Looks like the Police's street-racing crackdown (read: money-making scheme through fluff tickets) is going well. Not one mention of any fines for actual street racing (because for that, you need to go where the street racers are!!!).

I don't have a problem with the fines themselves, because all the mentioned infractions are worthy of a ticket. It's just annoys the hell out of me when they make such a poor attempt to hide their real motivation behind some street racing elimination smoke screen...

 

I've said it before on other forums. Street racing is going to cary heavier penalties than drunk driving. As social protest, lets all drive around above 0.08.

 

Sorry Feds but that's about the dummest idea I've ever heard. "Let's all drive around drunk in protest. omg..." It's about as dumb as a vintage snowmobile club I was asked about.

 

Do you really think he was being serious? He's pointing out the fact that penalties are more substantial for "street racing".

 

That's ALMOST as thinly veiled a tax grab as the speeding cameras were!

"A total of 146 charges were laid, including misuse of plates, no insurance, speeding, seatbelt infractions, failure to provide ownership, non-valid permits, failure to notify change of address, equipment-related charges and various document-related offences.

Geeze, Frank alone could be responsabe for all those simply while driving to an Orleans meet!

 

I had a feeling I was going to get one the other day going down walkley. I had a biker cop following me for a while, luckily some stupid girl flew by the cop and i doing about 90. The best part was that the girl was so oblivious that she didnt realize that the cop was trying to pull her over until about a km later.

On the streetracing note what makes me angry is that i will most likely be pulled over and given one of these tickets for being a 'racer' aka 'having a modified car', since the two end to be seen the same way. It make me angry because I take efforts to go to the track and not speed on the streets. Infact I usually drive the speed limit anf have people passing me (out of fear of being pulled over more easily then they ever would be). Furthermore my dad told me they used to close off carling to permit drag racing.. as it was one of the only two lane roads in the 60's. Now these same people that raced are whining and creating legislation because 'street racers' in thei 100hp civics are dangerous. More dangerous than a 4000lb car with 300+ hp?!?

 

I'm only about 3/4 serious. This is a bald faced attempt by a government to erode the fundamental basis of our legal system, and you, the compliant population is too concerned about who Paris is banging to give a flying dookie.

Our legal system is based around being INNOCENT until proven guilty. That a cop can suspend your licence, impound your car, and whatnot on the suspicion of illegal activity is ludacris. Our grandfathers (fathers in Eric and Rob's case) fought so that our FREEDOMS could be preserved. It is ours to pick up the torch and hold it high, and to not allow governments to impose fear upon us.

Listen to the tone of all these postings. We FEAR that we will be charged with a federal offence just driving around. That is NOT what our forebearers fought for. That, my friends, is faschism.

I'm going to mangle a quote from Churchill here, but: It's easier to fight for freedoms while you have them, than try and fight for them after they are gone.

This whole streetracing thing is BS waste of time garbage.

 

Jamie talkes like V from Vendetta.

 

^ I felt you were being mostly sarcastic, so it looks like I understood. My reply was in sort of in jest also. Reading it again I can see it didn't come across like that. Anyways...

I agree with you - it's an ill-conceived plan and does have great potential to be abused by officers. The only way I would even consider this to be prudent would be if someone was caught racing in an organized illegal event, with spectators etc. To have the potential of facing worse charges than a drunk driver just because the guy in the AstroVan is a jerk who's trying to block me from taking an exit, for instance, is completely lucicrous but not out of the realm of possibility depending on how much of a ***** the cop is - and from my experience there are a good number of loser cops around.

 

Okay young'ins lets learn ya something. Street racing has been around since about 1901 or whenever the 2nd car was built. When we were young (I grew up in BC) the closest drag strip was about 3 hours away and in the USA. So, we street raced. The BIG difference was that we street raced between 2 farmers fields in the middle of nowhere. When I talk to some friends of mine (that are cops btw) they tell me stories of racing way outside the city limits of Toronto, I think it was 14th avenue back then. I think you are getting my point. The biggest problem today is that the street racing is taking place in high population areas and has maximum exposure to disaster. When street racers kill themselves and dont damage anything other than there own cars is bad enough, but when they kill bystanders or other innocent drivers that is a whole new problem. That is why it has become such a hot topic as of late. I dont have an answer to the problem, but I do understand why everyone is in such an uproar about it. When I heard about the parents of the 7 year old girl getting killed, it really struck home. I have a 10 year old daughter and she has no other family other than her mother and I. Like everything else another more important issue will overcome street racing, but for now you know what you have to do. If everyone does it, it will blow over.

 

I think they dont want to hit the clear killer of families in ontario: the soccer mom.

If 10 people were killed in the last 10 years from street racing, and 1000 in the last 10 years from drinking and driving, how many more were caused by a woman who wouldnt pull over one the QEW to buckle her kid back in, or to pick up a cell phone.

 

Nobody is disputing the facts that your speaking about. However there are strict laws that deal with impaired drivers etc. We have been through the impaired driver menace and now we move onto street racing. Maybe the soccer mom or whatever will be next on the hit list.

