Cops on right track

By Emma Sun
THE first three months of tougher hooning laws have seen 20 cars in the Cardinia area impounded for 30 days.
The Cardinia Shire has been ranked as one of the lowest Police Service Areas (PSA) for hooning, with less than a quarter of the number of cars impounded compared to Brimbank, the highest PSA with 86 vehicles.
The new laws, which began on 1 July, gave police the power to immediately impound vehicles for 30 days, a significant increase on the previous two-day period.
Cardinia Local Area Commander Inspector Chris Major said the lesser figure for Cardinia was a good sign for the area.
“We’ve run a lot of operations in Cardinia PSA with the main focus on the Princes Freeway and the main arterial roads, where there has been a high incidence of collisions,” Insp Major said. “There is a focus on applying the hoon legislation in Cardinia and fortunately, the majority of motorists obey the road laws. If you want to drive at excessive speeds, join a car club that can facilitate those sorts of endeavours, not on the roads where you have a significant number of road users where you not only endanger yourself, but other road users as well.”
More than 1000 vehicles have been to an impoundment yard under the new hoon laws across the state.
Head of Road Policing Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said the results should send a strong message to drivers.
“More than 1000 motorists have already felt the impact of tough new impoundment laws, losing their vehicle for a minimum 30 days,” he said. “This should serve as a warning that police are 100 per cent committed to getting hoon and dangerous drivers off the road.”
Mr Walshe said speed remained a strong focus for police.
“All up, 294 vehicles have been impounded for excessive speed. Of those, 54 were travelling in excess of 70km,” Mr Walsh said.
“This is outrageous behaviour on the state’s roads and places not only these motorists at risk, but other innocent road users.Speed is attributed to about 30 per cent of fatal collisions on Victorian roads, and police will continue to enforce speed limits in all areas of our roads.”