Police crack down on hoons driving carelessly
A record number of vehicles have been impounded by police as Geelong Highway Patrol cracks down on hoon drivers. SEE THE CARELESS CRIMINALS.
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MORE and more cars are being impounded across Geelong as potentially deadly hoon drivers continue to plague our region.
A record 504 cars were taken by authorities in Greater Geelong and the Surf Coast in 2022, according to Geelong Highway Patrol Acting Senior Sergeant Fletcher Pearson.
In 2017, 208 cars were impounded by police, which increased to 502 cars in 2021.
Sergeant Pearson said the spike was due to the introduction of a designated team dealing exclusively with careless driving and changes in legislation to include a wider variety of impoundable offences.
These measures were introduced in a bid to bring the Victorian road toll to zero.
One of the drivers putting lives at risk was Geelong man Thomas Lee, who was spotted fishtailing his car when making a right hand turn at a red traffic light in Ocean Grove.
“Normal, average people” are regularly ending up behind bars for careless driving that ends with them “killing their best mate or a family member or a boyfriend or girlfriend”, Magistrate Ann McGarvie warned the 20-year-old.
When caught, Lee told officers he was “being a f---ing idiot”.
Ms McGarvie told Lee, who pleaded guilty earlier this month to the careless driving, that “I’d have said the same”.
She told Lee he was “not in control” of the car.
“When you lose control, when those tyres are fishtailing, you are not in control of 1500 kilos. That’s why it’s so dangerous to other people who are innocently driving along (and) to yourself.
“You have to stop doing it. It’s not tough, it doesn’t prove that you’re a man. Everyone else on the road just says, ‘there’s another d---head’. That’s what they are saying,” Ms McGarvie said.
Lee avoided a conviction but was fined $300.
Earlier the same day, Ms McGarvie handed 45-year-old Bell Park man Paul Fomin a $900 fine without conviction for careless driving.
In April 2022, Fomin lost control of his car in Hamlyn Heights and collided with a parked car and then veered into a fence.
Similar to Lee, Ms McGarvie told Fomin “otherwise good” residents were ending up with jail sentences for hooning behaviour.
“It’s not always the lunatic drivers. It’s someone like you who has had too much to drink and has killed someone,” Ms McGarvie said.
Police have increased their presence at known hoon hot spots across Eastern Beach and Corio during the summer months.
“We get people gathering in their cars and once we get those gatherings like that there is normally one person who will do some burnouts,” Sargeant Pearson said.
“There is that peer group mentality of showing off.
“You may think its fun but the end result could be deadly.”
Here are some of the hoon drivers caught by police:
Delroy Francois
A Leopold teenager was told he was wasting his life when he faced court in July last year for driving dangerously while his friend filmed.
Delroy Francois, 18, who pleaded guilty in the Geelong Magistrates Court to the driving offences, was told he was “lucky” he did not kill anyone during his drug-induced joy ride.
In April 2022, Francois was driving a stolen vehicle at 130km/h in a 60km/h zone while smoking methamphetamine.
A friend and passenger in the car at the time recorded the two of them “enjoying themselves”.
Francois was captured “singing and dancing” to music at the time, taking his hands off the wheel and showing off the speedometer.
Callum Hynum
A troubled Geelong man drove at police and reached shocking speeds of up to 200km/h during a wild pursuit early last year.
County Court of Victoria’s Judge Michael Tinney said 20-year-old Corio man Callum Hynum was going to “kill someone (or) he’s going to kill himself” if he continued to drive erratically.
In February 2022, police cars and a helicopter pursued Hynum as he crossed onto the wrong side of the Princes Hwy and wove between oncoming traffic at 150-200km/h.
One man tried to brake and swerve his van out of the way but was hit by Hynum, causing him to mount the median strip and hit a light pole.
Hynum, who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, intentionally cause injury and exposing emergency workers to risk, was “severely drug affected by drugs” and did not hold a licence.
Talisha Szucs
A Hamlyn Heights woman caught speeding three times in under six months was accused of thinking she was “bulletproof”.
Talisha Szucs appeared at the Geelong Magistrates Court in June 2022 and pleaded guilty to charges of careless driving, failing to stop on police direction and breaching a Covid direction.
