ACT police take aim at ‘moron tourism’ for bad behaviour at Summernats

A group of “morons” who would fail to enter the ACT if there were IQ requirements at the border are to blame for bad behaviour at one of Australia’s premier car festivals, a senior police officer has said.

ACT Policing seized 13 cars, including a Holden Commodore for doing a burnout metres from pedestrians, during this year’s Summernats festival in Canberra.

The 22-year-old who was allegedly behind the wheel was suspended for driving in the territory for three months.

Two children and two adult passengers were also allegedly in the car during the manoeuvre, police said.

The man is expected to be charged with dangerous driving, driving an unsafely maintained vehicle, plates not properly issued, running a red light and speeding.

Two people were also arrested on Saturday for antisocial behaviour.

“If we set up an IQ-testing station at the border instead of a vehicle-testing station we’d halve our problems,” acting Insp Mark Richardson told reporters on Monday.

“The real car enthusiasts are not the problem, it’s the moron tourism.”

Police were running around playing “Whac-A-Mole” across Canberra with “a sub-species of the human race” as they did illegal burnouts and engaged in antisocial behaviour.

“It’s not the people that are going there to enjoy the event, it’s the people that go there just to do antisocial behaviour,” he said.

“They just literally come down here to see, ‘how big of a pest can I be this week?’.

“The behaviour of these drivers, they just haven’t evolved very far.”

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Residents also expressed disdain at loud burnouts and revs along Canberra’s main road as well as the incorrect use of electric scooters, including people doing doughnuts in crowded public places.

Police were also investigating footage of a fight posted to social media.

“The footage that we saw was quite disturbing,” acting Supt Rod Anderson said.

Rocks and bottles had also been thrown at officers inside and outside the event, he said.

An extra 100 officers were on duty on each day of the event.

Summernats 36 was held from Thursday to Sunday.