The focus on deviancy has left the more general aspects of the use of motor vehicles as a leisure activity largely unexplored. Blockies' is a simple recreational pursuit favoured, particularly, by rural youth. The gender composition of the occupants in each car varies, although the driver is most often male. Any night, but particularly Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, the streets of country towns or nearby regional cities reverberate to a procession of cars circling the same acknowledged route. The sounds of revving engines and screeching tyres, as cars drag each other off at 100km, shatters the night.
Adults find the noise intrusive.
In rural communities, direct pressure is exerted on young people to curtail their activities. The local police reinforce this dominant community view. Indirect pressure is also applied by virtue of the fact that young people in rural areas are easily identifiable. The locals know who is who, who is with whom and what they are doing. The combined pressures force the young, intent on doing 'blockies', to drive to the nearest regional centre which is often fifty or sixty kilometres away.