Police seek help to nab bike hoons
Police want public help to track down motorcycle hoons who are concealing their numberplates to evade capture.
Dozens of rogue riders have been caught on camera speeding and running red lights but have avoided penalties because their numberplates were obscured or missing.
One man flaunted his disregard for the law by running a red light at the same Leach Highway intersection three times in a fortnight.
MORE ON THE BIKE HOONS - TODAY TONIGHT 6.3OPM
Another was clocked doing more than double the 60km/h limit and a third was not wearing a helmet while speeding 37km/h over the limit.
Police have released images to The West Australian of motorcyclists behaving "dangerously, stupidly and arrogantly".
They are urging the public to dob them in.
DO YOU KNOW ANY OF THESE RIDERS?
Traffic Enforcement Commander Alf Fordham said he had no doubt some riders were deliberately tampering with the plates to make it hard for police to catch them.
Driving a vehicle with an improperly displayed numberplate attracts a $50 fine.
"These people are either going to kill themselves, kill somebody else or put other road users in situations they just should not be in," Cdr Fordham said.
"There's no way in the world that motorcyclists should get a free ride."
Police Minister Liza Harvey revealed yesterday that the State Government was set to announce a significant new penalty for an improperly displayed numberplate.
She said she had spent the past few months working with Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan on ways to tackle the increasing numberplate problem.
While some riders are escaping penalty because motorbikes do not have front numberplates, traffic investigators have images of rear numberplates that are bent, loosened so they flap around or covered up.
Cdr Fordham said motor- cyclists who ignored speed limits, drove through intersections several seconds after the lights had turned red or weaved in and out of traffic "might think it's my life, it's my gamble but that was rubbish".
"You can hit pedestrians, you can hit other cars, you can kill people other than yourself," he said. "And I don't want to be a driver that crashes into a motorcyclist, then has to live with the consequences."
Road Safety Council chairman Murray Lampard said such dangerous driving could not be tolerated.
"I have every confidence the police will identify these reckless road users and bring the full weight of the law to bear on them," he said.
Seventy-three people have died in crashes on WA roads so far this year. About 20 per cent of the deaths were motorcyclists or their pillion passengers.
Anyone who recognises any of the riders pictured should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
