The owner of a the first car seized and crushed under anti-boy racer legislation will be seen as a hero by his mates, says road safety campaigner Clive Matthew-Wilson.
Matthew-Wilson, who edits the car review website dogandlemon.com, says:
“Yesterday, the owner of the first crushed car was just another boy racer with an attitude problem. Today he will be a hero to his fellow boy racers.”
Matthew-Wilson says the boy racer’s car that was seized by police was “probably next-to worthless anyway”.
“The idea that this car seizure will stop other youths offending is basically wishful thinking. Young females are attracted to young males who take risks. That’s one reason young males are so reckless. A young male would rather lose his car and be attractive to young females than obey the law and sleep alone.”
“You’re basically wasting your time trying to explain to young hoons that they’re likely to harm themselves or others: the part of the male brain that links cause and effect doesn’t fully develop until the early twenties. That’s why young males often do silly things without thinking of the consequences.”
Matthew-Wilson says it’s important to keep the boy racer phenomenon in perspective.
“Organised criminal gangs like the Mongrel Mob are a serious menace. By comparison, boy racers are obnoxious rather than dangerous. They are mostly just an awful nuisance, particularly for those homeowners who live next to the roads used by these hoons. However, there are far more road deaths and injuries involving cyclists and motorcyclists than deaths and injuries involving boy racers.”
“The government’s boy racer legislation is mainly there to make politicians look tough on crime. I doubt it will make the slightest difference to the average boy racer. If the government continues to crush a lot of boy racer cars, the boy racers will simply buy a cheap second car, one they can afford to lose when the police seize it.”
“Doubtless the politicians will be crowing about how tough they are on crime, but in reality, the crushing of this car will probably make very little difference,”
