Proposed Changes to QLD Anti-hooning Laws

[csv8]

Hoons' cars could be seized and crushed after just their second offence, under proposed changes to Queensland laws.

The state government’s proposed changes to the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act – which would introduce the “toughest anti-hooning laws in the nation” – have been given the green light by the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee.

If passed by Parliament, which given the LNP’s massive majority is an almost certainty, drivers charged under hooning laws would lose their car for 90 days for a first offence, and forfeit it to sale or crushing for a second.

Police minister Jack Dempsey released a media statement in October last year foreshadowing the Bill, pointing to new amendments which would “see offenders have their cars impounded for three months for their first serious hooning offence”, while a second offence within five years “would see the offenders car forfeited to be sold or crushed”.
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Under the current law, cars involved in a hooning offence, be it dangerous operation, careless driving, taking part in speed trials or racing, making unnecessary smoke or noise, driving unregistered, uninsured, unlicensed or driving an illegally modified vehicle, can be impounded for 48 hours or for up to three months, depending on the offence.

The proposed changes would increase the sanction for type one offences (dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, careless driving, particpating in speed trials or races, making unnecessary noise or smoke) to 90 days for the first offence, and forfeiture for the second.

It also extends the “relevant period” a second offence counts, from three to five years.

The amendment Bill builds on changes the previous government sought to implement prior to last year’s election, which included raising the initial impoundment of vehicles from 48 hours to seven days, allowing police the power to automatically impound a vehicle for 28 days for repeat offences and make high end speeding a type 2 offence (driving an unregistered or uninsured vehicle, certain unlicensed or disqualified driving, driving with a blood alcohol concentration above 0.15 per cent or failing to provide a specimen of breath and driving under related suspensions, driving an illegally modified vehicle).

The then-Labor government’s Bill lapsed when parliament was dissolved ahead of the March election.

The LNP government came into power promising a tougher stance on “hooning”.

The committee headed by the Member for Ipswich, Ian Berry, stated in a report tabled to Parliament on Tuesday it “initially held certain reservations” about the extension in time but said it supported the recommendation as it “achieves an appropriate balance between ensuring that the provisions are an effective deterrent to repeat offenders and that the provisions don’t impinge in an inappropriate manner on a person’s civil liberties”.

The committee also concluded the extension from three to five years brought Queensland in line with “best practice” in other jurisdictions, including Western Australia and New South Wales, but was still “well short” of South Australia’s 10-year “relevant period”.

The amendments do allow for compensation to a vehicle’s owner, if they are found not guilty of an offence, but their vehicle has already been sold, or crushed.

The new scheme will apply retrospectively to “a type 2 vehicle related offence of the ‘same kind’ that has been committed up to three years prior to the commencement of the Bill.

That means if a driver has three type 2 offences under their belt within the last three years and they are caught committing another type 2 offence after the Bill changes have been enacted their car could be impounded.

If the driver is found guilty of the last offence, their car will be forfeited.

The definition of “burn out” would also be changed under the new amendments.

Currently, a driver needs to produce smoke for it to be counted as a burn out. The new definition takes into account any “wilful” act of driving to sustain a loss of traction, whether smoke is produced or not.

The committee consulted a number of government agencies and stakeholders, including the Department of Main Roads and Transport, the Queensland Law Society and RACQ while considering the amendments.

It made four recommendations – that the amendment Bill be passed but that the police minister delay the the amendments to allow for police officers to be informed and educated on the changes, and that the minister consider issuing public guidelines on some of the changes, including possible compensation.[TABLE][TABLE][TABLE][/TABLE][/TABLE][/TABLE]

Proposed amendments to Police Powers and Responsibilities Act include

Increasing the sanction for the type 1 vehicle impoundment scheme to 90 days impoundment for the first offence and forfeiture for the second offence
Including “evade police” offences and “high end speeding” (less than 40 kmh above the speed limit) as type 1 and type 2 vehicle related offences respectively
Increasing type 2 impoundment sanctions to seven days for the second type 2 vehicle related offence, 90 days for the third type 2 vehicle related offence, and forfeiture for any subsequent type 2 vehicle related offence
Increasing the relevant period for vehicle impoundment offences from three to five years
Amending the definition of 'burnout'
Amending the impoundment and forfeiture processes to operate automatically rather than through court applications
Removing the requirement that repeat offences under the type 2 vehicle impoundment scheme must be the same type as the 'pre-impoundment offence'
Allowing additional methods of impoundment including tow and store, immobilisation, clamping, crushing, removal of registration plates and the use of vehicle production notices
Allowing certain people to apply to the commissioner for the release of impounded vehicles and to allow these applications to be appealable to a magistrates court
Allowing the early return of a vehicle where specific offences that created the impoundment have been remedied, for example the payment of registration and insurance fees and obtaining a driver’s licence.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/quee...#ixzz2NMdTdo9W

[MAD]

Unregistered and/or uninsured is hooning now... that's a new one.
The word "hoon" has got to be the biggest fishing net I've ever seen.

