Hamilton hit with ‘hooning’ fine

@nova…

I once had a female officer in Victoria threaten to impound my car because I ended up sideways going up the driveway of a supermarket carpark. It was raining, I was going to buy some bread to make school lunches for my children and some idiot in a ute came off a roundabout at well over the limit. I had to push it to get clear. As I said to the officer, “I wasn’t aware that avoiding an accident was illegal”.
The issue isn’t the laws, its the enforcement of them, Victoria is so tied up in the red tape bureaucracy these days that the cops are no longer worried about “right” and “wrong” or “safe” and “dangerous” and will throw the book at you for even the most minor infringement. I’m not young anymore, I know how to deal with police. I’m not some idiot who either claims to be doing nothing wrong or abuses them for doing their job, I got caught, my fault. It’s really out of control when things like some guy doing 128kph on the freeway at night (110kph limit) get’s charged under the hoon laws and has his car impounded (which happened while I still lived there) rather than being given a speeding fine. Sorry but 18 kph over the limit and his car is impounded??

It should be pointed out here that a police officer in Victoria can only impound your car if
(a) you exceed the prescribed speed limit by more than 45km/h. Except where 110km/h is the speed limit then 35km/h shall apply.
(b) you as the driver deliberately cause your vehicle to loose traction unnecessarily.

If the vehicle is impounded under these circumstances then you will not see it for 48hrs. That is the maximum period that they can impound the car under these laws. You may then collect it from the police impound for a large fee and most likely receive a summons to go to court whereby your license will be cancelled for any period from one month to two years or so depending on the magistrate.

Lewis Hamilton most likely had no choice what-so-ever to have the matter heard before the Magistrates Court. It is standard procedure under these so called ‘HOON’ laws over here.

YOUR BLOODY CAR DOES NOT GET SOLD/AUCTIONED OFF!! You idiots before hand obviously don’t know what you are talking about. Police must prove a record of vehicle impoundments against the driver before such an order can be executed for the destruction/auctioning of a motor vehicle. Usually it is on the third offence that such action can be taken and does not matter if the car belongs to the driver or the person in the passenger seat. This order must be signed by the Chief Commissioner himself.

I used to be a hoon, 40 years ago, hardly ever left a traffic light in my FJ with the full house 179 without smokin em up. It was dangerous…to my gearbox, blew second gear once every couple of months. I see kids doing it now and start to get angry, then hypocrisy bites me.There are so many young kids killing themselves lately driving fast, mostly drunk in fast cars and they couldn’t drive a nail into butter. I think we need driver education and harsher penalties for inexperienced drivers.I drive to the country twice a week and never fail to be overtaken by at least one P Plater doing 30 or 40 over the speed limit. I think professional Racing car drivers should be a role model for these kids who think they’re bullet proof and know how to drive fast.
Police State? Singapore’s a Police State, the most culturally diverse nation on earth with an almost zero crime rate. No gangs, no home invasions, no drug lords, no stabbings or shootings…and probably no burnouts : )
Why did the Victorian Policeman cross the road?
To get a better shot : )

i thought doing burnouts is consider as rigorous driving??? which the fine is around 1000AUD….

“it still took four miles to catch me” sounds like a hooligan to me, and yes, I am a biker, idiot!

@ shame-ilton, my thoughts exactly

…mmm bad thing… not hamilton’s but over restricting aussie police…

BOOORIING!!!

I believe the real reason people got upset over this is because the state of Victoria and its police appear to have outlawed the very basic legal principle of common sense. Your anti-hooning law is crap and your overly rigid speed enforcement is equally so.

Hamilton broke a bad law which was in turn enforced with no regard for its spirit and only its letter, which is too damn vague to begin with. You can make a very strong argument that a professional driver demonstrating cutting-edge car control whether on a public road or not is NOT HOONING.

In the US, if a cop saw Jeff Gordon doing the same, he might take him aside and give him a good talking-to, but would probably not write him a ticket. Is that fair? The only thing you could get him on is reckless driving, in which case you’d have to prove recklessness.

Given the public image of Aussies as a free-spirited, adventurous, open-minded people, Victoria’s traffic enforcement is a national embarrassment. The only hope is that it catches enough “normal” folks in its trap to force a change.

I take it back. The anti-hooning law, if it specifically bans “intentional loss of traction” isn’t too vague, it’s too rigidly in the other extreme.

Like I said, in the States we have something called “reckless driving” which varies by state in terms of specific definition, but usually means causing a substantial risk of harm to life and/or property. It has to be dangerous to certain standard for the charge to stick.

Conversely, not dangerous = not reckless.

Bloody Victorians, great way of supporting the race copper. Lewis probably does this at every race around the world. Now what will he say about Australia? Victoria needs to grow up, forget massive traffic fines & start common sense driver training.
Here in Darwin, Northern Territory we didn’t have any speed limits on our highways, but now we do our road toll gets higher every year.

Very embarrassing victoria, grow up..

Driver Education is the only way to make our roads safer.

I pretty much think common_sense is on the mark. The image that Aussies are free spirited and open minded makes me laugh but only to cover up my frustration. Our government seems to be trying to make the country a national retirement home, where everybody looks at me like I’m a gangster because I drive a sports car and ride on a skateboard. Not only can you get your car impounded for having the tiniest bit of fun in an quiet area on wide roads for margin for error I got a fine recently for $500AUD for skating outside the city where there was noone to bump into or hurt and the policewoman said I deserve to be locked up for questioning what harm or potential problems I was causing besides breaking a law made by a rich idiot who has never been subject to common society.

I’m sick of such conservative laws that drive people to live in fear of everything. It feels like soon we wont be allowed out of our own homes without applying for a permit to walk on the street

The Aust. Police have a World wide reputation as being the Dummest of the bunch.

The Aust. Police have a World wide reputation as being the Dummest of the bunch.

AGREE!!!!!!!!!

PLUS AUSSIE POLICE CAN BE REAL ASS… they spend too much time on catching people who are speeding and stuff but they dont catch those burglary!!!

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