Australia’s toughest anti-hooning laws have just come into effect in Queensland.

There is a new hoon hotline.

Very good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLzpZMCFPoQ

But hold on… the government and police are still just dancing around the edges of road safety with this sort of thing. They’re only addressing end-of-the-spectrum behaviour.

What we need is a crackdown on tailgating and belligerent driving, and an overall recovery of the rule of law!

It is infuriating to be sitting on or a bit over the speed limit and have to twat come up quickly behind you, sit far too close and give you the very clear message that you are not going anywhere near fast enough for them, regardless of the law!

And as I have said many times on OLO, if you report a driver of this sort, you basically get laughed out of the police station. The cops DO NOT WANT TO KNOW!

Even really serious incidents are just dismissed out of hand, in my experience!

http://mypolice.qld.gov.au/rockhampton/2013/11/01/go-too-far-lose-your-car-as-australias-toughest-anti-hooning-laws-come-into-effect/

So, is a chronic tailgater and bullying driver a hoon?

From the link above; offences include:

Dangerous operation of a motor vehicle

Careless driving

So yes, one could conclude that this sort of driving does fit within the definition of hoonery.

But I bet the police think differently. I bet this sort of ‘normal’ driving continues to go unpoliced and the general public continue to be neutered by way of having any complaints ignored and having their assistance in the policing and improvement of road-safety stifled.

I have becomeutterly disgusted with the police in regards to road safety and my efforts to help in the way that any concerned and conscientious citizen should.

I don’t think they’re about to change. So I reckon these new hooning laws are more of a distraction than anything else - being seen to be doing something while not really doing anything significant.

Your thoughts…..

Ludwig,

".....and an overall recovery of the rule of law!"

I'd be more worried that the "rule of law" is being trampled underfoot, if I was you.

http://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/stories/freedoms-and-rights-concerns-qld-bikie-laws

"Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Australia is a signatory, states that “Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity … to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives … to have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in his country.”

“The fact that the laws were rushed through without being subjected to the parliamentary committee process, without affording public consultation or scrutiny, would very likely not satisfy the requirements of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” Professor Triggs said."

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/10/27/14/46/human-rights-lawyers-slam-qld-bikie-laws

"The laws, rushed through parliament less than a fortnight ago, have also been criticised for being so broad they can potentially be used to outlaw activist groups, trade unions or other organisations the government begins to dislike.

For reasons inexplicable the parliamentary committee and public consultation processes were blatantly binned by the Newman Government, Mr Coyne says."

"This flurry of backdoor secretive legislative action is both unprecedented and a significant blight on the democratic principles which found our lucky country," he said."

Ludwig, I would say there aren't enough police driving around to effectively deal with tailgaters, so if I find one up my tail, I move over into the left lane if I can, and let them scream on to the next multinova...

If I am on a one lane road, I just put my brake lights on for a second, so they back off.
I know they will inevitably shoot themselves in the foot one day, so I try not to worry about it too much.....it's not good for the blood pressure : )

Poirot, I’m not sure about the appropriateness of the new bikie laws when it comes to the finer detail or the breadth of government powers. But I think that the overall effort by the Newman government to deal with this issue is a very good thing.

Other state governments seem to think so too and are working towards similar moves.

We’ve got to realise that every law infringes rights and freedoms. So I think it would be impossible to implement effective bikie laws, or I should say; laws to deal with criminal bikie activity, without offending the hardline civil-rightists.

Meanwhile, the rule of law has gone to pot on our roads. Temporary speed limits at roadworks are not observed at anything like the legally binding speed that the signs indicate. Overtaking lanes on our highways are speed-limit-free free-for-all zones, belligerent dangerous driving basically goes unpoliced, the public has been disempowered when it comes to assisting the police, the police won’t tell us exactly what the policeable speed limit is, and they have recently lowered the leeway on speed limits without telling us first, thus booking thousands of people for doing just the speed that they had come to know as being acceptable to the police, and which the police had trained them to do!!

That last-mentioned point is one of the most disgusting things I have ever encountered in Australian law and the policing thereof.

continued

It is interesting to note that the police want us to dob in a hoon, or a smoky or offensively loud vehicle (except Harleys!) and they encourage us to report suspicious activity through Neighbourhood Watch…. But they do NOT want us to report tailgaters or other bad driving, unless an accident has actually happened!

This really is quite bizarre and again, totally disgusting!

Further to the disempowerment of the public, they say that we are not allowed to indicate our discontent to bad drivers. We are not allowed to flash headlights or tail lights or do anything else! We’ve just got to cop it sweet. When you are being chronically tailgated, you are supposed to just stay in that situation of increased risk, keep your cool and put up with it! Or get out of it very carefully by pulling over or turning off a side road or something, thus fully giving over to the tailgater and rewarding them for their sh!thouse driving!

Ludwig,
I agree with you that the Law is being trampled on however, what the Qld Govt is doing now is at least something in favour of decency. Any move or notion to curb excess or clamp down on bad behaviour is always attacked instantly. As I said it is at least something after a dozen or so years of just plain criminal avoidance & plain criminal revenue hunting. I just hope that the stupid laws get sorted fairly soon & some resemblance of decency emerges. I mean to have your indicators smashed by some kids in the car park & then get fined for having broken indicators on the way to the workshop is not decent. Most police officers I speak with are conservative but there are a lot of cops as well & their numbers need to be reduced alont with the unfair & stupid laws.