Families live in fear of hoons

The skid marks say it all. Nine-year-old Matthew with mother Wendy Dean and neighbour Anne Myers are sick of the hoon activity in their neighbourhood. Picture: Luke Plummer.

By Rebecca Fraser
HOON drivers have left two Narre Warren families living in fear.
Wendy Dean and neighbour Anne Myers said they lie in bed at night waiting for cars to catapult into their homes.
Their fears are well founded, as two cars have already ploughed into Ms Dean’s backyard.
The most recent collision was just two days before Christmas last year, when a car slammed through the family’s back fence and patio at 4am.
The crash caused $15,000 damage and the family’s pet dog, a 10-year-old St Bernard, died shortly after the incident from shock. He was in the backyard at the time of the crash.
Both families said they were still deeply distressed by the collision. Ms Dean is a mother of four, and some of her children were asleep inside at the time of the collision.
Ms Myers cares for children, some with special needs, who were also asleep next door at the time of the smash.
She said if the driver had instead spun his wheels in the other direction he could have ploughed into her home and hit the children’s bedroom.
Despite their ordeal, the families have experienced no respite from hoon drivers in recent months with motorists continuing to burn up and down nearby Josephine Avenue at all hours of the evening.
Both households said calls to Casey Council and the police have failed to find a solution.
Ms Dean said she had simply had enough and was sick of the sleepless nights and worry.
“We are just fed up with it. No one is listening. The police say it is council’s responsibility and council passes it back to the police. No one seems to care,” she said.
Ms Dean said they had also tried to install a barrier along their back fence but council had not permitted this.
She said the City of Casey’s Hoon Hotline had also proved useless, as by the time she picked up the phone the drivers were long gone.
Ms Myers said immediate action was needed.
“I just don’t know where these drivers get off.
“What right do they have to make us feel unsafe in our homes?” she said.
Senior Sergeant Alan McCarthy of Narre Warren police said a new police operation had started to target anti-social behaviour in the area and this included hoon activity.
“People should call 000 in the first instance to bring it to our attention. They can also ring the station if they have any concerns or questions and ask to speak to the officer in charge,” he said.
Casey acting manager of community safety Caroline Bell said the Hoon Hotline was not an emergency response line.
Instead, she said it enabled council to report activity and hoon hot spots to police so they could form a targeted response.
Ms Bell said council had received complaints about hoon activity in Josephine Avenue, via the hotline, about 12 months ago.
She said council would now investigate the matter and look into possibly restricting access to the council land with gates or other measures.