Brisbanes Top Ten Hoon Spots

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Cars confiscated in Brisbane's ten hoon hotspots
Article from: The Courier-Mail



Hannah Davies

July 27, 2009 12:00am

MORE than 12,000 vehicles have been impounded by police under laws designed to rid the streets of hoons.

The State Government yesterday released new figures revealing the war against dangerous drivers is forging ahead.

Logan, south of Brisbane, is top of the hooning hotspots, with 1593 cars impounded in the past 6½ years. The Gold Coast follows with 1517, and Ipswich with 1141.

Police Minister Neil Roberts said the laws were sending a clear message.

Top 10 hoon hotspots
Logan
Gold Coast
Ipswich
Sunshine Coast
Oxley
Toowoomba
Townsville
Bundaberg
Redcliffe
Cairns

"Driving a car is a privilege, not a right, and if you don't want to follow the rules you risk losing the wheels from underneath you," he said. "There is nothing worse than having someone drop a wheelie outside your house in the middle of the night."

Queensland's first vehicle confiscation laws were introduced in 2002, allowing police to target anti-social driving, including street racing, time trials, and burnouts.

Since then the cars of 5011 drivers have been seized for at least 48 hours.

In July 2007, additional laws gave police the power to impound vehicles for high-level drink driving and driving unlicensed. There have been 7297 cars impounded as a result.

Drivers who are caught offending a second time lose their vehicles for three months and for a third offence the vehicles are permanently confiscated and sold at auction.

In the past 12 months, 69 serial hoons have had their cars sold.

Mr Roberts said most people who were caught for a first offence did not reoffend.

But with the state's road toll now at 204 – 25 more than the same time last year – he said it was important to continue the fight against hoons.

"Our anti-hooning laws are the toughest in Australia," he said.

The Government would not tolerate poor driver behaviour and would continue to give police the tools needed to crack down on drivers who put lives at risk, he said.