POLICE are urging residents to be patient as they continue to battle with Whittlesea’s hoon drivers.

Hoon driving has been a long-time problem for residents and police in the municipality, with hotspots in areas such as Epping, Mill Park and Thomastown.

But Whittlesea’s Traffic Management Unit (TMU) has warned residents they will need to be patient as police concentrate on preventing collisions on main roads that cause injury.

“Collision data kept at the TMU office strongly indicates that while hoon driving in residential streets affects the public’s perception of safety, which is important to us, it doesn’t align well with our injury collisions trends and patterns,” Acting Senior Sergeant Geoff Joshua said.

“Less than two per cent of injury collisions in this division occur in residential streets.”

A campaign in April aimed to clamp down on hoon drivers. Called Operation Snap, it was largely unsuccessful because of a lack of response from residents.

“It involved TMU members door-knocking residents in locations where there was evidence of hoon driving or complaints were received,” Acting Sen Sgt Joshua said.

Residents were handed information sheets stating when police would be in the area and a phone number to contact them.

“Police patrolled the areas during those times and focussed their enforcement on unroadworthy vehicles, modified vehicles and other similar traits of hoon and illegal behaviour,” Acting Sen Sgt Joshua said.

“That operation ran for four weeks, four days a week and there was only one phone call received from members of the public.”

There has been a better response to the hoon hotline, with a number of residents calling to report anti-social driving.

“We will continue to seek the assistance of the community in relation to reporting driving offences,” Acting Sen Sgt Joshua said.

“We want the calls to keep coming and we will do everything we can to track down these drivers, but our resources have to concentrate, the majority of the time, on what is causing the injury collisions and they are happening on our main roads.”

The hoon hotline is 9409 8191.