Hoons on notice: Anti-burnout surface spray arrives
New road surface spray "makes it difficult" to spin tyres; will destroy them if they do soThe days of hoon drivers doing dirty big burnouts and lurid doughnuts on public roads could be a thing of the past if a new spray-on technology lives up to claims.
The Hume City Council has applied a new spray sealant to a number of roads in a bid to reduce hooning in the Victorian region.
"If a driver attempts to drive dangerously on this type of road, it would be difficult for a driver to spin their wheels," the Sustainable Infrastructure and Services director of Hume, Peter Waite, told The Age newspaper.
"If they did manage it, they would burn through the rubber of tyres faster than on a smooth road surface," he explained.
Various attempts have been trialled in the past to curb anti-social driving behaviour, including police stings, number plate scanning technology and other means, but if this new spray-on technology is effective, it could be a game-changer.
However, if the newly surfaced hoon hot spots turn out to degrade the tyres of regular motorists, councils and police could be left red-faced.
Areas such as Broadmeadows and Sunbury are expected to be targeted initially but motorists who drive normally will not be affected by the anti-hoon spray, insists Waite.
It's not clear how the spray coating technology works but if reacts to the heat of a spinning tyre, it could pose problems in summer.
Hume police inspector Anthony Brown the newspaper that tyres would only be destroyed "when the wheels lost traction on the road".
It's not clear whether tyres will be shredded if a motorist has to perform an emergency braking manoeuvre, which has the potential to break traction with the road surface, potentially causing havoc.
"Normal driving speed it's not going to affect you but if you're engaging in intentionally high-risk behaviour, it would reduce the life cycle of your tyre dramatically," said inspector Brown.
The Hume area has one of the highest levels of hoon-related arrests, confirmed inspector Brown.
"We have maintained a focus on it, so we impound more vehicles than other areas. It's a problem across Melbourne, and we're addressing it as a local issue here."
He said the affected areas would remain secret.
"We chose sites that had high-risk driving activity, and known hoon gathering areas."
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