Five Million Voices

Should courts be required to order forfeiture or destruction of a vehicle after a single antisocial driving offence, with new police powers and higher penalties for such behaviour?

This omnibus bill amends the Land Transport Act 1998, Sentencing Act 2002, Policing Act 2008, and the Land Transport (Offences and Penalties) Regulations 1999 to target antisocial driving. It introduces presumptive vehicle forfeiture, new offences, expanded police powers, and higher penalties.

⚡ Taken under urgency

Parliament advanced this bill under urgency (committee of whole house, third reading) — moving it through faster than usual, with less time than normal for public submissions.

MPs’ arguments for and against the bill

Why support it
  • Supporters argued that police need additional tools to manage large gatherings involving hundreds of people and vehicles, where current offences and penalties are insufficient to deter dangerous behaviour.
  • Supporters said the presumptive forfeiture sentence after a single offence, replacing the existing three-strikes approach, sends a stronger message to those who use vehicles to intimidate or endanger others.
  • Supporters pointed to rising reports of street racing and recent events causing injuries, arguing the bill targets a small number of offenders while including safeguards for vehicle owners and court discretion to avoid manifestly unjust outcomes.
Why oppose it
  • Opponents argued the bill relies on deterrence that assumes people know the laws and penalties, and that police already have powers to impound vehicles, fine for excessive noise, and close roads.
  • Opponents said the bill limits judicial discretion and expands police powers to close public spaces, potentially breaching Bill of Rights freedoms of association and assembly.
  • Opponents raised concerns that an enforcement-focused approach could escalate situations and disproportionately affect young people, Māori, Pacific, and low-income communities, citing data on fatal police pursuits and fleeing-driver charges.

These are claims MPs made in Parliament’s debate — not verified facts.

Full bill summary & link to official bill page

The Antisocial Road Use Legislation Amendment Bill is an omnibus bill that amends several road-transport and sentencing laws to crack down on antisocial driving, including fleeing police, illegal street racing, burnouts and boy-racer gatherings. It makes vehicle forfeiture or destruction a presumptive penalty on a first offence for these behaviours, a significant shift from earlier law under which such an outcome generally required a third conviction. It creates a new intimidating convoy offence covering two or more vehicles that together race, do burnouts, flee police or drive dangerously. It raises the infringement fee for excessive vehicle noise from $50 to $300, expands penalties for withholding information from police, and gives police greater power to close roads, disperse gatherings and fine people up to $3,000 for failing to leave a temporarily closed area. It affects drivers, vehicle owners and police.

This is a government bill from the Minister of Police, and it revives car-crushing powers echoing earlier legislation. The main argument in favour is that consequences should match the harm caused, and that tougher, faster penalties will deter dangerous street racing and protect communities. The main argument against, raised by legal bodies such as the Law Association and some commentators, is that there is little evidence car crushing actually deters offending, that the approach targets symptoms rather than root causes, and that it risks unfairness and may simply displace the problem to other areas.

See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.

Oppose (No) Support (Yes)

Antisocial Road Use Legislation Amendment Bill · Third Reading, 30 Jun 2026
Parliament voted 101–20 — it passed. (Provisional — from Hansard’s uncorrected transcript.)