Naas Rd Crackdown

johnboy said :

Guys you need to get something very important through your thick heads.

What you’re doing on public roads will never be tolerated by any government.

As long as it’s just guys revving off from traffic lights in pairs it will be policed lightly.

But 60 of you is too large a gathering.

Shouting “You can’t catch me copper” isn’t going to change that.

Do it on a racetrack or a private skid pan and no-one cares.

Do it on public roads and you will get hunted down.

Even if a Government and the public were of a mind to help you, the insurance companies would still force them to come down on you like a tonne of bricks.

60 of us? Too many? That’s how many cars there were… times that by 5 people in each car…
We’re only getting bigger and bigger and it’s not going to stop until we get what we were promised… Last election we were promised a drag strip… We were lied to…

We’re not idiots who sit there and say “you can’t catch me copper” We respect the police and the job they do, they have to do it, it’s their job. If we didn’t have respect for them don’t you think we would have started a riot on the one cop car who came out a few weeks ago?
2 police officers to about 300 of us…
We respect what’s in their job criteria.
We’re not rebels or hoons.

Yeah so the cops hunt us down? So what? I’m still here and I’m not going anywhere.

I’m sure if we had a set up like they have at Wakefield Park, that we wont be going out to these “meets” anymore, I can guarrantee that I wouldn’t. I would pay to enter my car for burnouts etc if we had this kind of set up close by…

I agree.

1. Identify appropriate land in remote location with least environmental impact. Distance will not be an issue since motorsport enthusiasts are guaranteed to have transport.
2. Compensate owners for previous dragway.
3. Allow them to rebuild. The project will not accrue neverending costs and blowouts to the taxpayer, since it will be managed by the original investors and have access to volunteer labour from the motorsport supporter base.

Me too 🙂

I will promise to not do any more burnouts for a yearly cash payment :o)

IT’S NOT IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS!

They’re street cars! not drag cars! They pass noise standards according to our government…

As for the petrol, it’s not a contradiction… It’s here now, so I’m gonna use it! As do you.

So whats this about “I’ll pay you not to do burnouts” ? 😉

but it’s gonna run out anyway
Actually, it is. It is a finite resource.

so we may aswell use it while it’s still here!
So you do think it’s going to run out then. You just contradicted yourself.

they are able to make all cars run on water
And those cars are unlikely to be able to do burnouts.

Your(sic) not paying for me to go and do burnouts
I’ll pay you to not do burnouts near private property when people are trying to sleep.
I don’t think what you’re doing is dangerous, but it’s very loud, and by doing it near residential areas is selfish. Some of those people have babies, and you are keeping them awake. If you must do burnouts, do them during the day.

jessieduck said :

My point is that motorsport over uses the resources. Tires do not grow on trees (well maybe parts of them kind of do), spare parts can’t be thrown on the compost once they’ve been flogged to death, petrol is not going to be available forever so why are we burning through it like it’s not a concern?

When I buy a car I do hope to be able to afford a good, second-generation hybrid but, no, I can’t see me going from having no car to then buying myself a big SUV..

I have to dissagre with you, spare parts that have been flogged usually get recycled!!! The motors and parts can be either melted down and recycled (scrap metal, such as Easy Scap’s purpose) Or rebuilt!! So no they don’t get thrown on the “compost”

So petrol isn’t going to be around forever? True, but it’s gonna run out anyway so we may aswell use it while it’s still here!

You should be bitching to the government for that, they are able to make all cars run on water, but the government wont allow it because they wont be making money off it like they do on the taxes on petrol! We pay taxes on petrol too! So we should be allowed to use it how we want to. Your not paying for me to go and do burnouts so stop crying.

mzclubby said :

#102 police have tried many times to stop it and havent it dosent matter who tries we are never going to stop we arnt hurting people, we arn’t hurting the enviroment and the road surface, it’s a bit of rubber people you all want it your way no burnout/drag strip, people are even trying to shut down SUMMERNATS are you serious, learn to compromise we have by going out of the wayso we dont annoy the general public. It dosent matter what anyone says or how ever many people try to stop us its not going to happen there are worse things in the world besides a group of mates buring some rubber.

Sooo many like minded individuals have also spruked “we are not hurting anyone” until that one fateful night, that they actually did. Some are given the 2nd chance to change thier mind, others aren’t.

Selfish attitudes….so your not hurting anyone except yourselves eh ??

Have you considered your fellow gathering of friends. What if one of them is hurt or killed. Have you considered what affect it would have on them to have to witness a severely injured person or even watch someone die? Have you considered the affected family and friends?

Probably not, because you have the same flawed attitude of “It won’t happen to me…” It only happens to other people.

Have you ever had to knock on someones door at 3am and tell them that their son/daughter has been needlessly killed. It is the hardest and most heart breaking thing to do. 9 times out of 10, it will be a police officer that has to do it…and guess what, Police will continue to crack down on this behaviour so there is at least one less door to knock on and destroy the lives within.

Selfish horrible attitudes guys. But as I suspect, you will never learn until you are directly involved in hurting or killing someone. Only then does it give you the motivation to re-consider, but by then it is usually too late….that is why police do and will continue to target this behaviour.

You are not just hurting yourself, there are others around you and a whole lot of family and friends attached to all of you. Actions will have consequences, whether you think it will or not.

On the flip side…. I do agree that there needs to be a motorsport or “motor vehicle appreciation” complex (somewhere to not annoy residentail areas) But getting on here making threats and demands will harm your cause, not help…guaranteed Showing utter disrespect for the community and the law will not get what you demand from the “law makers” Would you do something for soemone that totally disrepected you and made demands….I think not.

At least if someone is picking on the grammar, you know that they read your post.

I’ve done the job of fire crew for the burnouts at Summernats, and know exactly the sort of thing that can make it exciting. While I think that all risks need to be assessed in context and accepted or rejected by individual adults, making blanket claims that burnouts is hurting (potentially or otherwise) on one is meaningless.

Mzclubby,
Arguing that burnouts dont hurt anyone is like Kate Carnell saying on 12 July 1997 “Let’s blow up a hospital, what harm can we do?”
Burnouts dont hurt anyone until you lose control and hit something.
So the claim you havent hurt anyone needs to be suffixed with “yet”

I’m not ignoring them- I just disagree. They are never going to convince me and sadly I will never convince them. For me it is primarily an environmental issue and I aknowledge that other people have different priorities.

C’mon- You have to admit the over use of capitals was quite amusing last night!

Guys you need to get something very important through your thick heads.

What you’re doing on public roads will never be tolerated by any government.

As long as it’s just guys revving off from traffic lights in pairs it will be policed lightly.

But 60 of you is too large a gathering.

Shouting “You can’t catch me copper” isn’t going to change that.

