Thread: Punishment for road law breakers????

Originally Posted by MacMan

More than just a couple around here. There was a great one only 200m from home about 14 months ago. Commodore full of knob jockeys thought it would be funny to drift around the last turn before home. Took out a tree, car ended up in someone's front garden only metres from the house, driver spent a good stay in hospital. He was less than 50 metres from his own place. The idiots had burn out marks right outside their house.

bit of a difference between drifting and burnouts.....

Originally Posted by It'sNotWorthComplaining!

It's pointless debating this issue as there are some that can't see the forest because of all the trees. And will find justifcation for irresponsible behaviour on the roads. Be it Drink driving, Speeding or Hooning. They just like to defy the laws of a democratic civilized society.
God help us.

tell me

have you ever driven a vehicle in excess of the speed limit?
with a blown bulb?
with an empty washer bottle?
an oil leak?
tyres worn to or past the tread wear indicator bars?
a windscreen that is either cracked or has stone chips within the area swept by the wiper blades?
worn suspension bushes?

Originally Posted by Sprint

bit of a difference between drifting and burnouts.....

Sorry, I have completely missed your point. Can you tell me which is the better of the two to do in a built up area?

Both say to me, "don't worry bloke, I know you live right here and stuff but it's cool, I know what I am doing, trust me I am a P plater".

Originally Posted by It'sNotWorthComplaining!

Exactly BECAUSE YOU WILL FAIL, so the point is if your capable of being a good driver for the test, why become the Dr. Jeckle on the road once you pass. That's not the condition they gave you a licence for in the first place.

Well as Sprint says. At school did you write what you wanted on a test or what you were taught by the teacher? Same relevance. Are you perfect. I suppose in your eyes you may think you are, but just by driving a 4x4 you put yourself into this category anyway. Obviously you have never sped, spun your wheels on tar or dirt intentionally or unintentionally, looked at or picked up a mobile phone, used a cb, changed a radio channel or cd, done any hard off road work, circle work in the dirt or riden a motorcycle, never driven tired, missed a stop sign, not given way etc etc?
If you havent, well thats great for you and I am glad you are happy in your cotton wool coccoon.
Everyone becomes the so called Mr Hyde (Dr Jecckle was actually the good side so you should get your anecdotes correct). It is just a matter as to with what and what you think is acceptable may still be illegal and wrong in others eyes.
As I have previously said I am not condoning dangerous driving at all, but to tar everyone that does anything you disagree with is just wrong also. I am sure you have ethics and have done things I disagree with, but I wouldnt flame you too much for it.

Originally Posted by MacMan

Sorry, I have completely missed your point. Can you tell me which is the better of the two to do in a built up area?

Both say to me, "don't worry bloke, I know you live right here and stuff but it's cool, I know what I am doing, trust me I am a P plater".

Hey, I agree with you on the built up and high traffic area bit, it is not acceptable. What we need to do is look at an amicable solution. My thought are give people places to do this (I know impossible due to indemnity and insurance), then they will not have any excuse for doing it on a public road. Pie in the sky stuff. People will start mouthing off there are drag facilities for this sort of thing and burnout comps a speedway, but these are limited and generally very hard for the average young person to access. There are very strict rules and regulations regarding this and the average vehicle would not comply or be allowed to run. It is also very cost prohibitive.
We attempted to get something organised in the mid/late 80's in Kalgoorlie and had full support of the police and emergency services, a nice unused piece of road, but the council and government vetoed it as they believed we were bad elements (now look what I do for a job). It was also mooted for the old airport in the 90s, but it was much more important to rip up what would have been a fantastic drag strip (was actually used for 2 sanctioned events) to sell the land as building blocks.
There are a couple of towns that actually hold events once a year (Newman and Bunbury I think) at least giving something.
The answer is not simple and crushing cars and increasing fines will not do it. What will happen is plates will be removed or falsified and people will try to outrun police rather than have their car confiscated and this will create more problems.
As I have said if we give a real solution where people can go and do this sort of thing there will be no excuse for doing it on the street. Could be as simple as a big barriered burnout pad, but will not happen.

Originally Posted by MacMan

Sorry, I have completely missed your point. Can you tell me which is the better of the two to do in a built up area?

Both say to me, "don't worry bloke, I know you live right here and stuff but it's cool, I know what I am doing, trust me I am a P plater".

not condoning either activity when its done on the street, but i fail to see how burnouts can be as dangerous as drifting.... one involves speed, the other doesnt....

Yes obviously speed kills, thats why the road toll in the N.T has INCREASED since speed limits where introduced , and dont worry that of the fatal accidents which where investigated a majority had either (or a combination of) a D.U.I, unregisterered vehicle , underage driver, unlicensed driver or speeding in a SUBURBAN area. The state tax officer sitting by the freeway with a radar gun who posts the fines in the mail is doing nothing to help the safety of the community.
One person I worked with was a middle distance running chump, he lost his license and for several years drove several unregistered $200 heaps, any time the cops chased him he would turn towards a local park in the city and do a runner, cops couldn't catch him and it was cheaper for him to buy another unregoed wreck than to pay the fine/ do time. This is what will happen if you jack up the penalties to high. It is becoming a severe issue in Sydney with No. plates being stolen/ altered to avoid the tunnel/ road fees/tolls, imagine the scale if it was a $25k car instead of a $5-10 tunnel toll

so if if the govt cant put up the fines ,crush the cars or put em in gaol what can they do? talk sternly to them? Im not talking about guys out in the boondocks what about the ones like the guy last week. If the first thing that comes into the mind of one of these guys is to run from the police maybe they need some time in gaol they are crossing a real big line there puting a lot of lives at risk if they steal a car becuase theirs was crushed then they are thieves and deserve time. I dont think anybody is looking at this for 1st timers but at some stage it goes beyond anything that society should have to expect and i for one want the govt to do something remember 8% of drivers are under 25 but they are 25% of fatalities and serious injuries.No i am not perfect but 2 year suspenion and fines changed the way i drive but some people are thicker than even me and need more engouragment

Originally Posted by THE BOOGER

so if if the govt cant put up the fines ,crush the cars or put em in gaol what can they do? talk sternly to them? Im not talking about guys out in the boondocks what about the ones like the guy last week. If the first thing that comes into the mind of one of these guys is to run from the police maybe they need some time in gaol they are crossing a real big line there puting a lot of lives at risk if they steal a car becuase theirs was crushed then they are thieves and deserve time. I dont think anybody is looking at this for 1st timers but at some stage it goes beyond anything that society should have to expect and i for one want the govt to do something remember 8% of drivers are under 25 but they are 25% of fatalities and serious injuries.No i am not perfect but 2 year suspenion and fines changed the way i drive but some people are thicker than even me and need more engouragment

Since you have mentioned last week's incedent maybe we can put in context a few of the things above:
He was allegedly doing more than 140 KM/H (loss of licence and large fine)
He was 3 times the legal BAC for a Fully licenced driver (loss of licence and large fine)
He was carrying unrestrained passengers ( 4 demerit points per person to the driver )
He was driving an unregistered vehicle (large fine)

These penalties would be sizable to any teenager, obviously he did not consider the risk prior to the actions he took. Would the possibility of having his car crushed deter him from this course of action? If the police had caught him 5 minutes prior to impact he would have been looking at gaol time, do you think this was a deterrent?
I think the govt needs to get tough on hoons by enforcing existing laws by putting police on the road and not relying on automatic speed detection devices.
If that young bloke had thought that he had a pretty good chance of actually being caught he might have reconsidered driving.

Regards,
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