No boy racer cars are planned to be crushed in Tauranga as the problems of large gatherings of boys and burn outs are a thing of the past.

Bay of Plenty Road Policing manager Senior Sergeant Ian Campion attributes the decrease in boy racer problems to the good work of the council introducing stricter bylaws and a number of other contributing factors including the rising cost of fuel.

An image of the first car to be crushed under new boy racer laws before the crushing. Photo: Supplied.

'By and large the boy racer issue has disappeared. There are a number of contributing factors to the absence of the problem.

'One of the influencing factors was the conviction of two young men for manslaughter after a driver was killed in a street race.

'The attitudes of young Tauranga drivers has definitely changed and I can't even say how many kids are on their two strikes because it is not as much of a problem as it once was,” says Ian.

However many parts of the country are still plagued by inept young drivers pushing the limits of what little driving skills they have developed.

On Thursday the first boy racer car was crushed under the Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill. The law came into effect in December 2009 earning the then-police minister Judith Collins the sobriquet Crusher Collins.

The new legislation means anyone caught street racing three times within four years will have their cars confiscated and possibly destroyed.

The car was destroyed in Lower Hutt after its owner was found guilty of driving while suspended, sustained loss of traction and dangerous driving.

It took 49 seconds and 150 tonnes of pressure to crush Paraparaumu Beach digger operator Daniel Ronald Briant's Nissan Laurel.

Police Minister Anne Tolley had the honour of activating the crusher before posing on the wreck for media pictures.

Boy racer Daniel Briant switched the ownership of his car multiple times to try to stop his pride and joy being crushed.

But his tactics proved unsuccessful when police turned up at his home at Paraparaumu Beach and seized his souped-up Nissan Laurel.

The 19-year-old said online on Wednesday that he was praying his car - worth about $9000 before it was seized - would not be the first to be crushed under boy-racer legislation.

Police reported that three hours after receiving his third strike, Daniel performed another burnout and crashed into a fence. He was awaiting sentence for the incident.

The dubious honour of the first car-crushing nearly went to Milton teenager Karn Forrest in April, but he switched his 1982 Toyota Corolla DX for another car and police halted the crushing.

Another 116 drivers are on two strikes for driving offences.