Victoria’s oldest “hoon” caught at 160km/h
July 30, 2009 by Matt Brogan
Updated 5:45pm
Victoria’s oldest “hoon” driver, a 79 year old man from the tiny town of Aubrey in the Wimmera, asked police if he could be let go with a warning after being clocked at 60km/h over the speed limit.
The man, who recorded a speed of 160km/h, came to a screeching halt in the middle of his lane after being intercepted by police.Police said the man was “unfazed and unrepentant” in attitude after being pulled over.
“He didn’t see me until he got within 150m of my patrol car,” Sergeant Patrick Harrington, from Murtoa, said.
“He hit the brakes and went by me and stopped in the middle of the lane and got out of his car.
“His excuse was that he was running late for an appointment, but he did say ‘it was lucky you didn’t get me before, I was going faster’. He wasn’t fazed or anything by the whole thing,” Sgt Harrington said
The man was initially seen 24km before the place he stopped but could not be caught in the first police vehicle, a four-wheel-drive, that was unable to match the 160km/h speed set in the man’s 1999 Mitsubishi Magna.
Despite all the wrong doings, and falling in to the category where police were able to immediately impound the car under anti-hoon laws, the driver was allowed to continue on his way.
He will be charged on summons with several speeding offences, including driving at a dangerous speed.
Updated 5:45pm: The man has now been asked to hand his car in to the local police station tomorrow where it will be impounded in accordance with anti-hoon legislation.
With Herald-Sun
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I bet any money that if it was somebody in the 18-25 bracket that they would have lost there car there and then. This is absoloutely rediculous, especially when the guy admitted to driving faster beforehand. I’m pretty sure at that age his reaction time wouldn’t be quite as good as somebody in the 18-25 bracket.
Give me a break, I was in Czechoslovakia and 160kmh was the MINIMUM speed people sit on, in there little tinny hatchbacks between towns. Yet here in Australia which is widely spaced with massive distances between towns and with large safe cars dominating the roads, 160kmh is hoon behaviour??? I dont want to get political but our current crop of state governments need a good hiding.
Are you promoting minimum speed of 160 in tinny little hatchbacks Jen? Maybe it’s Czechoslovakia’s crop of state governments need that hiding, hey?
Cars have never been safer, roads are contantly being improved, and research from other countries has shown that increasing speed limits on rural roads decreases accidents as people concentrate more and get less distracted. Honestly why do we put with these draconian speed controls? The amount of people dying from fatigue-inducing low speed limit roads is incredible.
Jen – this was in a 60km/h zone, not on the open road.
Still think it’s okay??
Ptwhite2003, it was 60 km/h over the speed limit. 160 in a 100 zone.
I read about an 80 odd year old man who discharged a firearm at the bloke next door in the paper today. He was given leaniency due to age as well. not very fair for the rest of us
Am over the Media’s overuse of said word “HOON”
Ptwhite2003, Please read the story properly in the very first paragraph it says he was 60 kph over the limit and in a remote area. Victoria has draconian speed limits even worse than NSW at least in NSW we are allowed 110 kph on remote roads!!
With modern cars being so safe and quiet 110 kph feels dangerously slow but it’s all about revenue that’s why recently in NSW police stopped booking low range offences to put pressure on their masters (the state government) for a pay rise
Jen when Czechoslovakia existed, there weren’t too many hatchbacks that could sit on 140, let alone 160…
Hell, there aren’t too many hatchbacks around the world right now, that would comfortably sit on 160km!!
160Km in 100Km is too much, who cares if the tool is risking his own life, but he is also risking the lives of innocent passers by!!
Its all very well to harp on about high speed limits in Europe, works well most of the time, but what about the recent 250+ car pileup in germany.
http://www.3news.co.nz/News/Hu.....fault.aspx
This bloke is obviously a DH.
Yes the police need to keep focusing on blatant revenue raising i.e 5kph over etc etc.
What kind of crappy 4WDs are the police using that can’t go 160 km/h?! Pathetic. Probably diesels. Any petrol V8 4WD could reach that speed easily.
Thomas you are dreaming if you think there are not many hatchbacks that can do 160 comfortably.
