‘I don’t want to be a victim,’ resident says, hoping bill to curb street racing, ‘hooning’ survives
Rob Eller, who said he has witnessed “hooning” and street racing up and down his section of James H. McGee Boulevard for years, hopes proposed state legislation meant to crack down on the unruly behavior survives and reaches the governor.
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“I don’t want to be a victim of that,” Eller told News Center 7′s Brandon Lewis on Thursday night. “They think they know what they’re doing. Take it to a racetrack.”
House Bill 56, co-sponsored by state Reps. Phil Plummer (R-Dayton) and Andrea White (R-Kettering) would punish people caught street racing or “hooning.”
The legislation which the Ohio House passed Wednesday night, would prohibit street takeovers and reckless driving on public or private property open to the public. The Ohio Senate now will take up consideration of the bill, which includes imposing jail time, fines, license suspension and the seizure of vehicles.
The possibilities of the legislation are what Eller would like to see happen.
“It’s a shame they have to drive that fast,” he said. “Driving fast is not worth taking your life -- or anyone else’s.”
A hoon is an Australian and New Zealander term that describes a person who deliberately drives a vehicle in a reckless or dangerous manner, generally to provoke reaction from onlookers. The exhibitions include speeding, burnouts, screeching tires or doing donuts, according to online sources including the Oxford Dictionary and Wikipedia.
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Eller said he has lived on McGee Boulevard for 16 years and describes the street racing as virtually non-stop -- worse in spring and summer. The action slows in the winter, but continues, he said.
“I can look out. . . and they’re neck and neck with each other,” he said of vehicles “that are not cheap” identified as “mostly Dodge Chargers or Challengers.”
Eller said the issue is concerning to him because it involves safety, plain and simple.
“They should have a spot to do that,” he said of the “hooning” and street racing, “so it’s controlled.”
