Illegal burnout hoons plague North Arm Cove Myall Coast Port Stephens by News Of The Area - Modern Media - January 24, 2024 Ugly skid marks cover the Gooreengi Road turnoff. ILLEGAL burnout crowds at the only turnoff into North Arm Cove have been intimidating local residents as they enter their homes from Gooreengi Road, just off the Pacific Highway. According to several residents, groups of up to 100 have been gathering, including children and babies, to watch and compete in illegal and dangerous car burnouts at the turnoff. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au “We have reported it to the police many times since August 2023, residents have to get through the gangs of people and are quite intimidated as they do so, just trying to get home,” one North Arm Cove resident explained. Ugly skid marks are left all over the road, as are large, dangerous debris fields including chunks of chassis, tyre wires and other fire hazards that break off during the dangerous, reckless antics. The geography of the area is inescapably appealing to burnout hoons – wide, flat and open, like an airport tarmac, and there appears to be an entire subculture that arranges via private social media sites to find and invade such sites, with another identified at Tomago, too. Speaking for the affected community, North Arm Cove Community Association Inc. President Bob Reid told NOTA, “Many North Arm Cove residents have contacted MidCoast Council about this, and we’ve requested Council to investigate and look into some traffic engineering to make it less attractive, and ideally get some video surveillance.” MidCoast Council has been contacted for an update on the matter. “This is a constant issue, and the burnouts seem to be sporadic, there were arrests made late last year, and we are appealing for information from the public,” a NSW Police spokesperson told NOTA. North Arm Cove locals, however, insist that the burnouts are quite regular, occurring every second Saturday night. ‘Hooning’ offences are very real and illegal, described by NSW laws as “when you engage in dangerous and reckless driving behaviour… the penalties for hoon offences are severe in most cases”. ‘Hoon’ offences include: speed/street racing, doing burnouts or doughnuts, drag racing, driving at dangerous speeds, and being involved in a police pursuit. By Thomas O’KEEFE A poignant reminder of road mortality is ignored by the hoons, as is the fire danger sign. The breadth and flatness of the turnoff attracts hoons like ants to honey. Locals are asking for road engineering to change this. Bits of tyre wire, and often entire tyres, are regularly left littering the turnoff.
