Your Car Confiscation Laws

[Nizmo]

Hi Qld :wavey:

In the next couple of weeks its likely that WA will have the same laws as you guys do regarding so called "hoons" having cars confisicated. Im not sure exactly what guidelines you have but we are being put under the "three strikes" ruling.

First Offence: 48 hours

Second: 3 months

Third: For good

Its strange they dont enforce this ruling on drink drivers Over here we tend to get picked on especially because we drive an import ...... so this rule is just another way for police to discriminate .... as even the news report introducing the rule showed mainly import cars doing the bad thing.

Anyway to the point ....... how has this rule affected you guys in QLD? Have any of you had this law enforced on you? Do you find the police reasonable in their assessment of what is hooning and what deserves just a speeding fine? Just generally want to know what we can expect.

Cheers in advance for your thoughts

Lauren

SAUWA

[NismoGirl]

Depends on what cop you get. If it's an understanding cop they are usually pretty good about it, but if you get an old fella thats nearing the end of his time and wants no part in the hooning thing, he will be a big arsehole.

I've had a few friends that have had their cars confiscated for racing. I've never heard of one person getting off the charge but. And everyone that goes to court for the hearings always gets at least a 3 months suspension and $ fine. Most suspensions are 6 months and upwards.

It can be a very expensive experience. One of my friends about two months ago had his car impounded for the 3 months. He is paying for the storage at the yard, the court fees, the towing fees, the administration fees, PLUS all the defects he's received because of how bad a shape his car was in. Some of the Gold Coasters might remember a story on the car. I think the title of the article was "Mother of all Hoon mobiles" Nothing in that story was true. The car didn't have the turbo engine in it at the time. I could go on for ages, but I wont.

I mean, to be honest, it's like anything, if you do something silly, expect the consequences. I cracked up a huge shit about the laws being introduced, but when you think about it, it's common sense. There are the right times and the right places to do these things, and that's not when a cop car is following you.

But I'm sure in Perth you don't have the normal Saturday cruise back from the Gold Coast at 12pm on the dot with 200+ cars looking for races to prove that his dick is bigger than the persons beside him.

[EVO83]

Ive had 3 mates have there cars taken away for 48 hours wasnt good for them, 1 ended up having his car sold on him at the auctions and he cryed when he found out how much it went for. There are storys of cops now using the impounded cars as there very own hooning cars. They get you to race them in 180SX and then there is a cop car around the corner. This is what the talk was about ona cruize i went on a lil while back.

Damn them cops. Let us have a bit of SAFE fun and dont pull us over just cos we got a good car, hat, sound system, mags or what ever. (This dosnt count for the RICE BOY CIVICS, Pull over at will) :wassup:

[predator]

hmm...well i've only been here 3 months but I've never seen any cops use any of those sorts of undercover cars. OR too much street racing either.

They're out to catch a certain type of people.. young guys hanging around in big groups and just doing stupid street racing or burnouts late at night in known areas. If you're not in those categories you should be right.

[BelGarion]

hey niz

erin has pretty much covered it. tho i higly doubt that police are using peoples imponded property to bait other people, the cars go to the impound yard and stay there till you come and get it. but then again every 5 mins theres a new hoon squad car out on the streets.

i had heard that wa was gettin these laws, was in the paper on monday actually.

James

[knore]

The laws are fine, aslong as they are applied properly and the proper guidelines are followed to enforce them correctly.

This is what causes mixed feelings towards police.

ALOT of Police officers do things there own way these days, and treat us like we dont know shit, and therefor wont do anything about it.

Ive posted this story before, but ill do it again .. simplified.

My mate david had just bought his R33 GTSt grey.. only mod was pod filter...

I was in his car, and another friend.. dylan was in a 1980s automatic sigma that had the worst gearbox in the world.

Anyways we were driving back from the city, dylan was infront of us, it was 2am, so we were going about 90 in a 60.. Its a main road though and there wasnt 1 car anywhere. Also the road is 2 lanes, 1 each way.

Little did we know, that one of the side streets we went past.. there was a police car in, we saw them and went shit ok, slowed down a little as we went over the hill.

Next, we hear sirens, Police car flying over the hill full blazing etc he pulls us over.

They both get out and tell us to get the hell out of the car, we got out, david the driver was grabbed by his arm and pulled to the other side of the street where the male officer yelled at him for about 5mins, swearing .. saying Youll never get that car back you bloody idiot etc

I too was getting harassed, it was a female officer, shed ask me a question, ide try to say, why are we.. then she would yell SHUTUP AND ANSWER THE QUESTION.

