Editorial: Fines for running out of petrol way over the top

Running out of petrol on the motorway is never less than embarrassing for the driver and occasionally can have more serious consequences for others.

If a stopping shoulder is available, there is usually little problem, but if it happens on the Auckland Harbour Bridge, the Newmarket Viaduct or the Victoria Park flyover, following motorists can be seriously inconvenienced or endangered. Even so, the Transport Agency's proposal to make it an offence to run out of fuel anywhere on Auckland's 72.7km motorway network is way over the top.

The agency's own figures suggest this is not a major problem. In three weeks of July last year, when fuel costs were particularly high, there were 148 instances of vehicles running out of petrol. That equates to about seven a day. This seems even less significant when set alongside the many other problems that afflict the motorway system.

Clearly, however, it irks the police, who must organise clearance operations which, typically, take 30 to 60 minutes. That time could be spent on more important matters.

Nonetheless, to impose a $250 fine for what amounts to carelessness is excessive. The same lack of care could be said to be responsible for many of the mechanical breakdowns and punctures that surely create far more problems.

If there is a place for imposing a fine that would encourage greater care, it can relate only to structures such as the harbour bridge, where there is no shoulder. Running out of petrol there can present a real danger to following traffic.

A bylaw making this an offence lapsed when the Auckland Harbour Bridge Authority was dissolved 25 years ago. It would be reasonable to reinstate it and to extend it to viaducts and flyovers.

That aside, other far more important road-safety matters should be of more concern to the police and the Transport Agency.