Palmwood 18-year-old charged with dangerous driving on Sunshine Coast

An 18-year-old man has had a run in with police after complaints of allegedly dangerous driving and excessive noise, as cops crack down on illegal car modifications. VIDEO

An 18-year-old man has had a run in with police after complaints of alleged dangerous driving and excessive noise, as cops crack down on illegal car modifications.

The Sunshine Coast Highway Patrol has launched an operation to crack down on hooning and modified vehicles.

According to police, modified vehicles are often mistaken for ‘hooning’ and Operation Suppress will focus on noisy cars to detect and deter drivers of defective and modified vehicles.

The main focus will be high density tourist zones like Mooloolaba and Alexandra Headland.

As a part of the operation, which began June 21, police have conducted a variety of enforcement and intelligence gathering activities.

Sunshine Coast cops are cracking down on modified cars. Picture – Police.

Police have the authority to direct drivers to an authorised business for a sound level check to ensure the vehicle complies with the Australian noise standards.

As part of the operation police arrested an 18-year-old Palmview man, who has now lost his licence, over a string of alleged traffic offences.

The man was intercepted by police on July 13 in Dulong after several complaints about his driving and noisy vehicle.

Police inspected the vehicle and found several illegal modifications and issued him a Traffic Infringement Notice (TIN) for failing to display clearly legible green P plate(s) worth $258 and a TIN for driving a defective vehicle that does not comply with vehicle standards worth $161.

He was also ordered to get a sound test.

This is in addition to a total of 10 TINS worth $2,757 and 14 demerit points that he had received since January 24.

Sunshine Coast Highway Patrol Officer in Charge Senior Sergeant Shane Panoho said efforts on Operation Suppress would be ramped up this weekend.

“We have already seen some positive results in reducing the number of modified and defective noisy vehicles on the road, mostly from the Mooloolaba and Alexandra Headland area,” Senior Sergeant Panoho said.

“However, in addition to proactive patrols and intercepts, we’re also targeting specific people that the community has reported to be driving cars that have been illegally modified.

“We have listened to the Sunshine Coast community’s concerns about how intimidating and disruptive noisy vehicles are, so we initiated Operation Suppress to address that.”

Police are seeing results at Mooloolaba and Alexandra Headland. Picture – Police.

“Please know that if you have a noisy vehicle, we are increasing our efforts to target this specifically because our community has told us they do not accept this type of behaviour and nor do we,” Senior Sergeant Panoho said.

“They are reporting your manner of driving via the Hoon hotline on 134 666 and we will be following up with you.”

If you’re interested to know if your vehicle is too noisy, the Queensland Transport website has a list of authorised businesses to conduct a proactive noise test: https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/vehicle-safety/find-approved-person

Originally published as Palmwood 18-year-old charged with dangerous driving on Sunshine Coast