A national police operation on Friday night saw over 130 drivers prosecuted for excessive vehicle noise. Operations Manager for Road Policing Support at Police National Headquarters, Inspector Carey Griffiths, said that the nationwide focus occurred as the result of recent changes to the law, which meant that exhaust noise had to be less than, or similar to, a standard vehicle.
Inspector Griffiths said that Police, supported in some areas by vehicle inspectors from Land Transport New Zealand and bailiffs from the Department for Courts Collection Unit, had focused on obviously noisy vehicles. "Despite poor weather across the country keeping many inside, this operation also resulted in over 60 vehicles being ordered off the road for a variety of faults, including cut down suspension, highly tinted windows, worn tyres and other faults affecting the safety and driveability of the car," he said. "Upper Hutt Police even reported stopping one vehicle with no exhaust system at all."
In conjunction with Police, Court bailiffs seized at least 8 vehicles for unpaid fines, and in Whangarei entered into arrangements with 10 fines defaulters with fines totalling over $100,000. The highest level of offences detected on Friday night was Christchurch, where 39 drivers face prosecution for excessive noise. "Christchurch Police advise that they are seeing a steady reduction in noise offences detected, after a recent 3-week crack down on anti-social driving saw 74 cars impounded and over 1,000 drivers facing prosecution for a range of anti-social driving-related offences," said Inspector Griffiths.
The recent law change, has meant that operating a vehicle in a noisy manner now carries 25 demerit points, and a reduced fine from $250 to $50. Vehicles will also have to comply with noise tests as part of warrant of fitness checks, or be ordered to undergo objective noise testing. Inspector Griffiths said that Police welcomed this change. "There is a high level of public annoyance at excessive noise, particularly when repeated night after night," he said. "Continued offending will mean a loss of licence rather than high levels of accumulated fines, which means we get these drivers off the road before they amass fines they cannot or will not pay."
Inspector Griffiths advised drivers of modified vehicles to have their noise levels checked at a testing station if they were in doubt as to whether their exhaust noise was legal. "It is better to deal with this with the testing station during the day than run the risk of being stopped by Police, fined or the car ordered off the road in the middle of the night," he said. "Those with noisy exhausts simply signal to officers that this is a car that needs scrutiny, and they can expect to be stopped."
Police advise that further combined operations involving Police, Collections and Land Transport staff in targeting anti-social and dangerous driving will continue.
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