Tough new laws to crack down on hoons
Thursday, 26 May 2011
From the Minister for Roads
The Victorian Coalition Government will introduce the toughest hoon laws Victoria has ever seen.
Introducing the Hoon Driving Bill to Parliament last night, Roads Minister Terry Mulder said the new laws are aimed at sending a strong message that dangerous hoon driving will not be tolerated.
Mr Mulder said the Coalition Government is committed to reducing road trauma and making Victoria's roads safer.
"The Coalition Government is taking tough action on road safety against people who have no regard for the safety of other road users and pedestrians," Mr Mulder said.
"These new laws will send a clear message to hoon drivers that they will be taken off the road for longer under the Coalition Government's new laws.
"We want to stop hoon driving in its tracks.
"This is about cracking down and sending the message that it won't be tolerated.
"On top of delivering our election commitments, I can announce today we will be introducing new laws to ban overloading of cars – where the driver carries more passengers than a car is designed to transport.
"Last month Premier Ted Baillieu said a driver carrying nine people in his car was 'a disaster waiting to happen - one skid away from catastrophe'.
These new laws show we are listening to the community and will take whatever action is necessary to make our roads safer."
The impoundment and immobilisation laws have also been broadened to apply to other high risk offences such as repeat offences of unlicensed driving, drink driving and drug driving.
Under the changes, which come into effect from 1 July, the period of immediate impoundment or immobilisation of vehicles on detection of a
'hoon' offence will be extended to 30 days.
Currently the period police may immediately impound or immobilise a vehicle is only 48 hours, which has been seen by some as a 'badge of honour'.
Other changes include the extension of the period, from three to six years, in which prior offences can be taken into account to determine if a vehicle impoundment offence is a second or subsequent offence.
The introduction of longer immediate impoundment or immobilisation periods has proven very successful in other Australian jurisdictions and also internationally.
"This legislation is about drivers taking responsibility for their actions and knowing that if they do the wrong thing, there is an immediate and substantial penalty," Mr Mulder said.
"Since hoon laws were introduced in 2006 more than 13,000 vehicles have been impounded but there is an ongoing challenge to reduce the number of dangerous drivers who engage in hoon behaviour."
Mr Mulder said people caught hooning won't just lose their cars for the current 48 hours - their cars will be impounded immediately for 30 days.
Police have been impounding (for 48 hours) an average of 10 vehicles a day.
Hoons caught a second time face losing their car for up to three months. In cases of extreme speeding (70km/hour or more), they can lose their car altogether.
If drivers cannot pay the fines and all of the costs associated with impoundment, they must forfeit the vehicle to police, who can dispose of or crush the vehicle. Hoons must pay the substantial costs of towing, storage, plus fines of up $2,389 if caught driving over the speed limit by 45km/hour or more.
The new laws will also mean for the first time police will be authorised to carry out roadworthiness inspections on hoons' impounded cars, issue defect notices ('canaries'), stipulate conditions about the use of the vehicle or ban the use of the vehicle outright. This will ensure unsafe cars are notreturned to the streets to threaten public safety in the future.
Drivers aged 18 to 25 account for over a quarter of driver fatalities each year; yet represent only 13 per cent of all licensed drivers.
Currently 44 per cent of hoon offenders are L or P plate drivers.
"These changes to vehicle impoundment legislation will save lives by taking dangerous drivers off the road," Mr Mulder said.
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