WAY DOWN UNDER IN FLORIDA

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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Three Strikes… And Your Car Gets Squashed Like A Pancake

"HOONING"!!

It's a common enough expression in Australia and New Zealand, but the problem is universal and occurs in just about every country where young people drive cars.

"Hoon" is term most commonly used to describe a young person who engages in loutish or anti-social behaviour. According to Wikipedia, "Hoon" activities can include speeding, burnouts, doughnuts or screeching tyres. Those commonly identified as being involved in "hooning" or street racing are predominantly male (although increasingly female drivers) in the age range of 17 and 35 years.

In June, 2006, the Victorian State Government introduced "hoon laws" to target offenders as outlined above, as well as those who repeatedly drive while having a disqualified licence.

Given that the behaviours of these hoons are the cause of a very large number of teen deaths, the current (and very successful) laws are about to be given a facelift. According to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, they want to 'CRUSH the spirit of hoons'.

The new laws will see first time offenders lose their vehicles for seven days (as opposed to two days under current legislation). Second time offenders will have their cars impounded for thirty days. If you're stupid enough to offend a third time, the vehicle will be dealt with in a similar fashion to that of a 22-year old man who was the first person to have his car crushed under Victoria's anti-hoon laws. The Holden Commodore was crushed today at a suburban Melbourne metalworks. Checkout the video:



Since the laws first came into effect in 2006, police have impounded an average of ten cars a day. There is even a 'hoon hotline' setup for neighbours to 'dob in a hoon'.


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1 comment:

Bryan said...

The car is really gone in a matter of seconds!