Hoon hotspot in hills

By Paul Pickering
FERNTREE Gully is the hoon capital of the hills according to figures released by Victoria Police last week.
The statistics were released on the first anniversary of the so-called hoon legislation in Victoria.
Since 1 July, 2006, 17 Ferntree Gully residents have had their vehicles impounded for excessive speeding or improper use violations – placing The Gully among the top 30 Victorian suburbs for hoon drivers.
The figures identify Ferntree Gully as the most active area for hoons in the hills, while towns such as Mt Dandenong, Olinda, Monbulk and Emerald each had no more than one resident who had transgressed the new legislation.
While Inspector Ian Sutton, of the Knox-based Region 4 (north-east) traffic unit, acknowledged that the figures were high for Ferntree Gully, he said that the area was relatively quiet compared to problem areas such as Dandenong and Melbourne’s western suburbs.
He said the discrepancy between figures for the municipalities of Knox and Yarra Ranges could also be a result of difficulties experienced by the Shire of Yarra Ranges in finalising towing contracts which is hampering the enforcement of the legislation.
Across Victoria, 2115 vehicles were impounded from drivers exceeding the speed limit by over 45 kilometres per hour or engaging in other dangerous driving practices such as burnouts, donuts, fish tails, monos and wheelies.
Victoria Police’s Assistant Commissioner (Traffic) Noel Ashby said the legislation had been a clear success in allowing police to immediately remove dangerous drivers from roads.
“Almost half of our hoon drivers are probationary license holders and 95 per cent are male,” he said.
“The legislation really targets those young male drivers who are over-represented in our road trauma and fatality statistics.”
The figures also showed that around half of all vehicles impounded in the past year were Holdens, with Ford the second most highly represented at 16 per cent.