Cops are on hoon alert

Casey and Dandenong traffic management units and regional traffic unit will be out in force from 8pm, watching hoon hot spots across both municipalities.
Police will also take advantage of the State Government’s new anti-hoon legislation, which gives officers the power to seize cars from drivers caught drag racing, performing burnouts or engaging in other dangerous hoon acts.
Sergeant Pat McGavigan, of Casey TMU, said officers were trained in the new legislation last week.
He said the new initiative would force hoon drivers to accept the consequences of their behaviour and pay the cost of their road antics. “It will be no one’s fault but their own,” he said.
The laws also apply to reckless speedsters and repeat driving-while-disqualified offenders. If police have reasonable grounds for believing a motorist has committed a hoon-related offence, they will be able to seize a vehicle for 48 hours, either through impoundment or by way of on-site immobilisation.
Police can impound for up to three months the vehicle of any driver committing a second hoon-related offence within three years.
And a court can permanently take away the vehicle of any person found guilty of three hoon-related offences in three years.