You will obey the law or else…
Every time I turn around, it seems like the government in Australia is becoming more joyless and heavy-handed. Case in point: The Canberra Times has a fascinating article about the push to destroy cars used by drivers to hoon on the roads in the Australian Capital Territory. Simply seizing and impounding vehicles is no longer enough to deter people from misbehaving in and around Canberra.
Check out a Nissan Silvia driver who got in trouble for hooning in Australia here.
Hooning can mean different things to different people. A term generally used in Australia and New Zealand, it often refers to driving recklessly on public roads. Depending on who you ask, that might entail burnouts, drifting, speeding, doing donuts, and sometimes just screeching the tires on a car. That’s right, the police want to possibly seize and crush a vehicle simply because the driver screeched the tires (sorry, tyres).
Here's the truly rich part: as Australian automotive site Drive points out, just a few months ago the ACT Government passed some new laws for behavior on public roads. Among them are offenses for anyone not paying “due care and attention” while driving or even just not having “proper control” of their car. Penalties for pre-existing offenses were increased, all to remind citizens who’s really in control.
So you see, when government officials start passing strict laws and nobody really complains, they go for even stricter laws not too long after. Simply saying this is a problem for anyone who doesn’t drive responsibly is a weak argument since everyone breaks one of the many, many laws out there, especially when new offenses are being invented by the government every few months. Don’t think for two seconds police officers who are managing a radio and looking at their computer while driving are models of perfect driving, either. The whole thing is just oh so ironic.
"We'll be looking at what other jurisdictions are doing as well to address dangerous driving," ACT Transport Minister Chris Steel told The Canberra Times. You see, this is all about safety and the government will need to keep passing stricter laws until it’s safe enough for everyone. Only, safe enough will never come. After all, plenty of people die in their shower where there are no drivers hooning or otherwise acting like miscreants. Accidents will continue to happen, providing the perfect excuse, sorry – reason, for stricter laws.
Sources: The Canberra Times, Drive
