Hoons Melbourne: New laws Mornington Peninsula, Greater Dandenong

Rev heads caught at illegal car meets face big fines under a new crack down on hoon hot spots. Is your suburb on the hit list?

Car lovers lured to the smell of burning rubber would face prosecution under a plan to crush the hoon crisis sweeping southeast Melbourne.

New laws being considered by at least two councils would see spectators fined up to $800 if caught attending an illegal car meet-up.

Greater Dandenong and Mornington Peninsula Shire councils are talking to police about beefing up local laws to include on-the-spot fines for people caught attending, encouraging or organising skid meets.

If adopted councils would authorise police to enforce the laws on their behalf.

However, there were fears that unless the rules were enforced across all municipalities hoons would simply move events to council areas that did not have the local law in place.

Opposition police spokesman David Southwick said under current laws suburban streets had become racetracks for hoons.

He questioned the sense of hoon laws being implemented by individual councils rather than having statewide rules.

“We can’t have a situation where hoon laws are different depending on a postcode,” Mr Southwick said.

Road safety legislation introduced in 2020 gave police the power to enforce immediate license suspension for excessive speeding and where someone was charged with using a motor vehicle as a weapon to commit a serious offence.

The legislation did not cover spectators at illegal car meets.

A State Government spokesperson said Operation Achilles was currently being run by police to reduce and disrupt hoon activity using shared intelligence to identify those responsible for organising hoon meets.

The new laws being considered by Greater Dandenong and Mornington Peninsula councils were likely to be modelled on one introduced by Brimbank Council in 2018 that slashed the number of illegal meets in Melbourne’s west.

To date 327 fines have been issued under the Brimbank law including more than 200 at a single event in 2019.

Brimbank city development director Kelvin Walsh said the threat of a fine had deterred both hoon drivers and spectators.

Southern Metro Division Four highway patrol Acting Senior Sergeant Brian Bourke said Mornington Peninsula Shire was discussing a new law with police in response to hoon events on the rise in the region.

Greater Dandenong Council was also looking at adding the law to its arsenal against hoons which included CCTV, overnight parking restrictions to deter gatherings and road treatments to slow drivers in industrial estates.

In 2020 Frankston Council introduced a $500 penalty for those caught participating in, encouraging, or attending a hoon event.

Frankston Local Area Commander Inspector Paul Cripps said police were working with the council to enforce the rule.

Police did not reveal if any fines had been issued under Frankston’s Community Law.

Victoria Police said members would continue to talk to local councils as part of ongoing efforts to deter hoons from gathering in key hot spots across the state.