Wednesday night our local news channel (A-Channel) ran a report on the new ant-street racing legislation being proposed. While not funny in itself, the example street racer they used totally ruined the seriousness of the report and turned it into a farce. They found a local guy who is "modding" his 4 door Cavalier and interviewed him to get an inside into the street racing "scene". I don't know whether to laugh or cry but while capturing the video I couldn't stop giggling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNA3vc2eNL0

All humour aside I agree that we do need tougher penalties for street racers, and I think that the woman walking from Brampton to Ottawa deserves a lot of respect. My only real issue is that the definition of street racing needs to be VERY clear to avoid officers laying a street-racing penalty on someone (presumably an import owner as the owner of a '69 Mustang would never be stopped) when another fine would have been more appropriate.

 

while i also agree that street racing is wrong and they should police it better, theres so much more they should do instead of just tougher penalties. open up more tracks, or at least make them more affordable for the average person. and like you said be specific about the law. the other thing is, while street racing does cause accidents and death, theres so many other things that are just as dangerous, although less blantantly wrong.

 

I agree 100% with Aaron, stronger penalties need to be on the books, but you need to be really careful in how you define it, as I don't want my car seized and me put in jail just for speeding a little because they decided that I must be street racing. There's also the sticky point of rallies and autocrosses, they could suddenly end up being illegal if the defenition isn't properly done.

 

I'd like to know how a street race is defined in the eyes of the cops.

For example, my car practically screams "race me" stopped at traffic lights. (see car in my sig)
What if some guy in his RUSTang G(ood)T(ry) hammer's the gas when the light turns green. Could a cop mistake me for road racing simply because I'm the object of the RUSTang driver's machismo and need to try and prove himself?

What if I'm just in a hurry and excersize my car's 0-60 in under 5s, if some guy in his WRX tries to keep up, is that a road race?

I'd like to know more about such legislation before cheering it on.

 

omg that kid must be retarted or something 10k in to a pos cavaler is the funnies thing ever u made me lol for the first today thanx aaron
james

 

I think it's stupid. This is just as bad as that whole bird flu farce.


In canada, 130 people have died from street racing in the last 20 years. Quite a few.

oh wait, in 2002 more that twice as many people died in toaster related accidents. in ONE YEAR ALONE. I think what we need is a ban on toasters.

 

It's true, street racing is not exactly high on the cause of death list. But street racing puts everyone (and their cars!) on the road at risk, raises insurance rates (even if it is only due to perceived danger) and in general draws negative attention towards modified cars. Really the problem is lack of enforcement (at least in London anyway) of all traffic related laws. If the police concentrated on actual dangerous behaviour such as non-signalling, lane weaving, speeding, etc. instead of worrying about the loudness of an exhaust then the streets would be safer.

For a penalty, I'm in favour of not issuing a fine or jailtime unless someone was actually injured. Instead, make the racer watch as his/her car is crushed into a cube, then charge them for disposal of said cube.

We also need much more stringent licensing. I'd love to see compulsory in-car testing yearly as part of holding a drivers license, with at least 30% of that test on 400 series highways.

As for the Cavalier, it cracks me up every time. Did anyone else notice how awful his subwoofers actually sounded? That's not the compression used by YouTube messing with the sound.

 

I doubt they'll refine the definition. As broad as it is now, it doesn't seem like they're handing out many tickets, never mind getting convictions. When they do hold one of their publicity stunts the charges always seem to be for illegal modifications. If they make the 'street racing' definition more specific, the law will become useless; the 'jaywalking' of moving violations.

 

The problem with this (although I agree) is they do not have the man power to do this. It's bad enough for A-Z lisenced drivers who need to renew every 2 years with just a written test.

To do a practical test on every driver every year to continue to hold a lisence, is just too costly. Although It's plain to see that some drive test centers are not busy (I was able to book a road test the day after I called in here in waterloo) places like Downsview in Toronto are book literally months in advance.

It's simply not doable.

Now say, if they demanded you succesfully complete a drive test if a police officer catches you not signaling or driving in a less than safe mannor, that may be a different story.

 

I think "race" still needs to be defined before you cheerleaders shake your pom-poms.

I just read Alberta's Traffic Safety Act and here's what's wrong with it. In statutes
words themselves need to be defined since legally, they DO NOT have to mean
what Oxford dictionary says they mean.

"Race or Racing" are not defined.

Here's an example of legal definations.

Now those definitions are good thing in law. They make things clear so that nobody can claim ignorance of the law as a defence.

The probem is, racing isn't defined. It's whatever the judge says it is, or the prosecutor says it is, or even what the cop says it is.

Remember this cheerleaders, the law doesn't even define what you're cheering on, to wit: the crushing of cars.

Moreover, remember as well that some civic driver beside you who does want to race could give the visual impression to a cop that you're an interested party to. Imagine having your car cruched over that?


Just my $0.02

 

Make the able-bodied welfare recipients work several days a week at these testing centers. They'll need some supervision and training so that will always be an expense but the vast majority of money will be saved in the sense that these people are already being paid...

That's a good idea. Any traffic violation should come with a mandatory re-test. If you fail, you get busted back down to G1.

That's sort of the point I tried to make in my first point. We need a clear legal definition of what a race is in order to make any new laws effective. Something like:

-race: two or more drivers in obvious competition where speeds exceed posted limits or other moving violations committed that endanger the safety of the public

I'm not a lawyer and I don't even play one on TV but that sounds like a reasonable definition of racing to me.

