As part of the Queensland Government’s commitment to crack down on illegal street racing and hooning, The Police Powers and Responsibilities (Motor Vehicle Impoundment) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012, was passed in State Parliament on April 16, 2013.

The new legislation supports the State Government’s election commitment to have the toughest anti-hoon laws in Australia. The Police Minister recently announced the legislation commencement date will be November 1, 2013.

The new laws will improve road safety by deterring repeat offenders, stop offenders by taking their cars away and provide efficiency gains for the QPS.

The new laws extend the existing two categories of vehicle related offences and increases the current impoundment period of 48 hours to 7 days or 90 days.

Type 1 offences – such as burn-outs, racing and speed trials – currently result in a vehicle being impounded for 48 hours. The new laws will automatically impound the vehicle for 90 days for the first Type 1 offence – such as burn-outs, racing, speed trials, dangerous operation, careless driving and wilfully make unnecessary noise or smoke of a vehicle, and evade police. The vehicle will be impounded off the road at their own expense for three months, and forfeited for the second offence.

Type 2 offences include driving a vehicle while uninsured at the same time as unregistered, drive without a driver’s licence, drive with a high alcohol limit, exceeding the speed limit by more than 40kms/hr and non-compliance with vehicle and safety standards. The first Type 2 offence is a pre-impoundment offence, while the second offence the vehicle will be immobilised or impounded for seven days, then 90 days for the third offence and forfeited on the subsequent offence.

Illegally modified vehicles and owners engaging in anti-social and unsafe driving behaviour will be affected by these changes – law abiding citizens with legal modifications have nothing to fear. The new legislation will not have any effect on motoring enthusiasts who drive and operate vehicles within the law. The Government believes that standardised design rules for vehicles are critical for improving road safety. By ensuring all vehicles comply with certain safety standards, this minimises harm on Queensland roads.

The new laws send a strong message to Queensland ‘hoons’ that the Queensland community are fed up with dangerous hooning on public roads and want the brakes put on hooning offenders.

The new offences, sanctions and processes are outlined in the Fact Sheet and Process Flowchart.

To help end hooning on our streets, Queenslanders can report dangerous and reckless driving to Police by calling the Hoon Hotline on 13HOON (13 4666) or submitting an on-line Hoon Report on the QPS website.

http://www.police.qld.gov.au/programs/13hoon/