Hoons

Justice is “the principle that punishment should be proportionate to the offence”. Well, that’s a dictionary definition anyway.

The snaky path to justice is about to get more direct

For many innocent victims of dangerous driving in South Australia, justice would seem to be a myth. In March last year, John Swindle was walking his dog when killed by a 17-year-old speeding along Saint Bernards Road, Magill. Under the effects of alcohol and cannabis, the P-plater panicked and fled.

In February, the Adelaide Youth Court spared the boy a jail term, instead handing down a suspended sentence, a $1,000 fine and a 10-year licence ban.

Latest 2 of 42 comments

View all comments
 
  • Lorraine says:

    06:10pm | 17/05/11

    I have been trying to find the origin of the word"hoon” and just can’t find a darn thing. Once upon a time a man who lived on the immoral earnings of a woman was called a pimp or a hoon but this does not relate to our current usage. Any… Read more »

  • Burko says:

    05:33pm | 16/05/11

    Competent race craft dosent equal competent road craft. In a previous life I was an Instructor for both motorcycles and cars, in a risk management and RTA assessment role and have also been a riding marshall for motorcycle track days. Race tracks are a totally different kettle of fish to… Read more »

 

The most terrifying moment of my life was about six years ago in broad daylight on a back street of Sydney’s inner-west when I was pushing my then baby daughter in the pram on a walk to the local shops.

Illustration: Igor Saktor, News Limited.

We’d just turned a corner and were crossing the normally quiet street when a bloke in a souped-up Ford muscle car came fanging around the curve on the wrong side of the road, forcing me to yank the pram backwards with and jump on to the footpath.

As I did this I shouted “Hey!” at the top of my voice and waved a fist in his direction. He slammed on the brakes, reversed at speed, and pulled up right next to the pram. “Did you say something arsehole?” he asked.

Latest 2 of 163 comments

View all comments
 
  • LC says:

    12:51am | 23/07/11

    If you’re implying that he’ll whip out and use a gun, the unlikeliness of such a scenario aside, it’s first-degree murder (attempted murder if they live), and even if your lawyer can sweet-talk the prosecution out of the death penalty, you’re still looking at life in jail without parole, and… Read more »

  • LC says:

    12:47pm | 12/05/11

    Maybe Morgan, but: 1. He had a child with him. 2. You never know which of these thugs have a knife, gun, baton or other weapon under their seat. 3. If he got lucky and the guy was unarmed, it’d most likely be him that comes off 2nd best in… Read more »

 

“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” - Abraham Maslow

Get out of my f***ing way!

I was driving through Sydney on Friday around midnight and found myself surrounded by cars filled with youngsters. I’ve never felt so conscious of my own space.

The drivers were like roosters standing over their nests: music pounding, windows down, making their presence felt.  I glanced over at one or two of the drivers, their glares were nothing short of threatening. It was a distasteful blend of “I’m out on the town with the boys” and “If you stare at me again I’ll have you.”

Latest 2 of 117 comments

View all comments
 
  • LC says:

    06:41pm | 15/05/11

    @ Anti Liberal/National, That is the most stupid and outrageous claim I have ever read on The Punch. Read more »

  • Sherekahn says:

    10:49am | 25/04/10

    You say: “You get up in the morning and your shoelace breaks. It pisses you off” Why?  Why not say:  Mon dieu, c’est la vie! It was obviously your fault anyway, you pulled too hard!  You had a bad night after a wild day.  You should have seen it coming,… Read more »

 

Congratulations hoons: you are officially the most annoying people in Australia, by a statistical mile. Almost half - yes, half - of all Australians believe dangerous or noisy driving is a problem in their neighbourhood, according to data published today.

Revenge? Vandalised cars

At first it might seem staggering that 45.3 per cent of Australians say hooning is a problem in their neighbourhood but when you think about it, how surprising is it really? How often are phone conversations or the break-up line in Sex and The City drowned out by some tool gunning his Subaru down the street? And for every single person in the street who has settled in for the evening, the experience is exactly the same.

(While we’re at it can I add to that the guys noodling about on their Harleys, not just the bikies who have an excuse but the middle managers from accounting firms who take out the Chopper after a stressful day of Excel.)

Latest 2 of 75 comments

View all comments
 
  • Proclaimer Racer & Safe Driver says:

    02:52pm | 26/07/11

    Up front, I am an amateur race car driver. I love my car and love racing, but not on the road at the possible expense of others. So am I a hoon?? I would say no. The so called Hoon mentality is a result of modern culture and urbanisation. It… Read more »

  • Car enthusiast not hoon. says:

    05:47pm | 25/07/11

    Open up more tracks at accessible prices, with more frequency, not one event every 3 months 80KM’s away from the CBD… This government tends to either ban or tax as a solution to everything. Read more »

 

Facebook Recommendations

Read all about it

Punch live

Up to the minute Twitter chatter

Daniel Piotrowski

@NehaMadhok services eg gym, excellent kebab store?

Malcolm Farr

More gay marriage legislation than you can point a straight stick at. http://t.co/k2SC4xNp

Paul Colgan

@c41 yes it is.

Daniel Piotrowski

Tomorrow on The Punch: why we're being shafted at the ATM.

Recent posts

The latest and greatest

ICB:  If I could offer you only one tip for the future…

ICB:  If I could offer you only one tip for the future…

Welcome to this week’s I Call Bullshit, an irregular regular column on calumny and codswallop.…

Six prominent Aussies with a case of the dreaded “yips”

Six prominent Aussies with a case of the dreaded “yips”

The yips. It’s an old golf term which refers to golfers who lose the ability to putt. They stand…

The humourless hysteria of the holier-than-thou

The humourless hysteria of the holier-than-thou

In I Spit On Your Grave, a young woman is gang raped in a remote woodland. She is beaten and tortured…

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: Punch on: Open thread 09/02/2012

marley says:

I'm one of the older ones, so I've certainly seen a few changes in my time. When I started school I learned to write with a nib pen, dipped in an inkwell (no, I'm not kidding). My mother became a dab hand at getting inkstains out of my clothes. Flicking ink at one another in the classroom was an essential… [read more]

From: I’d rather have a piece of toast than listen to crap lyrics

Erick says:

Led Zeppelin are responsible for my all-time favourite mixed metaphor: "There you sit, sit and stare, like a book on a shelf rusting." (Misty Mountain Hop) I laugh every time I hear it. Hmmm, I believe I've decided what to play on the way to work today. [read more]

Gentle jabs to the ribs

No wuckin forries. These nuckin futs are tuckin fops

No wuckin forries. These nuckin futs are tuckin fops

Well, puck me with a fitchfork. The F-word is apparently an acceptable part of Australian speech. That’s… Read more

151 comments

Newsletter

Read all about it

Sign up to the free daily Punch newsletter