http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/03/379.asp

Florida Passes Car Confiscation Legislation
Police in Florida can seize cars used in racing without a hearing or due process.

Rep John QuinonesYesterday the Florida Senate unanimously approved legislation that would increase the fines for "drag racing" and give police the power to seize automobiles used in races. As the House passed the measure on Monday by a vote of 111-1, the measure will now go to Governor Jeb Bush for his signature.

State Representative John Quinones (R-Kissimmee) introduced the bill following drag racing accidents that claimed four lives last year. The legislation provides maximum penalties including a $1000 fine, two-year license suspension and imprisonment for violators. The police can also immediately seize a car used in a race for 10 days without due process for the first offense. On the second offense, police can seize and sell the car used, regardless of its value.

The legislation only defines drag racing as comparing the speed or power of one vehicle to another vehicle on a public road or in a parking lot, "at accelerating speeds in a competitive attempt to outdistance each other." The penalties apply regardless of whether anyone was actually harmed or threatened with harm from such a contest.

 

hot damn, ali n i are talking about this right now.....
discussing...

impound auctions
and how cutting someone off could somehow be considered drag racing....

 

Javi showed it to me, and I sent the link right to you Chris. Damn you Jeb! Not like I raced anyway

 

Well folks.... You play... You Pay !!!

That is why there are legal tracks to do this kind of racing... and drag racing should be limited to a track like Moroso.

You have no idea how many lives are lost to illegal drag racing... and sometimes its not the ones doing the racing that are afflicted... but at times it can be an innocent bystander... someone who just happen to have gotten in the way. It happened to someone last year on Krome Ave before getting to Okeechobee.

You dont see these things or think that it cant happen to you ... but the truth of the matter is it really needs to be kept in a closed environment. Anything outside of this area is considered illegal. I lost a dear friend to drag racing some 12 years ago.

If you can spend that much money on hooking up your car to go as fast as you can then you can spend that much money to register and race at Moroso.. plain and simple.

I raced GSXR's and ZX9... and Moroso was one of the places that i raced in full leathers... and some friends at that time in 1991-1993 lost their lives on Krome between The Trail and Okeechobee.I would hate to get the news that one of you guys that I have gotten to know met the same fate.

 

Dont you love how politicians call street racing, which is a non sanctioned event, drag racing, which is a sanctioned event?
Jeremy

 

This law also allows crooked police who dont like you to say that you were racing and take your car for ten days.

 

[QUOTE=ZONDERVAN RX7][B]Well folks.... You play... You Pay !!!

That is why there are legal tracks to do this kind of racing... and drag racing should be limited to a track like Moroso.


I don't condone illegal street racing at all, but the closest track to me is 2 hours away. Thats a 4 hour drive for there and back everytime I wanna race someone.

 

I race legally, and have raced illegally in the past - both on bikes and in cars. I do know how few people actually die from racing. It's a lot less than driving at normal speeds on the highway. Shouldn't we ban driving altogether then?

Your argument does not support the fact that this legislation is unconstitutional. The bottom line it, there are processes in place to limit the amount of power than one person or organization can have without checks and balances. This piece of legislation clearly removes those checks and balances, and violates individual civil rights. While driving is a priviledge that they are allowed to revoke, confiscating private property (ownership is a right) is a violation.

 

4 hours is less than getting your car taken away isn't it?

Racing on the street is like kissing your sister,... If you do it, you are an idiot!! End of story.

You spend at least 2 hours hanging out at your local spot trying to impress the girlies and your buddies. That time can be better spent getting to a legal venue to race. Plus for an added bonus, you may bring home a trophy instead of a ticket or medical bills. Includung the bills of those you "may" injure in your display of bad decision making.

 

Street racers deserve the full penalty of the law.

BUT

Asset forfeiture laws are wrong, wrong, wrong. The whole idea of innocent until proven guilty is reversed for property. You have to prove that you weren't racing. Good luck.

It's a conflict of interest pure and simple. They auction off your property and put it into their budget which indirectly ends up as money in their pocket through overtime pay, increased hiring, etc.

