still here. In fact there are
more now than they used to be. They've kept adding
streets and adding roads. At one point a concrete pad
was built at ruapoona speedway. Remember that the idea being
that you know, they get oh, the boy racers and
the girl races, they can all go out there and
fill their boots, do and burnouts. But no one was interested.

(02:47):
You know why because meeting up somewhere like ru a
poona to let rip in a car, something organized and
something legal, That's not what boy racing is all about.
It's about stuff happening on the spur of the moment.
It's about not following the rules. It's about taking over
a piece of road and making it your own. It's

(03:08):
about convoys. So the Ruapuna thing was never going to work,
just like the no cruising zones, we're never really going
to work high I mean, sure it might have sorted
things out in the central city, but that's all it did.
Because what it did is it pushed the problem somewhere else,

(03:29):
particularly into the semi rural areas where the cars head
out to every weekend. McLean's Island is one of them.
You remember it was last year a run a park
was speaking out saying they're really concerned about it because
the animals were getting freaked out by all the noise.
But back to the government's last crackdown, I think it's

(03:51):
great that it is at least doing something, but we
shouldn't think for a minute that it's going to mean
goodbye to the scourge of boy racers and girl racist because,
as I said right at the start, there will always
be cars, and there will always be idiot idiots will
always do a stupid things, whatever potential punishments there might be.
Think back to just over a year ago when that

(04:14):
eighteen year old woman died tragically, remember this, after the
car she was then crashed into the side of a
house and rung the order And they'd been at one
of these illegal street race events and when the police
turned up, the driver took off and ended up crashing.
Under this new legislation, he would have had his car
confiscated there, and then maybe it would have even been crushed.

(04:38):
But do you really think that that guy thought about
the consequences of his actions before deciding to hoarve it
from the police that night last year? And do you
think he would have thought about it anymore if he
knew that he ran the risk of losing his car
full stop? I don't think he would have, which is
why I don't see this law change having any major impact.

(05:01):
I'd love it too and got on the government for
doing something good, on for doing something criticism from me,
but I don't see it being the end to the
problems that boy raised his.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Cause for more from Category Mornings with John McDonald. Listen
live to news talks A'd Be Christ Church from nine
am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.