A Bay of Plenty mother says her daughter could have died when hundreds of cars in an illicit car meet blocked the roads to the hospital, preventing her from reaching emergency treatment.

Tauranga mother Wairua Ngatai was rushing her young child, who was struggling to breathe, to Tauranga hospital by car at 1.20am on April 23, when her car was blocked by hundreds of cars 'doing drifts” on the roads en route.

'My daughter could have died...we were lucky but the next family may not be,” she told a Mt Maunganui social media community page.

VIDEO: Warning: Some people may find the video distressing to watch.

Ngatai and her partner had decided to dash to the hospital themselves as they had waited five minutes at home trying to get through to emergency services for an ambulance.

'The emergency services were very busy that night, so we thought it would be faster to take her ourselves, but when we came down the hill there were a multitude of road blocks due to people and cars.”

The family could not get through due to the mayhem, and says their daughter was kept okay as she and her partner were both medically trained and knew what to do.

Around 300 cars blocked State Highway 36 in Tauranga on Saturday night in what police are calling an example of 'reckless driving behaviour”.

One person was taken into custody after the gathering, and another was taken to hospital with moderate injuries, a police spokesperson confirmed.

When Ngatai took to a community page to share her experience on Facebook, hundreds expressed concern about the incident and a potential tragedy of 'the death of a little girl” that could have been caused by the antics of the racers.

Others pointed out that there was a problem that there was nowhere in the region for racers to meet.

Getting the meetings off the streets would leave public roads free says Ngongotahā Motorsport's Leon Khan, who has been campaigning for the Ngongotahā skid pad to be reopened.

”It's very unfortunate what happened to this family shouldn't happen...when the skid pad was open in Rotorua we used to get people from Tauranga and Taupō coming over and it was all legit, got people off the streets leaving the public roads open for what they are meant for, so this sort of thing would not happen.”

Khan has started a petition to get resource consent to re-open the skid pad.

Race meets like the one in Tauranga over the weekend tended to be organised by car enthusiast groups on social media, he says.

'I see them and they have nowhere to go, so for sure cities need places like this.”

Khan has attracted support of others in the industry, he told Stuff, such as Tony Walker, a former managing director of Taupō Motorsport Park.

Ngatai says on social media that she realised that young people just wanted to have fun, and although she recognised there was no other place for young people to gather, she was more concerned that police hadn't stopped them blocking the roads at the time she was trying to get through.

Police request community contact Police immediately on seeing illegal street-racing

"It's important that people with concerns about illegal street-racing behaviour contact Police as soon as possible with as much detail as possible – including number plates and descriptions if it is safe to do so,' says a police spokesperson.

"If officers are not able to attend the area immediately, this detail is helpful for those follow-up enquiries.

"We welcome any information which may assist us with our enquiries, which can include CCTV or video."

Police say these enquiries can and do result in enforcement action.

"We understand it can be frustrating to be witness to this type of behaviour, however we ask members of the public do not get directly involved."

If you witness antisocial driving behaviour, call 111 immediately, or to report an incident after the fact, please call 105.

Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

"If you are able to go online to 105 and file a report saying you are wanting to provide information and provide the video that way, would be appreciated."

- Annemarie Quill/Stuff.