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One young Bendigo mother living next to a hoon hot spot is so concerned about the safety of her seven-month-old baby she has moved her into a smaller, colder bedroom in the back of the house.
“I’ve woken petrified at night to screeching tyres,” Shannon Zimmer said.
“Then I worry, thinking ‘what if one of them loses control and comes flying over the yard and into the house?’”
And her concerns are not far fetched. Ms Zimmer lives metres from the Houston Street and Carpenter Street roundabout in Quarry Hill.
Last year her neighbours’ Renault was written off and Toyota Hilux extensively damaged when a car lost control at a roundabout and ploughed into the parked cars.
“It’s not just Friday and Saturday nights, most days, during the day, cars come hooking around the roundabout and then screeching off – I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them clock 100 kilometres per hour,” Ms Zimmer said.
“I’ve woken at night to hear heaps of cars doing burnouts just outside.”
Help us crack down on hoons
Over the weekend residents of an area of Golden Square known for hoon driving awoke to discover the wreck of a car which had slammed into a street pole during the night and was abandoned by its driver.
The Bendigo Advertiser asked readers on social media where the worst areas for willfully-reckless driving were – and was overwhelmed by the response.
More than 100 people responded to the call out, the majority listing specific streets which are favourite stomping grounds for hoons.
We are using the information to compile a list of the worst-affected areas in Bendigo – and it is not just us who wants your help to crack down on the problem.
Bendigo Highway Patrol Acting Sergeant Dave Sanders said police were receiving a high number of complaints about hoon drivers. The information, he said, was critical to attempts to co-ordinate a response.
We target those areas where we receive complaints and keep a visual presence there – hopefully people keep calling police, triple zero or Crime Stoppers so that we can keep gathering intelligence on current hot spots.
- Bendigo Highway Patrol Acting Sergeant Dave Sanders
“We use marked and unmarked cars and surveillance footage and that information gives us an idea of where to allocate our resources,” Acting Sergeant Sanders said.
“So if we’re getting four or five calls from a certain area, then we’ll look to get more people out there.”
Acting Sergeant Sanders said there was a high number of complaints at the moment as students returned to school.
“It is a constant issue, but [the concern is] heightened when school is back and kids are going to and and from school grounds,” he said.
If you want to have your say on the worst hoon hot spots in Bendigo head to our Facebook page or write the journalist: joseph.hinchliffe@fairfaxmedia.com.au.