In December 2020, police took up position behind Szucs and recorded her travelling at 130km/h in a 60km/h zone.
One month later, she was again behind the wheel of a car. This time it was at such a fast rate of speed that she lost control of the vehicle as she came around a long bend and collided with a fence.
When asked about the speeding, Szucs claimed that a “black cat darted out in front of her”.
Luke Bisby
A magistrate was left speechless in December 2022 when a Geelong man with ice in his system reached “crazy” speeds.
Luke Bisby reached 130km/h in an 80km/h zone on Portarlington Rd in Moolap before climbing to worrying speeds of 190km/h.
Bisby was caught speeding two more times in just nine days.
The 42-year-old pleaded guilty to driving at excessive speeds and driving with drugs in his system in the Geelong Magistrates Court.
Magistrate John Klestadt said Bisby was lucky he was not facing a charge for killing someone.
“It just makes no sense. To say it is stupid, that’s just an understatement. It’s outrageous,” Mr Klestadt said.
Jacota McKenna
A judge said it was “amazing” no one was killed when a 22-year-old Geelong man’s dangerous driving put the public and police at risk.
Jacota McKenna appeared in the County Court of Victoria and pleaded guilty in May 2022 to charges of reckless conduct endangering life and recklessly exposing emergency worker to risk.
Over a week in September and October 2020, McKenna committed a string of dangerous driving and theft offences, starting with waving a machete at two men from his car.
About eight hours later, McKenna was found by police in a stolen vehicle that was speeding on the wrong side of the road.
McKenna took off from police and turned right at a red light while speeding between 80 and 90 kilometres per hour.
Jack Walters
A Drysdale man whose erratic driving activated a police helicopter search was told in May 2022 he could end up behind bars.
Jack Walters, 22, appeared in the Geelong Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to theft and dangerous driving offences.
In May 2021, police found Walters in a red Ute with a female passenger and attempted to intercept him.
Walters began driving erratically, including reaching excessive speeds and driving on the wrong side of the road.
At one point, Walters drove towards police and swerved away.
David Raymer
A budding personal trainer from Geelong was slammed for putting lives at risk after swerving his speeding car towards a pole.
David Raymer, 28, was driving above the speed limit when he veered off the road in an attempt to spook his girlfriend.
The Geelong Magistrate Court heard Raymer, who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, was “immature” and stupid.
Raymer told police he did it because his girlfriend was “plain rude”.
“I did swerve off the road to get a rise out of her,” he said.
Andrew Schreiber
A Geelong man blamed an impulsive decision to hoon in his car on his “frustration” at finishing work late, a court heard in May 2021.
Andrew Schreiber, 34, was stopped by police after they heard the screeching of tyres along Tucker St in Breakwater.
The Geelong Magistrates Court heard Schreiber, who pleaded guilty, had just left his workplace and was angry he finished late.
Schreiber admitted to causing one or more of his wheels to lose traction but denied he was performing a burnout.
“I was in a bad mood,” he told officers at the time.
Wayde Websdale
The son of a high-ranking Geelong bikie almost died after crashing his motorcycle while hooning through the region.
Wayde Websdale was riding at more than 100km/h along Plantation Rd in Corio, which is a 60km/h zone, when he rear-ended a car.
Websdale, the son of lifetime Rebels member and former president Colin “Snake” Websdale, pleaded guilty in the Geelong Magistrates Court to the driving offences in January 2021.
As a result of the collision, Websdale spent a fortnight in Geelong hospital, followed by a further two weeks of rehabilitation.
His defence lawyer, Thomas Edwards, told the court Websdale “almost killed himself while driving illegally”.
Jye Trigg
Children at a Geelong primary school came within inches of being mowed down when a drug-addled teenager hooned in front of them.
Jye Trigg, 19, took ice and GHB before jumping into a car and driving it through the grounds of Oberan South Primary School in Belmont.
About 30 students were playing on a basketball court when Trigg drove onto it with his car – which was attached with a bulbar – in October 2020, the Geelong Magistrates Court was told.
The teenager, who pleaded guilty, was driving at high speed as he swerved around the schoolchildren, who were forced to run for safety while teachers watched on in horror.
Trigg told police he drove into the school after spotting the oval and thinking to himself: “F--- yeah, I’ll do a skid”.
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