What defines a Hoon?

[auxr]

Guy's read to your hearts content, c/- the marvels of wikipedia.


Hoon is a derogatory term used in Australia and New Zealand to refer to a younger person who engages in loutish, anti-social behaviour. In particular, it is used to refer to one who drives in a manner which is anti-social by the standards of contemporary society, that is, fast, noisily or dangerously. While generally applied to automobiles and other road vehicles, anti-hooning legislation also targets hooning behavior wherever it occurs, including motor boats. Hoon activities can include speeding, burnouts, doughnuts or screeching tires. Those commonly identified as being involved in "hooning" or street racing are young, predominantly male although increasingly female drivers in the age range of 17 and 35 years.

At the turn of the 20th century in Australia, the term "hoon" (and its rhyming slang version "silver spoon") had a different meaning: one who lived off immoral earnings (i.e. the proceeds of prostitution – a pimp or procurer of prostitutes).

Linguist Sid Baker in his book The Australian Language suggested that "hoon" (meaning "a fool") was a contraction of Houyhnhnm, a fictional race of intelligent horses which appears in Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift.

The term "hoon" has obtained a semi-official use in Australia, with police and governments referring to legislation targeting anti-social driving activity as "anti-hoon laws".

In Western Australia, the Road Traffic Amendment (Impounding and Confiscation of Vehicles) Bill 2004[6], which was passed by the Parliament of Western Australia in June 2004, empowering the Western Australia Police to confiscate and impound vehicles found to be engaging in excessive speed or noise.[7] The law was used to impound a Lamborghini that was being driven by a mechanic without the owners knowledge. The police claim that the law does not permit them to release the car under the only legal course of action available to the owner, that of "hardship". The police claim that if he has the money to own the car "he can afford to hire a vehicle", leading the owner to claim that the law is the equivalent of "mandatory sentencing without trial". The Western Australian Police Minister, Rob Johnston, "admits the laws are unfair but says he stands by them".

In the state of Victoria, hoon-related offences include burnouts, doughnuts, drag racing, repeated driving while disqualified and high-level speeding were added to Section 84C of the Road Safety Act 1986 in July 2006. Victoria Police have impounded an average of ten cars a day under the laws, with over 5,000 vehicles confiscated and impounded two years after their introduction.

In Queensland, the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 allows members of the Queensland Police to impound the vehicles involved in proscribed offences.[13] The laws relating to confiscation of vehicles for offences such as street racing, time trials and burnouts were strengthened in 2002. Further laws introduced in July 2008 provided for the confiscation of vehicles for repeat offenders involved with drunk driving, driving while suspended or driving with illegal modifications. Offenders can lose their vehicle for 48 hours for the first repeat offence, up to three months for a second repeat offence, or permanently for a third repeat offence. On 11 August 2008, a number of confiscated vehicles were auctioned by the government, The remainder were crushed and sold as scrap metal.[14]

In New South Wales, the word "hoon" is actually contained in the name of the legislation: the Road Transport Legislation Amendment (Car Hoons) Act 2008 enacted in July 2008 introduced new measures against street racing and offences, and increased fines. Previous legislation provided for the vehicles of repeat offenders to be forfeited to the Crown, but the Car Hoons Act allowed the confiscated vehicles to be utilised for crash testing by the Roads and Traffic Authority, for educational and deterrence purposes as well as to test the effect of certain vehicle modification on the roadworthiness of the car.[15]

In South Australia, the relevant legislation is the Criminal Law (Clamping, Impounding And Forfeiture Of Vehicles) Act 2007. The legislation was amended in December 2009 to direct the courts that when recording a conviction for a 'prescribed offence' that the court must also make an order that the motor vehicle specified in the application is forfeited to the Crown. At this point the Police Commissioner can choose to either sell or dispose of the car. ie crush it. As at 13 January 2010 the amendments have not yet been proclaimed.

[svo supporter]

How do you define, excessive wheel spin? How do you define excessive smoke? How do you define excessive acceleration? + a thousand other "How do you"... blah blah blah.

At the end of the day, if you break traction or accelerate hard in any way shape or form, they can define you as a hoon. So it's a case of learning throttle control and hope to hell, if you do do those sorts of silly things, the locals are either very understanding, or they're not around. Otherwise, kiss your pride and joy goodbye for a certain period of time.

