South Australia steps up “hoon” laws
June 17, 2009 by Matt Brogan
South Australia’s hoon laws are set to be upgraded with the announcement today that new dangerous driving laws will be in place by the end of the year.
The changes to the state’s already strict laws were announced today by Police Minister Michael Wright and Road Safety Minister Michael O’Brien and are aimed squarely at illegal street racing and young, male drivers.
“These drivers are a menace,” Mr O’Brien said. “They threaten the lives of every other road user when they put their foot to the floor. They endanger their own lives as well as their passengers.”
A committee will be formed by the pair that will include Police chief superintendent Paul Schramm, and representatives of the Attorney-General, the Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure and Road Safety.
This group will look at moving illegal street racing to a dangerous driving offence (an offence which will attract a higher penalty), the sale and/or crushing of impounded cars, impounding and clamping cars until court proceedings are finalised, and the introduction of even higher penalties for drivers caught speeding by more than 45km/h.
The group is expected to issue a preliminary report within the next eight weeks and a final report four weeks later. Legislation will then be passed by the year’s end.
Print it: 
what a crock of shit, give us some places were we can actually do it legaly before you do this to us
Obviously not enough votes have been one in SA,
How about imposing the same penalty for drink/drug driving!
or spending the same amount of time and resources on hunting down rapists and murderers…
absolute cop out and easiest way to appear to do something, when this portion makes up a tiny percentage of the deaths on our roads!
well done! my hat off to government departments once again!
That’s unfair! Police should really be looking out for murderers and other serious crimes instead of watching out for car racing or drag racing. It’s not a crime.
i agree with tom. give us a race track then maybe we won’t race on the streets.
Malalla and AIR are not that far out of Adelaide guys. And when you have had a direct family member killed by an illegal drag racer “having fun” then you will change your totaly stupid ideas. Try having Police knock on your door at 3am, drive to a hospital and see your loved one, head crushed and smashed, arms broken, pelvis smashed, bairly able to breath. Then sit there for hours holding what you can of their hand while they slowly die, then you might understand why this is being done. ANYBODY that perticipates in illegal road racing deserves to have their car taken and crushed. Words cannot describe how I hate illegal drag racing. I went through hell and to see the bastard cop 5 years, out in 3 for killing a family member. Christ some bloke got longer for unpaid fines!
I own a fully worked EH. When I want to have fun I go to Heathcote, Calder, Sandown or Winton. It is so much safer, so much more fun and I won’t kill anyone. Hoefully none of you will EVER go through what I did. The pain will never ever stop.
GIVE them A TRACK AND THEY WONT USE THE STREETS ARRRRRRRR STUPID GOVERMENT…….THE MONEY SPENT ON THIS CRAP COULD BE USE FOR A TRACK!!!
Matt, there are tracks around, but the problem is, the urban spread in Australia is so badly planned that the traditional circuits are being pushed out. Calder is almost surrounded by houses now and its just a matter of time before it goes. Sandown is the miracle track in that it still operates. Eastern Creek is way too far out of Sydney. Its all a catch 22. Unfortunately motor sport in Australia is dominated by V8 Supercars and there push is into street circuits so the traditional permenent tracks are starved of funds. For the track owners, its easier to sell up for housing than it is to fights. Imagine what Calder and Oran Park are worth as realestate? In the outer south east of Melbourne, there is nothing for legal street drags. The owner of Tooradin Airport wanted to use the runways for legal street drags but the residents and local council stopped it. So the end result is tragedy as I know all too well!
It is hard these days. saw a guy pulled over two days ago on the gold coast by a black golf GTi (I think it was a GTi) with the lights flashing from the grill. The gold coast has had a red ute, a black 300c, and now the golf as undercover cars – I suspect they would move them around the state from time to time. Strewth, it makes it hard. Makes you miss the old undercover XD falcons.
I would like to know the answers to these questions;
1) How are they going to assess the effectiveness of what they are doing, and it shouldn’t be based on the number of cars they crush, rather the lives they save. (Please remember figures can be easily adjusted to suit whatever cause)
2) What if these kids have taken out a loan on their vehicle, how will this be tackled?
