This story was in a Sydney, Australia newspaper. The full article is cut/pasted below in case the link expires.
http://smh.com.au/news/WORLD/NZ-poli...956230849.html


NZ police impound car under hoon law

January 11, 2006 - 4:25PM

New Zealand police have impounded a middle-aged businessman's luxury car under a law designed to curb street-racing hoons.

Police took away the $NZ258,000 ($A239,000) Mercedes CLS 55 of insurance broker John Rae for 28 days after he allegedly spun his wheels in the North Island town of Te Awamutu late last month.

Rae, chairman of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce and a car racing enthusiast, also faces a maximum of three months in jail, or $US4,500 ($A6,000) in fines, if found guilty.

Police said Rae's car was seen on December 29 making smoke and leaving marks on the road, and an officer issued him with a ticket for "sustained loss of traction".

Rae denies the charge.

"Would I go out, openly on a public road, in full view of a police car and deliberately lose traction? The answer is no," he told National Radio.

Rae is due to appear in court on February 7.

A law introduced in New Zealand in 2003 allows police to impound the vehicles of "boy racers" for 28 days at their expense.

 

My first reaction is: over regulation by the state. Why was this law passed? I mean, besides causing premature wear of ones tires and causeing a noise disturbance (for which I assume you already have laws on the books) what harm is it doing to the public. If one spins their tires in a high traffic area, they could be ticketed for recless driving.
Don't know about traction control on the CLS. What I mean is I'm sure it has it, but on my C280, I can shut it off.

 

What the crap is a "hoon?"

Traction control can be turned off, or defeated entirely through aftermarket reprogramming. Even with traction control on, the wheels will spin, then stop, then spin, then stop, etc.

 

My C280 has TC and ESP, but you can still make the wheel spins, it is all in th technique

 

A hoon is a driver who behaves like an idiot,mostly young people.Here in NZ there is a problem with what are called boy racers who buy a car for $1 deposit,usually a Jap import and they have drag races on the the streets regardless of other road users.There have been a number of deaths caused this way,quite often innocent people,minding their own business.Another favourite pastime of the hoon is to gather with others similar and pour deisel on the the road and do wheel spins and burnouts,usually in an industrial or suburban area.Hundreds of them get together with lookouts watching for police and have police band scanners to keep informed of police movements.They usually do their wheel spins at night and the agonised screeching of the tyres can be heard for miles.The funny thing about the business man getting caught and having his Mercedes impounded is that he is in the age group that complains the longest and loudest about the hoons.
Yuridog.

 

I understand its usage here. I was wondering about the root of the word "hoon." As in, what's a hoon? Was it recently created to describe these racers and it has no other usage?

 

Right, so its a problem. I'm not in favor of hoons being able to disturb the peace or more importantly injure inocent people. I'm just suggesting that the law is too broad. If this guy in the CLS, or anyone else for that matter, spins their tires due to road conditions, do the police assume they are hoons, and up to no good?
BTW, for a long time I've (mostly fancifully) thought about moving to NZ:actuallly looked up imigration laws. Ah, the grass is always greener, but I've read good things about NZ.

 

Yes,the boy racer laws do seem a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.NZ is quite a good place to live although like everywhere else we do have similar problems,such as too many women in positions of authority.However our liguor laws are very liberal and you can get a drink in most cities 24 hours a day.Prostitution is legal as is gambling,with casinos and horse racing and sports betting.Our climate does not have wide extremes and the beer is guite good too.Basicly we are the same as people everywhere,all battling for a living and raising families.Since the import regulations were relaxed cars have come down in price and just about anyone can buy a car of their choice.Overall NZ is not a bad place, a bit like the US in miniature,and you would be most welcome here.
Yuridog.