As for crushing cars. I don't agree with that, however one would imagine the locals would have to get a court order to allow this to happen. They currently have to get an order to seize a car and sell it on the owner, if they've been caught 3 times???? (I think) Otherwise, they just impound it for a certain period of time, which increases with every offense.

[AWD Chaser]

I would like to know what defines excessive acceleration. I own a 300kw+ car, so anything with more then 20% throttle gets up to speed fairly quick....

I mean, if I floored it from the lights, I could get done with:

Excessive Acceleration
Excessive Noise
Intention of doing a burnout
Street Racing (If someone near me tries to keep up)

I find it stupid that all car manufactures have to quote Max power output and 0-100 times, but we are not allowed to confirm them or test them....

[big_landau]

has anyone seen the new toyota corolla add on tv?the one with the little dog in it,they reverse back at the end the dog jumps in then they break traction and squeal the tyres now if that was me at the lights my car would be impounded!why are they allowed to have this add on tv,someone should send it to the media/police or something and let them go to town on it.

[ford man xf]

One of the stupid laws which you can be booked on:

Revving the car at the lights (instigating a drag with another car) my mates got in trouble for this one even though he was the only at the lights and the cop car was on the other side of the road, it sucks about those of us who just give our nice cars the occasional squirt away from built up areas and not doing anything stupid like burnouts etc.

[ford man xf]

Some of the older people on here (30+) may agree with this, but I remember that street racing has always been there but it was never on the scale that we see today and most of the modified cars going around were V8 Holdens and Fords, people may think this is stupid but I have a bit of evidence, when that rice burner movie Fast and the Furious came out all those years ago, in the proceeding months and years did anyone else notice a big trend towards street racing and imports getting around, I remember so many mates who never had single interest in cars and drove excels and corrollas around and were reasonably sensible, that movie comes out and all of a sudden every boy and his dog is into cars especially the imports, there was a massive shift away from the traditional V8's, maybe it was just because the imports started to get cheaper around that period, but I personally had so many mates who all of a sudden were into cars and 2 of them bought r33 skylines and started doing some pretty silly things.

[Zaxx]

Originally Posted by TasXR6

Unfortunately there is a law stating "excess acceleration" or driving for public display of acceleration. Like sustained loss of traction, they wont book you if you accidentally loose traction off the lights from being a bit dopey with the clutch, but if you rev it up and dump it and then hold the foot down to keep it going, your done. Same sort of thing goes for acceleration, if you take off and go to 60 quickly, your unlikely to get booked, but if you slam it to firewall, even if you dont break traction but it is clear you are flooring it, you could be booked.

In my experience as a last year P plater in tassie, the cops arent often truly unfair. Ive been pulled over once for speeding back when I was displaying P's, i was doing 104kmh and the officer had a chat to me about agreeing that 80 was a bit of a pain on a highway run, but 104 was excessive. He told me to continue on at a speed I thought was reasonable.

Also, I have been pulled up for spinning my wheels in the wet, when it let go i pushed a little further across the lights and let the one wheel wonder continue, right in front of an unmarked. He pulled me and asked what that was, and I said im sorry, i was being stupid and spun my wheels in the wet. He told me it was cause for a "sustained loss of traction" fine, but he said as i was straight up about deliberately being a dick, he wrote me a warning.

I dont see a problem if your not being a retread.

Lucky?

Maybe you were lucky to get a nice cop?

I can't see the problem with accelerating quick..

The way I see it there's a line. It's like, a hoon who will consistently smoke up at the lights, get the back out around corners, be idiots in traffic.
And then there are average joes like, most on this forum who drive sensibly, but don't mind giving it a little bit extra every now and then..

What's the harm?

[ch33z1l]

[QUOTE=when that rice burner movie Fast and the Furious came out all those years ago, in the proceeding months and years did anyone else notice a big trend towards street racing and imports getting around.[/QUOTE]

Whenever there is one screening at the movies, you can guarantee there is some hero who tries the same thing in the carpark after.

[aussie muscle]

i've been called a hoon just for accelerating briskly (not even dangerously!?!?)

why are cars allowed to have engines that rev to 7,000 rpms plus if you're not allowed to use it?

