Boosted Falcon

MILES KEMP
December 03, 2008 12:30am

MORE than 30,000 drivers have been reported to police by people fed up with hoon driving.

Since police first appealed for public help in March, 2006, public tip-offs had resulted in the detection of 638 offences leading to 13 arrests, 240 fines and court cases and 385 formal cautions.
Traffic support branch Inspector Stuart McLean said yesterday the figures showed how successful the scheme had been.

There had been 11,866 warning letters sent to drivers and 3453 investigations by police as a result of the 31,375 complaints to the Traffic Watch campaign.

"We are confident this is an excellent opportunity to reinforce our road safety message," he said.

Police Commissioner Mal Hyde this week appealed to South Australian motorists to back police and The Advertiser's Countdown 100 campaign to keep the road toll below this figure.

In the majority of complaints, 15,963, police had insufficient information – such as no or partial number plates – or decided the complaint did not warrant follow-up.

Inspector McLean said eyewitness accounts could be hard to prove.

"If someone says `this wasn't me' when they get the letter, please contact us," he said. "This is not an accusation and we are not taking formal police action. The system by nature is subjective because we are relying on the community."

He said people who see hoon driving such as tailgating, running red lights, speeding or burnouts, should report it to police immediately by calling 131 444 or at any police station to make a traffic complaint.

Inspector McLean said witnesses should note:

LOCATION of the dangerous driving.

VEHICLE details such as registration number and description of the vehicle.

NATURE of the driving behaviour that was dangerous or reckless.

TIME of the incident.

YOUR CONTACT numbers and details.

Police admit there is room for error
POLICE acknowledge some alleged hoon drivers are the victims of mistaken identity or false reports.
Traffic support branch Inspector Stuart McLean said police did not know if drivers had done anything wrong when they sent out the warning letters.

One of the recipients, Stewart McFetridge, of Hillbank, has criticised the scheme as inaccurate and "mischief making" by some informants.

His letter instructed him to "modify your driving behaviour", but Mr McFetridge can prove his car was garaged at the time of the alleged incident.

"Any Joe Public can ring and make a complaint and then you have a letter against your name," he said.

Inspector McLean said Mr McFetridge and any other driver who wanted to dispute the letters should contact police.

Commando wrote:and about 1,200 actual cases of punishment?

public tip-offs had resulted in the detection of 638 offences leading to 13 arrests, 240 fines and court cases and 385 formal cautions.

Steady wrote:

Commando wrote:and about 1,200 actual cases of punishment?

Half that 638.

public tip-offs had resulted in the detection of 638 offences leading to 13 arrests, 240 fines and court cases and 385 formal cautions.

It is in SA mind you, alot of the dob in calls probably went something like "Yo, I'd just like to report that...wait.. what?... I am so fukken hiiiiiiiigh right now".

Kyle the ED4LTR wrote:dont hold me to this, i heard that with the Hoon hotline they basically take your rego (Supplied by the person complaining) and your basically on a list for cops to always check on, so if they see you driving around they may pull you over for a random check.

edfairmont4.0 wrote:Basically useless. They would catch every commo moron driving around with bald stockies.

Would I be considered A hoon because I take off hard to the speed limit and back off? Dont tail gate, Dont brake late, Indicate bla bla follow the rules but I accel hard would you still call that hooning?

Fairlane_Ghia wrote:And yet, when I call the police about a fuckwit in my area doing seriously dangerious shit, then tell me that nothing can be done unless they catch him red handed.

I live on a main road in Craigieburn, so I am pretty used to idiots doing fly bys and racing at more than twice the speed limit, but there is one bloke in a shitbox VS V8 ute (Grey primer, stockies, no rego, no exhaust) that is a real danger. I get a little worried when I look out my lounge window to watch this car fly past sideways a couple of meters away from me...

The whole dob a hoon system is crap, I would bet that most of the 30,000 cases were nothing more than over zealous do gooders trying to clean the streets of what they deem to be menaces to socity. The sad part is that just having a car that looks modified is enough for these people to brand you as a hoon. Guilty until proven innocent...

ive seen that ute a fair bit lately he drives the same as me but stands out cause his is a v8 and no pipes.