Do it on a racetrack or a private skid pan and no-one cares.

Do it on public roads and you will get hunted down.

Even if a Government and the public were of a mind to help you, the insurance companies would still force them to come down on you like a tonne of bricks.

Taking risks (some stupid) and testing the limit of your skill is part of growing up. No amount of enforcement will stop it. At least our new friends are making an effort not to cause problems and attempting to keep spectators safe.

I would like to see a facility provided where they can get it all out in a controlled environment. It would only need to open once or twice a month. Charge a fee to cover insurance and pay for a St Johns ambulance to be present.

We had a ‘trial’ of speed cameras to asses the effect, we had a ‘trial’ of 50kph zones to asses the effect. Why not ‘trial’ a designated patch of bitumen as a public burn out/skid pan area and see if it reduces burn outs in the suburbs.

Have the NRMA/AFP run stalls on site promoting road safety. Bring out a nasty looking wrecks covered in blood. Display big gory photos of horrible accidents. Show videos of young people living with paraplegia or brain damage telling their story. It’s a chance to directly market a road safety message to a high risk group.

BTW: Ignoring the points people put forward and instead just picking on spelling and grammar is pathetic.

And like I have said earlier, we’re on different teams. But I appreciate the lower case letters and the proper use of full stops.

jessieduck – thats your choice our choice (like HAEL – T6RX) says is to have performance cars. Its what we like, Its what we want. That’s why they make them.

jessieduck – thats your choice our choice (like HAEL – T6RX) says is to have performance cars. Its what we like, Its what we want. That’s why they make them.

or a performance vehicle.

My point is that motorsport over uses the resources. Tires do not grow on trees (well maybe parts of them kind of do), spare parts can’t be thrown on the compost once they’ve been flogged to death, petrol is not going to be available forever so why are we burning through it like it’s not a concern?

When I buy a car I do hope to be able to afford a good, second-generation hybrid but, no, I can’t see me going from having no car to then buying myself a big SUV..

jessieduck said :

To be honest, HAEL – T6RX was the most articulate of the recent pro-hoon posts.

Here is why I am against their argument (I won’t even go near the legalities and safety concerns I have about lowered vehicles, burn outs etc).

Driving 60 odd cars to a random location tens of kilometres away is environmentally irresponsible and a complete waste of resources. I think cars should be used to get from point A to point B only when another method of transport is unavailable- ideally, walking. Cars have their purpose (and I will one day have to own one once babies etc come into the picture) but I disagree with motorsport on principle. Releasing carcinogens into the air by doing burnouts should be illegal for a whole lot of reasons.

If cars were meant to be purely for A – B, then why to they make perfomance cars?
I paid alot of money for a performance car, and I wanna see it perform 🙂

#102 police have tried many times to stop it and havent it dosent matter who tries we are never going to stop we arnt hurting people, we arn’t hurting the enviroment and the road surface, it’s a bit of rubber people you all want it your way no burnout/drag strip, people are even trying to shut down SUMMERNATS are you serious, learn to compromise we have by going out of the wayso we dont annoy the general public. It dosent matter what anyone says or how ever many people try to stop us its not going to happen there are worse things in the world besides a group of mates buring some rubber.

That’s very true Aurelius. The majority carry good tyres with them that are road worthy for the trip home, we’re not driving un-roadworthy cars around endangering people’s lives. The only people that we are hurting, are ourselves (Our pockets) we’re the ones who have to go and buy new tyres and as I said before, we’re not bothering anyone going out into the middle of nowhere, and none of you would have known about this, why?… Because that is our point, we’re not trying to be a nuisance to the public, we’re going as far away as we can to have a bit of fun in BORING CANBERRA. I can say that the group does it as safe and we can without help from police or other authority figures.

Another idea that I had (comment if you like) is that instead of the cops following us around and ‘trying to fine us’ for stupid reasons and not the issue (burnouts) at hand, then why don’t they use that time that they’re wasting anyway, to close down a road somewhere and supervise the burnouts? That would be ‘controlled and safe’ wouldn’t it???

Fair point Jessieduck, but I think you are strongly underestimating the vast array of people who are motorsport and performance vehicle enthusiasts.

FWIW, all street-legal modern performance vehicles have strict guidelines regarding carbon emissions and are generally much more environmentally-friendly than socially ‘acceptable’ family cars. Given your strong views on the environmental impact of motorsport, I sincerely hope that when your time comes you don’t go and buy a Territory or Pajero to cart the kids around in…

p1 said :

As far as I know those facilities already are. While out there doing motorcycle rider training, I have seen groups which appear to be car clubs using them, and having a lot of fun doing so.

as i mentioned earlier in this post……

so, whilst i wasn’t on naas road at the time of the meeting, I am on that road several times a week, I visit a couple of mates out that way. They have mentioned that the noise pollution is annoying, they moved out that way to get away from the burbs and the noise associated with it.

the reason that these “hoons” & “revheads” have ignored the posts about the skidpans is that this would put them under the watchful eye of the AFP. and if their vehicles aren’t roadworthy, too low, with defects, it is a long walk home.

registered is not the same as roadworthy. if you mod a car after rego, it isn’t the same vehicle as was rego’d.

To be honest, HAEL – T6RX was the most articulate of the recent pro-hoon posts.

Here is why I am against their argument (I won’t even go near the legalities and safety concerns I have about lowered vehicles, burn outs etc).

Driving 60 odd cars to a random location tens of kilometres away is environmentally irresponsible and a complete waste of resources. I think cars should be used to get from point A to point B only when another method of transport is unavailable- ideally, walking. Cars have their purpose (and I will one day have to own one once babies etc come into the picture) but I disagree with motorsport on principle. Releasing carcinogens into the air by doing burnouts should be illegal for a whole lot of reasons.

The illiterate defenders of the hoons are doing themselves a disservice, but the original police press release makes me wonder – if the Police were following these people, and issued so few TINs, they can’t have been doing too much wrong. Sounds like overkill and wasted resources.
I’ve sat in highway patrol cars while the cop alongside me showed me that no matter how innocent someone was, if he followed them long enough, he could find them breaking some law and he could issue some TIN on them. If these cops issued so few on so many, they weren’t trying, or these hoons were being exceptionally well behaved.

As far as I know those facilities already are. While out there doing motorcycle rider training, I have seen groups which appear to be car clubs using them, and having a lot of fun doing so.

Its simple – its illegal, for good reason. If you dont stop it the community through the police will stop it (I hope). You are hurting people – people do live down on Naas and Apollo roads too. They have the same rights to peace and quiet the same as people in the city. You are hurting the environment and the road surface. You are being selfish.

If it wasn’t illegal I would be out hunting bogans and revheads now.