 

Amen Mr. Feds

 

its interesting this topic came up ... and realisticaly ... its all horse hockey .... u think about the "street racing " related deaths in the last 6 years .... lets just say it was 10 ...... then think about the gun related deaths in the last 6 weeks .... its closer to 20 .... no if you ask me ... it would seem that we need to take care of our real problums b 4 we start harassing ppl with modded cars ..... this whatever u wanna call it will kill the aftermarket performance industry and leave so many ppl hungry because noone will be employing their services .. all in all .. this is silly ... and it bothers me that this is what our tax dollars are goign towards .. especialy when there are ppl being kidnaped shot and raped ... the enforcers of our law are woried about kids driving fast on a main street ... yes it is dangerous ..... but i can think of a million other worse things that young kids are into these days .... thats just my 2 cents worth

 

this is a basic Charter of rights infringment by the police.. file a case then get them all together for a class action suit in fenderal court. if I ever get pulled over and given a ticket based on premis that modified car= streetracer.. I've already got my lawyer prepared to take legal action.

 

Did they? We didn't even have a charter of rights until the 80's

 

Description of modified existing laws:


http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_1222.aspx


I don't know why everyone is going so crazy about this. The changing laws isn't the issue because they are pretty much staying the same. To be charged with street racing you still have to be witnessed and caught in the act and convicted in a court. The laws are getting stiffer to try to tip the scales convincing would-be street racers into not taking part. Public outcry is demanding the government to take action right now, and when the next hot topic arises, it will be old news.
I don't have any problem with any of this. My car is safe and I won't race on the streets. I'm sure the police will respect that if they decide to pull me over. If you get caught street racing or driving an unsafe vehicle, you deserve what you get because you were warned and you decided to ignore this whole campaign.

Fluff tickets are still violations. It's your decision to break the law. You get what you deserve. It's not like they're making up laws on the spot so they can get paid.

 

I persoanlly think we have more issues with impaired drivers, senior drivers and especially cell phone use! They are going to have to be very specific on thier description of streetracing. 2 cars on a side street, 1 going on the wrong side, full acceleration to a speed of 100 mph, yes it's street racing. 2 cars giving a go after the light turns green up to (or maybel a little over) the speed limit, no (perhaps stunting, but that's a stretch).

 

I personally think we have more issues with impaired drivers, senior drivers and especially cell phone use! They are going to have to be very specific on their description of streetracing. 2 cars on a side street, 1 going on the wrong side, full acceleration to a speed of 100 mph, yes it's street racing. 2 cars giving a go after the light turns green up to (or maybel a little over) the speed limit, no (perhaps stunting, but that's a stretch). 2 cars speeding on a freeway beside each other, can they call that street racing?? Someone will have to make the first few successful defenses very public for all to use!

 

My concern with this whole thing is the sudden need for a "crackdown". WTF is going on now that is making street racing a hotter issue these days than it was a few years ago? "Crackdowns" are just PR stunts to get the public back on the government/police's side after enough people have created a big enough ruckus about the matter.

Personally...i think this crap is everybody's gotdamn fault. Lazy *** parents giving out car keys to their stupid kids like its some kind of right of passage; movies like fast and the furious that make street racing "cool"; car companies for making faster, smaller, lighter, and more fuel efficient cars more accessible to morons; and individual drivers who shouldn't be on the road, or think that every stop light is a drag race.

My friend was killed a few years ago cuz a few assbags decided to race home from school. The one racing the SUV lost control and jumped the sidewalk, killing my friend who was walking home. I understand the need for these rules, and believe me when I say that I'm glad the government is finally "trying" to do something about it. At the same time, I share all of your concerns about this law being abused. My fc doesn't exactly sound like a mild mannered corolla.

But look....at this point the law has to accomodate for the lowest common denominator...which unfortunately is pretty ******* low. If you don't wanna get hassled, do your best to minimize your chances of getting hassled. Kinda sucks for me since my car is my daily driver, but at the same time it isn't modded out like crazy so they don't have too much crap to pin to me anyway. It sucks but sometimes the price of freedom is putting up with the freedom of others.

*Rant machine off*

 

SR with 2 cars going 100+km/h in a deserted industrial zone is actually FAR safer than 2 people racing through a light in town.

 

Maybe if they spent some of our tax dollars to pro-actively deal with the problem there would be less carnage on the streets.
There will always be some A-Holes putting others lives at risk whether it is against the law or not.
A couple of venues for people to safely see how their cars compare to others
would do a lot more to get most of them off the streets than any laws passed.
Remember the Gun Registry. I haven't read of any less guns in our cities and they have spent billions on that.
Skate parks have given boarders a place to hang without being a problem for business owners.
A drag race park would give those who want to race a place to do it without endangering Joe Public.
It would probably cost a lot less to subsidize something like that than targeting
car enthusiast just for making thier car perform better and dress it up the way they like it.
I am concerned the next laws will make it illegal to have anything other than a stock ride.



Ace IIB

 

couldnt have said it any better myself ... only if there was somthing we as citizens could do .... to bad its not much of a democracy any more

 

I'm wondering why there isn't a bigger turnout at test and tune nights at the strip. Hopefully there will be more after people start to fear getting the law-rod shoved up their a$$.

 

i truly feel that its due to acess problums .. not everyone can make it to a strip .. because its either to remote or the events are so far and few between that it never falls on a convieniant day or time ..... i truly belive that if the government spent the time and money to create a "race park" ... that didnt cost an arm and a leg and was a little more i guess u can say diverse for the not so experiance drivers ... ppl would neither fear nor have an exuse not to go ... alot of it is time and money and then there is also the discouragement of .. not everyone knows how to race .... i still think its silly thoe that the law is becoming so that anyone with a modded car is harassed .. i drive a tractor trailor for a living and i see alot of ppl being pulled pover latley /... and i can honestly sday even just friday night .... 9 out of the 10 cars i saw pulled over .. had atleast an exhaust or some sort of cosmetic modification ..... that pisses me right off .. its unfair and unjust