Fair enough on the definition of burnout. You could have tons of fun in the wet and not make smoke.

[xisled]

Hooning is just a word that is used in the Media and to group a bunch of laws together.

The actual name of the laws falls under Police Powers and Responsibilities Act

When you get charged with an offence, you do not get charged with being a hoon.

No idea why people get so wound up about the word Hoon.

[EVLKNEVL]

Oh.. Didn't the last round of changes fix the problem?

[Super Roo 1970]

These hooning laws are just another example of an "umbrella" type set of laws out there designed to take what ever shape suits the authorities making them at the time.
Just like how America has their new fangled wide ranging set of terrorism laws which can be manipulated and molded to serve and encompass any number of purposes the authorities require or deem necessary. Good example - where vigilantism is classed as domestic terrorism.

[EFFalcon]

Hoons just a replacement for anyone doing something illigal now.

like "soccer hoons" which has nothing to do with cars/driving

[big_landau]

and junkies get a slap on the wrist when they get caught,they get free methadone so i suppose they get rewarded for being scum.

[noflac52]

If memory serves me correctly the Hoons were a tribe of people in early medieval England who used to rape and pillage and behave pretty badly in general.

So I suppose they should put raping and pillaging on the list too. lol!

[csv8]

From Wikepedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoon
Hoon is a derogatory term used in Australia and New Zealand, to refer to anyone who engages in loutish, anti-social behaviours. In particular, it is used to refer to one who drives a car or boat in a manner which is anti-social by the standards of contemporary society, i.e. too fast, too noisily or too dangerously. In New Zealand, the term "boy racer" is also widely used. Another slang term, revhead—derived from "rev", an alternate term for RPM—is sometimes used in place of hoon. However, "revhead" can refer to any car enthusiast, while hoon is always pejorative. "Anti-hoon laws", while they generally concern road vehicles, sometimes also target anti-social behaviour in motor boats.

Hoon activities can include speeding, burnouts, doughnuts or screeching tires.[1] Those commonly identified as being involved in "hooning" or street racing are young and predominantly male, although increasingly female, drivers in the age range of 17 and 35 years.[2]

Hoon control laws are beginning to be extended to dangerous and annoying hoon behaviour using boats and other vessels, particularly jet skis. The State of Victoria, Australia passed legislation in late 2009 to control hoon activities using recreational vessels.[3]

[DJM83]

Sweet when I'm 35 I can 'Hoon' all I want because I'm out of the age group :


What's next telling me when and where I can drive...

[arronm]

Hoon is shortened from Hooligan which is involved in hooliganism, with the meaning being Antisocial.

[2011G6E]

90. Days. For. A. First. Offence.

If that doesn't make anyone with a modified car quiver a little in their shoes, I don't know what will...you should have a million possibilities running through your head of what could happen if you get the wrong cop on the wrong day.

It's just more ammo to enable the minority of bad cops to to target and harass people with a car that is somehow outside the normal vanilla mum and dad mobile.

Yes yes yes...you can appeal and have your day in court if they confiscate your car for 24 or 48 hours (or 90 days!) because an officer has judged that you broke some part of the hoon laws...and they'll cop it on the chin and give you your car back. But they'll be laughing behind your back saying "That taught the little bugger a lesson".

Hell, I have family in the police force, and even they admit that they know plenty of traffic officers who would just love a law that lets them give someone a stir-up by threatening to take away their car for 90 days for no good reason. You can't say it won't happen. It already does to a certain extent, but making even more laws will just make it easier to do.


I mean, look at how loosely they are worded for christs sake! "Careless driving"...what does that mean? I know a guy whose motorbike slid on a patch of freshly laid gravel on a highway corner and he hit a guard rail. He was visited in hospital by The Plod and asked a few questions, then informed politely that he could be facing charges of "careless driving", as he should have been able to avoid the accident.
I was cautioned about the same thing myself in Rockhampton a couple of years back when I drove around a roundabout in the old Celica in the wet, and the back suddenly stepped out as I hit what I later went back and saw was a patch of diesel or oil on the freshly-wet road (I was thankful I wasn't on my motorcycle). I caught it and backed off, but it must have looked pretty spectacular, and at no time was I going over about 15 or 20kph in the downpour. A cop on the other side of the roundabout saw me, and pulled me over and warned me about "dangerous driving" and gave me a lengthy talking to full of all sorts of dire warnings.

Get the wrong cop under the new laws and I could say goodbye to my car until I could get to court and fight the charges.

[xtremerus]

This will be a very dangerous law for everyone.
A very wide net that will catch many motorist. And make money for the Govt.

[MAD]

As I understand it, the 90 day thing is only for type 1 offences, of which evading police is one.
I don't know what other offences are classed as type 1, but if high level speeding under 40km/h over the limit is a type 2, I'm pretty sure chirping the tyres or having an un-roadworthy vehicle won't be a type 1.

[bangm001]

MMM unreal.. So people who have "grow houses" should have their houses confiscated and demolished too!!!!!