Having said that, a place where this activity could be done legally probably would not hurt. Are there not skid pans already on Sutton road and Majura road at the AFP and driver training centre which could be utilised on a users pays basis?

mabye my point did get lost let me put it simply WE ARNT GOING TO STOP WE ARE GOING TO KEEP DOING IT AND WE DO NOT HURT ANYONE everyone just wants to have a winge about something its going to keep happening so dont winge to us winge to the goverment for a drag way in canberra then everyone will be happy

the leagle eagle has landed

jessieduck, HAEL – T6RX had a point – you haven’t addressed his/her argument at all. And it was a well-constructed post.

While I do tend to agree with the ‘hoons’, I also realise that there are instances where an unrelated party may accidentally get caught up in the ‘mob’ and may find it quite distressing and dangerous. A dragway is a great idea.

They also have a point, too, that there does seem to have been significantly less idiots on the road over the last couple of months. If that is a result of meets like this, surely it’s a good thing?? The greater good and all that…

@post#95. Those cars are stuffed because they are Fords…

And I reckon your employer must LOVE being named in a thread like this!

sigh. We’re on different teams.

Also I work at john mcgrath ford and the amount of police cars in there with differential problems related to burnouts and flogging there cars is hilarious makes u wonder what they were doin out bush apart from harrasing us guys, to tell you the truth these whingers are old and jealous or just have no friends to socialise with so you try stop us having fun aint gonna happen thats 4 sure hahaha you only live once why whinge it all away………..

jessieduck said :

I’ve made plenty of comments on the RiotACT on many other threads. I welcome your comments but, seriously, a well constructed sentance or two would assist your argument. Using capitals to make a point does not make a clear argument make.

You welcome my comments? Seriously… you obviously didn’t read my argument to say that it’s not well constructed. What is wrong with using capitals to emphasise a few words to suggest a tone of voice considering this is in writing and isn’t verbal?
Your comments have nothing to do with the subject at hand, your just bagging people out for the way they state their opinion eg. Their punctuation… Grow up!

Hi to Canberra. ITS ABOUT TIME WE HAVE OUR SAY ! AS THE “LOCAL CAR HOONS !” I know for a FACT that these “local CAR hoons” as you like to lable them are ACTUALLY DOING IT SAFE ! REGAURDLESS TO WHAT YOU THINK ! OR ARE GOING TO SAY ABOUT MY POST ! They are always in back streets well away from the general public, the areas they use, they are always safe smart, they make sure that there is no chance that any one can get hurt. no one stands in the way of any of it. AND I WILL MAKE THIS CLEAR ! NOW, THEY NEVER STREET RACE, Infact, these cars are never doing any more then 5kph.

I will explain the police report. ! they got to Phillip, Marties Food Van to be exact, and all the “hoons” where there. MEETING ! is that agianst the law ? for a CAR CLUB TO BE GETTING SOMETHING TO EAT ?
The “HOONS” then broke up to head to the NEXT meet spot ! all the way out in the middle of NO WHERE !
the cops never broke up anything, and if they followed them to “the spot” and there was anything against the law taking place dont you think that the cops would have taken cars ? or issued fines on those grounds? that whole story was MADE UP LIES !
and more then that. WHY WAS THERE 20 odd police cars, each with 2 officers ALL THE WAY OUT THERE??? why arnt they policing CANBERRA ! like they are PAID TO DO ! not to mention they are no better then the “hoons” there has been said to be VIDEO FOOTAGE OF SEVERAL POLICE CARS SPEEDING WITH NO REASON TO BE, AND SPINNING THERE OWN TYERS TURNING AROUND ! why is it leagle for them ??

Canberra should be thanking us that we are providing a SAFER way for this to happen, HAVE YOU NOT NOTICED THAT THERE HAS BEEN LESS “HOONS” ON THE STREETS ! they now have some where to go. AWAY FROM DANGER TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. oh, wait, people only ever notice the BAD things in life,
Is it just me or is it a FACT that every time something GOOD comes to Canberra. that brings in money (that could have been used for repairs on canberra roads, and other things to better the place) some moron has to come out of there dark hole or closet they hide from the real world in to have a SOOK and put a stop to it ?? The V8 Super cars, the Drag way, SUMMERNATS ! (im surprised its still around and oh, they are soooo trying to close it ! GO CHICK ! )… ANYTHING to do with Cars.
Cant you see that these things make money for canberra, the hotels, the restaurants, the other attractions that Canberra has to offer, War memorial, Telstra Tower. etc. these events bring people to Canberra, thus bringing these kinds of places more visits then EVER !

Ill just say this. The “HOONS” are not gunna stop, take there cars, give them tickets, say what you like. there is always another $100 BURN OUT CAR around the corner ! PUT UP A DRAGWAY LIKE PROMISED AND IT WILL STOP ! THATS THE ONLY WAY THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO WIN THIS ONE !

OH YEAH, CANBERRA ! GET A LIFE !

P.S to all those who agree !
SPEAK UP !

I’ve made plenty of comments on the RiotACT on many other threads. I welcome your comments but, seriously, a well constructed sentance or two would assist your argument. Using capitals to make a point does not make a clear argument make.

jessieduck, do you have a point at all? You seem to be full of sarcasm and pointless replies…

oh lord. The enthusiasts have spoken. I have totally changed my mind about all of it- THE CAPITAL LETTERS ARE REALLY REALLY CONVINCING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE PUNCTUATION!!!!!!!!!!!

i totally agree buddy…

im sure if police breath tested 60 cars on the parkway that time of night on a thursday they would have pinned a couple…and 11 defects? out of 60 “young hoons” cars WOW i know that atleast 20 out of every 60 cars on canberra roads have some sort of defect….BUT ILL SAY AGAIN WE DO NOT STREET RACE!!!!!!! we go out of town catch up with mates show off our cars and burn some rubber AND WE LOVE IT!! and the police and there “great job” ….they block off a road 15ks from were we were and they wait…good policeing
BUT..we will continue to do this EVERY WEEK none of the comments on here will stop us! we are getting bigger and better every week and the meets are ever changing…so deal with it…because we arnt out robbing shops or selling drugs…..so lets just see how this all pans out…cause i wont stop going and smoking the tyres off my car…i always carry spares with good rubber…..just think of us as a big family of petrol heads that WILL NEVER be torn apart by the ACT police or the cry babys that call the police when they see a convoy of hotted up cars and yes the police were speeding and driving like idiots on the road to tharwa a mate of mine nearly had a head on with one that was on the wrong side of the road…nice….so on that note ill go polish my car and get it ready for next time………BURN RUBBER NOT YOUR SOUL

Ok, so firstly on the report… Everyone in the group was breath-tested? How many were drink driving? NONE!

