Logan’s mayor has called for stronger policing and tougher laws on hooning events after a woman was killed, and her two-year-old grand-niece hospitalised in a serious crash on Saturday night.
The woman – a 51-year-old on holiday from Victoria to visit family for Easter – was killed after the Ford Focus she was travelling in with her 28-year-old niece and grand-niece collided head-on with a ute and was thrown off the road.
Police said the other car, a Ford Falcon ute driven by a 17-year-old girl, had its headlights off and was driving up the wrong side of School Road, in Logan Reserve, south of Brisbane, in an attempt to overtake a line of three cars.
Police said on Sunday they had known about a “very large-scale hoon event” happening nearby, and were investigating its connection to the fatal crash.
On Monday, Logan Mayor John Raven said the community was in upheaval.
“They want more police, they want harder laws, [and] they want more action to be done because we just cannot accept this sort of behaviour happening in our streets any more,” he told Brisbane radio station 4BC.
“This was a completely avoidable tragedy because this person – this grub – decided that they would overtake three cars all at once on a narrow road that’s poorly lit.”
Raven said police needed more resources from the state government to disrupt hooning behaviour and skid meet-ups, and the licences of people found guilty of hooning offences should be revoked.
“People are doing stupid things on the way to these events,” he said.
“There’s no consequences at the moment, so even if they do get caught, all the cops can do is impound it … but that car has no value to the hoon that’s using it.”
On Sunday, Acting Inspector Peter Venz said police were investigating whether speed, driver behaviour, or vehicle compliance had contributed to the crash.
After the crash, a social media post said to be from the organisers of the hooning event said it had been cancelled.
A second post sent “thoughts and prayers” to the Victorian woman’s loved ones.
The two-year-old girl was in a stable condition at the Queensland Children’s Hospital on Monday. Her mother was also taken to hospital on Saturday evening for injuries to her legs, hips, and back.
The four teenage occupants of the ute were all taken to Logan Hospital, with Venz saying the 17-year-old driver had been tested for illicit substances or alcohol.
One of the four was also discharged on Sunday. Police had yet to lay charges on Monday.
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