Elisabeth Champion
MOUNT Gambier hoon drivers with a taste for extreme speeds will want to think twice, with new road safety laws kicking in this week meaning hoons could face time behind bars.
As of Monday, police will be able to immediately suspend or disqualify the licences of people suspected of dangerous driving offences, with jail time on the table for extreme cases.
Limestone Coast Superintendent Campbell Hill warned that hoon drivers will face serious consequences when they are caught.
“It’s really designed to capture those who drive in a criminally dangerous manner, so as opposed to other media that we’ve done, where we talk about innocent mistakes that can still have catastrophic and life saving or life ending consequences, this appeal and this law applies to those people who are going out either by themselves with friends, whoever, and actively make the decision to drop out and extreme speed,’ he said.
Extreme speed is anyone caught driving at 55km/h more than the signposted limit in areas that are signposted 60km/h and under or 80km/h in areas signposted at over 60km/h.
Further penalties will apply to those with aggravated offences, which can include trying to escape police, causing death, serious harm or serious injury, driving a stolen vehicle, driving while disqualified, if the driver on a provisional, probationary or learner’s permit or unlicensed, or under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“A lot of those fatal five behaviours come into it but if they’re detected committing an extreme speed within one of those, it’s considered an aggravated offence as well,“ Supt Hill said.
“These are not offences that you’re going to get a roadside fine for – you will have your car impounded, you will have an immediate loss of licence but you’re also looking potentially at jail time so it’s really designed for people to wake up and understand that we’re not talking innocent actions on the road that can kill, we are talking criminally dangerous behaviour.
“We know that at 60 kilometres an hour in a 60 kilometre per hour zone, a collision at that speed can have catastrophic impacts. So to nearly be doubling it is obviously just really beyond the realms of comprehension.“
“I think the majority of the community would be behind not only the legislation but the spirit that it’s there for – it is to really hold people to account that are going to drive in our towns and in our regions and communities at just ridiculous speeds.“
Police patrols will continue to be on alert for hoon behaviour, Supt Campbell said, but he urged community members to come forward if they are aware of someone hooning within the region.
He said the consequences of a collision at extreme speeds can be deadly.
“Our roads are not our race tracks, there are places to go and do it [race],“ he said.
“There are facilities that people can go, regardless of someone’s ability or skill to drive a car in particular way, but when people are travelling on residential roads and streets at that speed, they’re not accounting for people that maybe don’t have the same level of skill that might be coming out, maybe not paying attention as they’re turning on to Jubilee highway as an example.
“So this is to capture the amount of people that are likely to enter the road, that already on the road, but for any other circumstances, kids running onto a road, a animal that may come onto the road and cause someone to have to change.
“At that speed is it’s going to end in tragedy, absolute tragedy.
“People might have all the confidence in the world and their ability and they may well be a fantastic driver in their own right but the streets are not a racetrack and if people are going to treat it that way, then the consequences are legislatively there.“
He encouraged anyone who knows of hooning drivers to phone Crimestoppers.
