First Aussie hoon to lose his car for life
Australia's anti-hooning legislation has been in effect since last July, but just last Tuesday it officially claimed its first victim car. The law, which targets drivers committing reckless acts behind the wheel, was enacted to curtail the most egregious offenses (i.e. burnouts, drag racing, excessive speed, etc.).
For Terrance Lord, a resident of Drummond, the law was taken to its extreme when he was caught driving on a suspended license. The punishment: his 1980 Toyota Corona is now forever in the hands of the local police.
The only time a vehicle can be impounded permanently is when the driver is cited three times under the anti-hoon law, so we assume that this wasn't Lord's first run in with the local authorities.
Harsh? Maybe, but we'll be interested to see if there is any reduction in these particular offenses over the next few years.
[Source: Drive.com.au]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Bob 6:52PM (4/05/2007)
They confiscated his 1980 Toyota Corona? Sounds like more of a favor than punishment.
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Howard Kerr 6:57PM (4/05/2007)
I ALMOST, repeat, ALMOST wish we had a law like that here in the 'states. This week, my local newspaper had a story about a driver arrested for his 13th D.U.I. THIRTEEN!!!! The story also stated that this guy had "apparently been driving on a suspended license....his license having been suspended in 1981". YES, he drove for 25 years on a suspended license.
Like stores that refuse to allow bad check writers to write any more checks, drivers with X numbers of D.U.I.s should have their names on a list and no registrations should allowed for ANY motor vehicle for a set period of years.
The guy in this story probably won't miss his 27 year old Toyota all that much.
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Noidor 7:02PM (4/05/2007)
Of course it's harsh. UK, US, Australia are the countries which treat its motorists like crap. with UK being the worst, and Australia close second.
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Viv 7:14PM (4/05/2007)
#3 are you kidding me? Ofcourse he deserved to get his car confiscated.
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synergeist 7:19PM (4/05/2007)
An 1980 Toyota that didn't rust away? Must be a garage queen.
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owen 7:37PM (4/05/2007)
#5,With comments like that,you must be a drag queen
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Frank Zappa 7:45PM (4/05/2007)
#6 With comments like that, you must be very familiar with drag queens.
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owen 7:53PM (4/05/2007)
#7 Yea im very familiar with your two daddys,im the one who ran them off the road
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schlomo 8:26PM (4/05/2007)
wow this has turned into a little daycare thread.
this instance shows that the law works.
the law doesn't work when you get a $300 ticket for a burnout on a private drive, or a $1500 ticket and a night in jail for a drag race on a deserted street, or a $200 ticket for having ground lights turned on while driving (not that I have ground lights, I just think it's a dumb law)
oh how I wish I lived in Germany or Japan... the only two countries I can think of where drivers are not treated like criminals.
I did have a nice cop once, though. he got me doing 72 in a 45 and didn't ticket me or even give me a warning citation because "[he could] see that [I'm] a great driver, even if [I] drive too damn fast"
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Ken 1:15PM (4/06/2007)
WTF! i'm in bayarea, California. i got ticketed twice for going 15MPH over limit! 15miles?
once, i ticketed for going 38 on a 25 miles street.
another time, ticketed for going 80 on 65miles freeway!
and i cant do shit about it! if i got 2 points on my record, my insurance will be 4500$ a year!
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Gerry 9:53PM (4/05/2007)
Bash Toyota all you want, maybe he should have been driving a Pontiac GTO, you know the ones GM imports from Austrailia of all places and then sells to people thinking they're buying American. Or, has this terrific vehicle been discontinued there already as they have here. Like I've said before, take a tour of the world, but before you do get used to seeing Toyotas!
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JayP 9:58PM (4/05/2007)
Can you Hoon in a 1980 Toyota?
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david 10:44PM (4/05/2007)
His ball joints probably broke when his engine sludged up after the tranny went out before the brain box cought fire while the seat belt latches failed to latch after the wiper motor failed during the leaking windshield episode after the defective alternator pully flew off into the leaky radiator caused the water pump to finally work right and all this due to the car rusting out in it's first year. Oh, did I mention the defective drivers seat mount?
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david 10:52PM (4/05/2007)
Sorry toy fans, that was mean. We all know that the last 1980 toyoda was cleaned up by a street sweeper in 1985. Boy, those tires sure did last.
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Barney 11:35PM (4/05/2007)
In the province of BC, a person can/will get their car impounded if the driver was caught "stunting". The impound can be from days to months and the car won't be released untill the towing charges and impound fee's are paid.
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Zain 1:01AM (4/06/2007)
#10, wow! That's unfreakin believable! I have 5 points and pay 1600/6mths on mine.
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Steve 1:02AM (4/06/2007)
Compare this with the U.S. where a U.S. Congressman (Janklow from S.D.) with a horrible driving record can kill someone by running a stop sign at 95 mph and doesn't so much as get his license suspended.
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schlomo 1:10AM (4/06/2007)
@10:
that's nuts man. around here they do ticket at 15 over unless you have a good reason, but in my state you can take a driver improvement course once a year (or as often as you want if you're a fulltime student) to nullify the ticket/points and make it all good. of course, most people that really break traffic laws all the time (like me :P) have radar detectors/jammers and can usually talk their way out of something with a cop ("your dad is chief of police in the next county? no shit? oh well just be careful then").
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TeamNutmeg 5:46AM (4/06/2007)
re: #10, 15 over in a 25 zone's a little different than 15 over on a freeway. 25 mph zones are generally residential, meaning pedestrians and kids and pets. Were I a cop, I'd have let you walk for 80 in a 65, but I'd have nitpicked every "California stop" and busted taillight you had for 38 in a 25.
re: #17, Janklow had his license suspended, but following his probation, he had it back less than three years later. What's even more ridiculous, though, is that technically he's never even been convicted of that crime, so he still has all the rights every other person who hasn't committed vehicular manslaughter has. Gotta love it.
In general: you can get your car taken away for a burnout? WTF? Hell, out here we show ads with kids doing burnouts with their parents. God bless America!
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KickPush 8:48AM (4/06/2007)
England and it sounds like the Aussie's too are out to remove cars from the road all together. If you read some of the laws passed in England it is shocking. That plus the raise in tax means poor people will not have cars. One thing that did strike me as different is that in England they say that most crashes are caused by pensioners where in the USA the 16-25 year old male is the one that is said should be banned from driving.
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