3) I think the idea of crushing a car is ludicrous if it can be sold on to a more responsible driver. Its not the car, its the user that’s the problem.
4) These kids need something to do, South Australia is conservative enough as it is, and we want this state to thrive. So lets come up with solutions.
There are sprint Kart racing tracks everywhere as well. If you think you are fast, go kart racing and get your ego busted.
However I do think the various gov’ts expect their committees to come up with ever more outrageous penalties directed at ever decreasing minorities. Having said that, I think the minority of young blokes who do this shit are getting ever more stupid by the day, and are drawing attention to their stupid selves every day.
I mean, just listen to the crap above – all along the lines of “we wouldn’t do it if they GAVE us somewhere to do our shit…….”. FFS, earn what you think you need, don’t expect to have your nappy changed by your mummy forever.
Anyone who uses the roads as a private race track deserves harsh punishment. A car can be used like a weapon; it is just as dangerous as a bomb if used incorrectly. What do the police need to do to stop this senseless stupidity? IMO life time bans from driving should put enough fear into these goofballs. If you are racing to get out of Adelaide, take it easy. The best view of Adelaide is in the rear view mirror.
If even half the money spent on these do-good committees was spent on driver training at a high school level the problem would be far less widespread than it is now. It’s a simple matter of prioritising the decision making process. These reactive ideas only achieve so much.
I pity the fools who think street racing is an option. Get a Playstation, idiots. If you only knew the thousands of people out there living as cripples, mourning their lost and living their lives in guilt with the blood of innocent people on the their hands.
Street racing is like Russian Roulette. Only the gun isn’t pointing at just your own head. The room is packed with your friends, family, and a whole swag of friendly people you’ve never met, and you can’t seem to hold the gun steady…
So go on, punch the pedal, pull the trigger. Who knows, you might get your thrill and maybe no one will get hurt, this time. Maybe.
As most of the readers here have mentioned before, Driver Training should be made compulsory before handing 18y/o their liscence.
Even better, show them slideshow of aftermath of accidents during the training like broken arms, smashed skull, guts spilling out, etc…this should give them a vision of things to come if they hoon.
“Give us our race track and we won’t race on the road” – IMHO, it’s a poor excuse for illegal road racing. In Malaysia, we have a serious problem with road racers, not cars but bikes. We initially thought it was because of lack of racing venues so concerned groups actually organised events for these fellas. No prizes for guessing what happens next… the road races became a bigger problem.
Road racing is a serious problem that endangers public safety and property, never mind the safety of the participants. IMHO, it’s got nothing to do with sports or recreation. It’s purely for the ego. Along that we have problems with drugs and gangsterism.
Well done, Government of SA.
They should bring this law to Victoria.
What if the car these clowns are doing this in is not owned by them, [ie financed] or mums car etc, the police have no right to impounding/crushing that vehicle, whats the law in that regard?
Just look at the burnout marks on the roads and you can see that the cops have not really made any impact on stopping this behaviour
I am ALL FOR going mental in you car, good relief, but PLEASE leave it to Calder Park or Sandown race tracks etc
Cheers
F-0
how may deaths injuries are there because of this? not sure how big a problem it is. I keep seeing sticks used but where are the carrots? What about police run drag/street races, radar guns used to time cars, close of a street? Build relationships with the youth/drivers.
Speeding is not the only stupid form of driving. How about the journalists from this site doing some investigations and FOI to get figures on where fines for not keeping left, tail gating etc have gone up.
I honestly don’t care if people do burnouts in carparks or whatnot. Street racing is dumb and dangerous, but I’ve never seen it happen. Ever.
I’ve seen a few accidents in the area, but NONE of them from street racing. They were all mostly driver inattention, environmental hazards, some speeding (dubious) and one case of drink driving.
I don’t know what these laws are going to do, but I have a bad feeling they are just going to demonise a group which are really a minor problem at most.
