ACT Policing is calling for witnesses after four motor vehicles were flipped on their roofs by a group of persons in Southside suburbs overnight.
Police were required to attend separate incidents in the suburbs of Calwell, Monash and Gilmore. The damaged vehicles included:
— A silver Nissan Pulsar at the Pitstop Carwash in Webber Crescent, Calwell
— A black Ford Ka in Andrew Crescent, Calwell
— A white Toyota Corolla in Priddle Crescent, Monash
— A white Daewoo Lanos in Alonson Crescent, Gilmore.
Police conducted thorough searches of a number of Southside areas throughout the evening and into the morning but were unable to locate any persons or vehicles of interest in relation to the four incidents.
“It’s obvious those responsible for these mindless acts of property damage have no idea how upsetting their actions are to the owners of the motor vehicles,” Acting South District Superintendent, Daryl Neit said.
Police urge anyone who may have witnessed any of these incidents or saw anyone acting suspiciously in the areas at the time of the incidents to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or via the Crime Stoppers website on www.act.crimestoppers.com.au. Information can be provided anonymously.
AAMC said :
Yeah I know what a deadlift is, but actually flipping a car requires lifting it much higher. An average young man off the street can certainly deadlift 100kg, but he can’t lift that any higher, can’t bench 100kg (unless he actually trains), and sure as hell can’t lift 100kg over-head.
Moving a small car around with a group of people would indeed be fairly easy, but actually lifting one side up all the way past the tipping point would not be, IMO.
The 7 or so number zeitel gives sounds plausible though.
devils_advocate said :
LOL! This made my day
Time for a good ol’ fashioned lynch mob. Find the culprits, get some bikies to hold em upside down – see how they like it. No canberra teen will dare tip cars after that
A car was tipped over in my street about 2 weeks ago, a person down the street saw about 7 people and it was a small car. Dumb pricks have no idea how there ‘fun’ affects the people who they do that stuff too, its really sad to think about.
Jivrashia said :
I think all the answers are here now.
Most importantly, we have set out in detail several plausible methodologies on how bored teenagers might successfully engage in a spate of car tipping without exposing themselves to debilitating back injury.
Next week: How to circumvent engine immobilisation devices.
Tetranitrate said :
With a concerted effort.
My guess is that the group would have to be around ten to lift some of the cars.
I’d be looking at groups of bored teenagers from reasonably well-off families.
And I wouldn’t be surprise if they are doing it with a sense of justice.
(why that particular car out of many others in the car park?)
(why aren’t there further damage to the car, like thugs would do?)
Check popular social media. I think the answers will be there.
Tetranitrate said :
They must be students of physics
Tetranitrate said :
It’s a simple dead lift (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadlift) movement, 5 or 6 people can flip a car; they aren’t actually lifting the whole car. I would guess that the amount of lift required to flip a car is probably less than 50% of the total car weight. i.e. 1000kg car requires 500kg of lift divided by 5 people =100kg dead lift each………well within the ability of you average 17-55 year old male. but each car is likely covered with finger, palm, forearm, face(cheek) prints all which can be used to identify these people…….
Tetranitrate said :
Well they’re not actually lifting the entire weight of the car, they’re just slipping it on its shortest axis. One of Schwarzenegger’s famous party tricks at the peak of his career was deadlifting the back end of a buik (much heavier car on its longest axis). It would probably also be possible to “cheat” by generating some momentum using the suspension (i.e. rocking it back and forth and just tip it over at the end).
So they could be looking for one massive dude or 4 or 5 moderately strong adult males.
Tetranitrate said :
I used to drive a ford laser and my jerk friends at the time decided that it was fun to pick the car up and rotate it 90 degrees. It was paraell parked on a street at the time. It only took 6 of the guys in the early 20’s.
I guess if you got 5 or 6 people all lifting one side it wouldn’t be that hard.
Tetranitrate said :
They’re not lifting the full ton, if there were 4 or 5 of them they would only be lifting 100 – 150kg each…. Definitely not hard.
Tetranitrate said :
Easier than you think would be my guess. Just takes a 6 or 8 people. I remember stories of the Marist rugby team moving teachers’ cars around the carpark, or into places they couldn’t drive out of.
Tetranitrate said :
5 people could do it with some effort, maybe even 4 if they were strong enough. They would only be lifting around half the weight as the opposite wheels would act as a fulcrum.
I remember reading about vandals in Amsterdam that were picking up smart cars and tossing them into canals.
Cars aren’t hard to tip if you have a few people.
When they tip a B-double I’ll be officially impressed.
What a bunch of bullys picking on the small cars.
Tetranitrate said :
Many hands make light work.
Tetranitrate said :
It wouldn’t be that difficult with the right personnel. In 1993 I was collecting shopping trolleys at Coolo and there was a gang of local kids who hung around the centre who used to do that sort of thing. Two members of the gang were massive Pacific Islanders and they used to do the heavy lifting (quite literally).
How would they actually do this in the first place? Most of those cars are smallish, but apart for the KA will still weigh more than a ton. (1.25 on new Corollas according to Toyota and I’d guess the early-mid 90s models that are still floating around would be higher).
It would be more ‘upsetting’ if the owners were in the vehicles at the time…
p1 said :
With pics
I won’t be impressed until they can flip a cop car.