Police target unsafe car modifications

Stretched tyres, over-sized rims, flipped suspension springs and loud or lowered vehicles were likely to earn a pink or green sticker during Operation Hoon in Invercargill at the weekend.

Operation road policing officer Senior Constable Paul Moylan said Invercargill Police had been focusing on a specific group of antisocial road users.

"This operation has been planned to target vehicles and individuals that have been identified as belonging to a group organising ‘skid meets’ in rural locations around Invercargill.

"These drivers regularly congregate and ‘lap’ the Invercargill CBD area before heading out into rural areas.

"Aside from examples of extremely risky driving behaviour, many of these vehicles are illegally modified to the point where they are a danger to the drivers and every other motorist they share the road with."

Invercargill Senior Sergeant Scott McKenzie said word would have quickly spread through social media circles that an operation was running, after the first car had been inspected.

But a total of 36 cars were taken off the road by Invercargill police during the two-night operation.

Within minutes after the operation’s Friday evening start at 6pm, the first car had been pulled over and stickered.

Friday evening’s most eye-popping find was a pair of jandals being improvised as suspension bump-stops.

Invercargill VTNZ manager Bob Matthews said he had previously inspected vehicles where he saw the suspension fall out after the car was jacked up but he had never seen jandals being used "to basically stop everything from crushing".

"That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a jandal put on a suspension.

Southern district road policing manager Inspector Craig Brown said the results of the operation have shown the police’s intent in dealing with the ongoing issue of antisocial road use in Invercargill.

"These drivers pose an unnecessary risk to everyone on the road through their behaviour and the state of their vehicles.

"To get this many unsafe cars off the roads over just two evenings is a great success for our teams, and goes a long way in making sure we can keep the roads safer and help other motorists feel safer too."

Snr Sgt McKenzie was surprised to discover a child travelling in a vehicle that was later stickered as unsafe.

"It’s not good — that’s the object of some of these things.

"They will say ‘well, my car is cool — it get’s me from A to B’. But until it doesn’t happen, then there’s the regret."

Most people, in general, kept their cars up to WoF standard because it made the road safer, he said.

By Toni McDonald