Boy Racer clampdown in the North East
Discussion
Police hail 'boy racer' clampdown
A summer-long crackdown targeting so-called "boy racers" has brought relief to residents and traders in a County Durham town, police say.
Officers in Bishop Auckland acted after complaints from residents concerning drivers - the vast majority of them young men - racing at high speed.
In May, Durham Police mounted an operation to tackle the problem.
During the four-month operation 109 incidents were tackled and 10 drivers now face court action.
The force condemned "irresponsible driver behaviour" for causing real problems for both residents and traders.
A police spokesman said: "The drivers were invariably young men aged 17-25 racing their cars through the town.
'Significant improvement'
"We have given advice to a lot of people as well as issuing tickets, but when it comes to those breaking the law we have in effect opted for a zero tolerance policy.
"This is about tackling what matters to communities and dealing with quality of life issues, such as the activities of boy racers.
"In the three months leading up to the operation we had dozens of complaints, but there has been a significant improvement since then.
"We are not trying to stop young car owners getting together but, like anyone else, they must obey the traffic regulations.
"The enforcement side of the operation will continue as long as necessary."
Street
>>> Edited by Streetcop on Tuesday 5th October 18:44
Streetcop said:
[
A police spokesman said: "The drivers were invariably young men aged 17-25 racing their cars through the town.
'Significant improvement'
"We have given advice to a lot of people as well as issuing tickets, but when it comes to those breaking the law we have in effect opted for a zero tolerance policy.
"This is about tackling what matters to communities and dealing with quality of life issues, such as the activities of boy racers.
My cousin (one of the many
) is with this lot He has most acid tone of voice as well .... 
UND he talks COAST!
Good.
As a younger man, I was always into fast cars but never into the cruising lark. My nephew is into it but tells me he sticks to the rules.
I saw myself the aftermath of a piece of particular enthusiastic driving by an inexperienced young chap the other night. He left the road, rolled it a few times and then it ended up on its roof.
4 TrafPol stood at the side of the road. All seemed to be wondering how on earth he had managed it. I wondered the same myself. Dunnot if he was injured but the car was totalled.
These are the types of idiots that desperately need the IAM/RoSPA but aren't attracted to it because:
a) of the cardigan brigade that inevitably makes up this group
b) there are no benefits, that are easily quantified, that such people would understand.
I remember getting a look of almost disgust when I suggested to my nephew that I would pay for him to go through RoSPA training.
As a younger man, I was always into fast cars but never into the cruising lark. My nephew is into it but tells me he sticks to the rules.
I saw myself the aftermath of a piece of particular enthusiastic driving by an inexperienced young chap the other night. He left the road, rolled it a few times and then it ended up on its roof.
4 TrafPol stood at the side of the road. All seemed to be wondering how on earth he had managed it. I wondered the same myself. Dunnot if he was injured but the car was totalled.
These are the types of idiots that desperately need the IAM/RoSPA but aren't attracted to it because:
a) of the cardigan brigade that inevitably makes up this group
b) there are no benefits, that are easily quantified, that such people would understand.
I remember getting a look of almost disgust when I suggested to my nephew that I would pay for him to go through RoSPA training.
The boy racer element desperately needs to do IAM/RoSPA, but it's selling it to them that's the problem..
I'm an assessor for my local IAM and do the training for their 'observers'...
The average age is well about 50 years old....
The recent MAXPOWER initiative fell on it's arse also...
I think serious insurance discounts are probably the only way ahead.....(ie: IAM/RoSPA= 10% discount)...Which is a bloody lot of money for a 17 year old in a new Saxo..
Street
I'm an assessor for my local IAM and do the training for their 'observers'...
The average age is well about 50 years old....
The recent MAXPOWER initiative fell on it's arse also...
I think serious insurance discounts are probably the only way ahead.....(ie: IAM/RoSPA= 10% discount)...Which is a bloody lot of money for a 17 year old in a new Saxo..
Street
Streetcop said:
The boy racer element desperately needs to do IAM/RoSPA, but it's selling it to them that's the problem..
I'm an assessor for my local IAM and do the training for their 'observers'...
The average age is well about 50 years old....
The recent MAXPOWER initiative fell on it's arse also...
I think serious insurance discounts are probably the only way ahead.....(ie: IAM/RoSPA= 10% discount)...Which is a bloody lot of money for a 17 year old in a new Saxo..
Street
I read somewhere once that scrapping IPT for advanced motorists might be a way forward. Let's try anything that works.
I think the fundamental problem is that the bulk of the IAM work is done by volunteers. I think we need to re-invent IAM/RosPA and put it under the wing of a reformed DSA. IAM/RoSPA are basically charities and I think it is high time we realised that driver education is the absolute key here.
WildCat said:
I think serious insurance discounts are probably the only way ahead.....(ie: IAM/RoSPA= 10% discount)...Which is a bloody lot of money for a 17 year old in a new Saxo..
Street
You know that. I know that. StreetCop knows that. This is NOT rocket science. Why is no one from Government interested in this issue purely from a road safety point of view? This annoys me so feckin much.
Must agree with you Gary incentives would be the only way forward to educating the type of behaviour many of these young motorists adapt.
I wish the said clampdown was adopted throughout the various Counties in England/Wales.