[ltd_on20s]

Originally Posted by ford man xf

Some of the older people on here (30+) may agree with this, but I remember that street racing has always been there but it was never on the scale that we see today and most of the modified cars going around were V8 Holdens and Fords, people may think this is stupid but I have a bit of evidence, when that rice burner movie Fast and the Furious came out all those years ago, in the proceeding months and years did anyone else notice a big trend towards street racing and imports getting around, I remember so many mates who never had single interest in cars and drove excels and corrollas around and were reasonably sensible, that movie comes out and all of a sudden every boy and his dog is into cars especially the imports, there was a massive shift away from the traditional V8's, maybe it was just because the imports started to get cheaper around that period, but I personally had so many mates who all of a sudden were into cars and 2 of them bought r33 skylines and started doing some pretty silly things.

plus back in the day we also had cheap as drag nights pretty regularly.

most people would potter around in the hack car, and take the beast out to friday night and satday night drags.

now in adelaide all you have is the streets.

what do people expect will happen?

no rocket scientists neccessary for that one.

[GavL]

We all knew this was going to be a pretty obvious reaction:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/we...0122-mpne.html

The Victorian Government will move to crush the cars of repeat hoon offenders in the wake of last weekend's tragic fatality in which five young people died.

From what I can gather, cars that are still roadworthy will be sold off and unsafe cars will crushed?

[trippytaka]

The definition, as I understand it is, "anyone deemed by newspaper editors, television news producers, or politicians to be a suitable scapegoat for the misconception that road tolls are spiralling out of control - there has actually been a steady decline, as a percentage per capita of cars on the road."

As such, a legal definition does not exist. Nor does a legal definition of "street racing". It is all subjective. Hence why I am at odds to explain why civil rights lawyers haven't been clamouring all over each other to overturn the confiscation laws.

Unfortunately, we (modifiers) are a minority that has been "othered" by society after a wave of negative press and legislation (not to mention tough-talk) by politicians. Until someone famous (like Lara Bingle in her Aston) gets nabbed by the nonsensical laws, or someone like Eric Bana ("where the bloody hell are you?") stands up for us as a community, we're pretty much screwed.

[4Vman]

New hoon laws proposed for Vic mean you get 3 strikes: strike 1 you loose your car for a week, strike 2 a month, strike 3 they sell your car, pay out your loan and balance towards victoms of road truama, only if the car is unsellable its crushed.

Seems like a pretty fair proposal to me.

[jpd80]

Holden
Owner
On
Night(out)

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by 4Vman

New hoon laws proposed for Vic mean you get 3 strikes: strike 1 you loose your car for a week, strike 2 a month, strike 3 they sell your car, pay out your loan and balance towards victoms of road truama, only if the car is unsellable its crushed.

Seems like a pretty fair proposal to me.

Wait, they pay out your loan?

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by XCPWSF

Wait, they pay out your loan?

Yes... with proceeds of the sale...

[UNR8D]

They have to, can’t crush a car/sell a car with out title of ownership. Bank owns your car until every last cent has been paid out; even the commonwealth have no say out of that. *secured* loan only, if it’s unsecured it treated as if you own the car outright.

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Holden
Owner
On
Night(out)

Someone hasn't read the paper, the forum or seen the news of late, making this comment. For the life of me, I can't remember what brand of car a Victorian driver was killed doing 140+ p1ssed when they hit a tree. Not to mention the other 3 lives they took and the 4th they ruined. (My condolences to the families effected by this tragedy)

Enough of that sort of stuff from me.

The S.A hoon laws are exactly as per Victorian proposed laws. First time caught, car gone for 24 or 48 hours???? Second time a week or so??? Third time, kiss it good bye for good.

I am aware of one instance this happened already. There maybe others, but nothing that springs to mind

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

Someone hasn't read the paper, the forum or seen the news of late, making this comment.

Ask the coppers who are the biggest lout element on the road
and without a doubt it's the V8 Commodore drivers.

BTW, I deleted your disgusting reference to that tragic event.

[durtyharry]

Originally Posted by Kia Chaser

I would like to know what defines excessive acceleration. I own a 300kw+ car, so anything with more then 20% throttle gets up to speed fairly quick....

