Burnouts, racing, a community issue, says Flaxmere councillor

Flaxmere councillor Peleti Oli says racing, and burnouts are a community problem and the community needs to step up and complain. Photo / File

Flaxmere councillor Peleti Oli is as sick of burnouts as the rest of the Flaxmere community, and he wants community members to speak up and report them, instead of just firing up about it on social media.

Oli's comments follow threads on a Facebook community group asking what he and fellow councillor Henare O'Keefe had done about the issue, following a post he made on the group.

"As councillor I was told not to take it too personally, ignore it, but I am part of the community," he said.

"My family are victims of the behaviour which happens in Flaxmere. I'm just as frustrated as you are about these clowns speeding and doing burnouts, around our streets.

"My family live on the corner of Stonehaven where there is burnouts after burnouts by the same clowns day in and day out. These same clowns tried running my brother over.

"I don't want someone hit, hurt, or worse killed," he said.

In his view there weren't harsh penalties or consequences for the offenders.

Inspector Matt Broderick says police received an increased number of calls across the district concerning boy-racer activity during lockdown. Photo / File

"Of course Henare [Henare O'Keefe] and I have organised meetings with HDC road management, raised our concerns in council countless times.

"We have met with road safety managers last year about this same problem. We ask the police what can we do? They say 'take a video, get registration. Take a photo of the offender, send it in and they will build a case'.

"Where has that got us? Nowhere. I understand police have their procedures and protocols to follow through but there need to be consequences for the actions of these drivers."

Oli said many in the Flaxmere community won't file a complaint to police because they consider it "snitching".

He wanted that culture to change.

"They don't want to be caught being a nark, they call it snitching. But if you have a problem, file a complaint. In Flaxmere people don't complain, they will socially air out their thoughts but won't complain."

He said he would also "love" to push for a controlled venue or avenue for people who enjoy burnouts, donuts and racing.

"I would love to see a skid pad. I would support that. It would get cars off the street where they are potentially jeopardising people, into a controlled environment."

He urged the community to rally together, and put Flaxmere on the map in a positive light.

"Do you realise that you actually have more power than us as councillors? You have your voice, your presence. It would be faster if the community rally together instead of complaining on Facebook," he said.

"File some complaints to the police, build your own evidence, and do it together. All I'm saying is do something other then just type a few opinions on a thread then expect me and Henare to fix it.

"March to council and bring the argument to the council chambers. Because trust me, we are fighting at the table for change on our Flaxmere streets."

Eastern Police Inspector Matt Broderick said police received an increased number of calls complaining about boy racer activity across the district during lockdown.

He said this could have been because more people were at home to report it, or streets were quieter making it more noticeable.

"However, the fact that we got increased calls from the public during lockdown indicates the public do feel empowered to call police," Broderick said.

Vehicles performing this way without a description or registration number were "difficult to follow up", he said.

"The public should only try to get a registration if they feel safe to do so, but always call to report incidents anyway so at the very least we can map occurrences and formulate our deployment plans.

"If they are comfortable in their safety, a phone video capturing activity and registration is the best evidence we can act on."