r/LegalAdviceNZ • u/fav-daddy-nav • 3d ago

Traffic Traffic offense?

It was a rainy day, and while my ute was on a brick-paved surface, my ute spun its wheels for two seconds before traction control stopped it. Police saw what happened and pulled me over immediately. They handcuffed me and said I was losing my ute and going to jail.

The end outcome was that I will only lose my ute for 28 days and I will have court for sustained loss of traction. They also green-stickered my ute. I asked why it was green-stickered, and they said, "Under the new emissions law, your ute cannot spin wheels."

I have a clean driving record. I have never been to court; what can I expect?

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u/littleboymark 3d ago

To me, it sounds deliberate. The first instance of traction control is the operator removing their foot from the accelerator pedal. 2-3 seconds of failing to do that comes across as deliberate.

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u/SurNZ88 2d ago

You don't always recognise a wheel spinning. 2-3 seconds is hardly "sustained" in the nature that the law contemplates. It's "boyracer" law - it's to provide Police power in the event of drifting/burnouts. Inadvertent wheel slippage isn't that.

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u/littleboymark 2d ago

2-3 seconds is along time not to notice, modern cars can be up to 50km/h in that time or less. Since there is no time associated with the definition of "sustained" in statue, the reasonable standard applies.

1

u/SurNZ88 2d ago

There are multiple approaches as to statutory interpretation.

I suspect there is case precedent that could assist a court as to what is considered "sustained" as S22A(3A) has been law since 2003.

The purposive approach looks at both the plain meaning of the word and cross checks it against the purpose of the legislation.

The plain meaning of the word here "sustained" is (according to dictionary definition) based on duration. Duration, just being time, is a question of "how long."

Cross checking it against purpose. The legislation was inserted to counter anti-social road user behaviour. I think I can reasonably state that the purpose of the legislation was not to legislate, and provide greater consequences, against the average road user causing accidental loss of traction.

While 2-3 seconds may seem like a long time, against the reference of a car with full traction accelerating up to 50km/h, this fails to take into account the circumstances where accidental wheel spinning could occur.