Hoons Do Not Pose Threat to Road safety

[Josho]

Hey guys and girls, came across this just then. Make of it what you will.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/professor-puts-a-positive-spin-on-hooning-around/2007/09/16/1189881342923.html

[T_Kiwi]

interesting read, gets my vote

[klink]

Thats a great read.

maybe the govt needs to take a long look at it. especially in SA where we dont have a track.

Paul

[Josho]

I bet my bottom dollar the mainstream media wont pick this up and run with it though.

[scoot1]

Hooray!!!

The media almost had me convinced that I was bad, a menace to society, and should be locked up with my ute returned to me as a cube.

I'm sick of all this bullshit with different legislation being pushed through to punish those of us that actually like our cars and are not hoons.

Just because you have an exhaust on your car doesnt make you a psychopathic killing machine, who hates every other motorist and wants to become involved in a life threatening motor vehicle accident.

I'm sick of the thought of people with vendeta's against car owners being out there with their cameras every time it rains and you loose traction for a moment. "Call the Fun Police, I heard a skid".

Do I agree that you should have your car impounded, sure. If you are a bloody clown that deliberately chucks skids everywhere you go and speed through school zones and road rages every poor bugger that might accidentally cut you off, then you deserve it and should take a good hard look at yourself.

My thoughts on the matter anyway.
Scoot

[Mungrel]

Thank god for that! finally some sensible bloody article about car enthusiests!

My personal favourite part:


Young men who were part of the car culture derived excitement, status, and a sense of control through having an impressive vehicle to drive, the authors argue. They liked to build hot cars. They took pride in their driving skills. Having a passion for cars could be an exciting and positive lifestyle choice for young men with time on their hands. And spending money on cars was better than spending it on drugs.

[DuffMan]

Hey everyone. I've just received an EXCLUSIVE preview of tomorrow nights episode of Today Tonight.

It reads "Drug crazed Tasmanian sociologist professor Rob White making sensationalist claims that car-hoons are not as dangerous as people think. It is suspected he is also a pedophile"

Even if it is televised, it would probably only get two seconds of air time anyway and wouldn't change the public opinion that hoons are dangerous as this statement has been bombarded into peoples minds by months of televised campaigns anyway.

It's kind of wrong anyway. HOONS are dangerous, car ENTHUSIESTS are not(generally speaking of course). That article doesn't do much to clarify the differance between theses two.

[Marco]

The authors agree that young people are disproportionately involved in crashes. But the victims were not necessarily those who were part of a car culture. Rather young people were vulnerable because they tended to be driving at night in poorer quality cars.

Amen to that. It shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that our most poorly skilled and least experienced drivers getting around in our least safe cars are going to have a higher crash, injury, and death rate than your more mature car enthusiast driving around in a brand spanker.

Good to see though that someone has finally made a few good points about the demonising of car enthusiasts - I don't think I fit the hoon label at all but people tend to assume that when I tell them that I drive an SS. Truth is that any idiot can do 120 in a 60 zone or lay some rubber away from the lights, but I enjoy some of the finer points of driving like deserted country roads and good handling instead.

[Crusty]

Hey everyone. I've just received an EXCLUSIVE preview of tomorrow nights episode of Today Tonight.

It reads "Drug crazed Tasmanian sociologist professor Rob White making sensationalist claims that car-hoons are not as dangerous as people think. It is suspected he is also a pedophile"

Even if it is televised, it would probably only get two seconds of air time anyway and wouldn't change the public opinion that hoons are dangerous as this statement has been bombarded into peoples minds by months of televised campaigns anyway.

It's kind of wrong anyway. HOONS are dangerous, car ENTHUSIESTS are not(generally speaking of course). That article doesn't do much to clarify the differance between theses two.


I guess creating the distinction between hoon and enthusiast is what we have to try our hardest to do. I do agree with the article that younger drivers tend to have cheaper and less safe cars and drive a lot more at night, why is this the first time they've bothered to notice this... oh thats right because it's not exciting news :vpo:

[OUTAtheBloo]

The article makes good points.

The best thing we can all do, is stand up as enthusiast's and promote safe driving. Being a hoon has nothing to do with the car you drive, its how you drive.

Everyone should take there performance driving to racetracks and skidpan days, and respect there cars, as well as other people's rights not to be annoyed by idiots.

