Every couple of months, the topic of crushing the cars of ‘hoons’ comes up. The latest is from our local pioneers of chequebook tabloidism, 60 Minutes, who are covering the street racing scene in Los Angeles and think that it directly parallels Australia.
The premise being pushed by 60 Minutes is that people who engage in illegal street racing should have their cars confiscated, crushed in front of them, and possibly uploaded to YouTube as a deterrent. The notion has found a cheer-squad here after Los Angeles started doing it last year, with apparent success.
Before I continue, I’m going to say that I have nothing but contempt for people who race on the streets. Its the kind of ‘Darwin Award’ stupidity that would surely have the great man wanting to rise from the grave to go postal - let’s face it, race track speeds on city and suburban streets is just plain dumb. It puts ordinary people just going about their business at serious risk.
On the actual car-crushing penalty itself, is it only me or does someone else also see what’s wrong with the 60 Minutes line?
To help you here, let me break down the type of person we’re talking about when we talk about street ‘racers’. For the most part they:
- Drive high powered cars
- Show no respect for road rules
- Have no consideration for the safety of the public
- Attempt to flee when police arrive
- Apparently “love their cars more than human life” (thank you 60 Minutes)
- Care more about their cars than about fines or other penalties
- Think they’re indestructible
This is the type of person the government and the police want to pull over, drag out of the car, and then have them watch as their pride and joy is despatched to the crusher. The standard tune behind the logic, sung with gusto by the LA Police in that 60 Minutes interview, is that they need to make the penalty harsh enough to discourage “these reckless hoons” from starting.
My concern is that this kind of penalty is going to discourage reckless hoons from stopping.
Racing has been around since there were two people on the planet. The first Olympics featured foot races, and you can bet your left nut that people did it outside the official arena. As soon as people domesticated more than one horse, you can guarantee the two owners lined them up side by side. Then when someone decided to stick a plank and some wheels behind the horse and made a chariot, they ended up racing them in the Colosseum, and, you can bet on it, around the streets of Rome.
In 100 years of motoring, there’s been 100 years of racing. It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about the old school classic hot rod racers or the high tech Fast and Furious import racers of today, you keep putting drivers near each other and inevitably someone is going to see if they’re faster than the other.
Changing millennia of ingrained culture is going to take a lot of time, and a long and slow process of shifting societal norms. By trying to force the pace through a harsh crackdown - seen as excessively harsh by the perpetrators - you’ve now given these flyboys an even bigger reason to not ‘go quietly’.
If a car-obsessed hoon knows that the cops are going to crush their car, why not take the adrenaline rush to the next level and race the cops? (And remember, these guys think they’re invincible.) The choice of possiblycrashing their car, or definitely getting it crushed, is not a dilemma they’re going to spend more than a few panic-accelerated heartbeats pondering. Some chance of keeping their car is better than no chance at all. So, they’ll bolt.
This isn’t just wild speculation on my part. These are the rants coming from the internet forums following the enactment of the new legislation. While a lot of it is going to be bluster, there are going to be quite a few that will try it on for real.
So what we’re going to get are a whole bunch of “high speed pursuits”, which is a euphemism for a street race involving a police car. Rather than backing off at the quarter mile mark for the winner to take “the respect”, the end point for these street races will now be when the “hoon” escapes the police and is therefore never brought to justice, or when they crash and potentially injure innocent bystanders. That’s a much longer race, and going to endanger far more people.
I find it quite laughable that the NSW Police Minister, David Campbell, is considering the proposal but is cautious of a knee-jerk reaction. The only reaction I considered was kneeing the jerk who came up with this dim-witted idea. A ten year-old could see the glaring flaws in the proposal.
Something has to be done about street racing, I will agree. Prevention is better than a cure, so stopping street racing rather than mitigating its effects is a better long term goal. However, the two need to be done in conjunction. Car crushing isn’t the answer. It will only fan the flames.
I’ll freely admit that I don’t have the answer to this one. But just because I don’t know what the right course is, doesn’t mean I don’t know when we’re heading the wrong way. Someone just needs to turn to the media and government/law enforcement, slap them upside the head, and say, “Stop talking shit. Stop wasting time on stupid suggestions and focus on coming up with something that won’t make things worse.”
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Firstly, since when are 60 minutes and Australia’s television media reliable and credible? People have to be dumb to believe that crushing cars is the solution, i agree with that.
Probably the best solutions would be to ban RWD vehicles from L & P Platers AND reprogram the ECU of their cars to a max speed of 100 and maybe 80 for L Platers (for argument’s sake).
This would eliminate hooning which is done by knobs (preteen-21 y/o boys) hammering around in commodores and falcons.
Furthermore, to eliminate drags and general recklessness, the power output of the vehicles should also be limited for probationary drivers.
Last but not least, driver training courses, to train how to handle gravel, wet roads, braking, skidding, brake failure, etc on closed tracks to get an intimate understanding of the power of a vehicle and the responsibility and maturity required to drive on the roads, this should be part of the licensing process.
