Some rural residents in Waikato say an incident where a milk tanker was attacked is just the tip of the iceberg and every weekend hundreds of boy racers are converging on rural roads, putting locals at serious risk.
Police have launched an investigation into how a milk tanker had its windscreen smashed and milk was poured across the road. Waikato Mayor Allan Sanson said the attack happened after the tanker driver tried to push past a group of boy racers who were blocking the road. The area was a regular weekend haunt for boy racers, he said.
It is an issue that Gordonton dairy farmer Bruce knows too well.
He said large groups of boy racers frequently parked up at the intersection near his farm during the early hours of the weekend and caused major disruption.
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"We can have up to 250 cars here in one session, and they go through the fences ... they leave rubbish ... lots and lots of rubbish and we have to pick it all up."
Bruce said they no longer kept their cows in the paddocks near the road at the weekend, as bottles had been thrown at stock and the damage that was done to fences meant there was a risk they could wander off.
"They [the animals] get petrified by the tyres bursting, they throw bottles, cans at the cows. The [car] lights going round and round and all the noise they make the calves go scattering," he said.
Bruce said he was not surprised to hear that a milk tanker had been attacked. He said that, despite countless complaints to police and the council, nothing meaningful seemed to get done.
"They are so noisy some nights that they wake the kids that are asleep. And that's why we all ring [police] because it wakes us all ... you go around a lot of places in the Waikato, on big wide intersections, there's just rubber laid on the road, just constantly. Every weekend. You'll see more skidmarks."
Another rural Waikato resident, Leslie, said they were having the same issues with large groups of boy racers further south in the Arapuni area.
They were ripping up the roads, letting off fireworks, leaving tonnes of rubbish behind and being aggressive with residents, she said.
"We've lived here for 81/2 years and probably for the first five, there was the occasional problem. But I would say over the last 18 months, it's really ramped up."
She would not dream of driving down the road after dark because their behaviour was dangerous.
"My husband has even encountered it driving home from work, at 5pm on the local country road that he uses every day ... [he] had to get out of the way quickly of somebody doing burnouts at the intersection.
"It's only a matter of time before they do some serious damage or somebody gets seriously hurt or even killed."
Leslie wanted to see car insurance become compulsory in New Zealand, which she said would help stop people from getting behind the wheel of high-powered, modified cars.
"We're one of the few OECD countries that does not require compulsory car insurance, and if people can't get car insurance because of their driving history, they can't drive ... over a period of time, people realise this, and are much more careful about their driving behaviour." -RNZ
