The 'boy racer' problem ...

[OLLIE 26]

You can't outlaw fun but you can help to minimise the danger which is caused by the 'boy racer' menatlity of what some might say is disregard and disrespect for the safety of others (and themselves).

Will promotion of safe driving within a car enthusiast community be a more effective way of controlling the 'boy racer' problem than current and proposed methods of the NZ government?

how? ....

by creating a culture where it is 'uncool' to drive irresponsibly

by encouraging people to be proud of their cars and to use them respectfully

by providing events where fun can be had in a safe environment

by encouraging sensible modifications to cars

by encouraging respect for authorities doing their job

etc

PLACE YOUR VOTE

feel free to offer other solutions aswell (no ranting, straight to the point)

[m325i 705]

What about Japan? Their street racing scene looks pretty extreme, and seems to be little objection from the general population. (not that i am up with Japanese press).

Self regulation is a great solution, in theory.

Problem is most people are morans.

[ThreeOneEight 0]

Put them all on a wet, dangerous, closed road with no emergency services. Call it population control.

[SKT174 1]

Anyone caught on illegal street racing, burnouts ...etc. Seize their cars and crush it.

[Andrew 30]

I would say the majority of the 'boyracers' (a term I loath) - would not be a member of a car club or interested in motorsport.

The culture with in this club (I won't speak for others) is already anti-boyracer. Sure some of us drive fast/do dumb things - but in the right situations.

We have the ability to join the race series at a relatively low cost and get it all out of the system.

[westy 614]

yes is the right answer I know but Im glad you included "dont care"

[Surge 1]

And last time I checked you don't see f**k all nice cars at the diesels anyway....... They are all old shitters (cortina's, falcons, commodores, sigmas, 323's... - whatever is going cheap...) it's the burnouts where they pour oil all over the road because the cars are too underpowered to light up otherwise - where everyone crowds around leaving rubbish, bottles etc... that is the problem. Most of the people there wear Rotary hoodies, or ford / holden t-shirts from the Warehouse (How to identify a f**kwit..)

Then we've got group number 2, People who genuinely make thier cars go as fast as possible, Give it everything off the lights and cruise around looking for drags.

And the third group is every person who puts a big bore exhaust on thier car, wakes up everyone around them as they do 50k's in 4th at 3 in the morning.

As far as I'm concerned, a burnout in the middle of no where, not using diesel is about as harmless as a stoned butterfly flying through a field of magical fairies.

The bulk of these people aren't car enthusiest, they are retards in cars doing stupid sh*t to piss the world off.

Edited May 22, 2007 by Surge

[*sic 1]

i say promote it like f**k.

those who buy in to the sh*t and die from it lose at the game of life.

natural selection at its best, im all for boy racers, just hope when they die in the fireball that was their / mums car they havent knocked up shaz.

The cycle ends.

[Yuen 16]

I would say the majority of the 'boyracers' (a term I loath) - would not be a member of a car club or interested in motorsport.

The culture with in this club (I won't speak for others) is already anti-boyracer. Sure some of us drive fast/do dumb things - but in the right situations.

We have the ability to join the race series at a relatively low cost and get it all out of the system.

Fully agree. To me, car enthusiasts are people who like their cars, may work on them themselves... but don't do stuff like cruise up and down Queen St on a Friday night trying to impress people.

[Jammasterjames 0]

Most of the people there wear Rotary hoodies, or ford / holden t-shirts from the Warehouse (How to identify a f**kwit..)

Need da Rotang if you want da Poon-tang !!

....well, the white trash young West Auckland kind....

[Gus 5]

Problem is most people are morons.

too true.

set up a JDM mountain road with really really steep cliffs on one side. in the rain. with spikes and explosives at the bottom. and ligers. with laser beams on their heads

[Old_Skool_Bmw 0]

Im all for imponding cars from illegal burn-outs & street races. If they want to race they should do it on the track where they can't go kill anyone else.

Maybe NZ should look at promoting more defensive driving courses on the track.. similar to BMW track days etc.

I'd agree that the majority of idiots on the road don't belong to any car clubs, and have no interest in anything other than annoying as many people as they can.

Laurence.

[steve R 0]

what the police did a few months back was a good idea...lock down the places where the wanks meet...before they go out to race. except this time dont let them go..shoot them

[bravo 34]

Unfortunately there will always be "n00bs".

And stricter laws just make it harder for everyone. Thank god I'm 25 in a fw weeks and its probable that many changes won't affect me.

Compulsory insurance FTW as long as it equals increased insurance revenue so that over 25's get even more discount, not increased claims.

You know whats going to happen if something sensible isn't done? They're going to come up with some cock and bull idea to further restrict modifications to cars and its going to screw us all.

I say dont change the current laws regarding speeding, mods etc.

Bring in compulsory 3rd party insurance. Bring in instant and indefinate loss of license for those involved in street racing. You can only get it back by starting from scratch on your learners AFTER completing an approved disqualified drivers course after the 6/9/12months disqualification period.

Car is impounded and sold.

Then introduce a sliding scale backwards from there for less serious 'boy racer' typeoffences.

Bring in the ability to revoke licenses of spectators, or if they have no license then make it harder for them to get one as they shouldn't be allowed to drive if they encourage that kind of behaviour.

Provide better events for those that want to to thrash their cars.

[reaper47 0]

First: To all the fools who think its cool to sit around at KFC at Quay street. Get a life!

Second: To all the people who think the choices boy racers make are ok. Movies are not real life.

Third:To the boy racers who say it's ok because "I know how to handle my car". Wake up! Your not in a movie!