As a ‘young male driver’, I feel incredibly offended that these laws are specifically targeting me when it is certainly not my fault that I belong to this category. Next we are going to start targeting aboriginals because that group has a statistically higher incidence of crime and domestic violence. As if all the other groups are somehow morally elevated.
When I was younger I was getting pulled over all the time by the cops because my car was too loud, too low etc. I handled the defect notices. Went too Regency and was cleared each time. The car was within the bounds of the law. I was never in any real trouble because I WAS NOT DOING ANYTHING WRONG ACCORDING TO THE LAW. The new tough laws that are being proposed here in SA are nothing too worry about if you are doing the right thing. They are called HOON LAWS. EG. excessive speeding, street racing, burnouts etc. If you do not participate in this type of behaviour you have nothing too worry about.
Personally I think they will achieve stuff all, but they are better than nothing at all IMO!.
PS. The same people complaining about these new laws are the same bunch that complain about revenue raising speed cameras. Simple solution don’t speed and you don’t add to the governments coffers. I have not had a speeding fine in over 14 years and I have owned some powerful cars over that time too and own one currently!
^^^^^^MGH Says:
June 18th, 2009 at 11:23 am
“I honestly don’t care if people do burnouts in carparks”
Yeah ok, supply us YOUR driveway or carpark then, i am sure that Wollies/Coles/Bunnings/McDonalds/ElwoodBeach etc etc carpark owners, DON’T share your view! :-)
Cheers
F-0
eh179driver, i would just like to let you know that Adelaide International Raceway has been closed for 4-5 years. In Adelaide we have no 1/4 mile drag strip.
They should make a rule where if you get caught hooning around your car has to wear some uncool wheel brace or whatever so the hoons look like idiots with a “dunce” hat on.
Maybe passenger restrictions too?
Wonder if they can fit a device where it recognizes if the wheel is locked to one side to the build up of revs it shuts down the engine or something similar?
When they bring in this legislation – watch the number of high speed chases increase tenfold. How many drivers have not had a race or two when they were younger. This would turn your kids into criminals as soon as they get their license. Crush someones car they will just get a baseball bat and steal another by force. Motorists will get a huge increase in insurance premiums to pay for the extra car thefts. We could always lock them up but then our taxes would go up to pay for the extra jails to be built. Time for someone with a brain to come up with a solution.
Truly sorry about this reply Stevothedevo……..
So it’s not you then that’s going to come up with a solution.
Hey,you left yourself so open there I couldn’t help myself.
The best analogy I heard for dangerous/drunk driving once was “that it is like someone taking a gun and randomly firing it into a crowd”. These idiots just put peoples lives at risk.
Just bring in car crushing already. Zero tolerance, first offence – car crushed.
Any idiot can come up with an idea such as ‘lets crush cars’ – it takes a brain to think about the effects of implementing such ideas. The Govt are trying to control underage binge drinking so they increase the tax on premixed drinks – result: the kids get full strength bottles and mix their own (often much more potent).
So if they start crushing cars lets look at the possible scenarios.
A young driver does a burnout out the front of maccas and then sees in his rear view mirror the flashing red and blue lights – does he
a) pull over and have his car confiscated and crushed or b) plant his right foot and lead the cops on a high speed chase to avoid capture (he could always dump the car later and report it stolen).
One doesn’t need too many brain cells to figure out which option he will pick. Usually in these high speed chases some innocent third party gets taken out.
We need a solution that’s going to work and not have any unintended side-effects. Somehow I don’t think that the politicians or so-called experts have much of a clue.
Hey Stevedevo,not being smart here,can you come up with an idea that will work.If we start thinking of ideas maybe lives could be saved as a result.
Just bagging the powers that be wont help,as they never seem to get it right.
I enjoy spirited driving,and in my past have done reckless things that now make me shudder.
It has been proved scientifically that youths’ brains are not fully formed untill about 23 years old.This gives younger people the false idea that they are bullitproof.If one gets a licence at the tender age of 17,this gives them 6 years of bullitproof driving.Thats a lot of hours on the road in a killing machine.
