By Dan Satherley
The first – and so far, only – car crushed under the Government's so-called boy racer law has gone on display in a museum.
Auckland's Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) today revealed the centrepiece to an exhibition on the history road safety – a flattened Nissan Laurel.
"What we were keen to do was to have something that would spark interest," says MOTAT exhibition manager Paul Swift.
Introduced in 2009 by then Police Minister Judith Collins, it took the Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill three years to claim its first victim.
Before its new life as a museum piece, the car belonged to a Lower Hutt boy racer. A conviction for "wheel-spinning" was his third strike, and his car was crushed on June 21.
The company that did the crushing, Macaulay Metals, put the wreck on TradeMe. MOTAT won the auction with a bid of $818, with the proceeds going to Youthline.
"I think it was exceptional value for money," says Mr Swift. "It's a centrepiece of a nice display now, and it will help people to understand a little bit more about their world."
Suspended by its boot, the squashed sedan makes for an eye-catching introduction to the exhibit, titled 'End of the Road'.
"So far the people that have walked into the room have really taken a step back, and are just so impressed with how large it is," says Mr Swift.
"It's quite impressive," says Mark Groen, a parent accompanying a class of children on a school trip.
"It's quite amazing how a car would just flatten out enough so nicely… The steering wheel's become an oval."
As a doctor, he says he sees a lot of people "who have done stupid things with their cars", and backs the controversial law.
"The people who do boy racing are not the sort of people who recognise consequences," he says. "They don't have the money, you can't get fines back from them… all they've got is the car."
Mr Swift hopes the display will make people think about not just road safety, but also the science involved in crushing a car and the importance of recycling to the New Zealand economy.
"From an educational point of view, it's perfect because it's quite a striking display, and it gets people to start thinking about why do we have rules and regulations around safety relating to cars," says Mr Swift.
"We can also then start to look at the science behind what happens to cars when they reach the end of their life, whether they become part of the major recycling process in New Zealand, or whether they become part of a museum, for example."
No other cars have yet been crushed under the boy racer law. A spokesman for the current Minister of Police, Anne Tolley, told 3 News there are now 132 people sitting on their second strike – up from 116 in June.
The Government says since the law's introduction in 2009, there has been a 29.6 percent reduction in illegal street racing offences.
But it hasn't deterred everyone – the former owner of the car on display at MOTAT was back in court not long after receiving his third strike.
"Less than three hours after receiving his third strike from the court, he was back behind the wheel, performed a 'burn out', lost control and crashed into a fence," Ms Tolley said at the time.
3 News
source: newshub archive
