A familiar soundtrack on the main drag of Ballarat is typically a P-Plater hitting the limiter in their V6 Commodore.
Now, local police are cracking down on the well-known Sturt Street “mainie” with Operation Talladega launching earlier this month – with 28 drivers detected so far.
What is a mainie? A common sight in all pockets of Australia, a mainie is the exercise of driving up and down a town’s main street at various excessive speeds.
“Bashing the limiter” is putting your foot to the floor, pressing the accelerator to make the loudest sound possible.
Operation Talladega: The targeted blitz from police is zeroing in on “intentional high-risk driving”.
“Hooning shows a complete disregard for the safety of not only the driver but all other road users and pedestrians,” Ballarat Highway Patrol Sergeant Craig Walker said.
“We have zero tolerance for it and will continue to run operations like this one to remove unsafe drivers and vehicles from our roads.”
The results: One of the “alleged speedsters”, aged 19, was caught driving almost double the limit. He told police he was simply “keen to get home”, but nonetheless had his car impounded for 30 days.
Four cars were impounded on-site, and an additional 18 penalty notices were issued.
These notices covered offences such as running red lights, driving without a license and driving while under disqualification.
Nine defect notices were also issued to drivers for driving vehicles that “did not comply with standards of registration”, and 19 Environment Protection Authority (EPA) notices were issued for excessive noise from vehicles.
What next: The operation ran overnight between September 4th and 5th, and will continue throughout the Ballarat area.
“Driving is a privilege not a right and anyone thinking of hooning should know they are gambling with their licence, car, wallet and ultimately their life and the lives of others,” Sergeant Walker said.