Hoons beware
ROAD trauma, hoon driving, excessive speed, drink and drug driving, driver distraction and fatigue are behaviours that we as police deal with on a regular basis.
What we see as drivers on the road, through media campaigns and in news stories, make us all aware of this whole-of-community issue.
Most of us have been affected by a tragedy relating to road trauma whether it be one of our family or friends involved or one of the first responders or witnesses to a serious or fatal collision.
We as police are constantly looking at reducing road trauma and prosecuting offenders for poor driver behaviour. We do this in a number of ways via policing operations, drug and alcohol testing, media campaigns and education in the community and in our schools.
Over the past few months I have conducted a number of community forums in Geelong and surrounds.
The community forums covered a number of policing issues and community concerns, however one of the consistent themes from the community was that the public felt that the police need to work harder on public complaints in relation to driver behaviour and in particular hoon behaviour and excessive speed.
I can assure the community that our road policing efforts are a constant focus in Geelong and the surrounding suburbs; however we always want to listen and receive information that may assist us in improving our ability to identify and prosecute the recidivist and high-risk driving offenders.
In addressing the community concerns, and to be able to assist you more in this area, I need your help.
If a member of the community is the subject of constant poor driver or hoon behaviour in their area and is aware of the times, locations and maybe even the identity of the offending driver, I urge them to contact our Crime Stoppers number 1800 333000. We act on any credible information received.
One of the challenges around this type of information is that often the caller has witnessed the driver behaviour and obtained registration details or even knows who the driver is, but seeks no involvement in any potential prosecution.
This anonymous report is still of great value, but if the reporting person is prepared to attend court and relay this information it may give police the ability to prosecute immediately as opposed to having to catch the offender at a later date and therefore allowing the offender to continue to be a danger to the community.
In relation to driving that is witnessed and that is immediately dangerous to the public, the witness should immediately report this behaviour via 000. Again, if we have the name of the witness it may give us the ability to immediately prosecute the offender.
A recent example of the community helping to take a dangerous driver off our streets was only a few days ago. Police from Geelong responded to a 000 call of a male driving in the Geelong area doing burnouts.
Police attended the location and observed the male driver do a burnout and when they engaged their police lights to intercept him he sped off and attempted to get away. In his attempt to flee he pulled up outside an address and attempted to run.
He was arrested by police and it was found that he was an unlicensed driver. The vehicle was unregistered and as a result of his hoon behaviour the vehicle was impounded for a 30-day period. Impound fees were more than $900. The male now faces court for unlicensed driving, driving an unregistered vehicle, improper use of motor vehicle (burnout) and evading police. The community’s help on this occasion was paramount in this dangerous driver’s arrest. In addition to reporting poor behaviour we need to continue the education process in our homes with children and their friends. Parents have a great responsibility in protecting their children by setting the right example in their own driver behaviour and attitudes to driver education, so I urge the entire community to take the challenge of educating our young people in relation to good driver behaviour. So, as can be seen, we rely on the public to assist us in our road policing. While we will continue a heavy focus on poor driving and offending, if we have strong support in parent education and witness accounts to poor driving we are far more likely to be able to get these dangerous drivers off the road and therefore create a safer community for us all.