Social media videos unearth dark reality of Melbourne’s hoon crisis

Dangerous social media footage showing out-of-control cars tearing through suburban streets has unearthed the extent of our city’s hoon crisis.

Police have charged an alleged hoon believed to be one of the key organisers of illegal car meets across Melbourne’s western suburbs.

It comes as police will ramp up their efforts this weekend and target hoon hot spots across Melbourne.

A 21-year-old Melton man was charged with a string of offences on Friday morning including reckless conduct endangering serious injury, intimidating an emergency service worker, incitement, affray, theft, handling stolen goods and criminal damage.

Police allege the man had been stealing council street signs and roadwork signs, which were then used to illegally block streets to allow for hoon activity in areas including Derrimut, Altona and Sunshine.

A taser, several council street signs, roadwork signs and three balaclavas were seized by police.

Hooning is rife in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

He has been charged in relation to two alleged hoon meets over the past week, including an incident where a police vehicle was swarmed by attendees.

The first incident took place overnight on Saturday May 28 near the intersection of Boundary and Derrimut roads.

It’s alleged the man damaged street and road work signs and used them to block the road to avoid traffic going down the street where other people were performing burnouts.

When police responded on the night following reports of the activity, it is alleged the man who was wearing a balaclava tried to swarm the police vehicle with several other people.

The crowd dispersed prior to more police units arriving on scene and an investigation commenced to hold those involved to account.

The second incident took place on Thursday night, where it is alleged the male was involved in a group of vehicles performing burnouts in Ravenhall, and before police arrived on scene moving to Sunshine West.

It’s alleged they then moved to Drake Boulevard in Altona where they were speeding and performing burnouts.

Police responded to reports of the activity and upon arrival, the vehicles had dispersed.

Police arrest an alleged hoon believed to be one of the organisers of the illegal meets across Melbourne’s western suburbs.

A Melton man has been charged and bailed to appear at the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court in November over the alleged incidents.

The Melton man was charged and bailed to appear at the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court on November 28.

North West Metro Road Policing Inspector Mark Arneil: “This is not harmless fun – all this dangerous activity does is put the broader community and yourselves in danger, while also needlessly wasting police resources who could be occupied elsewhere,” Insp Arneil said.

“We will be saturating hot spots in Melbourne’s west this weekend, and we’ll be monitoring event organisers and participants to disrupt any further activity.

“Operation Achilles has led to hundreds of hoons being charged – if we don’t catch

you on the night, it’s only a matter of time before you receive a knock on the door.”

Our worst hoons

Thousands of charges have been laid against Melbourne’s worst hoon drivers.

The Herald Sun can reveal 28 hoons have been charged since April, with a total of 240 in the past financial year.

More than 1352 charges have been laid against those involved in hoon driving, with 766 fines issued and 155 cars impounded during the same time period.

It comes as footage obtained by the Herald Sun shows out-of-control cars ripping up their tyres in suburban streets and industrial estates in Melbourne’s southeast and west in recent months.

The reckless behaviour is posted on social media platform TikTok.

In one shocking video, a driver performs a burnout in an industrial estate, with smoke seen billowing from the car as its tyre spark.

Several social media accounts promoting hoon content also brazenly encourage drivers to “send in their best hoon videos to be featured”.

The notorious hoon gang Mexican Hoon Cartel, who have almost 100,000 followers on social media are featured in some of the videos, with members of the group posting burnout footage.

The group is well-known to police in Queensland, with members previously charged for their reckless driving.

Three men were charged last month over an alleged hooning incident around a marked car in Bendigo.

The alleged hoons were captured on camera waving a Mexican flag out of the window to signal their affiliation with the group.

The Mexican Hoon Cartel is one of the notorious gangs.

Australian Road Safety Foundation chief executive Russell White said promoting dangerous hoon activity on social media could be “catastrophic”.

“There’s an instant gratification they get out of doing it and unfortunately it does encourage other people to do it, which is the polar opposite to what we’re trying to achieve in a road safety sense,” Mr White said.

“For a millisecond of gratification that someone gets for posting something online of dangerous driving behaviour, that can lead to a lifetime of suffering for families and friends who lose their loved ones.”

A car enthusiast is ‘frustrated’ at hoons posting dangerous footage online.

A car enthusiast, from Melbourne’s southeast, who regularly attends legal car meet-ups, said she was “frustrated” at hoons posting dangerous footage to social media.

“They’re giving us all a bad name,” she said.

“We have really strict rules at our car meet ups with strictly no burnouts and excessive revving.

“I am concerned about hoon groups and car influencers posting burnouts on TikTok because it is sending the wrong message to young people.”

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said Operation Achilles had been responsible for charging more than 200 of Melbourne’s worst hoon drivers and impounding hundreds of hoon vehicles.

“As a result of our intensive focus on hoon drivers, we have dismantled and disrupted those responsible for organising and participating in significant illegal driving meets,” she said.

“Police will continue to target hoon drivers by saturating known hot spots, as well as actively monitoring event organisers and participants to ensure we can keep the community safe.

“We have a range of investigative techniques available that assists us in quickly identifying those who have been involved in hoon driving.”