But when you have a politician saying "we gotta protect the children" and "we can cut taxes with the criminal's money" you have no real hope of stoping this law.

ed

 

the previous law stated that in order for you to be drag racing to cars had to be involved. Which is also included on the new law. which means that the officers has to have 2 drivers and two cars in order to be able to say you were drag racing. Just a little advise if you ever have to fight one of this cases in court or on the side of the road for that matter

 

The legislation only defines drag racing as comparing the speed or power of one vehicle to another vehicle on a public road or in a parking lot, as he said

ps I meant two not to cars on previous post

 

You know, its attitudes like this: "That time can be better spent getting to a legal venue to race" and "If you can spend that much money on hooking up your car to go as fast as you can then you can spend that much money to register and race at Moroso" that disgust me. I spend a lot of money on my car, so I can ENJOY driving it. You know: punch it getting on the highway; punch it getting around a stupid *** driver who's about to cause a wreck; punch it around the idiot woman doing her makeup and not watching the road; hit the brakes and STOP faster than 95% of the other vehicles to avoid hitting the person who just illegally cut me off; turn sharply and safely to avoid the pedestrian who thinks crosswalks are irrelevant to getting across the road. Oh, and the occasional autocross too.

You people who are like "well you spent all that money on your car, go find a racetrack or something" have the cop-party-line mindset: its 'cool' to dislike "kids" with fast cars, because they are 'rebellous' and must be taught a lesson. Well maybe the idiot in the honduh who thinks he's all that in his 80 hp civic and is trying to feel fast by going 120 in a 45 and swerving around people needs that lesson. But you like to lump enthusiasts into the same category. Why do we hang out with our cars? To talk with our friends who also enjoy cars. That's the majority reason. And for you to be like "go find a racetrack or something", "go drive 2 hrs to a racetrack instead of hanging out" .... that's your party mindset getting dogmatic and ignoring the facts.

If cops and politicians genuinely cared about this 'crisis', they'd put public drag strips in every city. Why do I say this? Because they've done it with skateparks, they've done it with basketball courts, they've done it with many other recreational venues, some of which cost far more to build and maintain than a drag strip. Why? Because enough people said it was important and the politicians finally got a clue. But instead, they heavily sanction drag strips, mandate their locations and hours of operation, etc... because they are deemed a public nuisance. Seriously people! Where's your intelligence? On the one hand you argue that we should do all our racing at drag strips and on the other you are doing everything you can politically to prevent such drag strips from existing or to locate them as far away from a major city as possible. I gather that you simply want to make racing in any form as hard as possible for the average person to do.

The 'problem' of racing, drag, road, street, or otherwise, is not going to go away by your attempts to 'crush' it. Instead, it will only become more viscious, more extreme, more subtle and integrated, just as any other misunderstood 'crime', like skateboarding, does. Because fundamentally, people just want an outlet. And denying that outlet is not going to make them stop wanting it. They'll just find more creative and often more dangerous ways to get it, when you shut down the easier ones.

I, for one, don't see street racing PER SE morally as a crime. I don't like the fact that street racing endangers other drivers. But that's the ONLY thing I don't like about street racing. In fact, driving SAFELY does NOT reduce your risk of getting into an accident that is caused by someone else. It only reduces your risk of causing an accident or killing yourself. Hell I've avoided MANY accidents proactively by driving outside the legal limits placed upon me by the law. If I'd obeyed the law (as I was doing before the situation occurred) I'd have been hit and a few times possibly killed. So I completely absolutely don't buy the argument that my driving in a compliant manner has ANYTHING to do with my general statistic re: avoiding accidents. And don't even try the argument "well if everyone drove safely we wouldn't have accidents." Well DUH, but let's get real. The fact is, its not those with fast cars who know how to drive them and choose deliberately to exceed legal limits in a calculated manner who cause the majority of the accidents out there, and you can check any government statistic you want. Its the idiots who can't drive and probably were going within 15 mph of the speed limit, or were drunk. As to the second point of me killing myself, that's my choice thank you very much and its none of your damn business.

So I don't buy any of your arguments, at all. Go drive 2 hrs to a damn drag strip every night, or even once/twice a week? You've missed the point entirely. Please wake up and get a clue.

 

spoken like someone who likes kissing his sister

 

no fucken way Digital is totally correct here in miami closest drag strip is Moroso... thing is for the people who live 5 to 10 min away i would fully understand that now for the people who live 2+ hours away oviously there going to say **** wasting the gas heading over there ill just go do it in that empty street over there and with the gas prices now.... please and about we have the money to fix our cars to be fast???? ive gotten my car as fast as it is now within time not coughfing it all up to track my car one day??? any idea how much it cost to track your car at Sebring nearly $300 to $350 just for one day thats not including the tires your going to need or the gas or food so i mean oviously people rather street race then do it in a "legalized" place
TwEaK




dont bitch about punctuation hate it with a passion =D

 

I second that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

While I do agree that taking someones car is a direct violation of individual and property rights, therefore making it unconstitutional, that does not mean that the occassion for the incident was not 'morally' wrong.

