Nsw New Anti-hoon Bill

[jnr32r]

It is sad that the "lucky country" is coming to this point. Our freedom as enthusiasts is being taken off our hands bit by bit. They will keep targetting us aficionados and eventually try to take us off the streets completely.

I dont condone any illegal drag or burnout behaviour, but if one chooses to show their individualism by modifying their car there shouldn't be all this obstacles in the way. I mean it is basically illegal to modify your car full stop, why is it so when it is not illegal to modify say your house??

We are living in a society where people are loosing their rights everyday with new laws and policies and more powers given to police. What are we going to leave our children, what rights if any are they going to have as citizens?

I predict that if things move as they have been, the only place you will be able to drive your modified car is on a track by getting it towed there... its rediculous !

[tbag]

GoldZilla sees where i'm coming from, what if it's them promoting a street race, do we call the police and tell them the number plate and get the car impounded or wheel clamped on the side of the road?

[evil_weevil]

I'd be interested to hear what insurance companies would say about their coverage of a vehicle wheel clamped by the side of the road for months on end.

Simple, here is your answer Adam!

If someone was caught doing an illegal activity, you are not covered by insurance anyway!

So if yuor car was clamped by doing the wrong/illegal activity, the insurance company can decline your claim if anything were to happen

With all these new rules or legislation,

Doesnt worry me!!

If you do the wrong thing in the first place, you deserve the large one.

As Dave and Nick said - take it to the track! Simple!!!

No one should be worried if you do the right thing!It's pretty easy really

[TiTAN]

No one should be worried if you do the right thing!It's pretty easy really

I have been in a car that was pulled over that had done nothing wrong and the officers threatened to take the car under the false pretense that the driver A) had a 4wd F350 sideways through a set of lights from a standing start and B) was speeding (yes the driver accelerated to the speed limit quickly (well as far as an automatic F350 goes) but thats where the accelerating stoped). If the power is there some will abuse it reguardless of whether it is deserved or not.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

[Lunatikk]

No one should be worried if you do the right thing!It's pretty easy really

+

Police Powers

(1) A police officer who reasonably believes that a motor vehicle:............

=

The opportunity to be singled-out, victimised & basically fvcked-over at the descretion of the individual who "reasonably believes" we were doing the wrong thing. Proof?? Who needs proof, 'cos he or she "reasonably believes" they are right & WE (as a collective) are always in the wrong. It's not impossible to fight against this, but can be difficult & not to mention expensive to fight charges in court, esp when the prosecution has almost endless resources to bring to the table & a vested interest NOT to have any sort of precedent set that would rule in any way in our favour. The up-side is, if you are able to get to that point individually your charges may well be magically "withdrawn" which is great for the individual in question but does nothing for the collective.

The witch-hunt started yrs ago, the public is very much on-side 'cos it takes away the pointing-of-fingers at the REAL problem (the average commuter-knob in his/her average car with VERY average driving "skills" (I use that term very loosely) who continue to have accidents (re: do totally dumb shit) on our roads that leads to x-amount of people not making it home for dinner that day. WE are not the problem, but I guess most of us know that but instead of condoning the way things are heading, we as a collective need to stand up & scream "THIS IS BULLSHIT, WE ARE NOT THE PROBLEM" instead of coming out with "If you don't do X, Y won't happen" 'cos with the big red targets we've had painted on our foreheads, Y is gonna happen purely 'cos "we were there".

IT HAS TO STOP!!

I've actually had discussions in the past with members of the Exec that along with things like CAMS affifiation, each state chapter of the club might have to look into the viability of having a Solicitor on the books. Maybe it would help, maybe it wouldn't but I'm sure it would help give some "perspective" to a situation let's say if one was to encounter an over-zealous member who "reasonably believes" (there's that accusation again) he/she is right & we are always wrong.

If you're being a 'tard, well then you deserve the slapping but isn't it time some impartial 3rd-party judgement was brought directly to the scene & alleged incident, esp when the forfeiture of such a valuable personal asset is at risk based purely on the judgement of someone who "reasonably believes". I really wish this was over-kill on my behalf, but sadly I personally don't think it is & unless something like this is brought into play to bring some balance back to proceedings, things can & will only get worse for us.

BTW apologies Chris for picking on your quote, I wasn't personally targetting you directly. I wish the advice of "don't fv<k up & everything will be fine" would actually be enough, but unfortunately it simply isn't anymore

[jenkies]

thats tight we will have to be good little kiddies

Edited April 4, 2008 by jenkies

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

I was driving back from the gym last night at 10pm (as I usually do most weeknights) and out of no where this Ford XR8 or some POS Ford kept tailing me like right up as if it wanted me to speed or something, instead I just slowed down to 40km/h, knowing it was a cop and being a smartass, I even waved at them when they passed.

Couldn't see if it was a male or female copper due to their stupid dark tint.

Stupid coppers!

[R338OY]

I think the problem with this legislation is the grey area it creates. Police have MORE authority to decide what 'happened' and the appropriate punishment for hoon behaviour. If hoon activity occured there should be punishment within reason. End of story.

But what this does it propogate the stigma that anyone who modifies their car is a hoon. Even if you drive a 400hp Skyline to and from work, like a granny, pay your registration, follow the rules, give way, indicate at turns and hand over your money for ridiculously priced premium fuel- in the eyes of most police you will always be seen in a negative light. You can be pulled over without warning.

To those of us behaving maturely these laws won't really effect our lives. But bear in mind that you have LESS chance of defending yourself whether you are right or wrongly accused of an offence, and MORE likely to be viewed with contempt.