Maybe stricter monitoring of repeat offenders could work.
I doubt it, people drive around with no licence for years without getting caught.
The prescence of unmarked cops should help,but they should only be allowed to target sub 23 year-olds,Ha.
Maybe the global fuel crisis will become a financial deterrent one day,but that isn’t around the corner.
Maybe CA could start a forum for us to submit our suggestions,surely as a whole we could come up with some reasonable ideas.
Regards ATNAM {} {}
To the sad individual that voted me down, please reply rather than giving me a meaningless negative vote, for goodness sake have YOUR say.
It’s easy and annonymous, what exactly are you voting against ?, come on for goodness sake, speak up, use the voice that you have been blessed with,do it, do it NOW !
Stevo & the Allergic one, try this for an idea. In my formative motoring years I belonged to car clubs where we had activities such as MotorKahna’s and drags and that organized at proper places. We did all our showing off in front of our mates in a controlled enviroment and were even taught to do it better. Now I understand the issues of insurance and not upsetting the general (noisy minority) public because doing this in an industrial area might make people drive down their streets, but surely the government might have more success saving lives by suporting these events.
Alternatively get the law enforces to actually drive hi vis vehicles (say smaller cheaper ones like Corolla or Focus) instead of hiding in unmarked or camera vans etc and see what happens. More presence simply equals less problems
Once again, they keep on mentioning just young male drivers… what about all the bloody soccer mums’ in their over-sized 4×4s I see doing wreck-less driving on a daily basis.
Why don’t the police ever do something about them?!
I have a question: Can you get done for hoon driving if a policeman sees you skid a bit around a corner but then, after doing a U-turn (assumedly to pursue you), they don’t pull you over? I.e. Can they take your number plate and get you later on?
Fairly typical of the police force to react in this way, I think its fundamentally an issue of the moron individuals that represent the vast majority of traffic police officers and the general policy towards speeding offenses etc.
I really feel for the guys in SA without any serious motor sport facilities, it’s unsurprising when people take it to the streets in light of such a disgraceful level of infrastructure.
In the end it comes down to do the police want to save lives and create a safer motoring population ?
Sorry but the answer is no, if they were serious then as many of the responses have outlined they would not be targeting minorities and instead working on a solution to the much larger problems that plague the road using population. Policies such as this pander and placate the wowzers and vocal minorities that seem to have nothing better to do.
i used to be a stupid driver & grew up & i see the answer is simple, make the laws maniditory so no judge can let people off with lighter sentences its this simple, people know if they look sorry & have a good lawyer they will keep their license one way or another but with manitory enforcement theres no chance & they will know what the punishment is no matter what. also maybe the law needs to add ideas like sentencing people to the military to learn.
oh carz this is a reply to you, YES HOON DRIVING IS A CRIME & KILLS PEOPLE!!! GROW UP, I DID.
All i have to say its the idots who are racing and or having drag/burn out meets on the streets have made it bad for all of us… what were they thinking???? that it was going to make the goverment get us all a track to race… HA HA HA, the old bastads dont care about our interests at all, they want us all to go away for ever….
I have a modified car and i dont race on the streets… I am just concerned if iam driving down the road I will be pulled over for no other reason other than i have a modified car and picked on… and lets say the Mr police officer is having a bad day, so he decieds to lie and say i was doing some thing i was not causing my car to be crushed or impounded, how the hell can i prove i wasnt doing any thing wrong??????? and for all you do gooders reading this thinking Police dont do that sort of thing…. WELL THEY DO!!!!! who is to stop them????
SO ARE THEY GOING TO BE TAGETING HOON DRIVING OR JUST HOON RELATED OR MODIFIED CARS ON OUR ROADS???? Iam sure this is what most of us car nuts are concered about…….
Antoher thing… what if the so called young hoon is driving his parents car???? or a loan car or a hire car???
And isnt it ilegal to sell a motor car if its under finace in Aust, so how can they just take your car or crush your car… its the goverment causing property damage which is against the law…..
So are you left paying off a car finace for the next 5 years after your car is crushed….
