MEDIA RELEASE

Wild-card upping toll not boy racers

Clayton Cosgroves idea of strengthening boy racer legislation is applying the wrong filter say Candor Trust. These scapegoats are demonstrably not the people who have caused a 10% increase in fatal crashes on the prior year, to date.

The ESR Police drug driving study shows increasing drug use to be the toll booster. "A boosted toll is a concern, especially given a few State Highway deaths are probably not even being entered in the toll - an LTNZ statistics check by Candor revealed omissions of individuals who'd died".

Racers can already be jailed for three months, or five years if they injure others someone when druggies who kill will typically only get 100 odd hours of community service (per recent sentencing norms).

Road policing manager superintendent Dave Cliff has responded to Mr Cosgroves worries by saying the boy racer law works well. "It gives us good powers to deal with it".

Where Police lack powers is with prosecuting the drug drivers who make our roads a minefield. Our apprehension rate for drug drivers is not admirable.

192 Police trained in drug recognition were between them only able to convince a grand total of 81 suspects to undergo impairment tests (year to June 2006).

About a quarter of the driving menaces who consented to tests pulled the plug halfway through, possibly once they realised they were failing. And of a meagre 23 prosecutions just 11 produced convictions.

Similar countries would be obtaining about a quarter of the number of drink driving convictions, which means we should be aiming at five thousand by targeting high risk people for testing. People like the boy racer who just killed another youth.

"What we're seeing now in response to the 10% increase in fatal crashes since last year is a peppering of scaremongering charges, like the manslaughter one against the boy racer last week".

The manslaughter charge against young people is inequitable, as senior drink and drug drivers who cause the lions share of harm face no such charges. They do not even face dangerous driving charges as they would in similar jurisdictions (just mundane "careless driving").

However speeders who kill far fewer people (involved in 18 percent of fatal crashes versus drugs or alcohol at over half of them) will automatically be up for "dangerous driving," which has 5 year sentences available for harm done.

Sentencing and charging in the road crime area today appear to have no relation whatsoever to harm and offender culpability, which ill impacts road safety.

If you are a famous member of Herbs who gets smashed on dope then kills and injures two strangers as they sit safely inside of a parked car, you cop a minor careless driving charge and a short spell of community service.

Perhaps delivering meals on wheels.

But if in the lead up to an election you are a young unknown man in a crowd of pumped up speed loving youth who mows down a colleague who has entered into this environment, you'll be charged with manslaughter. Crucified.

"Police are really messing up here. Everytime they run a checkpoint they fan the flames of the road toll by giving drug drivers a free pass, like bloody idiots."

If our figures tally with Queenslands we have three times as many druggies on our roads as drunks. It's no wonder given the lack of a DADA (drug alcohol driver awareness program) in schools.

Similar countries that have done studies of large samples of people to establish the prevalence of drug impaired driving find that a third of drug takers admit to driving stoned on occasion.

Smaller NZ household studies support this which means we have equal numbers of druggies to drinkers who will drive while unfit - about 90, 000.

However the druggies will do it far more frequently due to the current lawlessness.

The more probable crime committed by the boy racer than manslaughter based on his demographic is driving while stoned. Males between 20-24 are as or more likely to be on drugs than drunk dependent on locale.

But Candor feel confident the driver wasn't tested for that, or if he was the results will be kept as an offivial secret until the other boys coroners inquest if he has one.

Drug testing is only fair guaranteed if you actually die on the road - you then end up in a drug driving study, so the boy racers victim may well be tested if not him.

Studies that take year upon year do not save lives, say Candor. The legislation that is urgently needed as we recently pointed out to Mr Cosgrove is the drug driving amendment bill to the Land Transport Act.

It goes before Parliament mid year, but this bill needs to be progressed with urgency, as getting speed down isn't knocking the toll due to dopey druggies.

"Considering that the ESR / Police study showed us leading the first world in drug driving and almost equal poorer countries like Malaysia with pot driving deaths, it is insane that we are nearly the last first world Country to act.

We have actually been beaten by Malaysia to acting on this issue of drug driving that kills approximately three New Zealanders on the road weekly.

Candor does not consider raising petrol prices is the answer to an out of control toll. Despite strong petrol inflation injury crashes have trended up for five years, and now fatal ones also mimicing this.

"It's clear that druggies have access to unlimited cash for both their dope and their gas, and that with the absence of any law this mix produces a fatal Kiwi cocktail which sees road users killed at twice the rate of civilised countries", say Candor.

Ends

© Scoop Media