Figures show Canterbury worst for boyracer offences

File photo / Christchurch Star

Christchurch has the worst boyracer problem in the country, according to the latest police figures.

A September report to Minister of Police Judith Collins showed Canterbury had 243 "boy racer" offences between January and the end of August last year.

The Bay of Plenty had 223 Waitemata - which includes North
Shore and West Auckland - 220, Waikato 185 and Central 173.

Auckland City had the least offences with 77.

Click here for high profile boyracer incidents in 2009

Canterbury road policing manager Al Stewart said the offending rate was high in Canterbury because it was a reasonably affluent area where young drivers had easy access to motor vehicles.

The region's wide, flat roads also provided good opportunity to race, he said.

Mr Stewart said police did not use the term "boy racers" as it was emotive and incorrect, preferring to use "antisocial road users", or ASRs.

Mr Stewart said the the main offences were not racing, hence the move away from the term "boy racer", with nuisance offending more of a problem.

Nuisance offending includes noise and anti-social behaviour, smashing bottles, property damage, urinating in peoples property and pouring diesel on roads to do burnouts.

Since August, Canterbury police have created a dedicated ASR team within the Road Policing Group to combat the problems.

"Canterbury police recognise that this activity is a major cause of concern to the general public, especially residents and business owners who live and work on the main ASR routes," Mr Stewart said.

Mr Stewart said the team actively policed known ASR drivers and areas, visiting complainants from recent incidents for statements to locate and prosecute the drivers concerned.

Auckland City had the lowest figure because of the small area, the high level of policing and the fact there were not many places to race in the city, said Auckland road policing manager Gavin MacDonald.

Auckland City stretches from Avondale and Blockhouse Bay in the west, north to the Harbour Bridge and south to Mangere.

Problems caused by ASRs plagued the inner city a few years ago but these had stopped, due to the inner city's 30km speed limit, the thinning of the roads on Queen St and the increase in pedestrian crossings, Mr MacDonald said.

Mr MacDonald said there was an incident in the suburb of Avondale last year involving about 50 ASRS.

Police had targeted the streets where the offenders lived, speaking to the racers and educating them of the problems caused by their offending.

"A lot of the guys took it on board.

"The main thing is changing people's attitudes, but when we need to, we come down hard," he said.

Superintendent national manager of road policing Paula Rose said it was hard to tell whether there would be a reduction in the number of offences in 2010. But she said she hoped tough new legislation introduced on December 1 last year would be a deterrent.

"The police will be applying it where appropriate. Any change rests in the hands of the offenders," Rose said.

"Given [the new rules] are pretty stiff I hope they will make better choices."

She said there was a group of repeat offenders she didn't expect to change their habits, but that they represented a small part of the whole.

"To be blunt, if don't have wheels, if you don't have a licence, it's not long before you're no longer a problem."

In the year to September last year, six people were killed by illegal street racing.

Over that period, police issued 1819 offence notices for illegal street racing incidents to September and there were 2807 prosecutions and 2241 convictions for ASR incidents.

Incidents of illegal street racing by police area from January 2009 - August 2009

Northland 85
Waitemata 220
Auckland 77
Counties/Manukau 115
Waikato 185
Bay of Plenty 223
Eastern 87
Central 173
Wellington 157
Tasman 127
Canterbury 243
Southern 141

National total: 1833

* Source NZ Police