I mean, if I floored it from the lights, I could get done with:

Excessive Acceleration
Excessive Noise
Intention of doing a burnout
Street Racing (If someone near me tries to keep up)

I find it stupid that all car manufactures have to quote Max power output and 0-100 times, but we are not allowed to confirm them or test them....

manufacturers have to quote them? since when?

You can test their claims any where you like on your own private land if you like!

I think you may have been aware of the road rules before purchasing your high powered car, why the whining about not being able to use it as your own racetrack?

Excessive acceleration can be dangerous. How?, other road users may not be able to reasonably predict what you are going to do, ie they go to merge left and you accelerate from 0-60km/h on their inside lane in less than a second causing a collision, or collect a pedestrian who had judged there to be enough space etc, think about it.

Also think about the dynamics of front/rear weight distribution when the vehicle is accelerating hard, it makes it less able to change direction easily.

[jpd80]

I think that after July 1, all new cars with V8s over 5.0 litres should be banned...:rolleyes:

[KITBAG]

Originally Posted by jpd80

I think that after July 1, all new cars with V8s over 5.0 litres should be banned...:rolleyes:

Don't wish to hard cos mister SHEEN might do that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by 87 XF - AU11

Don't wish to hard cos mister SHEEN might do that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :

Won't worry Ford or FPV, if you get my drift.......

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Ask the coppers who are the biggest lout element on the road
and without a doubt it's the V8 Commodore drivers.

BTW, I deleted your disgusting reference to that tragic event.

The cars I constantly have to repair, due to idiotic driving are turbo equipped cars. Not Commonwhores. People like you are constantly bagging one particular brand, just because you don't like them. I could go on with a particular 6 cyl brand that is constantly trying to run my french made Chrysler. But I don't think this is an appropriate place to go down that path.



Discusting reference to the tragic event???? How is giving my condolences to the families of this accident discusting? I think you've got your wires crossed.

At the end of the day, what can we do to prevent this sort of thing happening? Yes, we can take away their pride and joy, but is it going to prevent it from happening? Who knows?

[burnz]

one "K" over the speed limit.
grandma letting one wheel slip on wet pedestrian crossing.
you looked sideways at the copper.
you have a big mack, while officer has only a 1/4 pounder.
you have a nice car.
govco valued your car while you were in the drive threw.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

The cars I constantly have to repair, due to idiotic driving are turbo equipped cars. Not Commonwhores. People like you are constantly bagging one particular brand, just because you don't like them.

My wife and I used to own an SS Commodore and I sold it because of the way others were driving them and the stigma it placed on us. I drove the car on rare occasions but my wife was the main user. I couldn't believe how many times she was goaded by other SS drivers and lunatics in WRXs to race in the traffic, mainly because we fluked a 427-xxx Queensland number plate.

If I sound hot under the collar, it is becaue we have friends in a rescue squad who get called out in the middle of the night to accidents and we hear all the horrific details...

Sorry if I caused you offence but the subject is a very close one.

[elvisidal]

hoons are those ****************** who leave the house in full holden tracksuits and then get in their camira and pretend they're brocky

[Stattic]

Originally Posted by burnz

one "K" over the speed limit.
grandma letting one wheel slip on wet pedestrian crossing.
you looked sideways at the copper.
you have a big mack, while officer has only a 1/4 pounder.
you have a nice car.
govco valued your car while you were in the drive threw.

having p plates
having a recently washed car
having a loud stereo
having a couple of mates in the car
shoplifting
raising your voice
hacking government websites
having a pod filter
having a cannon exhaust

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Stattic

having p plates
having a recently washed car
having a loud stereo
having a couple of mates in the car
shoplifting
raising your voice
hacking government websites
having a pod filter
having a cannon exhaust

Throwing rocks at celebrities (Patty Newton) while on pushbikes.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertai...-1225701407394

PLEASE DONT CRUSH MY PUSHBIKE!!!

[Bundy]

on that fast and furious note......

Avid watchers of Top Gear, 5th Gear, Extreme Machines, Grunt Files, Sumernats, Gazzanats, Motovation, NHRA, ANDRA, V8 Supercars, World rally, A1 GP, F1............

oh boy am I a hoon