Swain Paul: Land Transport (Street and Illegal Drag Racing) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Swain Paul: Land Transport (Street and Illegal Drag Racing) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4547] 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Transport) 
: 
 I move  
That the Land Transport (Street and Illegal Drag Racing) Amendment Bill be now read a second time 
. I would like to thank the Law and Order Committee for the careful consideration it has given to the legislation. This has been a high-profile issue that has attracted a lot of media interest. I congratulate the members of the committee on coming to grips with a difficult matter and on working together in a spirit of constructive consideration. I am most appreciative of their efforts particularly as it was a new committee with three members on it who were new to the House. I would also like to thank the 72 organisations and individuals who made submissions on the bill and in particular those who took the time to travel to Wellington to present their submissions in person. I understand that the committee was impressed at the care that had gone into the submissions. Finally I would like to thank the member for Waimakariri Clayton Cosgrove for the hard work and effort he has put into bringing this bill into the House Martin Gallagher the MP for Hamilton West who went to New South Wales to have a look at the enforcement procedures there and the various mayors and councils around New Zealand who have brought their concerns to the Government. 
The bill was originally a member’s bill promoted by Clayton Cosgrove MP. It was introduced by the leave of the House on 14 May last year as a Government bill and was referred to the Law and Order Committee. The purpose of the bill which is inspired by successful New South Wales legislation is to combat the problem of unauthorised racing and related dangerous stunts on public roads. That is often more than a road safety problem; it is a community and public order problem. The races take place mostly on Friday and Saturday nights. They attract large crowds of often-intoxicated spectators and passengers. Local residents have reported acts of vandalism theft assaults acts of violence intimidation and tragically a growing number of fatalities. Substances such as diesel and liquid soap are poured on the road to facilitate skids wheelspins and other manoeuvres. That damages the road surface and can create a major hazard for other vehicles. Further racers’ vehicles may be illegal modified with lowered suspension non-standard exhaust systems and changes to the brakes and driveshafts. Those modifications can turn a car into a death trap. The problem is not confined to the main centres although south Auckland Hamilton and Christchurch seem to be the most badly affected places. 
Attempts by local authorities to deal with the problems have had only mixed success. Councils have passed by-laws targeting the areas favoured by racers but that has only displaced the racing and disorderly behaviour from one area to another. Some councils have at significant cost to ratepayers provided safe off-road facilities for racers but many racers have preferred to continue to use public roads and streets. For some time now local government has been calling for a national solution. The bill aims to provide that solution. 
Overseas experience shows that the most effective way to deter that kind of behaviour is to target the racers’ pride and joy: their cars. The policy of on-the-spot impoundment of vehicles involved in street racing has been successfully adopted in a number of jurisdictions such as New South Wales the Australian Capital Territory Queensland British Colombia and California. Under our own Land Transport Act a vehicle driven by a disqualified or suspended driver or by an unlicensed driver previously warned not to drive must be impounded. Since the police were given the authority to impound vehicles in 1999 there has been a 30 percent reduction in the number of persons apprehended for driving while disqualified. Clearly the threat of impoundment has been an effective deterrent. Accordingly the bill proposes that the police be empowered to impound a vehicle for 28 days where there are reasonable grounds to believe that a street racing offence has been committed. 
A street racing offence means broadly speaking one of two things. It can mean operating a vehicle in a race or an exhibition of speed or acceleration. An exhibition of speed or acceleration has been held in the United States to mean an individual’s deliberate drawing of public attention to the vehicle’s quality of swiftness. “Street racing offence” can also mean operating a vehicle in a manner that causes it to undergo sustained loss of traction—that is spinning the wheels of the vehicle. The select committee has endorsed that proposal and has further recommended that the bill be amended to clarify the new street racing offences and make them subject to the same penalties as reckless driving offences to require all impounded vehicles to undergo a full warrant of fitness inspection to refine the rights of appeal against impoundment and to clarify the courts’ powers in respect of the permanent confiscation of a vehicle. In addition the select committee has recommended targeting racers’ support crews by creating an infringement offence for the pouring of diesel or other lubricants on the road. I would now like to deal with those issues in more detail. 
