THE NEW ZEALAND Police Force has asked the New Zealand Transport Agency to explore options for issuing fines to motorists who run of fuel on Auckland’s freeways.
Citing stranded vehicles, blocked lanes and their impact on traffic congestion, Inspector Dave Walker said drivers running out of fuel on stretches of road with no emergency lane are putting other motorists at risk.
Police are seeking approval of a law similar to the NZ$250 fine for walking on a city freeway. The Transport Agency is to investigate the feasibility of a bylaw which would make it an offence to run out of fuel anywhere on Auckland’s 72.7km freeway network.
The Inspector said police have noticed significant growth in the number of people running out of fuel since prices have increased, with over 148 stranded motorists assisted by police in a three-week period.
“We are on call 24 hours a day, we will attend these incidents and if we can prove a person was driving on an empty tank, they will face a heavy penalty,” Inspector Walker said.
The Transport Agency has made clear that no law will be passed without feedback from local authorities, emergency services, freight groups and the NZ Automobile Association.
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Even though I don’t live in New Zealand (though I wish I did), I reckon this is a good idea.
There is no benefit from running on empty… So if you are dumb enough to do it and ruin everyone elses day then you deserve a fine.
Ditto to the above.
Mind you I get worried when I hit 1/4 of a tank.
New rule: fill up when your car gets to 1/2 a tank. That way it doesn’t cost you so much each time you fill up.
You also won’t run out of fuel…
NZ doesn’t have congestion - hardly anyone lives there
But yes, If you are stupid enough to run out of fuel, and require the services of police and others to clear your vehicle, you deserve to pay for the expenses of doing that.
But a fine might be the wrong thing - a bill for the actual costs would be more appropriate, so running out in the daytime on a weekday would not cost as much as on a weekend or overnight, when people get paid more money for working odd hours.
GP, one has to assume that was a tongue-in-cheek comment, Auckland and other NZ cities are as bad as Australian cities in peak hour. I also echo Dale’s comments above (I’d also love to live in NZ!). People who let their car run out of fuel on the freeway are idiots. Again echoing other comments, I rarely let my car go below quarter full, and have seen the fuel light come on just once in the new work ute (it’s a 75km round trip to work and forgot one day- no fuel anywhere in that distance) in a year of use.
Haha, Mike, yes - tongue-in-cheek. But Aus cities don’t have peak hour any more, Melb has peak 4 hours, can’t speak for Sydney. A mere peak hour would make Melb so much better
Hobart & Launceston have peak 10 minutes……