Street racing.

Street racing is not new. Ancient documents record that it was a problem in biblical times when young men raced chariots through the streets of Rome.

Unfortunately it has taken on a cachet of it's own with a growing band of adherents putting others at risk - and statistics show an increasing death toll of other road users.

State governments recognise this risk and have enacted legislation accordingly. Cars may be seized for this offence, and the courts are imposing harsher penalties on those caught.

Street racing is not confined to the young. Men of mature age are often the culprits and with modern cars speeds of 160 kph are not uncommon. That is a sure recipe for disaster on urban roads - where other traffic and light signals are commonly ignored.

When the offender appears in court it is not uncommon for a long list of similar driving offences to be revealed. Often the offender is already barred from driving for over a decade - and this ban is being totally ignored. In many cases, the vehicle is neither registered or insured, putting victims at risk without any hope of compensation.

The question is - what to do with people who simply refuse to obey court orders and continue to drive - and offend ?

The obvious answer is to remove them from the community of law abiding citizens - or in other words - gaol !

But that creates another problem. Keeping a person in gaol costs the taxpayer a huge amount annually. Perhaps it is time to consider another option.

It might be time for the government to establish a major farm where such prisoners are required to work to grow food for use in hospitals, prisons or simply to be sold in a conventional manner. These prisoners would be paid the award rate for their work - the only thing they would lack - would be their freedom !

These prison farms would not be lock-up institutions and security would be light - but the penalty for absconding would be to serve the remainder of their sentence in a conventional gaol - with an added time for the offence of absconding.

In that way the cost of removing an offender from society could be replaced by a dividend from the work of the prisoner - and the spectre of time in a regular gaol would make individuals think long and hard before becoming an absconder !