Important - Your Rights.

[wkid_one]

I think you will find at a push - they can find a plethora of reasons to pull you over....searching you is a different story as that suddenly becomes a personal right issues.  In speaking with my uncle, who is a detective, Lou is right about the whole 'suspicion' angle.

At the end of the day - you will struggle to win an argument with them on the side of the road - so what is the point fighting.  Just ask them the questions: why? and on what grounds?

[Slim]

OK. Here's what I've found out:

The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 provides the provision that every person is to be free of any "unlawful detention".

When you obtain your Driver Licence you agree to certan conditions, such as you will obey road rules as defined in the Road code, the Land Transport Act, the Vehicle Driver licensing Act, etc etc etc. One of the conditions is section 113 (2)(b)(ii) which reads an enforcement officer may stop any vehicle for the following:

(b) Inspect, test, and examine

(i) The brakes or any other part of a vehicle on a road or any associated equipment; or

(ii) A land transport document, or a document resembling a land transport document, displayed or carried on the vehicle.

Section 114 provides the power to stop any vehicle to obtain particulars of the driver and owner of the vehicle. The provision for the Bill of Rights has been considered here under section 114 (5) which reads:

(5) An enforcement officer may require a driver to remain stopped on a road for as long as is reasonably necessary to enable the officer to establish the identity of the driver, but not for longer than 15 minutes if the requirement to remain stopped is made under this subsection only.

Now this section only applies to the identification of the driver. The enforcement officer may envoke a requirement that would require you to remain longer, such as requiring you to undergo a breath screening test. Once this requirement has been made then the 15 min window no longer is in effect and you are required to remain until he/she has finished their LAWFUL Business.

Just as a point of note: there has been some very new case law in relation to the 15 min period when a police officer stopped a
vehicle and waited for 25 min before they spoke to the driver who was arrested for other offences. The driver defended this
as a breach of his Bill of Rights - unlawful detention. The Judge ruled while this provision is in the Act it must be taken into context
and the safety of the officer was the reason for the delay and that WAS acceptable. Appeal dismissed.

Does that answer the appropriate questions???

[festus]

lanesplitter you are correct, Jeff Penno from Hamilton owns the ZX600.......