Fourfold rise in hoon pain
DAMIEN BROWN
August 19, 2009 02:00am
HOONS in Tasmania will soon have their vehicles confiscated for a month for a first offence.
The State Government announced in June it planned to increase some penalties to target hoons.
But after a rethink by Police Minister Jim Cox, the penalties will be four times as tough as the original anti-hooning laws introduced in 2004.
Under the changes, for excessive speeding, reckless or dangerous driving, evading police, hooning and driving while disqualified:
A driver will have their car confiscated for 28 days on a first offence, instead of the current seven days.
Will lose it for three months for a second.
Will have it confiscated for 12 months for a third.
Cars will also be confiscated immediately for some speeding offences.
Anyone travelling at 45km/h above the posted speed limit would lose their car immediately.
Learner or provisional drivers who are restricted to a maximum of 80km/h would have their car taken off them for exceeding 125km/h.
The Government initially introduced changes to the legislation in June but since then the state's road toll has risen to 53 compared with 29 for the same period last year.
Just weeks after Mr Cox flagged the Government's new moves aimed at changing poor driving habits, Tasmania experienced a horror day resulting in nine people losing their lives in car crashes in a nine-hour period.
"The message to people who choose to put their lives, and the lives of all other road users, at serious risk by driving in a dangerous manner is clear. They will immediately lose their car for a month," Mr Cox said.
"Tasmania will not tolerate such actions on our roads, and confiscating cars of these offenders will send a powerful deterrent."
The state has one of the highest rates of road deaths in Australia, second only to the Northern Territory.
There were 283 vehicles confiscated in Tasmania last financial year, a rise of 82 on the previous year.
Mr Cox and Infrastructure Minister Graeme Sturges have only weeks to put forward suggestions to Premier David Bartlett on how to put the brakes on stupid drivers.
Mr Bartlett pledged at last month's State Labor Conference to clean up what he described as avoidable tragedies.
The options being considered include tougher fines, a review of driver training and making driver training an accredited TCE course.
ACCELERATING STUPIDITY
HOTSPOTS:
Devonport: 34
Launceston: 34
Burnie: 15
Hobart: 13
New Norfolk: 12
• There were 283 vehicles confiscated in Tasmania for hooning offences last financial year, a rise of 82 on the previous financial year when 201 vehicles were confiscated.
• 265 vehicles were confiscated from men and 13 from women.
• In five cases, the offender's gender was not identified.
• Offenders ranged in age from 15 to 44 years.
• Nineteen of the 283 vehicles confiscated were motorcycles. |
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