Secondly, police “believe” there was street racing? WELL THERE WASN’T…
I know this for a fact, because if I thought for one second that this was dangerous, I wouldn’t be anywhere near it.
Our cars are registered! We pay for our own tyres and repairs!
No one speeds, there is absolutely no street-racing.
We’re not bothering anyone, and none of you would have known about it if it wasn’t for these semi-false reports in the papers. How many of you would know where Naas Rd is if they hadn’t mentioned it was near Tharwa??? Probably 1% of you! That’s the point we go out in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE where the public aren’t affected at all.
There are no innocent bystanders either, everyone who goes, know the risks and are responsible for themselves.

Ok, so some cars were defected? True, but for stupid reasons, like being about 1 cm too low…

All these guys and girls want, is a place or a property somewhere where they can let loose and put on a smoke show. It’s not like we want it every night of the week! The old drag way was only on Sundays and I’m sure if the surrounding residents can put up with planes landing and taking off ALL DAY EVERYDAY, then I’m sure they can put up with a few revs of a car a couple of times a month! Get a life and get out of the house on Sundays!

Summernats is only once a year! And you all still have a whinge about that!
Do you have anything better to do with your time except whinge and bitch and complain all the time?
We pay taxes and rates too you know! Why should taxes and rates etc only benefit people who sook about noise and smoke? Get a life and learn to live with it… We have to live with you!

One last thing, I can guarantee that this WONT stop until we get a drag-way/burnout strip. Call it bribery if you must, but we were promised a drag strip years ago if we voted for The Canberra Liberals, we did and they broke their promise, so it’s time to stand up for what we want!

You may also know him from his work in “Dickhead That Revs His Engine at 3am” Parts I and II!

Hey, it’s the no punctuation guy!!

From previous threads such as Wrapping your WRX Around a Tree and Street Racing for Dummies.

Mzclubby – if you could see my hand right now, you’d see my thumb and fore-finger rubbing against each other: you know what that is? I’t’s the worlds smallest violin and it’s playing just for you! Grow up.

Good work AFP. We need more of this!

mzclubby- I’m sure there was a point there but you seemed to have misplaced it.

some people will believe anything they read you all say good job boys and girls in blue you did a fine job of stopping that guy/girl and defecting their car because its to low i say good on you A.C.T Policing while 20 of your “good police” were defecting cars for crap in canberra there was probably a 12 yr old kid trying there first hit of herion or some old lady getting a bag snatch done to her or a break and enter happening at a random house in canbbera i can see why all of you think what the coppers did was a good job i say good job A.C.T policing you MORONS. how can all of you people sit here and call us car hoons and we are soooo bad we do nothing wrong it is away from general public everyone who has something negative to say get back in your box and think about it for a minute a hoon is defined in the dictionary as “young male or female who drives in a manner which is anti-social towards the standards of modern day society” it dosent interfear with the standards of modern day society it is away from the general public DONT LABEL US TILL YOU KNOW US AND WHAT WE DO!!!!!!!!! you all want it your way “subs to loud ban it , i hate burnouts ban it, i hate the smell of rubber ban it,i hate summernats band it, its not just your society we are living in its ours to learn to compromise we have to….

jim/peter?

Great work done by men and women in blue???
They where neg driving tring to find these people and almost ran me and my family of the road ? they are the dangerous ones on the road ! not to mention the police car sidewas around a roundabout in gordon, i thought he was going to crash. ! Why can they drive there cars they way they do and get away with it ? oh, cause its OUR TAXES PAYING THERE REPAIR BILLS ! ? Oh but there the good people !

p1 said :

Isn’t there a futsal slab that could be used for these meetings, since not drag racing happens? It is big enough for small burnouts…

but will probably be a car park, soon enough…

Isn’t there a futsal slab that could be used for these meetings, since not drag racing happens? It is big enough for small burnouts…

or, try doing it on the dirt, in a paddock, in a very old farm car. burn outs lose their charm after a while, paddock bashing never does…

what about having burnouts and sliding out at the majura facility under the watchful eye of the police?

they have the defensive driving course, great big skid pans etc. These kids want to pit their skills against each other?

do it in a very controlled environment.

i am all for a dragway, having dad, uncle, brother and cousins who are all into cars – but only if it can be built in a location that suits everyone.

We are lucky that we have understanding neighbours, because i am 110% sure that a dragway is noisier than the airport.

However, building a dragwy will not stop people street racing…

To me, this is issue is a bit like drug use. Those who partake reckon they aren’t hurting anyone so why not let them; those who dislike it claim its dangerous and against the law.

Is there a solution? I doubt it. While we have cars we will have people that like to play silly buggers. Personally, I don’t do burnouts, as I find it a bit pointless. But finding places where others can, even as a trial, wouldn’t be a bad idea. Of course, we would have to make public the names of those persons doing burnouts outside the prescribed places during the trial period…

@andy pandy & ant: Fair enough then, I never would have thought a dragway would be that much louder than an aiport.

Personally I’m all for a dragway despite not being in any way into motor sports. If it’s financially viable and a location can be built that suits everybody then why not.

However, I doubt a dragway won’t solve the anti-social issues around hoons in the ACT. The idiots will still go out at 3am and do burnouts and drag off other cars in the ‘burbs. After all why queue up for your turn at a dragway/burnout strip (and pay for the honour) when you can do it for free whenever you want in a quite public street?!

For example, the burnout comp at Summernats doesn’t stop the burnouts occurring throughout Canberra over the period its held. And just where do the competitors practice this massive skill before Summernats starts? In their own driveways?

Those Galaxy planes were exciting! How such a thing could take off was always a source of amazement.

The airport noise is a sort of Whoosh sound, mostly, with the odd occasional exception.

The commercial dragracing vehicles were like an insane roar, like an explosion that went for way longer than an explosion would.

This is the reality of living within kilometres of a dragway. Not surprisingly, most people don’t want to live within kilometres of a dragway!

having worked in pialligo thru out the life of the said dragway I can assure you that it was definately louder than the airport, the only time I can remember the airport being louder was when either Bush senior or Clintons C5 galaxy sat reving its engines until it got the wind coming in from the right direction for take off due to its size and the then length of the runway (or so I was lead to believe).

ant said :

The dragway was closed because the new airport owners didn’t want it there. Why, I’m not sure. The nearby residents were happy because, after the upgrade of the dragway, the noise was insane. Tehy held lots of commercial events there, involving cars and bikes that were so loud, you could not talk to someone while they were going. You had to stop while the roar happened. In your own home. Is that OK with people? It’s OK that a bunch of drag fans can inflict that kind of noise on people in their own homes?

This is why the new dragway site was canned by the new affected residents. They knew, and put a stop to it. The airport is not as loud as those vehicles were.

Before they upgraded the dragway into an “international” facility, we didn’t notice it. It was for local people to do whatever it is they do there, and no one had a problem. It was only after they went commercial that they became obnoxious.

