Tough new anti-hoon laws for NSW

By George Skentzos | December 04th, 2007

Under a new set of laws outlined today by the NSW Government, car hoons could face potential jail time for aggravated street racing, burnouts and other dangerous driving offences.

The news comes following the decision to begin destroying cars in crash tests as a drastic measure to cull would-be hoons.

Fines associated with these offences have also trebled to $3300, with police now given the power to strip a driver of their licence for up to 12 months.

Repeat offenders may also face jail time of up to 9 months, where as previously this only applied following a second more serious offence such as colliding with another car or injuring a person.

Car owners and parents are also in the firing line if their car is used by the convicted driver, with measures extending to a wheel clamping program, where cars are immobilised and dumped in owner’s yard at home.

Perhaps if the NSW Government would actually consult these “hoons” to better understand the needs for a cheap, easily accessible race track these sorts of laws would not be necessary.

As it stands now, Australia is quickly following Canadian and U.S. authorities by passing tough anti-hoon laws to crush cars and jail drivers. From preliminary reports from our allies in the US, similar laws have done nothing to curb the hoon-epidemic.

Stay tuned for more knee-jerk reactions from other state governments in the next 6-12 months.

preetox

ive only just got my Ps, and i really do not want to lose my car, so id like to know wat is classified under “other dangerous driving offences”, does it include accellerating quickly off the lights?
Jason

Well thats arguable, why were you accelerating so quickly off the lights? Racing another car? Then yes, goodbye car and license.
http://navelcontemplation.blogspot.com/2007/03/i-don-get-fashion.html supercujo

Never mind the intent of these new laws, what scares me is this: ‘with police now given the power to strip a driver of their license for up to 12 months.’

Good cops would use this properly, whereas I am scared what a bad cop, who is having a bad day, would do with these laws behind him/her.

You chirp your tyres on a white line at the lights and they could take your license for 12 months on the spot. Sure, you can fight this in the court but you will be without a license until it is thrown out. Fucking madness.

Cops shouldn’t be given the power to determine penalties, that is what a magistrate is for.
Reckless1

$3300 fine, 9 months jail, 12 months license loss, for a wheelie off the lights.

Whilst I no longer see wheelies as fun (but I did when I was 17 ) I regard this sort of lawmaking as loony bin stuff.

You young blokes better get your jollies bashing grandmothers, as the penalties are less.

Absolutely insane, the world’s going mad.
http://www.importjap.com/blog ImportJap

This is complete madness, something along the lines of “we must destroy the village, in order to save it” style thinking.
Me.

Oh, lay off that NSW!!! That won’t stop hoons, it will make them dare. BUT IT WILL make them want to stop.
Gibbo

I agree with the article. If the government wants to get “hoons” off the road then build us a burnout/race track that is cheap to use and easilly accessible to all.
Jason

I agree with Reckless1 – $3300 fine, 9 months jail, 12 months license loss just for doing a burnout? I mean seriously its just a simple act of spinning a rubber tyre!

These laws are ridiculous and the penalties are completely out of whack with the offences. The state government should wake up to itself and spend more resources putting facilities in place to promote such activities in a controlled environment.

Seems the goverment thinks speeding, running redlights and drink driving are less serious offences. A quick check of the RTA website reveals that doing more than 45km/h over the speed limit in a school zone attracts a smaller penalty than the proposed new hoon laws. Make any sense in that?
Me.

So this means if I lived in NSW, I take off at the lights and hit the gas too hard, I get a $3300 fine, 9 months jail & 12 months license loss???

Come on! I understand if it were illigal well planed out drag and burnout competitions on the street and they keep doing it after they have already been in troble for it, but taking off too hard and you’re faced with all that has gone too far.
Glen

There is no law against how fast you accelerate. And if the cop trys to charge you for it take it to court.

12 months jail for 1 measly burnout, what quantifies a burnout??? If its blatant hoon type stuff then maybe a night in the slammer but 12 months. You get less than that for drunk driving. J O A K joke
daniel

I think it is about time they got tougher with these laws – but its still not going to work.

On paper the laws look good (in the governments eyes) and when looking at them on paper I say to myself “shit better be careful”….which is what most people will say. How many people are going to say “shit better not race, speed, race other cars anymore”

I don’t think the government will support the idea of a race track. Why would they put their name to a race track that a bunch of kids are going to kill themselves on? They all think they are Michael Schumacher.
bubba ganush

I also agree with reckless. It seems the only thing cops can do is crack down on motorists. I’m not dirty at the average cop doing his duty and yes there are good and bad cops out there.

But i bet he/she gets pissed off having to enforce these laws and also catching someone red handed for murder, go through all the paper work and hear that some slimy lawyer got them off due to “society failing them” and other nonsense.

They are not looking at all the factors of this problem. what about the insurance companies, finance companies, mummy and daddy that put their kids cars under their insurance policy so they can either own or pay cheaper rates or even worse just whip out the wallet and pay the fines for them?

and yes i know not all hoons drive import turbos or v8s there are alot that do it in clapped out camrys corollas hyundai excells EA’s etc but i think punish repeat offenders but as time has proven tickets or losing a peice of plastic with their photo on isnt gonna deter them that much
Anthony

Limiting everyone to 2.0L Engines makes more sense and even that is retarded.
Casey

Did the NSW gov’t ever consider spending money on getting driver’s ed in to the cirriculum at school instead?

I know it won’t entirely solve the ‘hoon’ issue, but it’d give kids a better understanding of what a vehicle is and isn’t capable of and allow driver development in a monitored environment.

Most parents can’t drive, so what hope have kids got in learning from them. Private lessons are too expensive for most families, and unchecked a probationary driver just develops bad habits.

