Hoon issue hots up

By Kath Gannaway
A POLICE crackdown on antisocial driving over the past two weeks is sending a message to Healesville’s young drivers that ‘hooning’ is not on.
Ahead of a public meeting on the issue this Thursday, Healesville Police using an unmarked car targeted dangerous driving last Friday and Saturday week.
Healesville Sergeant Tony Van Gorp said six penalty notices were issued, including one to a 21yearold Healesville driver who lost his licence for six months and was fined after exceeding the speed limit by 46 kilometres an hour in the main street.
An 18yearold local who had held his licence for less than five months was fined for doing wheelies.
“At the end of the day we’re attacking them as best we can, but it has to be a combined effort,” Sgt Van Gorp said.
He said Thursday’s meeting would provide police, community individuals and groups with a forum to brainstorm on a problem which while not new had become more prevalent.
District Inspector Mick Beattie, whose call for the community to take ownership of the problem led to the public meeting, said it appeared the community had embraced the opportunity to have open discussion.
“We don’t claim to have all the answers,” he said.
“Anything is worth a try because the traditional approaches to this behaviour seem to be just containment rather than making serious headway.
“We are missing a key ingredient on road safety. We have the TAC, VicRoads, police, local government and many more groups all having a dip, but I don’t think the community across the board are on board.”
Insp Beattie said factors such as a possible overrepresentation of people in the ‘young driver’ age in Healesville was one factor that could be looked at, and setting up a ‘hoon hotline’, education, new legislation empowering police to impound or confiscate vehicles and police enforcement would be open for discussion.
Healesville paramedic Mal McLeod deals with the worst outcomes of dangerous driving. He said any meeting on the issue should look at the issue a broadly, but with an emphasis on driver education, boredom and thrillseeking.
“The role of peer pressure needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed urgently,” he said.
Mr McLeod said teenagers as young as 14 were involved in dangerous driving and there was a need to look at why young people were doing this, and what the alternatives were.
One of the organisers of the meeting, Healesville resident Val Owen, said feedback from the community had been encouraging and positive but indicated widespread community concern about the problem.
She urged residents to attend the meeting.
“This is a problem in many communities but we have a chance in Healesville to solve it because we are in an enclosed community.
“We see the same cars all the time,” Ms Owen said.
“There have been many outraged voices speaking out in Healesville for a long time. Now, they will have somewhere to go to have their voices heard.”
The meeting will be held at the Healesville Memorial Hall on Thursday, 10 November, at 7pm.