Table of Contents
Hooning
Written in response to ,City of Logan Hooning Action Plan:
https://www.logan.qld.gov.au/downloads/file/2906/hooning-action-plan.
That links from:
the plan appears to have ignored the major stakeholders, the hooners. ignoring a key point of a study done on the problem.
the recommendation that the onus of proof be on the registrated owner of a vehicle to prove they were not hooning is removing civil liberties, adds the burden of having to know where your vehicle is all the time, and is not going to necessarily solve the hooning problem.
Definition of Hooning
From above Webpage:
“Hooning includes driving behaviour like screeching of brakes, revving of engines, skidding, donuts, drifting and fishtails.”
From above Hooning Action Plan
“Hooning is the common word used to describe any anti-social behaviour conducted in a motor vehicle. This can include speeding, street racing and burnouts. ”
From Wikipedia:
“A hoon, in Australia and New Zealand, is a person who deliberately drives a vehicle in a reckless or dangerous manner, generally in order to provoke a reaction from onlookers. Hoon activities can include speeding, burnouts, doughnuts, or screeching tyres”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoon
the Wikipedia page describes the word hoon as being a contraction of Houyhnhnm, a fictional race of intelligent horses which appears in Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift.
Provoke a reaction from Onlookers
The Wikipedia definition, attempts to go to the point of showing why hooning occurs. “to provoke a reaction from onlookers” this point seems to be completely missed in the LCC Hooning Action Plan.
Why LCC plan will not work
hooning exist at the moment. a study suggests it exists because the act of using the car for such activities is thought to be a means for achieving goal and accomplishments which may otherwise not be achievable
without looking into the root cause of unaccomplished goals, clamping down on particular hotspots is only going to move the problem for one physical place to another.
using drones is not going to work because they would not be able to be deployed quick enough
as evidenced by the use of stolen number plates in petrol stealing drive offs, photographing number plates has issues.
History of Hooning
The Wikipedia page on hoon, with citations, indicates that there has been a rise in Hooning since 2010 even though most states have bought in very strong laws against it including vehicles being confiscated. it also mentions that some high profile people have been changed with hooning including a world formula 1 winner. This would seem to indicate that the tactics to reduce hooning and not working.
Studies of the Problem
Understanding Street Racing and Hoon Culture, Journal of the Australasian College of Road Safety - February 2006
“Fourteen people participated in one of four focus groups, 12 males and 2 females. ”
https://acrs.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Understanding-Street-Racing-and-Hoon-Culture.pdf
Key Points:“
- The act of using the car for such activities is thought to be a means for achieving goal andaccomplishments which may otherwise not be achievable
- pointing to reasons as to why people feel they have no place to legally engage in the behaviours.
- there is a widespread opinion that there are not enough locations or occasions that are available to allow people to take part.
- Likewise, the level of expense incurred by taking part in race days is a concern.
- it is important to note that this possible solution could become problematic if authorities used such events as opportunities to set up ‘defect stations’ in order to assess vehicles leaving the premises.
- It was argued that if the whole community of vehicles of all ages and types were scrutinised to the same level as that of the modified car community, then the legislation would not be so well accepted.
- It is arguable that any intervention would require the support of car enthusiaststhemselves as it appears that themselves as a collective group their voice has repeatedly been unheard within legislative and media circles.”
Hoon driving: predicting involvement from social learning and deterrence perspectives
“web-based survey of over 700 predominantly young, university students to detail the extent of involvement in hooning,…'
this research would seem to indicate that social issues are a better predictor of hooning than deterrents.
Cant Beat them join Them
if hooning could be change from a antisocial to a social behaviour, it would appear that, that would would fix the problem.
if a group of people were running through the streets, making a lot of noise with an even larger group of people cheering them on, it could be regarded as anti social behaviour. but if those same groups were in a sports stadium that would be acceptable social behaviour.
the difference is one of physical location.
hooning is only antisocial and illegal because of where it takes place. presently on public roads
if it took place on non public roads, without interfering the the peace and tranquility of the general public, it could be both legal and social. just like most sport is.
it could even create new business opportunities, as existing sports do.
Use underutilized Existing council property
LCC has has a large sealed parking area at the smart tip, that seems to be underutilized most of the time. it is in an industrial area away from residential properties.
The $250,000 allocated for anti-hooning, could be used to set up that area, to create a safe sport of burnouts and skidding, conducted at appropriate times.
but the most important part is that the authorities should not use such events as opportunities to set up ‘defect stations’ in order to assess vehicles leaving the premises. as described in the studies this is what happened in the past, and just forces the hooning back onto the streets.
the ideal situation would be, it would be all self funded and administered, in the long term. but some initial feed money may be necessary to get it going. also in the long-term it could become a indoor event, so reducing noise and possible pollution, from burning rubber.
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