Re Amanda (3), no, it is not just you. I reported a feral neighbour for doing a burnout in my street, the Police rang me back and asked me if I was prepared to make a statement, as the driver I had reported was unlicenced. I did this, a few week later, this feral was at my front door, trying to pull the security door off its hinges. I rang the Police, who could hear this person at the door, the police arrived, didn't bother to get out of their parotl car to look at the door, spoke to me for less than two minutes, went to speak to the feral for about 15 minutes and drove off. I rang the police back to find out what was going on, the operator said, 'Yes. we know about this person, stay inside and keep your door locked', the door that was now damaged and bent out of shape. He also said to make a statement the next day, I went to do this, and the officer at the counter said that she couuldn't take a statement, as it was the afternoon shift that had attended the previous day, and she would need to talk to them, and would get back to me.

This never happened, I put in a complaint which was apparently investigated by the local police, they rang me sometime later to say that there was nothing they could do, and the matter had been 'shelved'. This was while I was in James Nash House, because about 4 days after I had the door replaced, the feral was back at my front door, this time, trying to kick in the brand new security door. I again rang the police, who said they could hear hoim kicking the door in, in the mean time, for fear that he may actually get into my house, I retalliated, and squirted drain cleaner on this person, who was still on ,y property threatening to kill me. The police came, looked at the door, I told them exactly what had happened, and I was arrested for squirting this bloke.

I attempted suicide in the Elizabeth cells, due to being in shock and confusion at what had happened, I was also made to strip on front of a female officer, I was put into Glenside, and then James Nash House. I went to trial, was relaeased on bail, one of the conditions being that I was not allowed to live in my own home.

While I was living elsewhere, my house was set on fire, this would not have happened had I been living there. Eventually, I had the bail conditions changed, and was allowed to return to my home, this feral continued to threaten me, damage my property, I filmed him bashing on my window, trying to get me to come outside and fight him, but still he wasn't charged with anything.

I ended up getting a restraining order against him, he still continued to threaten me, I reported it, and the police said that they couldn't do anything about it, as there were no independant witnesses. The prosecution dropped the assault charges last month.

I still live in fear of this feral, I wonder sometimes whether he isn't Mal's love child, given what he is able to get away with. Unless you are prepared to go through something like this, I would recommend that readers don't report any hoon driving, I nearly lost my life for doing what I thought was the right thing, had my life thrown into turmoil, had my house half burned down, suffered the stress of having to go to court several times, and was detained under the Mental Health Act.

Posted by: Bill of Gawler South 11:41am today
Comment 33 of 39

ClassicAU wrote:I say we introduce the Finnish driving test system!! Did anyone see that on Top Gear recently? I would love to have gone through that training, no wonder they are all awesome drivers!

edfairmont4.0 wrote:Basically useless. They would catch every commo moron driving around with bald stockies.

Would I be considered A hoon because I take off hard to the speed limit and back off? Dont tail gate, Dont brake late, Indicate bla bla follow the rules but I accel hard would you still call that hooning?

Steady wrote:I'm sorry, but you've got some issues if you try to top yourself after being falsely arrested.

misk wrote:hahahaha
moral of the story - let the **** do burnouts

It is in SA mind you, alot of the dob in calls probably went something like "Yo, I'd just like to report that...wait.. what?... I am so fukken hiiiiiiiigh right now".

Aaron's phonebill must be in the stratosphere

AaronEF8 wrote:

It is in SA mind you, alot of the dob in calls probably went something like "Yo, I'd just like to report that...wait.. what?... I am so fukken hiiiiiiiigh right now".

You need to get a bit more educated
SA has the harshest weed laws of any state in Australia now, a lot of the SA grown weed goes to Vic anyway, now you can't grow in SA, Victoria and WA are fast becoming the weed growing capitals.

Steady wrote:

AaronEF8 wrote:

It is in SA mind you, alot of the dob in calls probably went something like "Yo, I'd just like to report that...wait.. what?... I am so fukken hiiiiiiiigh right now".

You need to get a bit more educated
SA has the harshest weed laws of any state in Australia now, a lot of the SA grown weed goes to Vic anyway, now you can't grow in SA, Victoria and WA are fast becoming the weed growing capitals.

Death, taxes, me bagging SA and Australian built cars.
Which one doesn't belong

So how'd you cop that if you don't mind me asking? Seems pretty shitful if you can give a full description, rego details, time & place, etc of your AU friend AND are prepared to make a statement, yet nothing happens. You gave pretty much everything except timestamped video evidence.

Then, you lose your licence due to a report? I'm guessing the complaintant put out or something. Like allowed for the copper to "pack her cone", wink wink nudge nudge