BIG BANG THEORY: Public pressure may eventually mean Guy Fawkes night is celebrated at public displays only.

The tradition of letting off crackers on Guy Fawkes night may slowly be heading for extinction, with a majority of New Zealanders now wanting fireworks banned.

A Sunday Star-Times survey of thousands of readers has found 53% support banning the sale of fireworks, while 44% want to retain the status quo.

Australia has banned their sale and New Zealand has restricted them.

Annette Stratford said her family switched from buy-your-own to the public displays five years ago because of fears over safety.

"Even with the adults supervising, when people handle fireworks, accidents happen. For us, sky rockets in bottles would tip over and fly all over the place.

"There were a few near-misses – nobody was actually injured – but we decided it wasn't a good idea."

The family now take their son David, 14, to public firework displays in New Plymouth.

"There's more kids who can enjoy the fireworks that way because some families can't afford them. For $20 you won't get much in a pack."

Of the parents who responded to the survey, 66% said they still buy them.

Many of those supporting their sale said it is was their right to free choice and that letting off fireworks taught responsibility.

"With appropriate restrictions and guidelines, fireworks are a lot of fun. I wouldn't like to see future generations of kids denied them," one reader said.

Safety fears for humans and animals were the reasons given for a ban.

ACC injury claims from fireworks incidents dropped 40% from 461 to 275 after the government tightened sale rules in 2007. Yet injuries have cost taxpayers $1.5 million in ACC claims over the past five years.

Burns made up two-thirds of these but there were also claims for lacerations, bruising and foreign objects landing in eyes.

"My adult daughter has a permanent facial scar as a result of an accident with fireworks being set off by someone else when she was a child. At the time, it was incredibly upsetting," a reader said.

Cambridge racehorse breeder Sir Patrick Hogan said he had enormous concern about fireworks.

"Not only for horses, but cats, dogs and sometimes even cattle."

As a form of "insurance", Cambridge Stud sends its neighbours a letter saying that letting off fireworks could cause chaos with their horses and "we wouldn't like to hold them responsible".

He said it is impossible to put all of the stud's 500 horses and foals into boxes for the night.

The Guy Fawkes era is "past and gone", and while he backs organised events, Hogan does not think people should be able to buy them.

"You get those who have fireworks in their car, driving along the road and throwing them into people's properties, not knowing what's behind the fences."

Vets spoken to by the Star-Times said there was a demand for a safe, practical sedative for pets around Guy Fawkes, but the only effective products had to be administered and monitored by a vet.

The government four years ago raised the legal purchase age from 14 to 18 and reduced the sales period to four days. The 1135 tonnes of fireworks imported this year is slightly higher than the 1116 tonnes in 2010.

The Star-Times survey was conducted using the mysundayview panel of more than 3500 Sunday newspaper readers.