I think Driver’s Ed is an idea that is being discounted far too quickly.
dw49on

u CANNOT get in shit for taking off quick,hell u could even rev the fuck out of ur engine in front of a cop station and they wouild only do u for loud exhaust.These rules are SHITHOUSE,im losing my licence because some cop thought i was speeding in a school zone which is a deadset crok.
So now its my 2nd conviction,wat now i better get my hands on some prison greens and there going 2 samsh up my custom VR commodore wagon as well?Fucking joke
John

That is just nonsense. Instead of making up laws targeting hoons, why not spend the millions of dollars they take from tax payers and fund some driver education courses?

Learning how to control a car and learning about the consequences of speedind, racing and burnout is the main key in kurbing this behaviour.

i’m 18, and i like to drive quick. Fortunately i have a drag strip and track not too far from home, however why isnt there money thrown into creating a designated drag strip for people to have fun?

Just another revenue raising plan by the government
John

Oh, forgot to add…

restricting a driver to a car with a smaller displacement or no performance mods is another stupid idea.

anyone could wrap their mums excel around a pole, it just means they have to push it harder than a v8 or a turbo 4.
F@ GTHO

maad i say maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddd
JET12V

The one thing that ticks me off about the NSW Government is their constant use of quick fix tactics on all things related to driving. Tell me why we built a state of the art drag racing complex which takes at least 50 min waiting for your next run and only on a wednesday night, what about Friday and Saturday nights????
And with Hoons being such a problem, why are we closing another great track, Oran Park to build more houses??? Will it be replaced with another simular venue, i don’t think so and Eastern Creek are so full of themselves, they offer nothing. The majority of driver training days are held at Oran Park.
Just goes to show, NSW gov only have dollar signs in their eyes and really don’t care what happens to society.
Marie

These laws aren’t going to stop ‘hoons’ from driving recklessly, they’ll just make it more exciting, knowing the consequences. And why should the police have the right to suspend your licence for up to 12 months when thats what we have a magistrate for!
Thats totally barbaric!!
Tom

Two words: driver ed.
SickBro

good laws i reckon
daniel

nuthing will stop speeding ,the only thing to do is to control it!!
limiting the engine size to a 2l engine is also stupid coz a 2l car has a fair bit of balls ,some n14 pulsars have an sr20 ,which is fast enuff to do damage ,nothing will stop speeding ,like i said ,the only way is to control it by having drag meets and stuff like that

thats juust my opinion atleast
mitch

the simple fact is the government cant stop speeding, police are cracking down on it because P platers keep killing themselves. alot of people on this thread do sound like hoons that just want to go fast and thats perfectly fine but just remember one mistake at speed and thats it. i lost a best mate of 12 years last week because he was a hoon. pulled a telegraph pole out of the ground in a 180sx. im not looking for sympathy or anything just trying to give another perspective on the matter.
glen

is there any law about doing a burnout in your own driveway
glen

also this is gonna make people panic if they get seen hooning and try and get away from the cops.
Wayne

hi everyone just wondering if anybody knows if i can legally put a set of extractors and sports exhaust system on my standard auto 1990 skyline???
Wayne

im located in NSW in respect to the above question
Parker

What they need most is just somewhere to go, they use streets out of necessity, even then when they do its far away from houses, people and other cars, but the cops specifically target those areas, just to find them and raise revenue.

A large concrete or asphalt area, made specifically for supervised “hooning” in each town/city where “hooning” is a problem is all that is required.

‘P’ plates = cop magnet
mitch

I was just wondering about the laws of car heights and neon lights in Queensland like how high can you have your car or if you can have neon lights or not?
Please get back to me as soon as possible. Thanks
bj

hai everyone do you realise the laws are hipacritical, i see lots of government associated people including todays officers flick there lights just to speed and let go, i see justice will never be served they will only target the minority… ive seen this as evidence and think wish i could be some one that can do something about it, because the way i see it is if they want to bring out laws let it apply to everyone that does the wrong thing not just your everyday person. thank you for reading my opinion
skye

Stupid cops/pigs! I want to know what the actual statistics REALLY are for every street racer out there, how often results in an actual crash or someone being injured? I think you’d find that the percentages are in fact VERY small.

It is ignorant and stupid for someone to say every single street racer will result in an accident.
It should be reviewed and enforced on a case by case basis only and only when there has been an actual crash. If someone if a good driver and never has a crash why should they pay the penalty when that person knows their own limits?

In other countries like Serbia and Hong Kong it is only enforced when the driver causes the accident – which is the way it SHOULD be.

Stupid cops why don’t they go go their jobs right and actually do something to service the community from violent offenders – but no they couldn’t care less about that it’s all about money.
http://www.google.com/ Azia

Grazi for miankg it nice and EZ.
Al Juraj

Licence suspension I agree with, but the fine would probably even be more than the value of the average hoon’s car. It’s just unrealistic and perhaps greedy.
stan

good law. I ride a bicycle and put up with hoons trying to swerve to run me off the road, trying to scare me by driving too close at high speed, abusing me for just being on the road, and throwing things at me while they drive past.

If you cant judge the distance and speed of another vehicle or be able to control your vehicle then you shouldn’t possess a licence.
Gareth

instead of doing better driving education, or giving young people cheap access to a place where they can push their cars they make ridiculous reactionary policy like this

the road toll hasn’t changed much at all in the last 5 years and i dare say it hasn’t changed much at all when you take population growth into account.

also its been proven time and time and time again that harsher penalties DO NOT make for less crime…

20 years ago “hoons” or enthusiasts as i will call them drove cars that would be considered completely illegal today, there were whole sections of road that people knew were used for street racing, fast driving and drag racing. And it was never a problem…

the vehicle laws in this country are some of the strictest anywhere in the world, and for wehat reason? im sick of it…