Many of these things are not possible since the “police” has it’s priorities wrong (multanova revenue machines, .. i mean speed cameras) instead of saving people’s lives. Introducing mandatory vehicle inspections (like in the UK) would really clamp down on stupidity.
Crushing cars is dumber than the driver behind the wheel of the ‘offending vehicle’ as it is simply shooting the economy in the foot - motor vehicles, parts and services account for a huge chunk of the economy and to do so shows the incompetence of “police” and “government”.
If hoons stuck to Pulsars, Excels, and VN Commodores, I think I could handle seeing more cars crushed…
Adam,
How do you propose to fix the cars that DON’T have an ECU? Not all kids can afford late 80’s or 90’s cars with EFI. There are plenty of old cars getting around with carbies on them still.
Even if the kids could afford an EFI car, the performance enthusiasts will simply plug in a standard or aftermarket ECU - they do it now, what makes you think they wont do it if your idea came to fruition? The eastern states are already on the right track with no P Platers being allowed to drive Turbo cars. I wish South Australia had that regulation.
I agree on your driver training courses idea. That’s pretty well unanimous.
One way kids could be encouraged to do it in a safe way is to have free or low cost events for kids to race their cars every Friday and Saturday night, at a local race track or blocked off road. Not only drags (drags are boring) but an area where circuit racing and drifting is encouraged. Clearly I haven’t touched on the other obvious issues here of Insurance and the like, but the Police seem to be more interested in Revenue Raising under the guise of ‘Safety’ than actually doing the right thing.
On another note: we have a South Australian Politician who’s freely admitted in public that the South Australian Labor Govenrment’s ‘tough on hoons’ policy (at least in this state) is no more than a political stunt to gain popularity with the ‘Older’ generations. Little does he seem to realise, that they’re impounding (and defecting) the cars of their own potential voters.
This same politician also said they were not going to spend money on providing a place for these kids to do their hobby - but this flies in the face of the skate parks popping up everywhere. They wont provide a place for kids to do their hobby, because it will cost them revenue!
Anyway, off my soapbox now.
Excellent read.
+1 for compulsory defensive driver training for learners and accessable, affordable and regular access to motorsports for all enthusiasts. If this was the case then there would be no excuse for those doing the wrong thing and the ever increasingly harsh penalty’s would perhaps be more appropiate?
On speed limiting; even if a car is limited to 100km/h, or even 75km/h, you can bet that some tool will still max it out down a 40km/h stretch of urban backroad, or past a school.
On Power limiting: sometimes you need power to get you out of trouble, particularly if you drive in the country a lot and need to overtake a truck, or maybe to get up that next hill
Driver training, yes.
There’s also anecdotal evidence that guys below a certain age are much more pre-disposed to this sort of behaviour and driving without restraint, as much as I would have hated to admit that when I was 20 or 21. It’s estimated that guys don’t reach the physiological point in the brain that allows them to fully control impulsive behaviour until they reach 25. As much as I think I was a capable and considerate (yet sometimes a bit unruly) driver in years past, now that I’ve recently turned 25 I can actually realise the difference in how I drive - what I feel eager to do on the road.
Godspeed, now you’re officially an ‘Enthusiast’ rather than a ‘Hoon’.
If only the general population (and the media!) understood the difference.
I have no issue with idiots having their car crushed but I do think that the whole process is just a publicity stunt.
As always, our elected fools are more interested in chasing $’s than saving lives. Real driver training, learning how to drive, not just reverse park, should be a no-brainer but sadly you can only assume that its not cost effective.
I wonder if one of the wankers in govt has actually put a dollar value on each life lost on the roads and calculated an acceptable level of govt expenditure based on the figure? I wonder what we are each worth?
Limit cars all you want in any WAY you want, it won’t stop people racing. If low power and even terms were a deterrent we wouldn’t have one-make racing now would we.
Fines and car crushing will certainly put some people off but you’ve got to wonder if the people who think twice are probably the ones who are racing out on back roads where they take the risks on their own shoulders anyway. The guys and girls who do this crap in and around suburbia are tossers who probably won’t give a rats about the risk of car crushing anyway, and, as was mentioned before, may be more likely to run.
I’ve done my share of dumb-arse things on the roads, both public and otherwise, and have thankfully remained unscathed, physically that is as my license ain’t looking so good. Losing points and paying fines didn’t really change much beyond making sure we picked better spots. It was only until I got a bit older that I started driving like grandpa in town and coined onto the idea of track days and really working on my driving skill. I still love having a poke but I’m far more selective about when and where as you learn, only through experience, what works and what doesn’t.
I think some advanced training is a good idea, though you can argue that also has the potential to train up a bunch of Peter Brock wannabes, and greater restrictions on what young drivers, I’m saying like 25 and under here, should be allowed to drive power/weight wise. Getting a full license at 21 didn’t magically make me a better driver so I think the important factor is age not license status.
That’s just my 2 cents but the bottom line is I think we make a few changes, and I don;t think I’ve got all the answers by a long shot, to help the issue but it will never go away.
Banning RWD cars isn’t going to do buggery when it comes to stopping street racing. The drive train is irrelevant. Its not like dropkicks in Lancers, Pulsars, Excels, Charades, Civics, or any other crapboxes can’t line up against each other and go for a run. Instead of doing power skids, they’ll just rip handbrakies.