Pretty much ALL of todays hatchbacks can comfortably cruise on 160 – I know mine can.
What’s more amazing is that a 10 year old crapsubishi megna was able to…….
I’m looking forward to being booked at 200kph on the Hume when I’m 80 – you tend to get the feeling there’s not much they can do to you by then :)
Now Police men and Police women take note: THATS SPEEDING!
Good to see that not all senior citizens drive overly slow. Fatigue due to too low speed limits is the real killer on country roads/HWYs. If Govts were serious about reducing road deaths (instead of revenue) they would raise the speed limits to something appropriate.
Oh magoo you have done it again
Reckless1, No most of Today’s little hatchbacks don’t sit on 160km/h comfortably.
There is a difference between reaching 160Km/h, and sitting on 160km/h comfortably.
Tomas79, no, reckless1 is right. Sure 10 year old hatch backs might struggle, but considering most modern hatches max out around 190-220km/h, 160 shouldn’t be much of a stretch at all.
And if you have one that can’t, it is especially crap, replace it.
4.0L BF2 doesn’t exactly sit comfortably at 160Km/h, so how the hell will an econobox hatch with 1.2- 1.4L engine, sit comforably on 160km/h??
Lol at the hoon heads here…
Look us car enthusiasts love speed and performance and all. But its not worth killing some innocent person or a family just trying to get home safely.
I admit I use to follow a group of street racers when I was younger, we use to travel from servos to servos meeting up then going to the back alley of the industrial area around 2am in the morning to have “meets” checking each others vehicles and other modifications and such. And the odd street race between a couple of hot heads, we watch them and cheered but now I realize they were really risking other people’s lives.
Now when I see all these P platers driving their commodores, over taking at 30-40 kmph higher than speed limit sometimes without even turn signals.. I just shake my head and hope they hit a pole… not get seriously hurt or anything, but just get them to learn a valuable lesson…. its not worth losing your life or someone elses for some cheap adrenaline rush.
Go to a race track pay the $50 bucks and hammer your car ALL you want… in a safe and controlled environment.
I for one think this 79 year old isnt 100% up there in the head…. I’d get a professional to check him if he is senile or not. 160kmph without even feeling some sort of stress or sense of what he is doing… well its like having your arms on fire without realizing it because your numb in that area.
Either way, I hate the cop’s focus on “speeding” as much as the next guy, they should be patrolling the city arresting people bashers or groups of people doing violence to others… you know… actual criminal stuff!
BUT… in the end, you have a responsibility to LIVE and LET LIVE…. you hitting someone or some people head on or causing them to lose control of their vehicle because of your recklessness and negligence…. IS WRONG by all standards…. you can be Schumacher but you have to factor in that others dont have the skill and ability to control a car like you do… so its always the better driver obeying the rules for the average driver rather than the other way around.
european and other countries with 120+ kmph limit are that way for a reason, either lack of regulations, or they have the highway width/length and appropriate system in place and/or they have the proper training. I heard getting a license over there is about twice as difficult as getting license here in Oz, where practically ANYONE who can read a book (how to drive!) can pass the test….
Reckless 99 Magna can sit comfortably at 160 and do it all day long.
those magna’s were good.
Very stable cars at high speed helped no doubt by the advanced aerodynamics introduced with that model giving it a co-efficient drag of 0.28. Quite ahead of its time for an Aussie car although under appreciated by many.
Jen, I believe the country is called Czech Republic now, like it has done for a while, not Czechoslovakia.
Lukaas,
While I agree with pretty much all your statement, it does annoy me when people say “go to a ractrack and pay the $50 it costs”. The people who say this must never have been involved in motorsport as I can garuntee you if it only cost $50 to go flog my car at the track I’d be there every weekend without fail.
Car hoons should have their cars taken away and sold off and the money from those cars given to charity.
In regard to little hatchbacks cruising speed, I once drove one of the first series Ford Festiva’s in the NT and it cruised happily at 140 kmh, so a more modern hatch should cruise at 160 easily.
Tomas79 needs to get his BFII Falcon checked out … if it can’t cruise at 160 kmh, then it has serious issues, even earlier Falcons, due to a tailshaft vibration issue) had a speed limiter set at 180 kmh!