Residents urged to call police ‘at first rev of a bike’ to catch southern parks hoons
TRAIL bike hoons who wreak havoc in southern parks and reserves are evading police because residents are not reporting them fast enough, says the mayor.
TRAIL bike hoons who wreak havoc in southern parks and reserves are evading police because residents are not reporting them fast enough, says Onkaparinga Mayor Lorraine Rosenberg.
She urged residents to report illegal riding at the “first rev of a bike” in a crackdown on the lingering problem – which has triggered Onkaparinga Council to install traffic controls such as logs and barriers and police to up patrols.
“People, as soon as they hear that first rev of a bike, need to get on top of it as soon as possible and ring police,” Ms Rosenberg said.
“The police are constantly coming out to these sites with no outcome because by the time they get there, (the hoons) have moved on.”
South Coast Police acting superintendent Tony Ransom said hoons regularly dodged police by moving on or hiding by the time patrols arrived.
“It is not uncommon that by the time the hoon driving is reported to police and a patrol attends, the hoon driver has left the area or ‘gone to ground’, so any information the public can provide to police to identify and track down hoon drivers is helpful,” Supt Ransom said.
“Details such as descriptions of bikes, registrations (if any), clothing and physical description of the rider, and any addresses they attend or appear to frequent will assist the investigation.”
He urged residents to report any incidents immediately on the traffic watch hotline: 13 14 44.
Port Noarlunga resident Richard Hughes said he had witnessed a recent spate of incidents at W.M Hunt Reserve, from his Geoffrey Ave home, which overlooks the former rubbish tip site.
“On a Saturday afternoon you’re trying to watch TV all you can hear is the motorbikes flying up and down,” Mr Hughes said.
“You see these guys riding through Port Noarlunga covered in mud yet there’s no bike tracks nearby.
“They make a hell of a noise – I’m absolutely sick of it.”
Mr Hughes said the problem was particularly bad at the River Rd reserve as riders used tracks that were inaccessible to police cars.
“Police would really need to get on motorbikes themselves to track these guys down,” he said.
Ms Rosenberg said it was concerning that many of the bikes were being ridden by “very young kids”.
“We’ve tried many different ways to solve this problem going back eight years ago and we keep hitting a brick wall,” she said.
“Some of these people are big and ugly enough to know better, but a lot of them are very young kids who don’t have the money to buy bikes or the petrol for them.”
CCTV cameras were also in place at random spots across the southern suburbs, yet Ms Rosenberg said footage often proved useless as many bikes were unregistered.