So I’d suggest to dragway supporters that if they want a local dragway, to race each other on, that they ensure that this is made clear and that residents are assured there’ll be no Nitro Harleys and all the other nonsense, all night rock concerts and things that make living near a dragway utter misery.

WTF do you live if you reckon a dragway is that much louder than the airport a few hundred metres away?

We could be doing it in your street putting you and your family life at risk but we aren’t.

Wow, thanks man. Very considerate of you.

I bet everyone on this site has exceeded the speed limit and still does. Thats illegal and its no more illegal than what we are doing.

Yeah. Right. If that’s what you want to believe…

ant said :

The dragway was closed because the new airport owners didn’t want it there. Why, I’m not sure. The nearby residents were happy because, after the upgrade of the dragway, the noise was insane. Tehy held lots of commercial events there, involving cars and bikes that were so loud, you could not talk to someone while they were going. You had to stop while the roar happened. In your own home. Is that OK with people? It’s OK that a bunch of drag fans can inflict that kind of noise on people in their own homes?

This is why the new dragway site was canned by the new affected residents. They knew, and put a stop to it. The airport is not as loud as those vehicles were.

Before they upgraded the dragway into an “international” facility, we didn’t notice it. It was for local people to do whatever it is they do there, and no one had a problem. It was only after they went commercial that they became obnoxious.

So I’d suggest to dragway supporters that if they want a local dragway, to race each other on, that they ensure that this is made clear and that residents are assured there’ll be no Nitro Harleys and all the other nonsense, all night rock concerts and things that make living near a dragway utter misery.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t aware of the problems you faced. Not being the kind of person that would actually use the facility I believe that one is necessary however without reservation I sincerly hope that if it does re-open you don’t suffer.

I agree that no resident should have their quality of life affected, and I think the dragway advocates would do well to keep that in mind and formulate their own strategies to address these situations. There does need to be mutual consideration and respect.

I just can’t believe that there is no location in the whole territory that is suitable. Surely a really good negotiator could broker a solution acceptable to residents, police, the motor sport enthusiasts, environmentalists and even the government if there was an actual willingness to do so.

On a scale from major world problems to feuding neighbours it can’t be that complex.

In my opinion this group have been treated very unjustly, and I don’t want to live in a society that allows the property of any individual or group to be effectively stolen and then told, “Tough luck,” or promise restitution and then go, “Haha, made you look.”

It just isn’t good enough.

Ok just so ppl know. There is no ‘drag racing’ that goes on at these ‘meets’. Its only so ppl can have a bit of fun and do some burnouts. Yes its illegal on public roads but until there is a place for us to do it legally its going to keep happening. We could be doing it in your street putting you and your family life at risk but we aren’t. We are doing it in places where it is at least risk to anyone else. No-one has been hurt or even been close to being hurt at one of these ‘meets’. I bet everyone on this site has exceeded the speed limit and still does. Thats illegal and its no more illegal than what we are doing.

The dragway was closed because the new airport owners didn’t want it there. Why, I’m not sure. The nearby residents were happy because, after the upgrade of the dragway, the noise was insane. Tehy held lots of commercial events there, involving cars and bikes that were so loud, you could not talk to someone while they were going. You had to stop while the roar happened. In your own home. Is that OK with people? It’s OK that a bunch of drag fans can inflict that kind of noise on people in their own homes?

This is why the new dragway site was canned by the new affected residents. They knew, and put a stop to it. The airport is not as loud as those vehicles were.

Before they upgraded the dragway into an “international” facility, we didn’t notice it. It was for local people to do whatever it is they do there, and no one had a problem. It was only after they went commercial that they became obnoxious.

So I’d suggest to dragway supporters that if they want a local dragway, to race each other on, that they ensure that this is made clear and that residents are assured there’ll be no Nitro Harleys and all the other nonsense, all night rock concerts and things that make living near a dragway utter misery.

Why?

Felix the Cat said :

Pandy said :

Where should an ACT dragway be built?

That’s the $64 million question. Out along Naas Rd somewhere might be the best place, everywhere else is too close to Canberra. Problem with building a dragstrip out there is the there are probably legless dingos, bearded clams or other such rare fora/fauna that will prohibit it.

I really don’t know why they couldn’t re-open the old one, it just sits there disused, has been for years. If noise was an issue (shouldn’t be with the Airport and RAAF base next door) then restrict the vehicles that can race there and just have street meets. If the cars are (in theory…) quiet enough to get through rego and drive on the streets they should be quiet enough for the dragstrip.

To cut down on the anti-social behaviour from patrons leaving the drags the cops just need to put a rego check/speed camera/drink driving blitz on down the road every second or third meeting. The word will soon get around that if you speed or do a burnout leaving the drags then you are likely to be busted.

Danger, danger, danger…. logic alert….

Here’s a better idea. Why don’t we close down our tinpot “international” airport for a few hours a day once a month and run a drag meet there. :p

*chuckle*

I have absolutely no idea!

Wasn’t it the fine people of Oaks Estate complaining that the noise was interrupting their wife-beating?

Yes, I hadn’t noticed earlier but the noisy old airport complaining about a dragway is pretty funny!

Pandy said :

Where should an ACT dragway be built?

That’s the $64 million question. Out along Naas Rd somewhere might be the best place, everywhere else is too close to Canberra. Problem with building a dragstrip out there is the there are probably legless dingos, bearded clams or other such rare fora/fauna that will prohibit it.

I really don’t know why they couldn’t re-open the old one, it just sits there disused, has been for years. If noise was an issue (shouldn’t be with the Airport and RAAF base next door) then restrict the vehicles that can race there and just have street meets. If the cars are (in theory…) quiet enough to get through rego and drive on the streets they should be quiet enough for the dragstrip.

To cut down on the anti-social behaviour from patrons leaving the drags the cops just need to put a rego check/speed camera/drink driving blitz on down the road every second or third meeting. The word will soon get around that if you speed or do a burnout leaving the drags then you are likely to be busted.

bigred said :

Tooks, would you be a copper by some chance? Overhead has a different connotation to eavesdropping. Please withdraw your offensive suggestion ASAP.

Wow, you are easily offended (which wasn’t my intention, by the way).

Okay, I withdraw my scurrilous suggestion (and I did it asap).

Our rates go towards Summernats as well.

And roads.

tom-tom said :

granny; compensation for the original sites owners is a seperate argument to whether or not to build a new dragway. (and for the record if they didn’t recieve any then it wouldn’t be hard to convince me to support them getting some, not in the form of a new dragway though.)

That is true.

I do not know a lot about motor sport, but it seems to me that it must surely be possible to negotiate an outcome that would satisfy the needs of all the main stakeholders.