Speed and power limiting can only do so much. Limit them to 100km/hr, and they’ll just go race in carparks for thrills. And any speed/power limiter can be circumvented. Japanese grey imports have a 180km/hr speed limiter, but there are plenty of products to defeat those devices. Even if its GPS based, you just cut the wire or shield the sensor with lead. Its not like they can set the car to not drive if the GPS has no signal, since that would mean its impossible for a P plater to enter an underground carpark.
Driver training is the key to improving skills, but its not the key to changing behaviour…..which is the point I’m getting from Alan’s column. You can drive like Mark Webber, but even Mark Webber got pinged for speeding in Canberra the last time he was down here.
I’m also with you with a change in focus from the cops and the pollies. Instead of trying to stop drivers like they’re toddlers with big smacks and taking away their pocket money, they need to actually treat them like the peers we’re telling them they’re growing into. Give them skills, certainly. More importantly give them a safe, affordable, places to get it out of their system. And make sure you make it socially unacceptable to do it anywhere but in those places.
I’m on some car forums, and most of the enthusiasts are all for track and drag days. Its only these random guys, that are into cars after the Fast and the Furious made it “cool” to be an “underground street racer”, that still think doing runs out on a public road is a good idea.
Hoons need to learn that it may be fun to watch on tv like fast and the furious…but to act out the movies and end up killing some one is just plain stupid.
Crushing these wannabe’s cars could be the only way to show them that the law is serious. And hopefully teach them that they are not the next Paul Walker.
get a life.
You’re right. Zero tolerance and harsh penalties are such great ideas. Look at successes of Prohibition and the war on drugs in changing societal attitudes.
Open your eyes.
Why not crush the cars? It would be great to have these little guys and girls watching there thousands of dollars being crushed into a cube of metal, then slug them with a removal fee for their cube!
No matter what car manufacturers do to reduce the speed limit on the car itself, someone will always find a way around these factory modifications.
And if they do decide to out run the cops, they’ll get done for not stopping as well. Commonsense is lost on these hoons, so why not get them in their wallet?
Yes they will get done for not stopping, if they get caught. They might see some jail time, which is a pretty big thing.
As you say, however, common sense is lost on these people. So penalties like a criminal record and jail time may not come into their consciousness in the same way the thought of losing their “precious” cars does.
My concern is, as I said, the other consequence of what happens if they decide to outrun the cops. If we’re lucky they’ll drive themselves into a cul-de-sac or roadblock and pull up without further incident. If they’re lucky they’ll lose the cops, and never be brought to justice.
However, if we’re unlucky then someone will plough into pedestrians or other cars while trying to flee. Hearing about random street racers losing control and crashing while driving at high speed isn’t rare news these days, and a few years ago I recall it was Highway Patrol that was making headlines by hitting things. The concept of high speed pursuits by the police was brought into question as a result of the spate of crashes.
Whatever measures of “justice” are brought down as a consequence of that crash are going to be cold comfort for those in a wheelchair, or grieving for dead loved ones.
Knowing some punk street racer has a criminal record and jail time isn’t going to bring back your ability to walk, or a family member’s life.
Its going to be an even more bitter pill to swallow if it turns out the “hoon” was doing low-speed stuff like burnouts or skids (where an impact would be a lot lower energy), and only took off at high speed in a populated area because of the action of the police and the knowledge of the consequences of getting caught doing it.
ok so for those who think its a good idea to crush the cars what would you say if you were cought speeding or something hoon related and had your car crushed in front of you. i think if that were to happen then you wouldnt say “CRUSH THEIR CARS”.
why dont they go to the cops and ask if they can have an area fenced of to do these activities so it doesnt end up on the street?
What, you mean some kind of off street circuit for the mountain road warriors or a strip for drag racing?
I’m pretty sure they already exist, but all the red tape bureaucracy around it costs money, which gets passed on to participants. Most of these knobs don’t want to pay.
I will happily take my ‘hooning’ to a race track/Skidpan (and i do, and i love it!!) but please could the NSW police force refrain from parking a highway patrol car outside WSID and coming to Wakefield Park and writing down number plates and pinging them on the way home??
Here here.
The issue is…it always starts as a seed, mind control media and there handlers who tell them what to say, always introduce excessive laws and sheepal control in small increments with reasonable reasons…
Ask yourself this…should so much power be put in the hands of police…a human fallible being, that is far from perfect, no more or less than any of us human beings, including the stupid inbred actions of hoons too!
I say not…for no man or woman is more or less, equality people, let us be aware that today its for the hoons, tomorrow it could be because you were a smart as or had attitude when a officer pulled u up for something you where entirely innocent, or because a officer is having a bad day and decided to take it out on YOU!
Oh…and if you believe that - this couldn’t happen to me, police officers are there to enforce the law…wake up, you know deep down, no one is perfect…including you buck wheat.
All the best, be blessed.
i really think that crushing cars is just a no no….
there is relly no point!
they’re gonna get angry and do things more!