Parliament passed a new law on 30 June 2026 that gives Police stronger powers to tackle street racing, intimidating vehicle convoys, and illegal dirt bike gatherings.

The bill had been working through Parliament since March. MPs paused debate partway through in late March, then came back on 30 June to finish the job. They used urgency — a procedure that lets Parliament sit longer and complete the bill in one day instead of spreading it across a week.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell said the law helps Police respond to antisocial road use and protect communities, according to the Beehive.

What the law does

The biggest change is what happens when Police catch someone street racing. Until now, Police could choose to impound a car or not. Now they must impound it for 28 days. That's automatic — no Police officer can decide to let it slide.

The law also gives Police new powers to stop intimidating convoys and illegal gatherings of dirt bikers. Before, these activities sat in a grey area: they weren't quite traffic offences and weren't quite public order problems. Now Police have clear authority to act.

How it got here

The bill was introduced in 2025, according to the Beehive. It is the latest in a line of street racing laws going back to 2009 — interestingly, the bill passed then had the same name, which can make the parliamentary record confusing.

This version moved through Parliament's detailed examination stage in autumn before debate stalled. Using urgency in late June cleared the backlog and got the bill over the finish line.

The mandatory impoundment reflects what Police Ministers wanted from the start. When tougher penalties were floated in May 2025, the focus was on removing Police discretion — the idea being that if officers can choose, the punishment seems less certain, which weakens deterrence. By making impoundment automatic, the law ensures it happens every time.

Police will need to work through how to apply the convoy and dirt bike provisions in practice. These are genuinely new powers, because traffic law before now dealt mainly with individual drivers. The new law addresses groups acting together — the organised gathering, the coordinated procession.