Thursday, 25 May 2023 - 2:08pm

Mods and shockers

1 min read

News article photos (3 items)

Examining potentially unsafe vehicles.
Police, Waka Kotahi, Court Bailiffs and vehicle inspectors from Dunedin WOF Centre collaborated on the operation.
A modified and unsafe car gets the tow treatment.

Antisocial driving and modified vehicles were the target of a recent operation in Dunedin, which saw a number of Otago Coastal staff team up with partner agencies.

Dunedin staff made good use of collaboration and their close partnerships to execute a Friday night operation in South Dunedin, organised by Road Policing Sergeant Keith Braithwaite and Senior Constable Andy Camp.

“In total the operation involved 15 police staff from Road Policing - the Impairment Prevention Team, and Commercial Vehicle Safety Team, two Waka Kotahi staff, four vehicle inspectors from Dunedin WOF Centre, and two court bailiffs,” says Keith.

The central testing spot was well placed to bring in nearby offending vehicles, and it wasn’t long before Keith and Andy’s plan began to bear fruit.

“We were able to stop a lot of unsafe vehicles,” says Andy. “In fact, over the course of the night we made sure that 38 vehicles were thoroughly inspected for illegal modifications.

“We found that 25 vehicles were unsafe and issued a mix of pink and green stickers.”

There were infringement notices given for other offences too, as well as an Excess Breath Alcohol offence that was dealt with.

A tomahawk found in one of the modified vehicles.

The staff involved also worked with the court bailiffs who seized one vehicle and helped with the recovery of overdue fines.

Sergeant Keith Braithwaite was pleased with the results. “Some of these vehicles were modified to a point where they posed a genuine and immediate risk to the drivers, not to mention all other road users.

“One of the unsafely modified vehicles even had a small tomahawk axe down the side of the driver’s seat (pictured, above right), which was a bit of a shock.”

“The bright side is that 25 defective and potentially unsafe vehicles have now either been removed from our roads or will be repaired to public safety.”