Why shouldn’t they have a dragway somewhere if it’s not hurting anyone? If it was part of our Commonwealth Games bid I’m sure it would be built in short order.

Where should an ACT dragway be built?

tom-tom said :

why on earth should my rates go towards irratating other people and funding your hobbies?

Because your rates go towards Floriade and multicultural festivals each year… all of which bore the crap out of me… not to mention annoy me as I suffer from hayfever.

Perhaps some people forget that not everyone is arty-farty in Canberra… a flower show? FFS people variety please!

Tooks, would you be a copper by some chance? Overhead has a different connotation to eavesdropping. Please withdraw your offensive suggestion ASAP.

granny; compensation for the original sites owners is a seperate argument to whether or not to build a new dragway. (and for the record if they didn’t recieve any then it wouldn’t be hard to convince me to support them getting some, not in the form of a new dragway though.)

But if we, the taxpayers, took their money then surely we, the taxpayers, should give it back.

Hmm, yeah, we had better build a dragway to appease lawbreaking hoons. Yeah. When a place can be found where the racket won’t ruin the lives of the law-abiding folk who already live there. And the noise of the cars arriving and departing doesn’t affect those living on the access routes (dragway-lovers drive really noisy cars and bikes, who knew?). And their anti-social driving arriving and departing doesn’t endanger other road users on those access routes (yeah, they try to emulate their dragway dreams on the road, especially when leaving the facility).

The old dragway probably fulfilled a need in its early days. Then it got upgraded and went full-commercial. If you think some hopeful young bloke could just head out there when the need struck him, and have a nice drag race, well, he couldn’t. It was a performance facility for flashy events involving nitro-fuelled special vehicles. The hoons got to pay admission, watch, and then try it out on the roads home.

The police did a good thing in getting this lot. Hope to see more of this kind of thing… I bet it’s a lot more fun than setting up speed traps.

Back on topic…Naas and Apollo Rds seem like an odd place to street race. It is quite hilly and twisty out that way, no decent straights to speak of. Maybe they were doing burnouts. As others have already posted, better to be doing it out there than in suburbia.

Obviously the dragway was a non core Stanhope promise.

*chuckle*

I have nothing against non core promises per se.

Bit of bad form though, given ‘that the people of Canberra for once sat up and took notice’ and apparently even thought, “By crikey; we will”.

bigred said :

Overheard a conversation at work about how someone’s relative had some awful situation going on and couldn’t get a plod to come becasue they were all “out of the area” at the present time. If that was correct, me thinks there is a resource alloction issue.

Hardly. There are plenty of cars available to respond to serious jobs. Given that you were eavesdropping on someone’s conversation at work, it’s quite possible you don’t have all the facts.

Overheard a conversation at work about how someone’s relative had some awful situation going on and couldn’t get a plod to come becasue they were all “out of the area” at the present time. If that was correct, me thinks there is a resource alloction issue.

Sorry Granny, I hope I didn’t spoil your closing argument.

I was getting to the vibe ….

*hehe*

Granny you have presented a compelling case without even mentioning the vibe of the thing. So there Tom Tom… “Suffer in your jocks !”

didn’t see your comment growling ferret; as far as i’m concerned the previous dragway and what happened to it is of no relevance what so ever to whether a new one should be built.

oh and i assume you have a source for the promise never meant to be kept line, because i’m pretty sure it was all systems go until prelimineary reports showed just how bad an idea it was.

whether to build a new dragway or not comes down to three things why? where? and how?

why? is there enough demand for one; i’d think not, given theres no one willing to privately put up the money and theres another site a few hours up the road.

where? is there a site with no nimbys, thats out of the way enough and suitable for a dragway available; again i’d think not.

how? publicly or privately? i’d think not publicly as its not govts role to fund peoples hobbies and as for privately, there are people who’d make money out of it, the fact they’re not willing to front up their own cash suggests to me they’ve done their sums and seen its not worth it.

i cant see any reason for the govt to waste money and annoying nimby’s to build a hobby spot. the dragway’s not going to happen, if it’s that important to supporters then they should front up the money and build it themselves.

tom-tom said :

you should build a new one because the old one is long gone. spilt milk etc.

Federal Court judge: And what on law are you basing this argument?
Darryl Kerrigan: The law of bloody common sense!

The Castle

Not to mention justice.

tom-tom 1; cranky nil.

feel free to put up a compelling case for a dragway in your own time.

Sorry.

I can no longer engage in a conversation with a fool.

you should build a new one because the old one is long gone. spilt milk etc.

Tom Tom – learn to read.

CID was built by private money and volunteer labour, it was shut down without compensation paid, and a government was elected on a promise (amongst others) they never intended to keep

I was a local motorsport competitor for 10 years. I realise that a dragway in Canberra is unrealistic when you have the Southern Hemispheres best venue 2 hours away at WSID. But if a venue existed, the events of last night would be less likely to occur.

There is always the dickhead element in any past time – their actions tarnish all others with that interest. That’s why I like to think of Peter Hore Serial Pest as an artist. Makes them all wankers 😉

Why should we build it twice? Were the pushbike fraternity required to build Mt Stromlo twice (with no Gov Funds)?

Sir, you are demonstrating a singular lack of logic.

tom-tom said :

front up the cash; build it yourself

… and be forever grateful.

*hehehe*

oh and just to addres your rant

1.) if it could be built privately before why not again?
2.) hmmm major piece of infrastructure or hobby spot for a minority group? not a hard choice to make there
3.)good; the new dragway you build yourselves can do the same
4.)diddums
5.) so the fact govt realised just how dumb an idea the dragway was and pulled out is a bad thing?

finally nice ad hominem attack on my political leanings; to be blunt i dont care what labor policy on a dragway is. i think its a dumb idea, end of story.

if you want me to change my mind present a compelling case and i will.

front up the cash; build it yourself

why on earth should my rates go towards irratating other people and funding your hobbies?

if theres such a compelling case for building a dragway then put your money where your mouth is and build it yourself. until then try baby shampoo (no more tears).

cranky said :

tom-tom,

You constantly rant that dragway supporters should put up the cash to build one.

You have previously been told on a number of occassions that

1) The original dragstrip at the airport WAS privately built, WITH PRIVATE MONEY.
2) It was closed at the behest of the airport, with the able assistance of the turd, Smyth.
3) Whilst operating, not only did it NOT receive Gov funding, it paid rates on the property for the privelege of operating.
4) It was closed WITHOUT ANY COMPENSATION for the stakeholders.
5) Sonic’s promise to re-establish a dragstrip certainly assisted his Govs re-election 4 years ago.

Give your Labor apologist leanings a break and admit that the Sonic Gov was a pack of lying mongrels.

hear hear!

tom-tom,

You constantly rant that dragway supporters should put up the cash to build one.

