Campaspe Highway Patrol commander Sergeant Paul Nicoll said he had extended late night and early morning patrols after a petition was set up by concerned residents who say hoons are using streets as racetracks after dark.
“Obviously honing is a significant problem at the moment with the way people are driving around town at certain times of the night,” he said.
“We’re doing everything we can to prevent that.”
In fact, an Echuca man was arrested and his car impounded under the hoon legislation after doing almost 50kph over the speed limit on Friday night.
The 23-year-old was caught in Ogilvie Ave doing 117km/h in a 70km/h about 10pm.
“It’s believed he was trying to drag race another car,” Sgt Nicoll said.
The man was charged with excessive speeding and summonsed to appear in court at a later date.
Sgt Nicoll said he had spoken to Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh and some of the local residents trying to pin down the schedule offenders might be running.
“They are very supportive of the police and understand we are under-resourced,” he said.
An Echuca South resident recently witnessed another reckless incident.
“I was walking my dogs on Sunday night, not too late, when I heard a car engine – it sounded like a racing car but when I looked up and down High St I couldn’t see anything,” the man said.
“I was about to cross High St and still couldn’t see anything; but the sound was getting a lot closer.
“Then this car, with no lights on, came roaring past me. Flying would be a better word, I would estimate it was going at least 100km/h but could have been a lot faster.
“The driver finally slowed down, almost at the end of the street and then switched his lights on. He wasn’t driving without lights by mistake and, with no parkers on his dashboard, he would have also been in the dark.”
The man said there were still several people out and about, increasing the danger of the stunt.
“Not only could the driver of the VW crash and hurt himself/herself; imagine if they had hit another idiot doing the same blacked out stupidity – they almost certainly would have all died.
“The same for two girls I saw running along the footpath. They were the only serious looking runners around – and they were both wearing black and had on headphones.
“They could have easily decided to cut across what they would have thought was an empty road – it would have been terrible.”
Residents of surrounding streets have also continued to complain about revving engines and screeching tyres going well into the early hours.
When it comes to reporting hoons, Mr Walsh is urging locals to call 000 and not the local police station.
“It is the only way the complaints get into the official police data and that is the data the force uses when they are allocating resources at any given time,” he said.
Mr Walsh said the petition was getting a lot of support and when its organisers bring it to him, it will go to Parliament at its next sitting in August.
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