5/5/2007
Australia: Making a Profit from Anti-Speeding ActivismAustralian website turns anti-speeding activism into a profitable venture.

A "hoon removal kit" offered on an Australian website is turning anti-speeding activism into a profitable venture. Loraine McElligott charges A$150 (US $125) for the weekend rental of a video camera system designed to tape neighbors and enemies to take them to court so that they can be prosecuted under "anti-hoon" dangerous driving laws. Complete systems may also be purchased for A$1500 (US $1250), with more expensive "service packages" also available.
The Roadside Watch website is not just designed to catch those driving dangerously.
"We are equally concerned about someone who is running late and trying to make up a few minutes on the road," McElligott writes. "I want to make it clear that this campaign is not directed against young people any more than anyone else."
Video evidence submitted to police can be used to issue tickets and even confiscate vehicles. Many local visitors left have left comments on the site expressing disagreement with the concept of the hoon removal kit.
"Civilians spying on each other," one commenter wrote. "What year is it? 1984?"