Burnouts 'slur on Cameron's memory'
12:00a.m. 10th January 2009
Senior Sergeant Gavin Ricketts with debris left from the burnouts. In the background is a shrine of flowers left by grieving relatives and friends. Photo: Nicholas Falconer/180340
Appalled police will step up patrols in a Caloundra industrial estate where "mindless'' hoons are mixing alcohol and burnt rubber with their grief over the death of a 21 year old Beerwah man last Sunday.
Family members and the girlfriend of Cameron Croft, who died at Meridan Plains when his new motorcycle hit a pole, were horrified to learn that hoons had spilled oil on the road and done burnouts in the estate where he died.
The family visited the site yesterday before Cameron's funeral in Caloundra.
"It's disgraceful. It's a slur on Cameron's memory,'' girlfriend Chantelle McMullin said.
"He was not a hoon. The people doing this were not his friends.''
Police patrolling the industrial estate on Thursday night found the roadway damaged and a potential danger to other motorists after the heat generated by spinning tyres melted the asphalt on the road surface.
Sunshine Coast Council will be asked to inspect the road to determine what repair work is needed.
"Thank God they didn't do burnouts where he lay,'' Chantelle said.
Senior sergeant Gavin Ricketts of Caloundra Police described the hoons' behaviour as mindless.
"It doesn't make any sense that young drivers would come out here and damage their own cars and the road as a means of expressing grief at this tragic incident,'' he said.
Special patrols will be conducted in the area at night until the behaviour stops.
Thursday night's patrol found empty alcohol cans, evidence that oil had been spilled on the road surface, a shredded tyre, burnout marks on the road with large amounts of rubber and mud splattered over the roadway.
Cameron's family are horrified that their son's death may be associated with hoonish behaviour. He had an unblemished driving record.
He had purchased the motorcycle on which he died to provide a cheap means of attending ice hockey in Brisbane.
The family said he had taken the bike to the estate only because it was a quiet place to test it before a review that had been scheduled for last Monday with the vendors.
Police are concerned that the state the road was left in had the potential to cause another fatality.
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Recent Comments
why are they still on the roads. Qld. Transport should place a Defect Notice immediately on these vehicles.
Make the cars Stardard before they are permitted back on the road.
I am sure the Insurance companies would deny any claim if these vehicles were involved in any accident and at fault.
Come on Qld. Transport. Do your job, get out on the road and 'rope them in'.
No doubt we will be reading about one of them soon in the Daily and cycle will continue.
Your view on modified cars is ignorant and un-informed. Any standard car can perform a burnout. Any Commodore, Falcon, Camry, Yaris etc. What was going on in this industrial estate was unacceptable yes, but I fail to see how people with "modified cars" can be blamed and blanketed.
I ask you this: You're all for road safety? For safe cars? For safe drivers?
I myself drive a "modified car". I upgraded the brakes to bigger and more powerful ones - My car would most likely stop from 100km/h to 0km/h in much less distance than yours. I buy extremely expensive tyres that are many times better than average ones. I have upgraded my cars suspension so to improve roadholding, handling and response. I upgraded the differential in my car to gain better traction 100% of the time.
So where do I stand in the situation? Am I a criminal or a "hoon" because I have vastly improved my cars roadholding performance and therefor safety? Should I have my car defected and taken away for not being "standard"?
If everyone in Australia drove a toyota yaris, people would still do burnouts, people would still hit poles, people would still die every day and offend other people through driving stupidity. At the end of the day a car is a lump of metal, there is a person driving it.
The trouble is that a lot of drivers of modified cars have as many brain cells as a lump of metal.
I must admit i do own a modified car but its not as modified as some others and i still drive at the speed limit and to the conditions.
Yes, in the long run, a car is a lump of metal, but at the end of the day they can cause so much heart break.
Fdigital, if your car has been modified so much then it shouldnt be allowed on the road because you dont need all thos things to be able to drive on the road at the speed limit.
RIP Cam
I could show you a whole bunch of drivers in modified cars that have superb driving skills and levels of car control, and don't put it to use on the street - only the track. Because of their track knowledge and because of them improving their cars, they actually end up as MUCH safer drivers on the street.
Note here I'm talking about car enthusiasts, not idiots in old commodores that do burnout's in industrial areas.
I would say that an extremely large proportion of people in standard cars run sub-standard tyres, worn suspension components, weak brakes, and themselves have nearly no advanced car control or technical driving knowledge.
Exactly how much do you want to dumb down society driving? Eventually it would get to a point where no one has any defensive/accident avoidance technique or car control. If you go bungee jumping you don't just get some crummy old rope and jump off a bridge. If you fly a plane you don't just get in and "wing" it, hoping that there doesn't come a situation where you may need to apply defensive flying techniques or accident avoidance.
Likewise when people get into a car they should be taught how to control it when something bad happens.
By just labeling anything to do with driving or actively improving driving skills or car setup as taboo, you are actively dumbing down society from an uninformed and ignorant high horse.
Modified cars with chrome wheels and spoilers are too fast for our roads! Why do people put those spoilers on? Is it to impress their hoon friends by going extra fast?
Come on QLD, Do something about this!
The modifications done to my car are to INCREASE it's drivability, roadholding, handling, braking and safety in general. How should that not be allowed on the road? Do you think Mercedes and BMWs with large vented disc brakes, expensive high quality european tyres, complex accident avoidance systems and high end suspension components should be allowed on the road?
Are you that daft to think that you don't need to have a car with better brakes and tyres and roadholding to drive at the speed limit? It's not up to you neither is it any of your business if I want to improve the safety of my car, as I'm not affecting you by doing it.
If you choose to drive a standard 20 year old death bucket with 10 year old drum brakes, bald retreads and suspension akin to blocks of cheese, thats fine by me. But don't go and say that I can't improve my daily transport because I "don't need to do it"
I dislike Rugby as a sport, but I don't go and speak out against it or say that people shouldn't play it.
What was wrong with the original, brakes, suspension, tyres and differential.
Were they defective???
I suppose the motor had to be 'tuned up' as well.
Get a life.
Everyone should take a look at how small a mistake this was and LEARN that every time we are behind the wheel of a car or bike think of the consequences of every decision before putting that decision into play.
For the idiots that thought it would be fun to demolish a couple of tyres over Cam's final 10 seconds...they will get caught eventually.
I ask those who are commenting on this site to keep their arguements re modified cars to another blog. This isnt the place.
Ian - My apologies, I won't post in here again.
Give me a good driver in a highly modified car ANY DAY of the week over that soccer mum or redneck dad in their 4cyl econobox or 4wd!
I've never been tailgated by a high performance car yet!
Please have some consideration for Chantelle, the families and friends and how this tragedy has affected their lives. My sincere codolences to all.
Well done ianp5006
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