Zoe Moffatt
Star Weekly is looking back at the best stories of last year, and this is one of them.
Hume council is cracking down on hoons with the adoption of a local law banning people from attending a hoon event or parking within 200 metres of one.
At its meeting on August 14, Hume council adopted its general purposes local law number one 2023, which will come into operation at 12.01am, September 4.
Under the new local law a person must not participate in, encourage or attend a hoon event.
Drivers must also not stop or park within 200 metres of a vehicle involved in a hoon event, for the purposes of attending.
Councillor Naim Kurt said he was pleased to see the new local laws which were a significant body of work.
“I’m really pleased to see stronger measures in the local laws about hoon driving,” Cr Kurt said.
“This is a message to hoon drivers now and those that attend those events that they are now on notice.
“Through this local law and through the police force as well, they will now have the powers to go after those who enter those events and endanger people’s lives and property.
“This is the result of a number of years of hard work by officers and also councillors listening to our community.”
This adoption follows Brimbank council’s introduction of anti-hoon laws in January 2018, which was a state first. In the first three years, 327 infringements were issued in Brimbank.
Under the new local laws, retailers who provide shopping trolleys for customers must ensure their name and trading name are clearly marked.
Retailers with more than 25 trolleys must also ensure each trolley has a coin operated lock or perimeter constraint system attached to it.
Cr Jim Overend said the issue of shopping trolleys dumping is one of the biggest burdens.
“I cannot stand the shopping trolleys that have been dumped everywhere,” he said. “Having them to now be coin operated is going to make a big difference.”
Residents can report local laws that get broken to their councillor or directly through council channels via phone, email and its website.
