THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!

None of us want to see our cars end up like this:

If you live in Victoria, it could now happen to you. The Victorian police just this week have annouced they will be enforcing the latest phase of their 'anti-hoon' campaign. Pictured above is the first car to be punished by this new legislation.

With the aid of a court-order and under particular circumstances, the Victorian police can confiscate your ride, hand it to the SES for some quick jaws-of-life practice, then send it to the crusher.

Justification for this new ruling was made clear by the Deputy Comissioner for Road Policing, Ken Lay.

"If we permanently seize a vehicle that is not of a high safety standard, in that it doesn't have features such as ABS brakes and airbags, I cannot in good conscience send that vehicle back into the community." Said Lay. In order for your car to be taken from you and crushed, it has to be:

1) Impounded more than three times (or on it's third time)

2) Owned outright with no outstanding finance

3) Deemed unroadworthy, unsafe OR not meet a four-star used car safety rating. The RACV's (developed by Monash University) Used Car Safety Rating guide is being used as referral material when determening how unsafe a used car actually is.

The first car to meet its demise was a 1997 Holden Commodore owned by a Hamilton resident. Over the fold is a video released by the Victorian Police.

Our resident 'hoon' expert, Dr Glen Fuller, adds:

Police and Emergency Services Minister Bob Cameron has been quoted by most mass media outlets as saying:

“Serial hoon drivers pose a serious threat to law-abiding road users.”  

If that is the case, then why is this only the second so-called 'hoon' car to be crushed? Where are the statistics to demonstrate Mr Cameron's statement to be accurate? Surely drinking driving poses a far greater threat considering drink driving leads to a far greater number of deaths and injuries on the road. Where are the statistics on so-called 'hoon' driving that link it to any kind of injury and fatality statistics?

Victorian residents should be lobbying their government representatives for actual governance on road safety issues, not media-grabbing spectacles.