Ballarat ranks fourth on Victoria Police hoon hotspot list

THREE hoons were caught within 25 hours of each other across the Ballarat region at the weekend.A probationary driver was clocked doing 115kmh in a 60kmh zone in Howitt St about 11pm on Saturday.Three hours earlier, a man, aged in his mid-20s, had his car seized at Bannockburn for doing 174kmh along the Midland Hwy _ a 100kmh zone.And on Friday night, police impounded a motorist's car after he was caught doing burnouts and fishtails in Curtis St, Ballarat.The spate of shocking driving came as figures were released showing Ballarat had evaded the title of regional Victoria's hoon capital for 2008.During the year, just 53 hoons had their cars impounded - putting it in fourth place for regional Victorian hoon hotspots.The top spot for dangerous driving went to Bendigo with 122 cars seized, while Broadmeadows claimed the metropolitan title with 87 cars impounded.Across Victoria, almost 3200 cars were impounded _ about 250 more than in 2007.Ballarat Traffic Management Unit Sergeant Ross Humphrey said the latest figures showed the community was fed up with hoons.In a three-week period over Christmas, about 70 calls were made from Ballarat to the state hoon hotline, he said."People in the Ballarat area are very keen to use the hotline and dob in a hoon," he said.