I say just put them in jail for a few months, crushing cars is just not right.. people dont only drive their own cars, if anything people are more likely to drive like a hoon in someone elses car, like a loan car from your friendly crash repairer…..
reply to mattys comment, if some idiot hoon is driving his parents car & gets caught so be it, crush that car that was used & let him or her answer to the parents, why should the government allow hoon excuses? whatever car a hoon uses the hoon loses. come on people get behind me & vote as its clear the hoons simply dont care if they are like matty.
reading throw all the coments i agrear with all we do need a track or tracks i all so agree to the people like eh179driver who have loved ones killed. my self being road acdent rescure know what a splated person looks like. what i donot agree with is the cops being judge and jury the vecheil should be take off then for 6 months and then processed if the courts say the vechical is crushed the so be it i wood all so perfer to seen them sold as parts or hole and the money put in to helping hospitals or fixing the roads. but all afenders need to be aloud there day in court.
Lyndon Bushnell all i can say is i hope some one uses your car and gets it crushed. all its going to do with the new larws is caurs more deaths as they will run instead of stoping and block the courts up with people like perents and friends who are being punished for something they didnot do.
Drunk/drugged drivers are the biggest killers on the road and yet nothing is done about them. I know why. Its because it wouldnt be a popular law as so many people drink and could think they “could” be caught.
If you do it to one, it must be done to drink driving, its just as dangerous (or more) as racing high speed side by side.
Get a life losers. You endanger lives full stop. Just because drink driving kills more people doesn’t mean we ignore high speed racing. Here comes the crusher! I’m gonna dob in and laugh.
let people have A LIFE soon every1 will be wraped up in bubble rap, at lest have more places with streets where u can do it!!
WELL Lyndon Bushnell
one day you might be unlucky enough to crash your car, and when you go to see your local crash repairer and ask him for a loan car, he can tell you “sorry mate they have all been crushed, but we have a bike for you”
or maybe your at home thinking i want a pizza… home delivered…..sorry all our delivery cars are crushed….
or when your car is in being fixed at a mechanic and he lets his young apprentice take your car for a test drive and gets involed in a drag race…”yep she is all fixed mate..its just a little flat from the doors up”
were will it stop at the taxis ???
this new law will effect everyone not just hoons…
Give me a break you people. the fact you don’t have facilities to act out your death wishes, IS NOT A REASON to take it to the streets.
If you’re worried about the high speed pursuit after laying a burnout in front of Macca’s, here’s an idea to avoid it – don’t do it in the first place.
Honestly, given the possible outcomes of hoon driving (=death of driver, passengers, innocent bystanders (someone else’s son or daughter, brother or sister), there is NO defensible reason to take this to the streets. The hoon doesn’t care about themselves, their passengers or innocent bystanders, they only care about their cars. Crushing the car is the only way they’ll sit up and take notice.
There is a place to vent this sort of behaviour – put the passion and energy into pressing govt into such a facility, but leave the streets alone.
ATT smarty “your an idiot” regardless of who’s car a hoon drives it should be crushed, otherwise idiots like you will drive other peoples cars to drive stupidly & avoid getting them crushed, you make me laugh. if you drive a car & you drive like a hoon you pay the cost & thats crushing the car you were caught in its simple, maybe a little hard for you to understand though.
We have a awsome race track sitting there doing nothing how about spending some of that revinue money on fixing AIR so we have a place to partake in the things that interest us I and alot of others like me will continue to speed and drive dangerously because we have no place where we can crushing my car does not affect me at all does everyone want to make SA a retirement vilage I dont NSW has a race track in nearly every major country centre are we really that far behind the times
Bushnell’used to be a stupid driver, then grew up’ what a Hypocrite you are! Why dont you attend your nearest police station and take responsibility for your past ’stupid driving’, then your suggestions in regards to hoon driving might carry more weight. As to your suggestion to have hoon drivers complete Military Service; I can tell you my alleged hoon driving son will not be sent off to war for the likes of you. Also calling people idiot etc shows a lack of vocabulary. Just so you know; no amount of money can keep a licence safe; I know this for a fact! My family all work,(my son since he was 15yrs of age), so if we can afford a lawyer so be it; money better spent than supporting our current welfare system or using legal aid which my son would now be entitled to, as he lost his job due to the alleged driving offenses.
