The Waitakere roads of New Zealand are becoming a battleground between riders
and drivers. “Wild westies” and “teenage larrikins who hooned around” have
been driving riders off the road, pelting them with fruit and cans and
recently shot a rider in the backside with a pellet from a hunting rifle,
resulting in a 3 day stay in hospital.

Local Henderson police commented “I’d say it’s probably just a bunch of hoons
out west who pick on cyclists when they can” and Waitakere City Council road
safety coordinator Kitch Cuthbert added helpfully “people generally drive too
fast on the narrow and windy roads, and cyclists make themselves very
vulnerable. It’s not a good place for them to go.”

So if you’re touring on the far side of the world, give that area a miss
unless you’ve got a steel plate to shove in your shorts.