This stigma of modified cars ruining society is the problem. Hoons ruin peaceful streets. Illegal modifications ruin the environment. Enthusiasts and legally modified cars are as good for society, and social culture, as home renovation and fashion shows. Apart from SAU events and track days, being an enthusiast takes up a decent proportion of my social life and has made me a number of friends.

So i agree with some of the other posts, that we need to make the effort to remove the enthusiast community from under the banner of HOON CULTURE. In a way we need to be viewed the way citizens view Porsche and Ferrari drivers, with something like a halo around our heads. That'll take some time to achieve, hopefully these laws will make it easier if we band together.

Edited April 4, 2008 by R338OY

[ignuz]

hopefully these laws will make it easier if we band together.

Get some stickers made up and hand them out to a couple of people in the car community.. E.g Something like..

I am not a hoon!

Whether or not that just spurs them on to pull you over even more is up in the air..

[missusR34GT]

Hoons be warned.. I believe SAU don't promote hooning and breaking the law...

Why shoot the messenger? Policing really is a thankless job.

The police don't make the laws.. parliament do... and you should only be worried if you drive like a tosser.

[Wayne_J]

I'm damned glad I'm moving interstate in 10 days time (mind you, these laws will might well spread elsewhere... a bit like herpes really).

What I'd like to know is, WTF is a " road related area" exactly?

[scathing]

What I'd like to know is, WTF is a " road related area" exactly?

Public carpark, driveways, etc.

Yes, you can get busted for road rule infringements in carparks, or any place not technically on public roads but are used by the roadgoing public.

[Wayne_J]

Public carpark, driveways, etc.

Yes, you can get busted for road rule infringements in carparks, or any place not technically on public roads but are used by the roadgoing public.

Thanks for the clarification.

I've heard before that people have been booked for not wearing a seat belt in car parks, which I find incredible. Sigh.

[Wayne_J]

Hoons be warned.. I believe SAU don't promote hooning and breaking the law...

Why shoot the messenger? Policing really is a thankless job.

The police don't make the laws.. parliament do... and you should only be worried if you drive like a tosser.

Agreed.

That said, there is nothing to stop a particular police officer from being a tosser either...

[Wayne_J]

I have been in a car that was pulled over that had done nothing wrong and the officers threatened to take the car under the false pretense that the driver A) had a 4wd F350 sideways through a set of lights from a standing start and B) was speeding (yes the driver accelerated to the speed limit quickly (well as far as an automatic F350 goes) but thats where the accelerating stoped). If the power is there some will abuse it reguardless of whether it is deserved or not.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

This only gives me even more of a reason to install an in-car video recording system.

Having been rear-ended and side-swiped on two separate occasions in the past 5 years spurred the idea... and with greater and greater discretionary powers given to police etc, makes this idea even more appealing to me.

[missusR34GT]

Unfortunately you cant record them without permission.. would be inadmissable in court despite how damning it is.. the law works in mysterious and f*cked up ways!

[Wayne_J]

Unfortunately you cant record them without permission.. would be inadmissable in court despite how damning it is.. the law works in mysterious and f*cked up ways!

Ah now that figures!

I was sideswiped about this time last year in my Suby - at the time I just so happened to have a video camera lying on the floor so naturally I started recording the scene. There was a patrol car less than 50 metres down the street, so they arrived straight away.

The officer who was obviously in charge went bananas at me for keeping the camera running. I've been trying to find the specific laws on this but havent had any luck as yet.

Anyway, they were mighty keen to leave the scene until I pointed that the other guy had been drinking (I could smell it a mile away). They were a lot more interested then and yes he was done for DUI and neg driving

[d00dz]

Unfortunately you cant record them without permission.. would be inadmissable in court despite how damning it is.. the law works in mysterious and f*cked up ways!

"....Hello Officer xxx"

"I'm currently recording, please advise me if you do not wish to be recorded."

"Thank you"

If you didn't drive like a tool, if you didn't race. You needn't worry when you have a video of your travels.

Just look at these 2 items:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/DVR-Camera-Video-SD...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Wide-Angle-Car-Rear...1QQcmdZViewItem

That's the cheap option, but should be enough to keep the people in line (The harassing cop).

A more professional, and thus expensive solution is this:

http://www.ness.com.au/ViewProduct.asp?ProductNumber=100-748

(Watermarking facilities / proprietarty image formats on the professional DVR units make life easier when verifying image authenticity in a court)

[4teecal]

Everyone is jumping up and down about this new legislation.

IT IS NOT NEW..................

The Hoon bill merely adds certain administrative issues to the current legislation. The offences and evidentiary requirements have not changed for years now. It merely give police power to clamp rather than confiscate, to direct a driver to attend a station rather than chase him or her down, and a few other things.

A few things have been added such as it is now illegal to film for the purpose of organising or promoting the participation of persons in any such group activity , view, participate or urge/encourage someone to do a burnout or street race.

In some ways the law has been relaxed to benefit the driver.

Now you dont lose you car permanently until the third offence (as opposed ot the current 2nd offence), and you may even have the option to have your car clamped at you home address rather than have it rot in a holding yard where you pay thousands of dollars in fees.

[NXTIME]

Get some stickers made up and hand them out to a couple of people in the car community.. E.g Something like..

I am not a hoon!

Whether or not that just spurs them on to pull you over even more is up in the air..

I have had that idea floating around for a while now...Something like:

"Car enthusiast not car hoon"

I might bring it up at the next SAU-NSW general meeting...