They said we were racing, and getting charged to the full extent of the new hoon legislation. Blah blah blah, we are like WHAT THE FARK! we were cruising down the road, how were we racing??! A skyline VS a 1980 auto sigma! are you serious!

Tow trucks come.. Tow both cars away..

In the Police car to the station, they proceed to talk like we arent there.. going on about how they saw a hoon crash into a pole and his head was imbedded into the dash etc etc

We get to the station, and argue the living shit out of them, untill they must have thought shit, theyd already done the paperwork and called it in, they cant just change the Charge now.

So what happens?

We are sitting at Camp Hill Police station for 2 hours, while they call in the Cheif or whatever from Mt Gravatt, he goes into a room with them, obviously to sort out their bullshit and confirm a statement. Mainly because before he came, the officers stories were bullshit..

The chief goes, without saying a word to us.

We get informed of the NEW bullshit,

the story has now changed to..

'We werent in a sidestreet, we were following you from the top of richmond road, (which ment they were following us for over a KM before pulling us over.. bullshit)

Reason for changing their story.. Because they realised that if they say they pulled out from the sidestreet they couldnt have charged us because they pulled us up only 100m away from that street. They need to follow for a minimum of 400m to gestimate.. yes 'getimate' a speed. Good to see the law is accurate.

Anyways in the end

$700 fine each, plus $230 each for the towing

Plus 6 month suspension

All for what?

Cruising home from the city late at nite at a little over the speed limit.

We arent argueing we should get nothing, we want what we did.. speeding..

Not racing.

Court case has been reset twice because my mates have pleaded not guilty,

Now if they want legal help, they need $2000 so all the distanced etc can be measured etc to be used in court. If they win, they get the $2K back, if not

its an extra 2 grand.

And the ****ed up thing, i find out later on, that officers get a certain recommendation or minor award thing for Hoon Legislation Prosecutions

Figures.

[Bobjones]

Keep us posted on this case as there are a few more coming up shortly, and all have been post poned due to a not guilty plea.

Also in these cases the officers were in a side street and were seen by other motorists who have been called as witnesses. I am unsure of further details as they are not provided, however these officers were given commendations after the court case was announced...whether that is a ploy to prove that their word is greater than the accused I am unsure.

All I can say is NEVER admit to anything:

Officer: Why were you speeding

Answer: I was NOT speeding

Officer: Why were you racing, We have been following and saw you racing

Answer: We were not racing, we are heading home together, we live near to each other (if relevant obviously)

So far there have been a couple of cases 1 of which has been reschedule 5 times due to the "officers" being unavailable.

At the end of the day you should not be doing something so stupid, yet society allows us all to drink over 18, if you have too much you get a fine. The reality is by taking away your car and selling it they have broken your rights as individuals to do with your possessions what you want as long as there is no endangerment to others...

One question I have, do you get the money when they sell your car???

[BenA31]

farkin hell i can't get over how shit that law is........i get so angry and pissed off when i hear of cops doing such low things. how would they like it having thier car taken away from them and then sold. having it impounded fair enough, but them selling it, thats just too far. we should all write letters to the government saying that the law is unfair espec when they are targeting imports which is discrimenating (spelling??). i hope they don't impose this is VIC soon.

and yeah same as bobjones asked, do you get the money when they do sell the car?? and if not, can you take things out of it that you want back, eg stereo, personal items etc....

[Nizmo]

no i dont think you get the money when they sell your car.

Thing that scares me the most is that this law is open to the cops interpretation of it ..... theres no strict guidelines on what constitutes as hooning and theres one too many police that are just unreasonable and out to get you (there are obviously reasonable in that bunch too) two days after this is proposed its just been spread over telly that our state has the most corrupt police too .... greeattt!

[ChaserV]

lol at Niz's comment ^

[predator]

Well i think in NSW they just impound it.. throw it in a lot for however long without I assume that much care what happens to it.

Thing is cops will always bully younger drivers in this situation because it makes them feel like big men. For an older driver, I doubt they'd act the same way as they're scared of the legal ramifications and hell, they might be able to afford a good lawyer. Might just get clocked too Previously I've been pulled over, the cop was obviously fuming -- almost running to the car. When he saw I was older he immediately calmed down. In the end let me go without anything.

So age is definitely against you guys unfortunately. I feel for some of the younger guys. But hell, we've all been there before -- its part of what happens when you own a fast car when you're young. Least up here you don't have p-plates on display up here which basically means your car is a target and likely to be pulled over anywhere, anytime and reamed for any offense.

