Old hoons

HON DERRICK TOMLINSON (East Metropolitan) [7.47 pm]: [...] Every time I drive down Onslow Road these days I find myself driving at 44 kilometres an hour.

Hon Graham Giffard: It happens when you get old.

Hon DERRICK TOMLINSON: No, it does not happen when people get old; it happens when good behaviour is positively reinforced.

Hon Graham Giffard: My mother does 44 kilometres an hour everywhere.

Hon DERRICK TOMLINSON: If I were the member’s mother I would be very cautious too, because look what happened once when she was not paying attention

[...]

HON DERRICK TOMLINSON (East Metropolitan) [7.47 pm]: [...] I have heard reference to hoons and burnouts. I think I know what a burnout is. I have seen young people do burnouts. I am not quite sure what a hoon is. I went to the Oxford English Dictionary, and the nearest definition I could get to “hoon” was “hooligan”. A “hooligan” is the name given to Irishmen of south London who were associated with ruffian groups. I do not know whether “hoon” is an abbreviation of “hooligan”, but there is no reference to hoons in the dictionary. I understand that these hoons do burnouts in particular places in Perth, such as the car park at Scarborough Beach. I understand also that these hoons do drag-racing along Leach Highway and in Rockingham.

Hon Jim Scott: I think a hoon is a hooligan at speed.

Hon DERRICK TOMLINSON: I see. I do not know who they are. All I know is that I can recall as a 16 or 17-year-old fellow meeting a group of my peers every Friday night at the Bright Spot at Sandringham Hill. They were not called hoons. They were called the boys. The boys used to meet at the Bright Spot, and they all drove hotted-up 1936 Ford V8s -

Hon Peter Foss: Great stuff!

Hon DERRICK TOMLINSON: They were. I saw one being driven on the road ahead of me just the other day. It was an absolutely beautiful vehicle - a hotted-up 1936 Ford V8. The boys would stand around getting high on hamburgers. They were real hamburgers in those days - not Kentucky Fried hamburgers, but real hamburgers. [...] We are told that these hoons are driving these $50 000 vehicles and are doing burnouts in the car park at Scarborough Beach, and are racing along Leach Highway at three o’clock in the morning and are a danger to everyone else on the road. Anyone who is on the road at three o’clock in the morning would need to explain why he or she is there. As for people in the car park at Scarborough Beach, I do not know that that represents a threat to life and limb on the road. These hoons are doing exactly what the boys of my acquaintance were doing.

Subject: ROAD TRAFFIC AMENDMENT (IMPOUNDING AND CONFISCATION OF VEHICLES) BILL 2004 (WA Legislative Council, second reading)

Date: Tuesday, 1 June 2004

Hansard reference: pp. 3064d — 3076a [online (PDF)]