Am I being paranoid ?

[Hitcher]

and congrats on the 2000th post ...

Well done indeed, Mr Frosty!

[Jackrat]

Looks like the time is ripe to buy shares in cotton wool.

[SPman]

.... are we really going to have to wrap ourselves in little white fluffies.

Yep! Legislation has been going that way for years! Just another brick in the wall!

[Racey Rider]

Soon they'll be makin us wear helmits just to ride a bicycle!

Orr, we've been through that before.
Don't mind me! As you were.

[dangerous]

And who decides whats dangerous??

I do

Sure more idiots own 4WDs (is there any other kind of 4WD owner)

Yes theres me thank you very much (plz disguard my user name
Ya se its that old situation of the minority spoiling it for the majority again. Of bloody course I'm at risk, as is any passangers I have while 4x4ing shit thats why the hell we do it, its adrenalyn (*sp) just like riding the bike.
The bloody world is going flipping crazy and IMO its not a good thing.

[spudchucka]

And if the opposition first-five sidesteps you and you stiff-arm tackle and kill him, that's not part of rugby?

In all contact sports there is an implied consent between the parties that are willingly taking part. That is to say that if you get tackled big time and your spleen gets ruptured you cant then turn around and imply it was assault because you have previously consented to the other person using force as an acceptable part of the game. Things like stiff arms, spear tackles etc are dealt with internally by the unions and shouldn't be matters for the police unless the actions were deliberate and were intended to cause GBH or death. The same implied consent exists in motor racing, the participants know the risks and accept them.

[spudchucka]

Cops are the poor bastards that have to enforce the legislation.

What about the banning smoking in bars legislation? Who the hell is going to bother to police that? I think you will find that a few extreme cases of outright stupidity get prosecuted but cops aren't going to start staking out the nearest 4WD track.

[spudchucka]

Surely road speed rules don't apply to the track do they?

What would happen to motor vehicle ads that quite clearly state "This advertisement was filmed on a close road"?

I thought the whole point of a closed private road was that the road rules do not apply.

It would be a brave cop that tried to stop a race and apply the road rules to it.

Look at the boy racer ammendments to the Land Transport Act, it makes mention of organised races on public roads, so parliamnet has already considered these things that you folks are sweating over in previous legislation. In fact that bill was called the "Unauthorised Street Racing" bill or something similar to that. The use of the word Unauthorised implies that some street racing can be allowed if organised properly. I'm sure that none of this legislation will be aimed at the legitimate clubs and organisations, it will be aimed at the weekend cowboys that make a menace of themselves and stuff it up for all the fair dinkum users.

[spudchucka]

What I can't see is what's changed to need this new law?

It'll be because some pollie in his Range Rover got splattered in mud by some yokel hooning in his clapped out HiLux or similar.

[SPman]

think you will find that a few extreme cases of outright stupidity get prosecuted but cops aren't going to start staking out the nearest 4WD track.

And thats as it should be!

[FROSTY:Me]

Look at the boy racer ammendments to the Land Transport Act, it makes mention of organised races on public roads, so parliamnet has already considered these things that you folks are sweating over in previous legislation. In fact that bill was called the "Unauthorised Street Racing" bill or something similar to that. The use of the word Unauthorised implies that some street racing can be allowed if organised properly. I'm sure that none of this legislation will be aimed at the legitimate clubs and organisations, it will be aimed at the weekend cowboys that make a menace of themselves and stuff it up for all the fair dinkum users.

Well its all got rather interesting. The herald reporters are seeing a story here I guess.
They are looking at it from the point of view of people competing in the rally of NZ or motorcrossers, but the rules are the same for us as for MX guys.
So far They have had NO commitment from the powers that be that under the proposed law change that a person competing in a legitimate closed road or circuit racer won't face prosecution.
The best thats been offered is that a racer shouldn't be prosecuted.
This could get VERY interesting.

[spudchucka]

Just so everyone who is interested in this topic knows exactly what is proposed I'll cut & paste the actual ammendments.

This is the current legislation:

7.Drivers not to be reckless or dangerous—

(1)A person may not operate a motor vehicle recklessly on a road.

(2)A person may not drive a motor vehicle on a road, or cause a motor vehicle to be driven on a road, at a speed or in a manner which, having regard to all the circumstances, is or might be dangerous to the public or to a person.

8.Drivers not to be careless or inconsiderate—

A person may not operate a vehicle on a road carelessly or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road.

These are the proposed ammendments:

6 Drivers not to be reckless or dangerous
(1) Section 7 of the principal Act is amended by repealing subsection
(1), and substituting the following subsection:
‘‘(1) A person may not drive a motor vehicle, or cause a motor
vehicle to be driven, recklessly.’’
(2) Section 7(2) of the principal Act is amended by omitting the
words ‘‘on a road’’ in both places where they occur.

7 New section 8 substituted
The principal Act is amended by repealing section 8, and
substituting the following section:
‘‘8 Drivers not to be careless or inconsiderate
A person may not drive a vehicle, or cause a vehicle to be
driven, carelessly or without reasonable consideration for
other persons.’’

The key ammendment being the omission of the word "road" from the relevant sections.

If you want to read the whole thing go here:

http://www.transport.govt.nz/downloa...b2004-bill.pdf

[riffer]

The key ammendment being the omission of the word "road" from the relevant sections.

And, interestingly, any reference to "speed"

[riffer]

And, interestingly, any reference to "speed"

Although, possibly, on further reading maybe not. Seems to give a lot of power to police to determine reckless riding and driving offroad.

Is there an official definition of reckless for offroad use?

[tassle]

Although, possibly, on further reading maybe not. Seems to give a lot of power to police to determine reckless riding and driving offroad.

Is there an official definition of reckless for offroad use?

its probably along the lines,anything that could cause harm to yourself or others,it will be vague and open to pretty liberal interpertation of whoever is in charge.