Hoon legislation

[Adam]

As you should all be aware, a bill was tabled in parliament recently, which proposed to expand police powers to allow them to confiscate the vehicles of people found to be engaging in speed trials or performing burn-outs.

The confiscations would be for 24 hours, 3 months and forever respectively. Now having spoken to a policy advisor for the police minister, they believe these laws are necessary because many so called 'hoons' do not fear the current penalties for these offences.

My primary concern with the law as it stands is actually nothing to do with its basic premises, but with the definitions included within it. A 'speed trial' is defined as "any competitive trial of any description designed to test the skill of any vehicle or driver or the reliability or mechanical condition of any vehicle on the road".

Now this would include such events as the solar challenge, car club navigation runs, or even a fuel economy run. Furthermore the definition of a burnout does not include any quantitative clause, so any puff of smoke that comes off your tyres would get your car confiscated and see you in court.

In addition to this, if a police officer was to confiscate your car 'in good faith' (meaning in accordance with the sloppily worded laws), and have it towed to a holding yard, the police officer is protected from any liability for damage or depreciation of your car while it is towed.

I had a quick run through (no proper examination) of the tow truck act and it makes no reference to the tow truck driver being liable, and as such you would undoubtedly end up having a shit-fight in court after your insurance agency slammed the door in your face as fast as you can say "speed trial".

Write to your local member, using this information...

If you have a gripe with the Qld. police force excessively harassing legitimate car enthusiasts, please write me a detailed and well formatted email (adam@hotgemini.com) with the subject HOON and I will pass it along in my dealings with our parliamentarians.

My own personal opinion is that these laws are totally un-necessary and are only being used to score political points with the ignorant masses the politicians call an electorate.

If the problem is that the current penalties for "undue care and attention" "excessive noise by mode of operation" and so on are inadequate, then why further complicate matters by adding new legislation, just increase the penalties for these crimes.