Victoria_Road_Toll_Speech.

At any given moment around Victoria, a fatal car crash will occur. It may not be someone you know, or someone you have heard of. Could you deal with losing a sister, a parent, even a friend' The hoon legalisation should be tougher and harsher laws should be implemented to ensure the road tolls in Victoria reduce! I can’t stress enough, how painful and helpless you feel when you hear the news that your mates were involved in a lethal car accident. The Hampton Park car crash which took the lives of three local teens last year effected families, friends, workers, and witnesses. Joel Brimble, 19, and Riyani Lowen, 16, both of Narre Warren South, and Anja Miler, 15, of Hampton Park, died after the Holden Commodore they were in collided with a Holden Statesman at about 1.20am at the junction of Hallam and Ormond roads. A Frankston man also died and five others were injured. The indications by police officers at the scene displayed the actions of hooning being involved. Not only did this affect me tremendously, but it affected my sister to the extent I would find myself holding her until till she stopped crying... It was heartbreaking to watch. Imagine if this was you and your family' Could you go through the pain' Or would you try and stop these idiotic dangerous drivers on our roads' . According to the TAC, Victorians road toll has highly risen to a significant number of 307 individual deaths last year. This toll is up 7 percent from previous years. Although the road toll to this current date has decreased by 1% I believe the hoon legislation needs harsher penalties to ensure a father doesn’t have to bury his child, or a friend doesn’t’ have to lose his best mate. Could you imagine life without your parents or your best mate' Under the new legislation, police can impound vehicles if the driver is detected committing any of the following offences: * participation in a race or speed trial * dangerous driving committed in circumstances involving intentional loss of traction * careless driving * failure to have proper control of the motor vehicle * causing a motor vehicle to make excessive noise or smoke * exceeding the speed limit by 45 kph or more in various zones. In 2005 the TAC launched a wipe off 5 initiatives to reduce speeding drivers on our roads. So why is the new legislation offence exceeding 45 kph in various zones when supposedly going 5 kph over can cause serious death and injury' The offences have to be tougher to get through to these offenders and keep Victoria’s roads safe! + The legislation allows police to impound vehicles for 48 hours for a first offence. A second offence can see a vehicle impounded for three months whilst a third offence is consequently the crushing of the perpetrators vehicle. . But what happens if after the first offence the driver repeats hoon like behaviour' And as a result causes injury or fatalities. The penalties have to be stronger and harsher to really prove the point against the murderers on our roads. Although I am strongly for the penalties to stand tougher and harsher, I must rebut the crushing penalty. Surely Victoria Police and the state Federal Government could come up with an initiative to either sell the cars with all proceeds going to the victims involved to cover the debt of road trauma, or develop some sort of charity with all proceeds funding a medical insurance to victims and victims’ families. "Removing hoon drivers from our roads has had a positive impact on Victorian road safety. In fact, June 2008 recorded the lowest road fatalities for a June since records began in 1951." Said Assistant Traffic Commissioner, Ken Lay. It’s concerning though, since 2008 when the traffic commissioner stated this quote, the road safety has highly risen with no effective approach to improve the legalisation. Surely a man of his power could produce harsher penalties, or has he just let it slide under the table' It has been said by the Victorian Police Chief Minister and I quote “Ultimately, it is about making our roads safer and reducing road trauma, and we can do this by immediately taking the vehicle permanently from a dangerous driver." To my Knowledge and research, for any applicable offence police must impound a vehicle for 28 days for a first offence. For a second offence they must impound a vehicle for three months, and upon a third offence the offender could see their car get taken away for 6 months or permanently. Now although the words coming from the Chief of Police are outlining harsh penalties, they have never been implemented. It is like we are just throwing around chances before the penalty really sinks in. Can we really afford to give a second and third chance' Take Luke’s story for instance. “Luke was speeding in his car in the early hours of the morning with three passengers, who were all injured but miraculously survived the crash but killed himself as a result.  The Ripple Effect tells the individual stories of those affected by his death.  Each story is a true and heartfelt account of the affect that this one single incident has had on a wide range of people; from Luke’s family and friends through to the emergency service workers and others in the small tight-knit community of Bannockburn.” The Ripple Effect – This heartfelt video is just one incident out of 307 Victoria had last year. This one incident affected more than 200 people, how can we keep giving these treacherous drivers chances' Ultimately it is clear the hoon legalisation should be tougher and harsher laws should be implemented to ensure the road tolls in Victoria reduce. I know I couldn’t handle loosing another mate, could you'