You have previously been told on a number of occassions that

1) The original dragstrip at the airport WAS privately built, WITH PRIVATE MONEY.
2) It was closed at the behest of the airport, with the able assistance of the turd, Smyth.
3) Whilst operating, not only did it NOT receive Gov funding, it paid rates on the property for the privelege of operating.
4) It was closed WITHOUT ANY COMPENSATION for the stakeholders.
5) Sonic’s promise to re-establish a dragstrip certainly assisted his Govs re-election 4 years ago.

Give your Labor apologist leanings a break and admit that the Sonic Gov was a pack of lying mongrels.

MR STANHOPE: It was the culmination of the campaign against the Labor Party on the dragway but it was with that final flourish-that $200,000 electronic campaign at the end: “Vote as if your life depends on it,”-that the people of Canberra for once sat up and took notice and thought, “By crikey; we will.”They did; and they will be forever grateful for the fact that they did.

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2005 Week 14 Hansard (24 November) . . Page.. 4603..

Bwahahahaha!!

Damn, they’re nice roads too. :p

of all the rubbish bulldust arguements for a dragway that get run here the one that says that if there was a dragway then there’d be less burnouts etc on suburban streets is the worst of all.

besides the fact it sounds very much like blackmail; ‘build us a dragway or we’ll terrorise your street’, the whole premise of the argument is rubbish, most hoon activity is done by idiots who don’t know any better or simply dont care, providing a facility for semi-professionals to use wont stop them.

if people really want a dragway they should front up the cash and build it themsleves, somewhere no one else has to be around. until then stop crying about it.

cranky said :

The venom expressed above towards participants in ‘illegal vehicle operations’ is over the top. The proposal to crush vehicles is totally beyond any reasonable response to a fairly common occurrence. Who decides if a vehicle is accelerating too quickly, thereby attracting crushing?

The Police report was so full of holes and self congratulatory that the thought occurs to me that the whole thing is an attempt to get political candidates to nail their colours to the mast re a dragstrip.

This behaviour is not going to go away. It has been occuring since the late 60’s (Oh yes, I’m old enough), and yes, injuries and fatallities occurred.

We do not need the head in the sand attitudes that exist about the dragstrip. No section of the ACT populace has been so poorly served by the various governments. A motorsport complex is required in the ACT!

Back when we had the supercars, the hoons that are now tearing up the streets were much happier to watch souped up cars on a controlled track. they were spectators, not racers.

and what happened to that??

wowsers complained about the noise!

and the supercars left.

The venom expressed above towards participants in ‘illegal vehicle operations’ is over the top. The proposal to crush vehicles is totally beyond any reasonable response to a fairly common occurrence. Who decides if a vehicle is accelerating too quickly, thereby attracting crushing?

The Police report was so full of holes and self congratulatory that the thought occurs to me that the whole thing is an attempt to get political candidates to nail their colours to the mast re a dragstrip.

This behaviour is not going to go away. It has been occuring since the late 60’s (Oh yes, I’m old enough), and yes, injuries and fatallities occurred.

We do not need the head in the sand attitudes that exist about the dragstrip. No section of the ACT populace has been so poorly served by the various governments. A motorsport complex is required in the ACT!

“On a side note……build em a raceway/dragway in controlled conditions so they have somewhere somewhat safe to hang out and compare/admire cars.”

We had one, they shut it down, we tried to get another one, useless cntplug whingers on the otherside of a goddamn mountain shut it down before it even got anywhere.

As for crushing peoples vehicles, that’s absurd. At least auction them off so that the RTA can fund more speed cameras. Heh.

I support the cubing of workplace computers.

Sorry for doublepost, but for those that say “it’s out of the way and not in the suburbs” etc, etc.

Yes, but the cars out there doing the illegal activity with bald tyres, unroadworthy vehicle’s are a danger to themselves and thier m8’s. Most of the cars carry a car full of youths…imagine the uproar if one (or more) of these vehicles crashed due to a bald tyre “letting go” or lost traction and some/all these kids were killed.

I know what the next headline would be “Police knew this was happening, but did nothing to avert such a trajedy”

It doesn’t matter if it’s in the “burbs” or out in the middle of nowhere (60+ cars doesn’t make it in the middle of nowhere anymore) Injuries or fatalities can still occurr.

On a side note……build em a raceway/dragway in controlled conditions so they have somewhere somewhat safe to hang out and compare/admire cars.

johnboy said :

Zero tolerance is the catch cry of someone who has obviously not applied much thought to the subject.

Once again… the places it has worked it has been accompanied by massive increases in policing.

And the same crime reductions are achieved by massive increases in policing without zero tolerance.

It only ‘deters’ people who were unlikely to break the law in the first place.

zero tolerance is deployed in many workplaces in australia for computer use, and has resulted in a severe reduction in the numbers of incidents of imappropriate use by users. This was accepted by most employees at face value. The same applied to the use of a work email for personal emailing – the email you create on a work computer, using a work created email address is the property of the company.

How is the cubing of a vehicle (except animals eeeww!) going to be seen as heavy handed?

I did mention the ACT Judiciary, I doubt that they would cube a first timer, but a repeat offender might be a different story.

then again, it might be the other way round.

gargamel said :

It may have been great work by those on the job (wouldn’t know – I was safely tucked up in bed reading my book on knitting socks at 9.30pm) but I reckon that media release is a bit of a shocker:

shanefos said :

Around 9.30pm yesterday police tracked a large volume of vehicles south through Tuggeranong to Tharwa. The vehicles then gathered at Naas and Apollo Roads, south of Tharwa, where police believe dangerous driving activities took place on public roads.

AND

shanefos said :

More than 60 vehicles were checked as they left the area, with 63 negative screening tests for alcohol recorded.

So what – the statement is that police *believe* dangerous activities took place – and???
The media release says these cars were being tracked *by the police* heading south from Tuggeranong yet the statement makes no mention of them being observed doing anything illegal – just that the AFP believed that dangerous activities were taking place. If they were being tracked by the police all that time then illegal activities ought not to have taken place.

Oh yeah – there was no booze involved either. 60 vehicles were checked (for what? road worthiness?) – 63 breath tests – all negative (would love an explanation as to why only 60 vehicles were checked when 63 breath tests were done).

8 TINs – okay – is that saying that 8 drivers were done for crazy ‘illegal street racing’ / driving? I’m confused – I don’t regularly read police reports but I woulda thought that tying the belief to the TINs would tell the reader that the police intervention on this gathering was both justified and a success.

11 defect notices – how does that relate to the mob and their ‘misbehaviour’? To me it just sounds like 18% of the cars checked were found to need new tyres, headlights etc etc.

shanefos said :

“Police are able to target these drivers with the assistance of the public and using unmarked police vehicles. This group appeared to have arranged this ‘meet’ which was quickly shut down by police.”

