The 47-year-old has been charged with interfering with motor vehicles with reckless disregard for people and property, and driving with excess blood alcohol. Photo / Supplied
The 47-year-old has been charged with interfering with motor vehicles with reckless disregard for people and property, and driving with excess blood alcohol. Photo / Supplied
Come on. Be honest. Who among us hasn't at one time longed to have access to a piece of kick-ass, heavy-duty machinery? Who among us hasn't fantasised about putting that aforementioned piece of heavy-duty machinery into drive and slowly, inexorably, unrelentingly trundling it towards the object of our furyand crushing it into rubble?
Oh. Really? Just me, then? I'll keep taking the pills.
A number of people rang me on talkback from the Upper Hutt area to say they have been driven to distraction by boy racers doing burnouts and speeding in their residential areas. They have felt let down by police inaction when it comes to taking control of the streets back from the petrol heads.
A text I received from someone who identified themselves as a police officer said that the cops would love to deal to the little oiks. But when the odds are stacked against the police — my texter said it's often 100 boy racers to six cops — there's very little the police can do when they turn up to illegal gatherings other than photograph the cars and the individuals to keep on file.
Car smashed after a roller was seen running over cars in Wellington. Photo / Supplied
While I understand the police have a right to go home to their families every night, it seems ridiculous that a bunch of boy racers can terrorise a community with impunity. And yet that's precisely what seems to be happening in Upper Hutt just as it happened in Christchurch before the quakes.
Christchurch used to be boy racer central back in the day and I heard the same arguments from frustrated residents and impotent police officers. There were too many of them and there was nothing police could do unless serious laws were broken.
I also heard the same whiny justification from the Canterbury boy racers as the Upper Hutt lot were trotting out this week. "We're not boy racers, we're car enthusiasts." "We spend a lot of money on our cars — we deserve to be able to show them off." "If there was somewhere for us to go, we'd go there — until you supply us with a venue, we'll make the most of disused roads."
Give me a break! When you take the time to raise money for a venue, to organise yourselves into a club or incorporated society, when you adhere to health and safety regulations to ensure the safety of your fellow "enthusiasts", when you take responsibility for yourselves and your vehicles and don't threaten and intimidate people who object to your racing outside their homes, then get back to me.
I've met car enthusiasts and I have the utmost respect for them. They love their vehicles and they love putting their vehicles and their driving skills to the test. But they don't break the law and they don't expect other people to pay for their passion. They're grown ups. They get on and make things happen all by themselves.
While you're an over-excited idiot in a lowered Nissan Skyline, making a community's life misery and sticking two fingers to the law, you'll never be a car enthusiast. You will be forever branded, and deservedly so, as a boy racer.
And keep your eye on the horizon at your next meet. You never know when somebody might feel compelled to move you all on — with a little help from some heavy duty machinery.