Our local Tesco car park is awash with Burberry hats Nova`s, Corsa`s and Punto`s. There does not appear to be any law enforcement to crack down on them.
I wish the said clampdown was adopted throughout the various Counties in England/Wales.
Our local Tesco car park is awash with Burberry hats Nova`s, Corsa`s and Punto`s. There does not appear to be any law enforcement to crack down on them.
im a young 19 year old driver in a mini cooper, me and my mates mostly all minis go to some big car parks where burger vans are just to meet up and talk,we dont race we dont do burn outs or anything like this we are just mini fanatics, and meet up with other mini club members. at these place but also boy racers come down and i know 4 my self that these ppl are stupid there idiots behind the wheel, and because we are in the car park we all get targeted by cops, and its really annoying because we feel we cant go anywhere with outbeing targated as boy racers, yes we have alloys and big exhausts and wide arches but we are mini fanatics and care for are cars not wana smash them up doin burn outs and racing i know cops have a job 2 do and we look like boy racers but still its sad to think that anyone with a modded car is a mad boy racing driver.
ps im not 1 of these burbery hat ppl
>> Edited by jeffriesmullet on Tuesday 5th October 20:08
ps im not 1 of these burbery hat ppl
>> Edited by jeffriesmullet on Tuesday 5th October 20:08
That'll be the roads in and around the arnison centre and the A167 then...
(I've been down that way a lot, both in my work and out in the car for fun)
Policing on the A167 I agree with as it has seen a LOT of accidents (not least one where a friend of mine sadly lost his life in). The thing is, you listen to the chavs bleating on about "well why bother us when we're jus sitting there doing nothing" and watch what actually goes on, you see why the police do something about it...
I got a ticking off from a traffic cop down there - my crime - bouncing my car off the rev limiter while stationary (yes I know, Pikey McPikerson, pass the burberry hat mother etc!) but hey, I did wrong and fair do's... I've seen other people do much worse stuff than that (burnouts etc) and bemoan when they get caught and try to plead that they weren't doing anything!
10 court appearances in 4 months worth of policing shocks me somewhat, if they handed out the threat of court action and numerous VDRS notices then things would change, but I've seen too many people get away with producers and FPT's for doing stuff that most people would term braindead... (donuts in a full carpark etc - surely that's without due care, negligent and dangerous?)
I'll be willing to bet that the majority, if not all of those court appearances are for >100mph on the A167 - the amount of trafpol there was scary! the thing is, dragging chavs through court for ton-up behaviour isn't really going to get the message through to others - they need to start working on dragging chavs through the courts for unroadworthy vehicles, uninsured modifications etc - that is what will hit home because it'll be like "ah shite - me mate got done for his dodgy lowering, I haven't told me broker about my -150mm drop - best do it asap"
just my 2p's on this
(I've been down that way a lot, both in my work and out in the car for fun)
Policing on the A167 I agree with as it has seen a LOT of accidents (not least one where a friend of mine sadly lost his life in). The thing is, you listen to the chavs bleating on about "well why bother us when we're jus sitting there doing nothing" and watch what actually goes on, you see why the police do something about it...
I got a ticking off from a traffic cop down there - my crime - bouncing my car off the rev limiter while stationary (yes I know, Pikey McPikerson, pass the burberry hat mother etc!) but hey, I did wrong and fair do's... I've seen other people do much worse stuff than that (burnouts etc) and bemoan when they get caught and try to plead that they weren't doing anything!
10 court appearances in 4 months worth of policing shocks me somewhat, if they handed out the threat of court action and numerous VDRS notices then things would change, but I've seen too many people get away with producers and FPT's for doing stuff that most people would term braindead... (donuts in a full carpark etc - surely that's without due care, negligent and dangerous?)
I'll be willing to bet that the majority, if not all of those court appearances are for >100mph on the A167 - the amount of trafpol there was scary! the thing is, dragging chavs through court for ton-up behaviour isn't really going to get the message through to others - they need to start working on dragging chavs through the courts for unroadworthy vehicles, uninsured modifications etc - that is what will hit home because it'll be like "ah shite - me mate got done for his dodgy lowering, I haven't told me broker about my -150mm drop - best do it asap"
just my 2p's on this
ca092003 said:
good post Dave..
There is a problem with uninsured modifications....Most insurance firms wont give the police statements to say their client it uninsured because of an undeclared modification.
Street
Why?
Because they are still technically insured...the breaches of insurance come under the grey area of 'utmost good faith' with insurance. ie: In the event of a collision the insurance company might stand the costs to a third party, but would significanlty reduce payments to the customer or even refuse to pay out altogether for the customer.
Street
Streetcop said:
Streetcop said:
good post Dave..
There is a problem with uninsured modifications....Most insurance firms wont give the police statements to say their client it uninsured because of an undeclared modification.
Street
Why?
Because they are still technically insured...the breaches of insurance come under the grey area of 'utmost good faith' with insurance. ie: In the event of a collision the insurance company might stand the costs to a third party, but would significanlty reduce payments to the customer or even refuse to pay out altogether for the customer.
Street
That is just plain silly. We want them to be guilty of some sort of offence so that:
1. They can be punished.
2. That punishment acts as a deterrent to others.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff