Despite concentrated efforts from authorities to crack down on dangerous driving, some motorists still aren’t taking the hint, with Victoria Police set to deploy a dedicated hoon team in Ballarat.
Dubbed the ‘Ballarat High Risk Driving Team’, the task force's officers have specific powers to address dangerous driving behaviour after the community called on local authorities to express their frustration at hoons.
According to Victoria Police, officers from the team will “saturate hot spot areas” across Ballarat while actively monitoring repeat offenders and local motorists with a history of hooning.
Additionally, officers in the Ballarat High Risk Driving Team will investigate all open hooning cases and follow up on previous incidents where the attending officer couldn’t make an arrest due to safety risks.
The task force also has the power to conduct regular door knocks, and patrol areas “offenders are known to frequent” to ensure these alleged hoons are complying with bail conditions or licence suspensions.
Ballarat’s Local Commander, Acting Inspector Brad Hall, said offenders are on notice after recent community feedback.
“Our message to recidivist hoons is clear – your time is up. If you choose to offend, you won’t just be facing serious criminal charges but continued monitoring from our high-risk driving team,” Acting Inspector Hall said in a March 2026 media statement.
“Even if you get away with it on the night, know it won’t be long until police are knocking on your door.”
The newly introduced task force has attracted opposing views from residents, with some welcoming the clampdown while others said authorities should focus on more severe crimes in the community.
In a post on the Ballarat Community Crime Facebook page – which has approximately 20,000 followers – an anonymous commenter highlighted the need for local police to address more serious crimes, such as car and property theft, break-ins, and physical abuse.
“Hooning may be annoying and can be dangerous, but there are much bigger problems to worry about that affect the entire community far worse,” a Facebook user wrote.
“What about all the people out there stealing cars, and we wonder why the crime rate is so high,” a different user wrote.
But not all were cynical about the new taskforce, with one Ballarat local fed up with the dangerous behaviour.
“I’m so sick of listening to them [at] 2–4am most nights in the CBD area. It’s almost as if they are taunting the police. The marks all over the main street aren't doing much for tourism," they commented on the Facebook post.
Another local expressed their frustration when they wrote, “As someone who lives on a main road and sees cars hooning by every half hour, and we have children in the area, I say absolutely target hoon driving and target the criminals as well”.
Ethan Cardinal graduated with a Journalism degree in 2020 from La Trobe University and has been working in the fashion industry as a freelance writer prior to joining Drive in 2023. Ethan greatly enjoys investigating and reporting on the cross sections between automotive, lifestyle and culture. Ethan relishes the opportunity to explore how deep cars are intertwined within different industries and how they could affect both casual readers and car enthusiasts.
