By CASEY NEILL
KEYSBOROUGH residents fear drag racing on the Dandenong Bypass will soon kill.
Michelle, who didn’t want her surname published, lives in the Hidden Grove estate on Chapel Road.
“Every single weekend from about 11pm until about 3am the drag racing goes on,” she said.
“It’s really disturbing now because someone’s going to end up dead.
“People are sitting in chairs on the side of the road, watching the drag races.”
She said the hooning occurred on some weekdays as well, and was increasing with longer daylight hours.
“It’s just not acceptable anymore,” she said.
“I can hear it clearly from home.
“Especially when you’ve got a little one as well – your sleep is so precious.”
Michelle said she’d called police many times.
“They can catch the innocent drivers doing five kilometres over the speed limit on the bypass… ” she said.
Greater Dandenong Highway Patrol Senior Sergeant Scott Roberts said he sympathised with Michelle.
“We’re not getting drag racing per say, it’s more loud cars that are speeding up and down Princes Highway,” he said.
“We are aware of these issues. The guys are constantly tasked to those areas.
“The bypass is one… another is Thompsons Road.
“We’re aware of the fact that these people have got spotters. They’ll say they saw the coppers at such and such a location.
“Within 30 seconds they move to another location.”
Sen Sgt Roberts said areas off Cheltenham Road in Dandenong and industrial precincts in Dandenong South were other key trouble spots.
“We can’t be in umpteen different places at once,” he said.
“If we’re out at a collision or something – and collisions can take a while to process – it’s very difficult to be at the right place at the right time.
“We try to do the best we can with what resources we have.
“We’ve got a real contrast between the times we need to be out and the times these people are on the roads.
“They’re not peak times in terms of risk of road trauma.
“It’s just a case of trying to put our resources to the most pressing issues.
“Our primary issue is reducing the road toll.”
Sen Sgt Roberts urged any witnesses to hooning to call triple-zero or Crime Stoppers.
“All that information comes through to us. I really need that information,” he said.
“I’d never suggest they put themselves in a position of peril.
“If they can get a registration, or even video footage with a registration, we will definitely follow these things up in the cold hard light of day.
“We can still put them before the courts based on the evidence of the residents.”
He said reports of the same car turning up at various hoon hot spots would be enough for his team to issue a warning.