Forth: To the people who disagree with what I've written above. When you have a friend, have thier car cleaved in half by a boy racer (who most likely thought they knew how to control their car) killing the friend in question while driving herself home. Leaving her 9 year old daughter without a mother. You may begin to understand the anger I have.

Now I agree that kids will be kids. I spent some time living in Brisbane. The Queensland Police decided if you can't beat them, Join them! So every friday night, halfway to the Gold Coast. Legal drag racing took place. the Police called it "Operation Drag". For a fee of around $10 dollars a run. You could race your nemises or the police. The police got to know the street racer community and the street racers started to have some respect for the cops. This was, and to my knowledge, and still is a popular friday event.

To conclude: GET THEM OFF THE STREETS!!! and onto the track. unfortunitly it's here to stay so lets find a way to make it work. (last comment was the realist in me)

Edited May 22, 2007 by reaper47

[bravo 34]

For a fee of around $10 dollars a run. You could race your nemises or the police. The police got to know the street racer community and the street racers started to have some respect for the cops.

That is the best idea I've ever heard.

[kerrynzl 3]

The only garanteed way to fix this "problem" is to outlaw cars [then we'll all be racing quarter horses down the main drag! Yeeeehah!]

Sensible modification laws?

I grew up when there were no modification laws ,I chucked a 440ci magnum motor in a valiant, my brother had a 351windsor in a 100E Prefect [with drum brakes & the firewall gas axed out] Everyone around had either a V8 MK4 Zephyr or a V8 Victor

When I got my license, the MOT couldn't issue a ticket if you got on private property [talk about encouraging us to race them]

My old man raced flathead V8's & Mk1 Zephyrs, I raced Fairlanes, Valiants & Mustangs. The kids after me had series 1 RX7's, now they have Evo's & Scooby's

Compulsory Insurance?

We already have compulsory drivers licences, WOF's & Registration [& DIC laws], That doesn't stop people [we have this "IF I GET CAUGHT" mentality]

The problem is the ALLUREMENT OF DANGER and The FORBIDDEN FRUIT mentality. If events were organised, a very small percentage would show up. If Boy racers were legislated out of existence, everything would go underground [this would appeal to many as being more Badass than before]

One thing about 'hardcore' Boyracers Their vocation requires some serious financing! Eventually these characters will grow up & swap their cars for houses, boats,businesses etc [they have a better future than someone ingrained into the drug culture]

One final suggestion. What the Cops need to do [with their financial resources], is have a piece of private road where they can race [& hopefully beat] the street racers while putting the cars up for stakes [racing for the pink slips]

That would eventually take people off the street [it would be a novel undercover sting that I would volunteer to help out with]

[reaper47 0]

That is the best idea I've ever heard.

No bigger dream for these people than racing the cops. From memory the cop car in Oz was powered by a 1200hp chev. Driven by a cop. Only heard of one street car beating it!

[StylesM5 0]

Some great comments here.

I agree it would be advantageous to confiscate the cars and crush them.... although I worry.

I heard of a kid on another forum (or was it this one) (no, I remember now, it was in Autocar a month or two back) who lost his car and license under the "Boy Racer" legislation for "unnecesary acceleration". He appealed and lost. He thought he was in the right. Two sides to every story I guess.

I come to my point. A while back when I still had the M5, I tried to "U" turn on Wairau Rd on a wet night. It ended up I realised I wasn't going to make it in one turn and ttraffic was approaching therefore not giving me time to execute a 3 point turn. What to do? Thinking quickly, I dabbed the clutch and managed to get the arse around nicely to complete the uey and carried on.

Now, under current legislation and with an unforgiving cop and with my suggestion above, I would have lost my pride and joy because I was a "boy racer".

Right or wrong?

By the way, I answered "no" to the poll. These kids are going to race any which way you go. It's the spur of the moment, beat the cops type of mentality. The only time they will stop is if they kill someone or grow into an old fart like some of us here.

Cheers, Jocko

[m325i 705]

compusary insurance is the best 'official' idea i have heard.

BTW Gus, Morans was intentional =)

[hazardous_bmw 0]

i dont know why the hell the police havn't just built a 1/4 mile strip!!! i mean really how obvious can you get, i know that every one of my "boy racer" mates would pay $2 for a 400m sprint. im talking full lighting full security cameras (possably even staff) on each saturday night and a lcd screen with the time displayed on it...

i just think cops think that Boy racers have no respect for them. They are Probably Right. But i have got respect for money and hell id rather pay $2 per sprint than 28 days without a licence and a $500 fine.

IT IS THAT SIMPLE!!!

[320guy 0]

1. They need the money to build the strip

2. They need a place to build it

3. $2 a run isnt going to cover costs of running the 1/4 mile strip.

Im all for having a strip built, but I cant see it happening.

[kerrynzl 3]

At $2.00 a sprint???

100 runs a night x 365 days a year x 20years = $1,460,000 which is about $40 grand shy of the resource management fees required to build a track these days

and the F**KEN GOVT bitch when racing takes place on the street

The resource management act nearly stopped a burn-out contest in TGA a few years ago

When you do your Maths, the Fines,and risk of confiscation ends up being a shitload cheaper than trying to cut thru all the red tape

WE DON'T HAVE A "BOY RACER" PROBLEM AT ALL [we have issues with people complying with the rules of society]

[OLLIE 26]

the wise man sums it up again.

skate parks got rogue skaters of the street ....

'boy racer' parks could be the go?

[Old_Skool_Bmw 0]

I think the only problem with building a track where 'boyracers' can go and have a 1/4 mile race for $2/$5 or $10 is that this is a nationwide thing??

I think it's a wicked idea to get a purpose built track but how many tracks would we need to solve the problem accross the whole of NZ??

Laurence.