hoons????

[Dahtone Racing]

Taken from another forum.

Finally some decent media..........without the "hoon" bashing

An article from Wheels and deals.

At many locations around the state, young car enthusiasts meet to talk about their cars and show their many modifications with pride. these cars can be nissan skylines, pulsars, hondas, mitsubishi FTOs, subarus, toyota supras, soarers and dozens of others which appeal to our younger generation for both their looks and performance.

Two of the locations, well known to me, are the broadwater car park on the gold coast and the reserve at wellington point on brisbane's bayside. Many of the enthusiasts also occasionally gather at various Mcdonalds carparks to buy a burger and indulge in car adoration and discussion. The majority of these drivers are in the 17-29 year old age group and love their cars. There are of course a few "idiots" who crank up their stereos too loud and like to perform doughnuts in the area. These few give the majority a bad name but are in the minority.

As parents of teenagers, we support their right to gather in a public place and to discuss and enjoy their hobby: ie. their car. While our younger generation are meeting as motoring enthusiasts, they are not drinking, they are not putting graffiti on buildings, they are not brawling or taking drugs or breaking into homes and businesses. So, it has our support as "oldies".

There are some elements who view the activities scornfully and complain to law enforcement authorities about the gathering of "young hoons". This has resulted in some bizarre behaviour from local police, who demonstrate their complete ineptness in dealing with a few disruptive young drivers. Rather than resolve problems with some intuitive and intelligent thinking, they choose to react in their normal seemly heavy-handed fashion: "let's barricade the area and defect every vehicle leaving - even for the most minor infringement!"

Things like, no water in windshield washer bottle, exaust pipe too low, fluorescent lights decorating the car, chipped windscreens and other similar offences. Now the police are not just warning these guys, they are issuing tickets for $75 an offence! The police are singling out this group as trouble-makers and seem intent on targeting them with bullying and stand-over tactics.

Now in defence of our law enforcement officers, who often have an uneviable job to do, they will be quick to tell me that if every kid's car was 100% compliant they couldn't be fined for anything. TRUE! well, why don't they target other groups, like senior citizens, mothers dropping children at schools or their own private cars and see if they are 100% compliant! Some of these young people spend a fortune on their tyres, wheels, exausts and suspention and represent no threat to anyone's safety.

So, while highly trained, loyal and brave law enforcement officers are fining these kids (some earn their money part-time at Mcdonalds and Dominos Pizza on low hourly rates), they are incurring public penalty rates and overtime fulfilling this wonderfull service; meanwhile, shopkeepers complain that they cannot get any police response to thieves when they report crimes because police are too overworked. This was just the scenario at wellington point two thursday nights ago when numerous police barracaded the entrance to the point public carpark and subjected every car to police scrutiny. Many cars were defected and many fines were issued.

Now i do not support "hoons" who risk their lives and the lives of others with unsafe driving and unsafe cars. I am appalled by the over-representation of young people in death and injury accident statistics, but i strongly defend the right of our younger generation to meet, interact and love their cars. It is every free person's right to meet in a public place, provided they are not harming other people or themselves. If a few younger drivers are obviously flouting the law and risking lives, then every supports punitive action against them.

How much harm to police public relations is being done by these needless act of bullying by police? Are not these kids the police officers of the future and do we want our kids to think our law enforcement officers are scum bags? Maybe a little bit of inteligent thought could develop solutions which allows kids to meet and enjoy their cars without harassment and police officers regain their place, in their eyes, as respected people in the community.

~Ron McCann

[LastTemptation]

madd. i just read that.. good to see ppl do care. that article makes lots of sense to me.

[Moanie]

What a great article! I hope it goes further than the magazine! as in to law enforcement level... they need to hear thoughts like that... and not just the bad 'hoon' side of the car world... and if it does get that far, that they think about it... and take it to heart... and start looking at the car world in general and not just focus on car enthusiats!

[StuiE]

Good read hope it does some good, somehow.

[Bax]

Very good read, Suspention......

[Shell]

yeah that's already been posted in the QLD section...great article!! Big thumbs up to Ron McCann, whoever he is!

[ferni]

Nice article, wish it did get further, but we all know it won't

[resonance]

These laws are usually set by government ministers who have had no contact or experience with young people and their cars, so they hold a largely biassed view.

It's just like, I know people who are racist, and it's completely unfounded, they simply do not know anyone who is of the race they bash. I always question them and say, 'hey, if you knew any like I do, you'd know they are the nicest, most helpful caring people around'. The government is fed the bullshit bashup side of things from the media without any contact with those in the scene, and automatically assume that young people with cars faster than an excel are hoons; law flouting rebels who have no mind for other road users. If they took their head out of the sand, and talk to people like us, they'd discover that, wow, young people DO care, they ARE law abiders, and their cars are their love.

I just wish the government ministers would remember they were young once too, and what they did when they were young. I'm sure there'd be some very interesting stories to tell.

[igor]

I almost cried...

The goverment should adopt an open policy while dealing with car modifications like they did in New Zealand. I mean.... i m about to get a Skyline (VERY VERY VERY close to) and have been thinking about modifications for a long time. In doing so I heard five or six often contradicting opinions on the legality of various items like BOV's, exhausts, neons and so forth.

How easy would it be to at least have a modifications guide published by the RTA that can provide some definite Yes's and No's? I gues one reason it hasn't been done is that the ruling bodies don't know that themselves.

In the meantime we have to fit the pod filters, feel like rebels, look around the shoulder while driving and hope the pole is not too far up the cop's backside.