Burnouts on ACT roads will lead to someone's death sooner or later, the officer in charge of policing those roads believes.
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"At some point, someone will get wiped out," Acting Inspector Mark Richardson says as he reflects on the aftermath of Summernats.
Immediately after the car festival, he became a hero to some with his outspoken comments about "morons" and a "subspecies" doing illegal burnouts away from the main site. Some suggested he would do a better job than elected politicians.
But he doesn't want to be chief minister, he says. "I'll leave that to the pollies. I'll just stay in my non-burnout lane."
He is a police officer who is agitated by a serious problem, not just during the Summernats four days but on any night of the year and in virtually any part of Canberra.
His fear is that the "recreation" is so prevalent that somebody is going to die burning rubber themselves. Or an innocent by-stander will be smashed by a spinning car.
There are ways of curbing it, he believes.
There is a special asphalt which rips up tyres on cars driven fast and erratically - but the material is expensive.
Cameras could be set up in trouble spots - but the police have to weigh their use against human rights privacy concerns.
Drones are useful - but other police departments need them, too.
He doesn't believe a purpose-built, official burnout track would work. "That's not the fun for these people. The thrill for these people is to do it on the open road."
The measure that would work, he thinks, is to deprive drivers of their cars permanently or for a decent length of time.
He suggests crushing transgressors' cars or selling them and using the money to fund publicity campaigns against dangerous driving.
Declaring a car to have defects - defecting it - is a good deterrent, Inspector Richardson says. At the serious end, it's an order not to drive. At the lower end, it's an order to repair a defect and prove it's been done (which is a pain of a process).
"It's been seen to be a pretty effective process," the policeman said.
Burnouts stretch the police. "It's an organised event that's put out on social media," he says, sometimes with only an hour's notice to be at a particular road in, say, Fyshwick or Tidbinbilla.
"It can be up to a hundreds people." Sometimes when the police turns up, the participants head off - fast. Or they get aggressive. "If one or two police cars turn up, the crowd becomes hostile towards the police."
At some point, someone will get wiped out.
- Acting Inspector Mark Richardson
Acting Inspector Richardson became something of a celebrity after his blunt language, with his "morons" and "subspecies" observations. He suggested a check-point on the ACT border to keep burnout bandits out.
"It seems to have struck a chord," he says. "It certainly wasn't my intention. I guess you get asked a question so you answer".
He has no regrets. He might have used stronger language. "I don't know if 'morons' was the right word. I could have used a longer word."
He doesn't think his unbureaucratic, unpolitical honesty has dented his career. "I haven't been asked to find another job, so I think I'm OK."
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
