I hate to ask but

[BMK]

Hi all,

Who was it...

I have just heard on the local radio that a Cobra was seized by the Lorne Police and the Victorian Police Highway Patrol on the weekend.

The car was intercepted by Police patrols on the Great Ocean Road after being checked at 40kph over the speed limit. It was subsequently seized and loaded on a tray tow truck under the new HOON LAWS.

Knowing that the Great Ocean Road is 80 kph the speed would only be 120kph (72mph).

Apparently the Cobra was checked on the straight under the Great Ocean Road sign. It was photographed and recorded and then intercepted near the top car park at the end of the straight.

Sooo who was it..

No one I know....

The Cobra was a bronze colour with white/cream stripes.

F*cking hoon Cobra drivers..

OK who was it..

Mmmm I ran the same section of road at mach 1..

[Tenrocca]

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/...3406_news.html

they were from geelong....

[BMK]

Tenrocca,

Hi mate,

Yes after reading the article they have really been hammering the speeding bikes on this road.

It's a Sunday bike ride down to the Arab cafe at Lorne. Now everyone just goes different ways to avoid the revenue grab...

The sections of road that have been dropped to 80kph are not dangerous sections, but are actually the only straight sections that you get to pass the stupid Sunday driver that is travelling at 50kph with caravans or a car full of camera carrying tourists.

So you guessed it, the lawmen sit here rather than at the more dangerous sections.

Mmmm I do think the 127k's was a little fast..

Just plain old revenue grabbing under the guise of safety and reduction of the road toll.

Cannot think of anyone in Geelong that has this car - or had it..

[Tenrocca]

Hey Bernie,

147 is pretty quick - but there wouldnt be many here that havent gone 50 over at some time. Sounds harsh to take his car.

What happens now - does he get it back?

[Rebel1]

Mechanical fault I bet...would have to be.

[stuartt]

i think first offence you only lose it for 4 days

[sambo]

Just saw the first of the anti hoon advertisements on television. Sorry to hear that one of our fellow Cobra owners got nabbed but there are better places to "overtake at speed". The great ocean road is pretty well known to enthusiast drivers and therefore police.

I heard recently that they've got police in camo gear up on the black spur. They camp at the end of straights with the laser and radio ahead to pull you over where it's safe to do so.

If you ask me, until they can show that fatalities per passenger mile are dropping as a result of vehicles being impounded, it's purely politics.

[richardferguson]

I hear they're rolling one of these babies into Lorne as we speak

[Clois Harlan]

Good Greif! Don't you have any criminals to nab?

Clois

[Bryan Wilson]

Third time the courts keep the car and the state sells it and keeps the proceeds of the sale and it doesn't matter weather the driver owns the car or not. If it's mum and dads bad luck mum and dad.
Cheers,
Bryan

[BT SNAKE]

OK guys, Here's how to beat the boys in blue at their own game.
First you have a meeting to explain all this to the members of your club so that everyone is on the same page. To start with you need to obtain a certified radar detector, several CBs or 2 way radios, and some good video cameras.
The first thing you do is scout a good section of road where you know speed increases due to overtaking. Place a crew here with the radar gun and a video camera capable of date recording. Make sure you are legally placed and not blocking or parking illegally. They should also have a radio to communicate with a mate stationed at least a KLm upstream and one down stream the same distance. When an officer passes by you radio ahead to the radar team that an officer is headed their way. Clock his speed and be sure to record the whole process if he registers a high speed then as he leaves this area have the anchor person follow him to see where he ends his destination. If it was not for emergency purposes then he broke the law by using State equipment against the policies of that department. Police are not above citizen scrutiny. It is legal here in the States and I'm sure you will find that citizens there have similar rights. If the police are shown to be doing the samething in the same area then they will be reprimanded. Perhaps you may have them remove the squad car.
However, if in fact you also witness bikers, Cobras and others doing this and the police not, then you can't do to much as they are doing what is right for safety purposes. Prevention is the name of the game. The supervisors have to have good reason and judgment to have placed these officers there. Citizens have a right to these statistics that they may be using to jusify their presents in these areas.
My personal opinion is that they have thousands of tourist that come to that area everyday and they know many of these folks are used to driving the opposite side of the road. Because the Great Ocean Rd is a National treasure to Australia it is only natural to assume that the government will go to lenghs in order to keep it as safe as possible. The local business community along this road may also be responsible for this extra attension. They want the tourist to feel safe and enjoy their visit to all the communities have to offer. It all ties into economics eventually.
I have had a spirited drive on this highway. Not to the point that I would consider wreckless but all the same if I had been caught I doubt that I would have complained to loudly. I would most likely taken my medicine and think twice before I attempted it again.

Hersh

[kayakjack]

Being a statesider, I wondered what a "hoon" was. Check this out...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoon

Pretty serious consequences.

[powerslide]

So let me get this straight....If you're a three time loser in Victoria the state seizes the Cobra, sells it, and keeps the proceeds. However, if you are blasting along your favorite stretch in New South Wales in your priceless, original, Shelby CSXsomething, and you get nabbed, they(the NSW guv'ment) puts the Cobra through the crusher, converting it into so much recycled aluminum! Yikes! Me thinks this a little bit Draconian.

[vanoochka]

Methinks the crusher was a joke.

[BMK]

Yes the crusher was a joke... I think...

If the car is seized three times under Hoon Laws it is then sent to Government compound and awaits the ruling of the Court to sell the car under the State law.

Proceeds go to Gov. revenue for disbursement to Road safety Initiatives.

Mmmm

[BMK]

Who owns the bronze Cobra with white stripes.

I have gone through all of the Geelong cars and just cannot think of one here...

May not have been a Geeleong Cobra.. but again I just cannot think of one.

[BMK]

Hershal,

Like your idea of checking the Police speed.

The only difference is over here when you approach the Officer to tell him of your findings it would go something like this.

"Hey smart arse want a smack in the mouth, now p!ss off"....

[albanycobra]

Last time my wife and I got pulled over for speeding ,Wife driving.
I said to her in front of the Cop to go and have a look at her speed on the Radar just to make sure they had it, she looked at me sheepishly and said I'm to scared. I said "no bother I'll have a look for you", before I could get out of the car the Cops were at my door saying "If you get out the car Big Fella you're spending the night in the Kojonup lockup". They reduced the fine and sent us on our way.

Civil rights on the side of a country road- Zero

[boxhead]

I play darts with the police team in Alice Springs, a couple of months ago I was driving through a 60kph section of the highway in town when a police car went past me at I guess between 80 - 90kph.
At the next darts meeting I mentioned this to one of the coppers, he said that they are allowed to drive at that speed if they are on there way to a call out, I said that I thought they had to use the lights and sirens to do this and his reply was that in some call outs they dont use the sirens so they can arrive un-detected.

I think he was making excuses.

[Rebel1]

My job requires me to carry a voice operated micro recorder.

I have since found that it is feared by many police officers. Only had the opportunity to use it once ( against the police) when I was a passenger in a car which had been pulled over by an over-zealous police officer.

Many police carry the things themselves but don't turn theirs on until it suits them....I recorded the total conversation including similar threats as those mentioned by albanycobra.

The driver of the car in which I was passenger did not receive a ticket and the officer involved didn't have to front the Police Complaints Tribunal or the Commissioner.