 The select committee has recommended certain changes in order to address concerns that the bill might unintentionally apply to legitimate motoring competitions. In particular the committee has recommended that where the activity is authorised by law it is not an offence. In the case of races “authorised by law” can mean that the vehicle complies with the speed limit and is operated in accordance with all other aspects of traffic law. It also includes a race on a road where it has been closed by the council for that purpose. Acknowledging that some racing activities may be authorised under the bill the committee has also recommended the bill be renamed the Land Transport (Unauthorised Street and Drag Racing) Amendment Bill. 
The bill as introduced would have created a new set of penalties for street racing offences. Those penalties were inconsistent with the existing penalties for reckless or dangerous driving. Some submitters such as the Legislation Advisory Committee were concerned about that inconsistency since racing is essentially a type of reckless or dangerous driving. In recognition of that the select committee has recommended that the bill be amended to empower the courts to apply the penalties for reckless and dangerous driving to persons convicted of street racing offences. 
The select committee was concerned about modifications to vehicles and in particular those that increase the noise of the vehicle. Because of that concern the committee has recommended an amendment that requires the officer impounding a vehicle to issue a direction that the vehicle must not be driven before undergoing a full warrant of fitness test. That measure will require unsafe and illegal modifications to be rectified on the vehicle’s release from impoundment. 
The select committee also considered the offender’s rights of appeal. The bill as introduced provided a separate appeal regime for the impoundment of vehicles involved in street racing activities. The committee felt that there was no need for that. The committee has instead recommended that the appeal provisions in the existing impoundment regime under the Land Transport Act be applied to street racing impoundments. The committee has also recommended two new grounds of appeal that are specific to the offences targeted by this bill. In summary those are that the owner did not know or could not be expected to know that the operator of the vehicle would commit a street racing offence and that the owner took all reasonable steps to prevent the operator from committing a street racing offence. 
The select committee also recommended that the courts’ powers to confiscate vehicles be in line with the existing legislation. The bill as introduced would have empowered the courts to permanently confiscate a vehicle used by a person on conviction for a second street racing offence. Submitters pointed out that that was consistent with the existing powers of the courts to confiscate vehicles for other serious driving offences under the Sentencing Act. Recognising that street racing offences are a type of reckless or dangerous driving the committee has agreed that the bill should be amended to be consistent with the Sentencing Act. That Act gives the courts discretion to confiscate a vehicle for a first offence but makes confiscation mandatory for a second offence except in cases of extreme hardship. 
In addition the select committee has recommended an amendment so that to pour on to a road diesel or any other substance likely to cause loss of traction may be dealt with as an infringement offence. That will provide a more immediate alternative to court proceedings. The select committee has recommended that there be a defence of reasonable excuse to acknowledge submitters’ concerns that occasionally substances may legitimately be poured on roads. For example detergent may be used by the emergency services to clean up after accidents. 
The Attorney-General has issued a certificate under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act advising the House that the empowerment provision in the bill is inconsistent with the right to secure against unreasonable search and seizure. In considering the bill the committee reviewed the balance between the concerns raised by the Attorney-General and the concerns raised by the community in respect of the public disorder and criminal offending associated with racer activity. The committee is satisfied that a fair balance has been achieved within this bill as reported back. The select committee has redrafted the bill extensively and the bill is better for it. The bill has now achieved a balance between recognising the rights of law-abiding road users and responding effectively to those antisocial and irresponsible elements who have shown that they have no concern for the rights of others. I am satisfied that the bill as reported back will help to make our roads safer and will also address the public disorder problems that have caused so much concern to communities throughout the community. It sends a clear message that antisocial and reckless behaviour on our roads and streets will not be tolerated. 
In conclusion may I go back and congratulate the member for Waimakariri Clayton Cosgrove who as a Government back-bench member of Parliament took up an issue that was of concern to communities not only in his own area but also in other parts of New Zealand. He decided to do something about it instead of whingeing and whining—which is typical of the National Party Opposition—and as a result he decided to bring to the House a good piece of legislation that has been improved through the select committee process. Once again I congratulate the select committee on the work that it has done and the mayors and councils who have added their weight and support to this legislation. It is a good piece of legislation and I commend it to the House.