Thank you to Matty re loan cars; finance cars etc. Currently my daughter is not able to sell her car as her brother has hoon driving pending charges; so in good old SA they can take the car and or cause excessive fincancial hardship to a person who has no criminal history and who took her car back as soon as she found out what her brother had allegedly done.
To the families who have lost and or have maimed family members my heartfelt sorries; I too have lost family and friends to cars.
To sit in court with a son while he goes up for hoon driving is very frustrating as I have seen discounts and or charges withdrawn for all types of serious offenses. The law is not a fair playing ground but it is not always due to what type of money you have either.
The law says the car can’t be sold at this time as it may need to be sold under the hoon driving laws; it says nothing about damaging it and I can tell you if they are successful they better bring a trailer as I will be the first one to take a axe to it!
To Jason,
Yes they can just take your number plate and get you later. They dont even have to have your number plate just the description of the car or less eg along the lines – the officer ‘heard a car squeal then minutes later seen a car that sounded like the car they heard squeal’. Or they can take a statement over the phone from a witness who also cant give the number plate; who has no qualifications but have a personal opinion on misuse of a motor vechile. It is currently happening to my family member. To pleaxd not guilty and go to trial will cost thousands – I have been told by our lawyer.
LOL YouTube video titled “Lyndon Bushnell In his Suzuki Vitara Playing in the mud in port pirie”. For your infomation the salt flats are classed as a public road. While I am no expert on misuse of a motor vechile I suggest/wonder if the video could actually be classed as misuse of a motor vechile which is a hoon driving offense. So much for your past ’stupid driving’. So what would you suggest should your punishment – perhaps compulsary Military Service and your Suzuki Vitara crushed?
Ok Folks look at it logically. 1) a hoon will be a hoon no matter where they are or no matter what they are driving. 2) Regulations are the only way to stop the problem of hoons.
I am fully aware of the problem of hooning kids as I had one of my cars (a VY S pak) written off by my 18 yr old. He bought one of his own, a VS exec, ………..OMG he blew the diff in it weeks later, HOONING. He is now on his 6th vehicle. Yes you read that correctly, at 18 his 6th vehicle.
Most recently, I myself was involved in an accident, I was traveling 70kph in an 80 Zone and I was cleaned up, rear ended by an 18yr old female. The police issued her a summons for cul. driving. she was excess of a 100 in the 80.
Folks for the sake of the kids, the future, and the innocents. Bickering about the situation and making speculation will do nothing to solve the problems. The situation needs to be addressed and it needs to have some sort of solution. I agree with the old idea that “IF YOU SPARE THE ROD YOU SPOIL THE CHILD” in saying this I believe that the FEAR of losing the car forever would be as much a determining factor in the outcome of the situation. Preaching does nothing, I have tried this with mine. You cant ground or punish someone that is over 18 because according to the GOVT. they are an adult. Where does that leave you. I dont know. I wish I had the answer to that.
I am sorry if I have offended you with what I have already written and if I what I am about to write offends you more then you needent read further………But the drinking age needs to be taken to 21 here in Australia. Giving a kid the ability to drive and the ability to legally drink at the same time is a recipe for all sorts of bad things to happen. The young ones need to have a couple years experience driving before they are allowed to drink.
What the people who have recently commented this article do not seem to understand is that this “sport” is terribly dangerous, and you say police are not out looking for murders, do you not understand that people get killed when they are hit by cars?! Do you not understand that people get KILLED driving like this?! I am not an adult, in-fact i am far from it, i am only 16 but something that i understand more than you people whom god knows could be wiser and smarter than me is this; two of my friends were killed drag racing and i don’t think that anybody else should have to go through what me and my friends who were left went through!
you know NOTHING of the damage that has been done!