Dan

[BLAQSSHEV]

Heard the same thing on ABC radio.. Took some heat off

[OzExcalibur]

Ahh that'll be what the twits on Sunrise were bashing their gums about yesterday.

[Big_Valven]

Yes! Yes! Yes! This is what we've been trying to say all along!!!

[Machine__Head_]

Talk to any non enthusiast about what they think a hoon is...

Listen to the dribble that comes out...

Then again, does it make you wonder that because we drive spiritedly that we are numb to knowing what a real hoon is... Well, it shouldnt.. we enthusiast know the line between a spirited drive and hooning.. why has it taken this long to get the point across that entusiasts will often make their car safer with adding modifications..

[iloveholden]

What a great article. There are two sides to a coin and we only hear the bad side in the media. I was just talking to my mate the other day ,that if each state had a race track where everybody could book a day for racing their street cars at affordable prices, this may help with the "hoon problem".

Since i've had my license i've seen more guys in crappy old cars do stupid things rather than guys in newer high performance cars.

I just wish the media would show the other side of the story. Im not a hoon, well at least i dont drag race or do burnouts around the place but i hate when people get the image if your young and in a new or high performance car the conclusion is that your a hoon :flipoff:

[PUMPED]

Awesome read and i couldnt agree more....

[kayman]

Talk to any non enthusiast about what they think a hoon is...

Listen to the dribble that comes out...

Then again, does it make you wonder that because we drive spiritedly that we are numb to knowing what a real hoon is... Well, it shouldnt.. we enthusiast know the line between a spirited drive and hooning.. why has it taken this long to get the point across that entusiasts will often make their car safer with adding modifications..

On the flip side there are people who do their modifications on the cheap and make their car less safe.

[STEALTHY]

Speaking of the hoon/track things.


The report they showed about hooning in SA said 'we have had a large increase in hooning in the last 3 years (2006)


No coincidence that AIR closed down in 2003.....

[Vulture]

Speaking of the hoon/track things.


The report they showed about hooning in SA said 'we have had a large increase in hooning in the last 3 years (2006)


And how do they measure "hooning" pray tell?

[STEALTHY]

And how do they measure "hooning" pray tell?

An increase in the amount of people fined for drag racing and burnouts?


Personally i don't buy into the media bullshit, but it doesn't take much to figure it out

[Tyre biter]

What a load of bunk.

I'm sorry, but the Professor nor the SMH article enunciate any 'real world' points IMO and lack (absolutely) any credible discourse. The issue isn't the car's value, the car's standard or modifications and whatnot, rather it is the attitude by the driver and occupants towards what is (in the main) socially unacceptable, dangerous and unlawful behavior that is the nemiesis of 'stupid' (read avoidable carnage) that the Professor fails to identify.

Yes, I 'get' that young folks are risk takers by their very nature, and I appreciate the road toll will continue reflect this group's actions because their conduct is a core result fo their minimal age, their lack of sound judgement and inability to discern stupidity from ego. I recall several years ago when four young men died in the snowy mountains, one of the boy's fathers (quite rightfully) disected that young men do foolish things in older men's eyes, hence young men go to war and whatnot, he said.

The problem is that too many folks going about their business in life are involved in these 'growing pains' and the Professor totally misses the point with regards to wasted young lives, and parents and grandparents who have been taken from other's lives. A total spanker IMO.

Cheers

[STEALTHY]

The problem is importance......


A bunch of hoons doing burnouts in an industrial area at night, or a drunk driver trying to run the gauntlet home every night half blind. I'm pretty sure if you look at how many of each kill and maim people each year, you'll soon have your '0.00 BAL for ALL drivers' banner than you would 'Ban all young people driving til their 24'




Also something to note about these so called statistics. Suggest ol Mum is driving her urban 4WD taking 'young' son and 3 mates somewhere, and crashes and everyone is killed, thats 4 people added to the road toll in the young bracket, yet it was nothing to do with them at all. If those stats reflected more closely, they'd put up a better arguement, but i think you'll find anything positive about young people or more to the point, Car enthusiasts wont sell with the media (i know, because they told me this myself when i asked for some coverage on the charity cruise i had a few years back)

[kayman]

The problem is importance......