[302 XC]

And yet manufacturers make cars faster and faster .........
Gee a granpa spec povo pack new falcon would embaress many an old skool muscle
Ill have to drive around with half tonne of cement in the AU tray back, the thing can break traction just about anywere even in the dry

[BHDOGS]

comparing houses to cars is a pointless point as you cant drive a house into people or others property unless you count a motor home?

[big_landau]

Originally Posted by BHDOGS

comparing houses to cars is a pointless point as you cant drive a house into people or others property unless you count a motor home?

no but you can blow up the little kiddies sleeping in the room next door to the lab room.the chefs who make the cookie are not good people,they are a scourge on society.

[bangm001]

I was just trying to point out the obvious fact that cars dont kill people, just like guns, so why punish the cars..

[Sorted]

Off Grunt Files facebook page
Grunt Files

12 minutes ago*·*IMPORTANT UPDATE..

.Yesterday we made a statement to say the Report from the Committee into the controversial Qld Bill had confirmed that driving an illegally modified vehicle was NOT part of the Vehicle Impoundment Legislation...

*Today we are not so sure...

We were concerned there can be a difference between the intention of the legislation and enforcement, so today we asked the Qld Police State Traffic Support Branch for confirmation; and were told that driving an illegal modified vehicle IS an offence under the vehicle impoundment legislation. We also understand this was today confirmed by Chief Supt. Morrow himself; yet he is the very person who advised the Committee this was not the case.*There is conflicting interpretation coming from the same office.The difference between the two interpretations*of the legislation is of grave concern and the effect it can potentially have on our community could be devastating. We are demanding an explanation...We have written to the Minister for Police, Jack Dempsey and to Chief Supt. Andy Morrow, plus the Committee asking them to confirm why there is conflicting information coming out of the same department, and what in fact is the truth.*We will keep you up to date.

[302 XC]

Originally Posted by bangm001

I was just trying to point out the obvious fact that cars dont kill people, just like guns, so why punish the cars..

Funny part is government knows that a few people are,shall we say,not fit for human society ,but are fine to throw them in the mix .....
How many times regarding mass murderers do people say "Oh we knew they had a problem " ???
Motorists are easy targets , and most need them for the daily commute
Everyone starts riding pushies, they introduce stoopid pushy laws

[flappist]

Remember these are the people who charged a driver who held an automatic only licence with unlicensed driving when he bought his new BA 4 speed auto and it had a "manual mode" and they interpreted that as it was a manual not automatic transmission.

[DJM83]

So QPS are trained mechanical engineers now?

[prydey]

am i missing something?? if your car modifications aren't legal, then suffer the consequences.

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by prydey

am i missing something?? if your car modifications aren't legal, then suffer the consequences.

yeah but isn't it supposed to be a rectification notice with 2 weeks to return to legal with an inspection for clearance? Impounding sounds like a big scare tactic which just further frustrates and angers people to the point of having zero respect for authority. But who am I to suggest sensible tactics to a self obsessed government workforce.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by prydey

am i missing something?? if your car modifications aren't legal, then suffer the consequences.

Yes you are missing something.

You would expect your car to be crushed because your ground clearance dropped from 110mm to 99mm as your after market springs have settled and your tyre pressure is a bit low?

That is an illegal modification.

[xisled]

Everyone with an exhaust better change it back to stock.

[IceValk85]

Originally Posted by flappist

Yes you are missing something.

You would expect your car to be crushed because your ground clearance dropped from 110mm to 99mm as your after market springs have settled and your tyre pressure is a bit low?

That is an illegal modification.

could be even more possible.

say you get lovely new window tint. you ask for darkest legal tint. some muppet fitter rolls out the 20% instead of the %25...

copper pulls you over, brrrrt, i suspect your window tint is too dark. ohhh look, 20% you loose, car confiscated and crushed.

illegal window tint would be an illegal modification.

police discretion is the issue. most of the coppers i know think they are gods gift to earth mechanics and can spot an illegal mod with their xray vision... more power to them is not a good idea.

[xisled]

Originally Posted by IceValk85

could be even more possible.

say you get lovely new window tint. you ask for darkest legal tint. some muppet fitter rolls out the 20% instead of the %25...

copper pulls you over, brrrrt, i suspect your window tint is too dark. ohhh look, 20% you loose, car confiscated and crushed.

illegal window tint would be an illegal modification.

police discretion is the issue. most of the coppers i know think they are gods gift to earth mechanics and can spot an illegal mod with their xray vision... more power to them is not a good idea.

First thing with your post, your car is not confiscated or crushed under this new law. It is impounded or immobilised. 2 very different things.

Impoundment can happen from the police. This can be done without the court order.

Confiscation, crushing is ordered by the courts. Police can not confiscate or crush a car without a court order.

[Elks]

Originally Posted by flappist

Remember these are the people who charged a driver who held an automatic only licence with unlicensed driving when he bought his new BA 4 speed auto and it had a "manual mode" and they interpreted that as it was a manual not automatic transmission.

Please tell me you're joking. Surely cops can't be that dumb.