You’ll know the type of noise they’re talking about. All the revving and screeching of tyres. And what’s been happening, is some animals have been so freaked out by it, that they’ve panicked and they’ve been running around their enclosures and getting injured.
The Orana Park people are also concerned about the animals being so stressed by the noise that it’s not just physical injuries they’re worried about. They’re also worried that some of the animals might have some form of long-term psychological damage.
And where that would really impact on things is the breeding programme they run at Orana Park. They’re saying today that all the stress from the boys racers could have an impact on some of the endangered native birds they breed out there.
They breed them and release them into the wild. But they say this kind of stress can affect breeding behaviour and can even have an impact on egg quality.
So the animals are stressed. And the staff at Orana Park are stressed. There’s concern too that doing burn-outs in areas where there’s a lot of vegetation is a fire risk.
The Police seem to be on to it. They’ve identified 16 vehicles that are being used to do burn-outs outside the wildlife park. Of these, 10 have been impounded and they’re on the hunt for the other six.
But it raises the question, doesn’t it, as to whether we’re fighting a losing battle here and whether we should just give up on the idea that we can bring them under control.
I reckon that, from what we’ve learnt over the years, anyone who thinks they can get rid of boy racers is in la-la land.
Because there have been boy racers in some way shape or form forever. Haven’t there?
When I was growing up, they were called “hoons”. Before that, they were called “bodgies”. Although, I think bodgies had motorbikes - as well as cars. But you get what I mean.
Boy racer. Girl Racer. Hoon. Bodgie. All the same thing. Generally, young people, who love their cars and love using them to make a spectacle.
But so do a lot of other people. Not just boy racers. I saw a guy on a motorbike go so fast down Colombo Street the other week that he got speed wobbles! So boy and girl racers aren’t the only ones who can be real bozos on the roads.
Which is why I think this whole idea of cracking down on boy racers is a pipedream.
We’ve tried over the years. In Christchurch, they brought in the “no cruising” zones. Which are still there.
A concrete pad was built at Ruapuna Speedway too, wasn’t it? The idea being that they could all go out there and fill their boots doing skids and burn-outs. But no one was interested.
Because meeting-up to let rip in the car isn’t about being part of society. It’s about not following the rules. It’s about taking over a piece of road and making it your own.
So that was never going to work. Just like the “no cruising” zones only pushed the problem somewhere else.
So that’s why I think it’s time to wave the white flag. Time to tell the boy racers that we think they’re a bunch of muppets with some of the stuff they get up to. But the fight to get rid of them is over.
John MacDonald is the Canterbury Mornings host on Newstalk ZB Christchurch. This article was first published HERE
And where that would really impact on things is the breeding programme they run at Orana Park. They’re saying today that all the stress from the boys racers could have an impact on some of the endangered native birds they breed out there.
They breed them and release them into the wild. But they say this kind of stress can affect breeding behaviour and can even have an impact on egg quality.
So the animals are stressed. And the staff at Orana Park are stressed. There’s concern too that doing burn-outs in areas where there’s a lot of vegetation is a fire risk.
The Police seem to be on to it. They’ve identified 16 vehicles that are being used to do burn-outs outside the wildlife park. Of these, 10 have been impounded and they’re on the hunt for the other six.
But it raises the question, doesn’t it, as to whether we’re fighting a losing battle here and whether we should just give up on the idea that we can bring them under control.
I reckon that, from what we’ve learnt over the years, anyone who thinks they can get rid of boy racers is in la-la land.
Because there have been boy racers in some way shape or form forever. Haven’t there?
When I was growing up, they were called “hoons”. Before that, they were called “bodgies”. Although, I think bodgies had motorbikes - as well as cars. But you get what I mean.
Boy racer. Girl Racer. Hoon. Bodgie. All the same thing. Generally, young people, who love their cars and love using them to make a spectacle.
But so do a lot of other people. Not just boy racers. I saw a guy on a motorbike go so fast down Colombo Street the other week that he got speed wobbles! So boy and girl racers aren’t the only ones who can be real bozos on the roads.
Which is why I think this whole idea of cracking down on boy racers is a pipedream.
We’ve tried over the years. In Christchurch, they brought in the “no cruising” zones. Which are still there.
A concrete pad was built at Ruapuna Speedway too, wasn’t it? The idea being that they could all go out there and fill their boots doing skids and burn-outs. But no one was interested.
Because meeting-up to let rip in the car isn’t about being part of society. It’s about not following the rules. It’s about taking over a piece of road and making it your own.
So that was never going to work. Just like the “no cruising” zones only pushed the problem somewhere else.
So that’s why I think it’s time to wave the white flag. Time to tell the boy racers that we think they’re a bunch of muppets with some of the stuff they get up to. But the fight to get rid of them is over.
John MacDonald is the Canterbury Mornings host on Newstalk ZB Christchurch. This article was first published HERE
3 comments:
Obviously your life has never been adversely affected by the continuous noise and disruption of boy racers.
"Live and let live" is a road to anarchy and persecution.
All socially disruptive behaviours should be strenuously discouraged. Otherwise it comes down to people finding their equally anti-social own solutions.
Many times I wished I had a gun to take out some tyres on boy racer vehicles, including mob members motorbikes, which daily made our suburban lives unpleasant. There is a primal urge unleashed when a Harley Davidson is max revved right outside your windows.
MC
The simple problem is a lack of policing. 30 years ago we just ignored it and now it's become too hard. Take the vehicles away. How hard is it?
I can't believe you just want to roll over and let them do this. Obviously you live somewhere removed from the problem so you don't care. So on what basis are you expounding your deeply-held position?
Wimp.
MC
Whilst this activity is generally antisocial and dangerous in the instance of frightening animals it is akin to a November fifth fireworks as far as animal care is concerned. Once Police might have had resources to deal with it, Today they have very limited resources. Perhaps Council should have a few heavy trailer vehicles that Police can call upon as mobile road barriers to lock off as appropriate to inhibit these venues being created on the fly via social media.Vehicle confiscation is certainly a useful deterrent and should be more widely used. Germany has its pay to drive Nurbuering circuit available with the only criteria being a drivers license and a registration perhaps every larger city should have such a circuit to allow and contain the natural exuberance of youth, given we are freshly out of wars.
However we the community should not tolerate dangerous activity in unprotected urban locations. As for Oranga Park, surely some road bumps incorporating steel cattle stops every 50 meters and some one way raised garden beds more have traffic calming effect by sending the message to go away. If this is the price to protect the animals surely the city can see a priority perhaps curtailing some of its social budget to construct that.
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