Hooning: The driving habit that makes you a selfish tool
We've all seen them fly by us at double the speed limit as we stand patiently at the crossing with our kids on the way to school, but what can we actually do to stop hooning?COMMENT
A few weeks ago, as I drove my kids to school, a souped-up Mitsubishi came right up behind me, rapidly switched lanes, overtook and then continued to swerve in and out of traffic, pushing 70km/h in a 40 km/h school zone as if it was doing some speedway tapestry.
Clearly, this driver was far more important than the lives of school children that they zoomed past on the footpaths and who waited at the designated crossings, not to mention all the other motorists they shared the road with, and I totally understand why. I mean it was obvious that they were above the law, most likely a V.I.P. who was needed somewhere ten minutes ago; these are all legitimate reasons and a 100 per cent genuine excuse for all of the dangerous and illegal driving that I had borne witness to (which, in reality, was probably just the tip of this person’s hooning iceberg).
If it isn’t clear; I am being sarcastic. I absolutely do not think any of these things.
Actually, for me, when it comes to hooning, sarcasm is the only way I can broach the topic because I absolutely detest this behaviour and while I won't go as far as to say that if you do it, I detest you too, I will say this- it is a tell-tale sign you are a massive tool.
Whether it is this sort of absolutely negligent driving or deciding to take the unregistered and non-roadworthy bomb you are working on from your at-home garage out for a late-night spin where the repeated engine rev and squealing tyres can be heard up and down what had been the quiet suburban street. Or if it’s instead, deciding that some burnouts in the empty car park across the road are acceptable; in my eyes, they are all just as dangerous and stupid as the other.
While the rules on hooning vary from state to state, anywhere in Australia driving that is considered dangerous, reckless or anti-social is considered an illegal offence and is reprimanded under the law with a range of penalties and fines including vehicle impoundment and imprisonment.
In the case of Victoria, according to the Victoria Police, hooning or reckless driving laws introduced in July 2006, give police the power to impound, immobilise or permanently confiscate vehicles driven by people in a dangerous matter
Hooning offences are grouped into two categories– the first can result in a vehicle being impounded or immobilised after a first offence.
These include:
- driving while disqualified, suspended or unlicensed
- drink-driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.10 or more
- breaching an alcohol interlock licence condition
- speeding at 45 km or more above the speed limit
- driving at 145 km/hour or more in a 110 km/hour zone
- deliberately causing the vehicle to skid, smoke or make excessive noise (such as doing a burn-out)
- disobeying a police direction to stop
- riding a monkey bike (mini motorbike) on a road
- deliberately driving across tracks when a train is coming
- driving without having proper control of a vehicle
- driving negligently or dangerously while being chased by the police.
- having too many passengers in the vehicle (more passengers than seat belts)
- participating in a speed race, or organising one
- intentionally or recklessly exposing emergency workers or custody officers to risk by driving
- intentionally or recklessly driving into and damaging an emergency services vehicle (such as a police car or ambulance)
The second type of offence will only be classed as hoon driving if the vehicle has been involved in another hoon driving offence in the last six years, these include:
- driving with an illicit drug in your saliva or blood
- drink driving with a BAC of less than 0.10
- drink driving on a zero BAC licence (such as P-platers or taxi drivers) if BAC is more than zero and less than 0.10.
- deliberately damaging an emergency services vehicle, such as a police vehicle or ambulance.
The sad fact is, I knew a young man who could have probably ticked off most of those offences – he’s now dead; the car he was hooning in ended up wrapped around an electricity pole with him inside.
Despite this, I’m aware that many of his friends didn’t learn from the tragedy and continue to drive in this way- because for them, as it is for many others, his death was a “tragic accident” and for them, illegal and dangerous driving is justified as some sort of unspoken rite of passage, “boys, being boys,” a mantra that simply legitimises selfish and reckless driving.
And this is the bit that makes my blood boil the most. If you can't learn from the deaths of thousands of others, even your own mates who have hooned and then died before you, well I don’t really have any sympathy for what happens to you but putting other people at risk, well, that is what makes you nothing but a selfish tool.
Related: Police seize a Ford and Ferrari over the weekend in Canberra
Related: A Sydney council to trial noise-activated cameras to crack down on hooning
Related: The six driving crimes you may be guilty of
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