I will say that for definition that good and bad, right and wrong, are not subjective. Good/right are life giving/enhancing while bad/wrong are life sucking/threatening/taking. More of one does not swing the pendulum one way or the other. 5 gallons of pure drinking water with a little bit of poison is not pure. It is now five gallons of diluted poison, but poison none the less.

In the context of racing, I would say that this is a good, life enhancing activity. 2 or more people have made a decision (supposedly informed) about how they are going to spend their time. It's fun! Plain and simple. There is nothing quite like puttin' the hammer down on a ricer (front tires going up in smoke)! What could be better. Making this decision, we suppose they know the ups/downs involved ie; damaged equipment, hospital care, funeral services, victory, bragging rights, renewed resolve to improve the car. All of this is part and parcel in racing, whether its street or track. All good in and of itself.

The moral question comes into play when you involve others who have no vote in the matter. The other drivers on the road weren't asked. When we are involved in a street race, we impose our activity on others. This is not the same as a street preacher standing on the corner. He is not doing anything proactive that could be a danger. A nuisance maybe, but not a danger. As long as he does not run over to you and grab you to make you take notice, he is doing nothing wrong. And he is certainly not going to blow a tire at 95 mph while accelerating, sending you sideways. This is where street racing becomes morally wrong. Proactive involvement with a one ton vehicle exceeding (by quite a bit) the posted limit in a public place.

Yes we all have a right to live life as we would want to. Individual, property and privacy rights are bedrock ideas in this country, but those rights are not given at the expense of others rights to a safe public life.

Taking my car is morally wrong (stealing), but so is racing in public (life-threatening). And yes, there should be safe public places where we can take our cars and have a good time.

I'll get off my soapbox now. Thanks

Steve

 

I agree with you 100% ^^^
Now what are the accidents you see 100% on the TV and news?
Uhhh boy in Hoduh civic racing v6 camaro down Collins in South Beach at 4pm. I mean COME ON!! Thats just asking to die. Now if I go and call someone out and race them in a desolate road with no other car or property to damage I remove everyone else danger besides me and the guy Im racing. Ricers have ruined the racing seen, not conscience drivers.

 

Why do you guys even want to race? Just enjoy your car, and have fun. In the end, Its not even worth the penalties...

 

If you have to ask, you probably won't understand the answer. Its like saying "why do you have to skateboard on sidewalks and stairrails? Isn't your driveway good enough?"

 

The problem I see with this is the fact that it will now become easier for them to take the car if they want. Someone above said something about "drag racing" involves 2 people. While that is very true, there is way too many storys out there of cops making up situations...this happened to my brother. He took off from a light and needed to get over to make a turn, so just the quick acceleration of him doing that, the cop pulled him and said he was racing the car next to him.
Also there is the instances of undercover cops using riced out cars to bait you into a race....yes this is considered entrapment but try proving that in court.
What is really crazy is that, a person who is a repeat DUI offender can still keep his car. Go figure that one out.....

 

I believe the real law states that plus an "and/or between a given set distance"....or something like that.

 

This is a matter of the punishment not fitting the crime.

 

I failed to see the rationale in your thinking Tweak... You are so concerned about the cost of tracking your car, price of tires,, gas, food ? Well, all you really have to do is simply get a real job instead of spending all your money and wasting time playing video games at some internet cafe. Perhaps that way you could get your ride on the asphalt once again keeping the tire on the ground.

This is the time of the Ultimate Road Warrior like Mad Max in the early movies when the war that was fought was over gasoline.

If the gas is such a problem for you then haul your RX7 when you get it running on a trailer. People spend enough money to get their cars to either look or perform to high performance capacity then they can as easily make it to the track ... and stop kissing their sister.

Someone above talked about the immature kids ... and i believe the keyword is kids.. There is more to life than just staring at some screen watching little green men kill off each other...There are other ways to putting that time to good use and something a lot more productive as investing in your future.... I have to fight off the Wannabe Mario Andrettis that just manage to cut other people off on the road because its all about the noise ... didnt you know that noise doesnt necessarily make the car go faster .. so the more they can race on public streets the greater the notariety... i think getting a couple of trophies will probably get you more recognized.

 

I think you missed my point entirely.