Residents call for increased patrols, noise cameras to deter hoons descending on Sydney harbourside suburb

Noisy hoons are turning streets in a harbourside Sydney into a late-night racetrack – prompting fed-up residents to call for a police crackdown on the antics.

Noisy hoons are turning streets in a harbourside Sydney suburb into a late-night racetrack – prompting fed-up residents to call for a police crackdown on the antics.

Residents in McMahons Point are lobbying for increased police patrols and noise cameras to be installed in their suburb in response to a spike in high-end performance vehicles being raced through the suburb.

Resident Nino Cvoro said hoon activity has become “out of control” with upwards of 200 cars per night descending on the harbourside peninsula.

“It’s terrible, if it’s a nice night you have to close your windows because hoons accelerate up the street – it’s 1am to 2am in the morning,” he said.

“They pull up to take photos at the bottom of the hill in front of the Harbour Bridge and they park on the grass, in disabled spots and do burnouts.

“We’ve tried to call the council who pass the buck on to the EPA (the Environment Protection Authority) and police

A photo of large crowds at a recent meet in McMahons Point

Residents want more police patrols in the area.

“Even when we call the police and they send a car down, 10 minutes after the police leave, another crew of hoons are down there with 100 cars.

“It’s beyond a joke.”

Residents have speculated hoons are attracted to McMahons Point due to the “long and straight” nature of Blues Point Rd which enables cars to “rev-up and speed from the top end of the road”

Drivers are often seen parked at the end of Blues Point Rd where they take ‘selfies’ and videos in front of the Harbour Bridge.

Residents say cars are raced through the suburb into the early hours.

Community concerns about noisy vehicles and hoons were aired at a recent community meeting attended by NSW Police.

Police told the meeting they are working with the NSW Environment Protection Authority on compliance activity and urged residents to report instances of hoon behaviour – adding that the “more people who complain, the better the chances of a positive response”.

Residents are now petitioning for increased patrols by council rangers and police as well as a reduction in the speed limit throughout McMahons Point from 50kmh to 40km.

Residents believe the cars are attracted to McMahons Point partly due to the backdrop of Sydney Harbour.

They also want the NSW Government to add McMahons Point to a current trial of noise camera technology to act as a deterrent.

The noise camera trial – taking place in the Bayside and Wollongong local government areas – uses cameras to detect loud noises and to issue warnings to offenders.

The petition launched claims there have been instances of members of the public “verbally harassed and intimidated” by people engaging in hoon behaviour after residents attempted to film their activities.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority was contacted for comment but did not provide a response at the time of publication.

Statistics released by NSW Parliament earlier this year showed 4455 complaints were made about noisy vehicles across NSW in the 12 month period to April this year – bringing the total number of complaints over the last five years to a staggering 34,195.