Hamilton Police are crediting a positive attitude of organisers and a large, highly visible presence for a quieter than normal Friday night on the illegal street racer circuit.
Last night up to 1500 car enthusiast's vehicles were said to be converging on Hamilton's Te Rapa Rd to stage a protest against proposed legislation.
Waikato Road Policing Manager, Inspector Leo Tooman, said the number of vehicles that actually attended was between 500-600 with a crowd estimated to be under 2000.
"We're pretty happy how the night went, the tactic of deploying a booze bus at either end of the straight negated the chance for anyone intending to do anything silly from being able to.
"At the same time the organisers of the event put constant messages out on social networking sites for participants to toe the line which people by and large heeded."
While Police were disappointed about the large amount of alcohol being consumed in an area subject to a liquor ban there was also some positives to come out of the crass behaviour.
"Police carried out a walk through of the area about 1am tipping out alcohol found in people's possession, when the event began to pack up organisers were seen to be carrying out an 'emu- parade' picking up the rubbish left which was pleasing to see."
In all 47 warnings were issued for breach of the liquor ban and two people were arrested.
Mr Tooman said another pleasing aspect of the evening was despite hundreds of drivers being breath tested on Te Rapa Rd only one person was processed for excess breath alcohol.
"That's got to be a positive sign, that of the largely young crowd present, they were taking responsibility and ensuring they had a sober driver on hand."
One area of concern for Police however was the issue of fatigued drivers with many of those attending having travelled significant distances to take part in the protest.
One driver had driven up from the Hawkes Bay that afternoon in his 'show car' and was intending driving back home that evening to attend work this morning.
"Obviously there has to be concerns raised in regards to how safe people are on our roads travelling those sorts of distances in such a short period," said Mr Tooman.
"Perhaps we need to look at ways of educating drivers on how to take care of themselves to the same degree they take care of their vehicles," he said.
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