Rat-run hoons driving Toowoomba crazy
TOOWOOMBA residents are dobbing in hundreds of hoons a year – and the city’s traffic police boss says drivers treating suburban streets like highways is one of the top complaints.
Queensland Police Service figures show 969 calls were made to the Hoon Hotline in the Darling Downs last year.
Toowoomba Road Policing Unit officer in charge Senior Sergeant Brad Clark said many of the reports they received were about speeding in residential areas.
“We get a lot of people in suburban streets and people speeding past using various streets around the place as a rat run,” Snr Sgt Clark said.
“We have the roadworks around Toowoomba, obviously when there’s roadworks people seek alternate routes.”
Snr Sgt Clark said Ballin Dr was one of the main areas for this kind of complaint.
“It’s a busy suburban 50kmh street and people tend to use it as a short cut and forget it’s a 50kmh zone and treat it as a 60 zone – and usually people in a 60 zone go more than 60,” he said.
He listed Tourist Dr and Holberton St as other speeding hotspots.
His message to road users is to be respectful of residents in the area.
“They’re family-orientated houses, there are people walking their dogs, kids out on the footpath; it’s not a highway so show a bit of common decency as well as a bit of patience,” he said.
“It may very well be they save 30 seconds to a minute off their trip – how would they feel if they crash into mum taking the kids to school?”
Snr Sgt Clark encouraged people to phone the hotline with information and asked for their patience.
“Make complaints by all means, ring and let us know but we can’t be there 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But we will get there.”
RACQ spokeswoman Lauren Ritchie said hooning was a road safety and antisocial behaviour issue.
Ms Ritchie said immaturity played a “huge part” in hooning and they typically saw a decrease in offending when people grew up.
She said the Hoon Hotline relied on the public to help crack down on the problem.
“People in regional areas do need to report these sorts of offences, particularly if they are causing a nuisance to your friends and family,” she said.
More than 22,000 calls
were made to the hotline 13HOON (13 4666) across Queensland last year.