[NismoGirl]

I've "heard" that on the 3rd impoundment, they send the car to the auctions. You or any interested parts (read: banks, gaurantors) aren't allowed to bid for the car. Once the car is sold, all monies are distributed out. The first to be paid is any outstanding loans/finances for the car, then you are to receive what ever is left over.

I'm not sure if this is right or not. But it's what I've heard and it would be common sense.

[knore]

Nah you get ZERO,

We were sitting at the police station for hours doing nothing but asking them questions and watching them change their story etc etc

Nizmo is 100% correct,

There is no guidelines to say what is or isnt hooning, and for that matter, what is or isnt racing.

Its bullshit, a law without guidelines and proceedures to enforce it IS NOT a law.

All you have to do is be speeding, even a little, and you can get done for 'Hooning'

All they have to say in the report is you raced someone off the lights to a speed over the speed limit. And bang, instead of the usuall $200 fine and 3 points or whatever, its no licence for 6months and over $900 in fines/towing.

It makes me so angry everytime i think about it.

Its like someone getting murdered, police showing up, and charging the first person they see there with the murder. Its farking bullshit!

And to make it worse,

To the police and most judges, we are young hoons in fast cars. Fullstop.

You try defending yourself at 19 etc infront of a judge against 2 Cops, when the first sentence in the police report is something like "He owns an extrememly powerful imported turbo racing car etc etc with little driving expeirence"

Straight away your stuffed.

What ever happened to Innocent untill proven guilty?

[NFAA32]

you have it easy, in NSW, first offence for racing is 3 months car impoundment, 2nd offence is the car will be auctioned, and all the money will go to the government... you see none of it..

i think if you deny everything and its blatently obvious to the police your lying thats stupid, i was pulled over for racing, right after the other car somehow went around a corner(i dont know how he didnt crash) and i decided, well there gonna chanse someone i may aswell wait for them to turn around and book me...

anyway i was told to gte my stuff out of the car because there arranging a tow truck...

we proceeded to talk to the police like real people... and after some 30minutes of general conversation, we found out there having a real bad night of people telling bullshit stories with dodgy excuses.. at this point i said yeh we were racing but only to 90kms(it was 60 zone)

I also have an auto liscence with manual skyline, the police asked why drive manual car with auto liscence, because its cheaper to get the $74 fine then it is to re sit liscence $90 od..

he said fair enough.. then told me, well we have fined you for no p plates, driving manual car with auto liscence, and for 'racing' but its really burnout fine.. so you can keep you car, your mate is very drunk, so you can drive it home, but if we see you out tonight anywere but on your way home, we will confiscate your car..

i think the moral of this story is that too many people forget that police are people doing there jobs.. they have bad 'customers' just like macdonalds or KFC staff get.. and they have to deal with them too.. treat them nicely and respect them and who knows they might be nice and respect you...

[fane]

as rob said... talk to them like normal people then the big c0ckheads will shrink a bit and they will be like normal people...

I got caught in margaret river doing the biggest burnout all the way round a corner and about 50 meters up the road... it was near prevelly... and somewhere where i didnt think cops would drive over the hill infront of me...

a burnout is dangerous driving i think and 6 points... i think...

i got out of the car and 3 cops surrounded me and my car asking me to open every single fkin door that my car has... (yes they were abusing the sht outa me swearing their fkin heads off)

the main guy said "Gday Dckhead!!"

i got out of the car straight away and talked to him standing up and he said "You better have a fkin good reason why you did that!!"

i explained that i was just being immature and just showing off and it was just stupidity and i dont know why i did it other than that....

after checking over my car... and giving me a fair bit of abuse he gave me a 3 points $150 fine for "Excessive Noise" and said go back to mandurah where you came from you fkin idiot and if i see you or any of your mates in the next 5 mins im going to yellow all your cars no matter how legal they are!!! (we were on a small cruise, about 7 cars)

I thought i got off pretty lightly, no yellow, no 6 points, still got a licence and i didnt get bent over the bonnet with a jug of vaso....

so you can get them on your side if you just admit you were being a dckhead and it was uncharacteristic of you....

but yer...i thank that i got that cop and not one like the others did...

[The_Paladin]

i allways thought it was the 80's early 90's commies that were the worst and most sterotyped hoons on the road...........but then again, australians consider them actuall race cars unlike the jap stuff...........

its going to be hard to have anything good come out of this.

picture 21 year old johnny on his last warning, speeding down the road in his r32 gtr which he's worked night fill for for the past 5 years and he's still paying off the loan, he's doing 30 over the limit when the lights sound. johnny isnt going to stop if he thinks his car is going to be auctioned off, even if he does get caught and the car auctioned........he's going to be that pissed off that he's probbaly going to take a baseball bat to a cop out of frustration and spite.

this law if enforced incorrectly is going to create a whole lot of pissed off youth with little to do and a massive vendata aginst the law enforcement authroites.............