 

That's the problem though. You're defining it as what should be common sense. Two people agreeing to commit an illegal act is a conspiracy. Road racing you could say is a conspiracy to break the law. The problem is that you cannot conspire with someone you've never spoken to.

You say "in obvious competition". That's asking the law to become a mind reader to whether or not you "conspired to race".

I was driving to Edmonton one time cruising about maybe 140km/h and traffic was doing 120. I pass some guy in his pickup and next thing I know he's on my *** wanting to have a go at my rx7. It's too easy for one driver's actions to make a cop misconstrue the actions of another IMHO.

We already have laws for speeding, driving with undue care, dangerous driving. Further criminal code penalties can be added such as wreckless engangerment and criminal negligence. We don't need more laws on the books. We need to enforce the ones we have.

 

As I said, I'm not a lawyer. It would take a lawyer to convert my normal English into legal speak.

 

Definition of street racing:

"The side-by-side competition of two or more automobiles upon the highway."

And of course in the police handbook, theres 3 different ways to interprate that, which I dont have access too.

 

LMFAO

his list of racing mods include

catback
header
intake
tb spacer
rims
tires
body kit
guages
custome guages
stereo

"adam says the enhancements help him stand out on the road, not speed on them"

precious

sounds like he got a couple bolt ons his friend told him about, and a whole lot of glamour pets. hes probably right.. very little of that likely makes the car go faster.. but a loud slow shiney cavalier would certainly stand out. Kudos to a guy who achieved his goals perfectly.

"so adam says he'll continue to live the life of a street racer.. including the music ..."

i spent a long time as a kid on a skateboard an we had a word for that that is as apt today as it was then

"What a ****** poser!!"

 

Sounds like he opened a catalog and went to town. Then he turned the page and saw a mock photo of a "Street Racer" and started dressing like him.

 

That's not that much of an issue as people make it sound, although I do think that the "Toronto" Motorsports Park shouldn't be an hour and a half from Toronto, but I think part of the problem as well is when cops wait at tracks to ticket people and pull plates and such. Kinda BS when they say "take it to the track", and wait there for you. Myself tho, I didn't mind the hour and a half drive, i consider that a good drive, and most car enthousiats probably wouldn't mind it either. Since their "enthoused" about their vehicle, they should enjoy the drive. Typically street racing kiddies sound like their affraid to drive 5min away from their home and probably can't afford to fill the tank with their paperroute money anyway.

I will say tho, I do applaud some street racers, they do try to organise races far away form traffic and people. Sure it's not a controlled enviroment, but sometimes it's the best you got. It's the ones that do it in town and such that are idiots and end up killing innocent people.

 

Infinite speed limit toll roads. The govt would make more money on tolls than tickets, and the extra money can go to health care.

 

Definition of a street race to ME:

A side by side competition of 2 or more motorized vehicles EXCEEDING the posted speed limit.

Technically you haven't done anything wrong untill you have exceeded the speed limit posted on that road, wether its city roads or a 400 series highway. There is nothing that limits how quickly you get to that speed, and therefore you shouldn't be punished for it. Also, this doesn't only cover cars, it covers motorcycles, which are also a big culprit in street racing.

 

^Bingo^, we have a winner. It is all repetition and pointless political pandering.

 

There are 2 groups here. The "kids" who stunt and do a bunch of stupid ****. They speed and attract attention while on their way to the destination point of the racing. Then, 85% of the ones who drove stupid enroute are "spectators". These fools stand on "the edge" of the curb and even the roadway in the first 60', with the way my car launches I avoid this situation. The cops come in and bust these guys up with anything they can throw at them, they have even busted the spectators for "participating in an illegal activity". Now the "other group". The guys I hang with are 30-40-50+ enthusiasts with generally 10-14 sec cars. We choose a divided roadway, away from traffic, and no spectators at the curb. The local police have more tolerance for this and usually drop in amongst the group, check out the cars (in a enthusiast sense, not running plates etc) and tell us it's time to move on. If you respect the cops tolerance limit they tend to look the other way, they have a lot to deal with and pick their battles accordingly. The lot where the younger crowd hang gets littered with trash, bottles etc and various stunting in the parking lot not to mention the perfume of dope that linger in areas as well. Where the older crowd hangs out, you can't even throw a paper coffee cup on the ground without hearing about it, stunting in the lot has a potential for a black eye, there is respect here for the surrounding business and a appreciation for the use of the area. We do have a track here with friday night street racing. The cops show before and after looking to tickey and cruise the lot usually impounding at least one car. The cost to race, $30. and it's usually so busy you get maybe 4-6 runs off after waiting long each time. The wait to get through tech is up to 45 minutes, and the guys there treat you with disrespect as they don't really care fo the crowd at all. If it rains and you get one race off, no refund, if you didn't get one run off they treat you like a liar and feverishly check for your tech time. I enjoy going as a spectator however because it's good entertainment for $5. I can get 3-4 races in an huor on the street and "pick" my opponent. If your lined up against a buddy in the 4 car lineup and you flag the guy that you 2 want to race at the track, good luck!

 

Do some of the police know who race, yep. They have even quoted me who I have run against. Like I said, know their tolerances and show some respect. If you are in a lot littered with beer bottles, perfume of drugs, stereos pumping and some idiot stunting while you watch, you get what's coming, even if it's a parking ticket for not parking within the lines at 2am.

 

perfectly stated 84stock.

 

LMAO @ the movie haha

 

Geeesh I sure hope I never have to go up against the mighty cavalier!