“We will continue to target illegal behaviour and we would encourage anyone who may see this type of behaviour to contact police on 131-444,” Acting Superintendent Davis said.

OK – so now it is illegal to go driving with 60+ of your closest mates…?

Sorry if I’m sounding like a prat – I’ve come across a such a meet myself – it looked like something out of the ‘Fast and the Furious’ – pretty much all hotted up Japanese cars. And yes, I quickly rushed off and rung the cops myself (these hoons interfere with my ability to read my sock knitting books afterall!).

But this media report is, to me, just a little odd.

Read between the lines a little…

60+ cars going out a 9pm at night would generally suggest that illegal street racing and/or burnouts would be on the cards. People don’t generally go for “cruise drives” at 9pm, not very sceneic….

The defects and TIN’s issued will most likely be for bald tyres (confirming burout activity)or modified vehicles for racing or burnouts (again possibly confirming illegal activity).

Zero tolerance is the catch cry of someone who has obviously not applied much thought to the subject.

Once again… the places it has worked it has been accompanied by massive increases in policing.

And the same crime reductions are achieved by massive increases in policing without zero tolerance.

It only ‘deters’ people who were unlikely to break the law in the first place.

Having a dragway wouldn’t make a bit of difference to events like this imho. The big attraction to alot of participants is that it is illegal. Legal events require proper safety standards, scrutineering and organisation etc etc that they wouldn’t be bothered with.

Oh, and peterh I think you’ll find that ACT police do confiscate vehicles. Not sure if they crush ’em though.

My street is a public road too and I’m not fond of the idea of a boganmobile with smoking tires embedded in the wall of my loungeroom.

I know! get the guy who owns Ginninderra falls to build a dragway out there. (it is in NSW)

ACT Government couldn’t do anything about it, and it is out of town.

> and no innocents would have been hurt if someone made a mistake…

Unless of course someone happened to be coming the other way & one of these idiots lost control.

Out of the way or not, it’s a public road & you’re not allowed to race on public roads.

johnboy said :

So you want to increase penalties from a few hundred dollars to effectively tens of thousands?

You’ll find yourself alone with the nutbags on that one.

JB, the best way to dissuade someone from doing something foolish or illegal in a vehicle is to set an example of no tolerance.

sure, it is a bit on the nutbag side, but I am sure that a heck of a lot of drivers, when confronted with the idea that if you get done drink driving, speeding or other dangerous behavior, your car becomes a cube that can sit in the driveway, (and possibly get stolen by a scrap metal merchant or jon stanhope for another piece of art) that the levels of illegal behavior would drop.

and the decision of the punishment would be by the ACT judiciary, so nothing bad would ever happen.

of course, If your vehicle was a horse, I wouldn’t want to see THAT cube….

FFS – twas out of town, and out of the way. Before most people saw this story, did they even know where Naas Road is?

It used to be the Mad Mile on the Barton Highway heading towards Murrumbateman. It has at various times been Mitchell, Fyshwick and Hume. At least the Naas Road is out of the way – and no innocents would have been hurt if someone made a mistake…

hmmm, I’d rather this lot did it back of Naas on some deserted side road than in my street where it normally happens. Unless the Police handcuff every participant to their sink they are just going to go somewhere else and do it and, pissed off that they have been caught, drop burnouts around suburban streets as well.

This media release is just hot air and this type of enforcement is useless and I suspect the Police know that as well as we do.

I don’t know if a dragway would help or not but hounding these idiots and converting them into an oppressed subculture certainly isn’t.

Makes you wonder if ACT should build a dragway or something to get them off the street….

So you want to increase penalties from a few hundred dollars to effectively tens of thousands?

You’ll find yourself alone with the nutbags on that one.

caf said :

peterh: As long as it’s applied equally to middle-aged drink drivers alongside 19 year old street racers, sure.

caf, anyone doing something against the law in their car, it gets compacted.

How many times have we heard of someone getting done dui, losing their license and then being picked up again in an unregistered car, with no license?

cube em all…

It may have been great work by those on the job (wouldn’t know – I was safely tucked up in bed reading my book on knitting socks at 9.30pm) but I reckon that media release is a bit of a shocker:

shanefos said :

Around 9.30pm yesterday police tracked a large volume of vehicles south through Tuggeranong to Tharwa. The vehicles then gathered at Naas and Apollo Roads, south of Tharwa, where police believe dangerous driving activities took place on public roads.

AND

shanefos said :

More than 60 vehicles were checked as they left the area, with 63 negative screening tests for alcohol recorded.

So what – the statement is that police *believe* dangerous activities took place – and???
The media release says these cars were being tracked *by the police* heading south from Tuggeranong yet the statement makes no mention of them being observed doing anything illegal – just that the AFP believed that dangerous activities were taking place. If they were being tracked by the police all that time then illegal activities ought not to have taken place.

Oh yeah – there was no booze involved either. 60 vehicles were checked (for what? road worthiness?) – 63 breath tests – all negative (would love an explanation as to why only 60 vehicles were checked when 63 breath tests were done).

8 TINs – okay – is that saying that 8 drivers were done for crazy ‘illegal street racing’ / driving? I’m confused – I don’t regularly read police reports but I woulda thought that tying the belief to the TINs would tell the reader that the police intervention on this gathering was both justified and a success.

11 defect notices – how does that relate to the mob and their ‘misbehaviour’? To me it just sounds like 18% of the cars checked were found to need new tyres, headlights etc etc.

shanefos said :

“Police are able to target these drivers with the assistance of the public and using unmarked police vehicles. This group appeared to have arranged this ‘meet’ which was quickly shut down by police.”

“We will continue to target illegal behaviour and we would encourage anyone who may see this type of behaviour to contact police on 131-444,” Acting Superintendent Davis said.

OK – so now it is illegal to go driving with 60+ of your closest mates…?

Sorry if I’m sounding like a prat – I’ve come across a such a meet myself – it looked like something out of the ‘Fast and the Furious’ – pretty much all hotted up Japanese cars. And yes, I quickly rushed off and rung the cops myself (these hoons interfere with my ability to read my sock knitting books afterall!).

But this media report is, to me, just a little odd.

peterh: As long as it’s applied equally to middle-aged drink drivers alongside 19 year old street racers, sure.

shanefos said :

Great work by the men and women in blue! Wish there was more of it! Would’ve loved to have been a fly on the wall and seen the reaction of all those meathead petrol-heads!

would have loved to see their cars all impounded and the participants made to walk home….

why don’t we have the impound and crush law here?

get caught doing something dumb, and your car is compacted.

Great work by the men and women in blue! Wish there was more of it! Would’ve loved to have been a fly on the wall and seen the reaction of all those meathead petrol-heads!