[knore]

Too right paladin,

And you know whos going to win in R32 GTR vs Police commodore

He'l either get away, or die trying

Also,

Like i said with police taking back a charge. Its actually its own proceedure.

Robr33, im not saying your lying

but i doubt you said to them your were racing, and if you did, your lucky they didnt think you were racing before you told them.

I spent nearly 5 hours sitting in a police station talking to them when my mates were getting done for the bullshit racing charge.

They have to radio in, everything that happens, almost to the extent of every street the turn down.

So if they thought u were racing from the start, you would have got done for racing. Thats the problem with the law. They radio in "We have two suspects racing off the lights blah blah blah" the office confirms the report. And the rest is a fine and no licence.

Once they have reported the Racing, they cant call in later and say they didnt charge them with anything. This is what i said in my post earlier.

Its what makes the racing charge bullshit, its like getting done for speeding when the police dont have radar/laser etc

It happens all the time, they have to follow for a minimum of 400m to, quote the words of the officer 'Approximate' your speed.

Approximate? what a load of shit. Not to mention what is there to make sure they follow for 400m ? Nothing.

Ive never had anything nor do i have anything against police. Ive never been treated unfairly, so my opinions are un-biased. But ive seen first hand how out of control this new hoon law, and for that matter, alot of road laws are becoming.

Mainly because alot of the proceedures and guidelines to successfully and justly/correctly apply the laws are being abused, its becoming the officers law, and what he 'THINKS' you were doing.

I know the law cant ever be done 100% correctly. But that doesnt mean they take it into their own hands.

[Edge]

fane - Do cops normally swear in that area because I know if one swore at me even one swearword I'd be reporting him for abuse! It isn't acceptable to swear unless you do. Get their name and report them. They need manners as they are supposed to be upstanding citicens who carry responsibility/authority. They even have a law which they can book you for swearing at them, which shows how offensive it is to swear at you too.

I have to say even when you aren't doing anything, sometimes the police are a bit hot and bothered from chasing someone else and effectively street racing themselves and then when they pull you over you cop the abuse where they say you are driving mad violent and reckless and they can take your car and licence. What a power ride for their tempers. The law should not put so much discression into the equation. Discression should be for whether to charge for the offence with regard to whether it was intentional or not. It should not be based on emotional issues as quite clearly the cops are very emotional sometimes and they need a clear legal guideline about what to do when they feel this way.

The hoon laws should be restricted to certain area/times with regard to public use and in other areas/times normal laws apply. In such areas the offenders would be highly visible to a number of witnesses! In this way offenders would be charged fairly and offences would be almost nil.

Isn't that the intention of the law?

Confiscation of cars by hot headed cops is a bad idea.

Particularly as police have to be seen as respectable to avoid having large numbers of the public turn against them. People who have been wronged enough don't care about police protection laws. I think the police protection laws are tyranical and unfair in their current application wher police often bust you for walking with friends or

for meeting with a group of people, or for driving with a new friend following behind you to your church for the first time.

On the friend following bit we have to take back roads and pull over for a minute whenever a police car approaches. No racing, overtaking or driving alongside whatsoever and they still bust you for street racing just because both your cars are full of teenagers and you look like you could be racing because you are together. PLEASE tell me what is wrong with following someone, do I really need to get police convoy permission if I am following my friend to his house? Not that they would give it consideration if I rang either.

The situation is bad and makes me angry because imports are targeted and we also keep getting pulled over by police who just want to see who is driving at 45kph in a 60 zone . What are they thinking; that it must be a bad driver is driving conservatively so he doesn't get caught?

Only thing that keeps me from getting in trouble is a perfect driving record, because the tempers of some police, particularly older police are making them borderline mad when they pull you over. How is it they put these grumpy old men in the pursuit car and then they race after cars who put a bit of acceleration down and threaten to take your car away. We bought powerful cars because we like the spirited acceleration from the lights, no burnouts or screechie noises either. Do they have to punish us for this?

They should pull over more of the 25kph drivers in a 60kph zone to make roads safer instead!

Every one in the public has a right to drive! A licence is legally only a certificate of competance and I find it EXTREMELY offensive that they now started to print the price on the licence card in NSW.

No one should have to pay to be allowed to drive, only for a certificate of competance to be administered.

[Squizz]

guh------hey!

[2rismo]

In regards to the ,"Do I get mah monaaayyy??" question:

No.

4 words: "Property of the Crown."

Adrian