A bunch of hoons doing burnouts in an industrial area at night, or a drunk driver trying to run the gauntlet home every night half blind. I'm pretty sure if you look at how many of each kill and maim people each year, you'll soon have your '0.00 BAL for ALL drivers' banner than you would 'Ban all young people driving til their 24'




Also something to note about these so called statistics. Suggest ol Mum is driving her urban 4WD taking 'young' son and 3 mates somewhere, and crashes and everyone is killed, thats 4 people added to the road toll in the young bracket, yet it was nothing to do with them at all. If those stats reflected more closely, they'd put up a better arguement, but i think you'll find anything positive about young people or more to the point, Car enthusiasts wont sell with the media (i know, because they told me this myself when i asked for some coverage on the charity cruise i had a few years back)

A few years ago the club I was involved with were organising cruises of about 500 cars in victoria. At the same time there was some bad publicity about "hoons" and a few articles about our club in the news paper. We invited Today Tonight & ACA down numerous times to try show them how we actually behaved but they were not interested.

[scoot1]

Headline of our paper last week was something along the lines of:
"Albany Man Wins Case" in reguard to a local bloke who had lost his car for the third time, where our hoon laws say his car should be confiscated, and he got it back. The police are appealing and have slagged off the magistrate.

The car in question is a Holden Gemini that is totally worthless and it is the first case to be the third strike hoon requirement in WA.

Don't know enough about it to comment, however if he has won just for the sake of winning, then it is obviously going to make it harder for everyone else, and may set a change of the already tough legislation, to become even tougher.

If you are interested go to...
http://www.albanyadvertiser.com.au/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1190079813&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&

[Vulture]

An increase in the amount of people fined for drag racing and burnouts?
Personally i don't buy into the media bullshit, but it doesn't take much to figure it out

Please give me a little more credit than that. :doh: If that is how it was measured than it is often a reflection of other factors, eg. Police deciding to devote more resources to the issue. Just as increases in the number of people speeding almost always is due to more aggressive enforcement rather than more people speeding more of the time. What you will probably find is that there is little genuine objective information to suggest an increase in the behaviour.



I'm sorry, but the Professor nor the SMH article enunciate any 'real world' points IMO ...

The problem is that too many folks going about their business in life are involved in these 'growing pains' and the Professor totally misses the point with regards to wasted young lives, and parents and grandparents who have been taken from other's lives. A total spanker IMO.

I think you are the one who has missed the point. The article doesn't condone dangerous behaviour at all. This is the same argument you hear from senior Police all the time; in fact, it isn't an argument at all but a heart-string designed to quash any debate on the topic - "think of all the children dying! Think of the old lady on her way to the shops! oh woe is me!".

You didn't read this bit:

"Very few crashes involve high-performance vehicles, they say. Older and cheaper vehicles are more often implicated. And as a percentage of all motor vehicle accidents, so-called hoons account for a very small number

Professor White said there was a difference between dangerous driving on the street, which was never acceptable, and the kind of activities car-crazed youths liked to engage in".

That is "real world" point to me. The problem that I see it is that the term "hoon" is completely meaningless as it doesn't distinguish between an enthusiast driving enthusiastically and an idiot driving dangerously or with an unsafe car. It seems to have confused you anyway :stick: :)

[STEALTHY]

Please give me a little more credit than that. :doh: If that is how it was measured than it is often a reflection of other factors, eg. Police deciding to devote more resources to the issue. Just as increases in the number of people speeding almost always is due to more aggressive enforcement rather than more people speeding more of the time. What you will probably find is that there is little genuine objective information to suggest an increase in the behaviour.

You don't have to tell me. That was really a dig at how clueless the media are, and more to importantly, how average Joe public see it.

[zaim]

there's always good sides to everything...

you don't see the anti-drug adverts on tv showing these guys having the time of their life or having an absolute ball now do they.. lol.

but I am for one with the article.. I've been called a hoon, but I don't consider myself one because I aint one to go around doing burnouts and drifting and all that shit.

I just see myself as a crazy driver.. not a stupid driver. I like to drive slightly faster and ahead of everyone else, because that's just what I do. and because of it, it's made me the good driver I am today

[badnews]

what i wanna know is, what is the actual death toll for burnouts? apart from that drag car crash in USA recently i cant think of any time hearing about someone being hurt from a burnout...

[Evman]

what i wanna know is, what is the actual death toll for burnouts?

Or the toll directly related to driving with fog lights on, or having a bunch of enthusists meet up in a vacant bunnings carpark, etc. I think they should look at how many deaths are directly related to hitting a solid fixed object on the side of the road, like a tree or light/power pole. My guess would be a lot.