Ottawa Fiero Club Forum

"Cars adapted for street racing can be seized and destroyed, even if charges haven't been laid and a race has not taken place, Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant said Wednesday."

"Bryant said the government has had enough of street racers, and will have no qualms about destroying their cars.

"We don't need to wait until that car hits the road fully loaded," he said."

Full article here (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2007/06/20/streetracing-cars-seize.html).


So you take a 20 year old, anemic in some cases car, and put a relatively modern engine in it which is easier to maintain, provides more power and in some cases greater fuel efficiency than the original drivetrain ever could have provided.  You're relatively well-behaved on the street, and really only let loose on the occasional track day or auto-x event.

At some point, you (accidentally or otherwise) piss someone off who knows you have a modified car.  Color me paranoid, but it sounds to me as though all it would take at that point is for someone to tip off the cops about your hobby, and suddenly you have to prove that you're not a street racer.

WTF?   ??? :-\

  First of all I will spare the rant about that weasel McGuinty and the nanny state he is creating in Ontario. Secondly I can't stand some the heavy handedness and the politicization of issues these elected and appointed people do (Fantino especially). Third of all I would like to know if these cars involved in the noted incidents were modified at all as I have seen more mediocre to beater status cars being driven by idiots.
  Paranoia? I think it can be good, I do not like the smell of this at all knowing the way things are going in Ontario. I am waiting for the day I am told I cannot drive my "unsafe" non ABS, airbag, On* equipped car. It may be extreme but I can see some of that happening. 
                I have a headache, Kevin.

It’s mostly just propaganda.  The police want people to stop driving like they want a piece of someone.  So they are telling everyone that they are going to crush their (in most cases ) not paid for yet, car.  The police also have reports (that they funded) that say modified cars in good shape are not causing accidents.  Old run down cars driven by young drivers are causing the accidents.

So the moral of the story is.  Make sure your insurance company knows about your modifications, and get an appraisal of your car, just in case you have to take the city to court to get your investment (money anyway) back.

Just don’t worry about it, or drive like an idiot on main roads.  Instead just cover your ass.

Aaron

.

We live in a country that doesn't even enshrine "property rights" in its Constitution. 

The beaver should be replaced with a handbasket as the national symbol because Canada has gone to hell in one.

Cheers, Derek

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/national/070625/n062592A.html (http://www.cbc.ca/cp/national/070625/n062592A.html)

preventing tens of thousands of deaths??????  from driving 50 over???   :-\   How do these guys get into a postion of power?



Mind you, I think if you are driving 50 over, then you deserve a dangerous driving charge and speeding fines, probably losing your licence as well.

Even better, let's get rid of ALL speed limits.... that way, there will be no "50 over" and all engine swappers will have a smile  >:D

They tell their constituents what they want to hear.  Bryant has a riding of about 110k people in Toronto; given how much media play Toronto tuners, pit bulls, and gun owners get I imagine that playing the "stomp out crime" tough guy will allow him to keep his seat after October.

Problem is this turkey doesn't think (IMO).  He gets a dramatic, crowd-pleasing idea in his head & runs with it.  He's the same genius who ignored a majority of expert opinions & suggestions with respect to "dangerous dogs" and enacted a breed ban instead of doing anything toward promoting responsible ownership.



...and no revenue generating stations on the highway picking off people who are travelling over the limit, while ignoring tailgaters, people obstructing the passing lane, people who won't use their turn signals...   :)

Funny you mention that as I did a whole rant about this yesterday before my computer lost power.  It was about going to Toronto/Keswick on Tuesday and experiencing the above on the 401 and how driving the 401 is almost unbearable at times due to these kind of drivers.

Cheers, Derek

its just not going to happen. they cannot crush your car they are just saying it to make people scared.

Then why have the police already crushed a few cars in Toronto?

Aaron

.

those cars were cars that were impounded for a while and were not picked up, so they were going to be crushed anyways


you can watch it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAICt5pACz8


they used the fact that they were modified cars to scare people into thinking they actually could do it.

Can't say I'm a fan of those cars, the scene that goes along.....but lets get serious.  What they are doing is just plain stupid, how many resources do they plan on wasting trying to make a point thats pointless.  I could rant on, I had planned on ranting on and making blame but why waste my time.

Time to start figuring out where the people who are making these calls live, lets put a number on their heads and get cracking.  We're already going to hell, so whats a little higher up on the VIP list.  >:D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exgEkySxDFc&NR=1

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that video is from Ontario, California. I saw the same video a while ago. What Ontario is purposing, where your car can be crushed without a trial will never happen. It's simply not legal.

i beleive you are right, because we don't have an ontario police department.

That wasn't the point.

Drivers don't usually own their cars.  The bank does.

The point is this.  They CAN crush your car, they just have to pay the bank for it, but only if they own your car.

Don't be naive, radical changes in political views are eminent.  All it takes in War (which we are at), or one person with the power to be motivated enough about something.  At the moment it's just a matter of time!


Aaron

.

Remember:  We don't have property rights in Canada.  If the government says it can take something by decreeing so by law, then they will win more often than not.  This includes your land (well...based on what they deem to be "fair market value").

If someone who hasn't been street racing is threatened with having their car crushed, let me be one of the first in line to protest and even handcuff myself to the vehicle in question.

I agree with the concept of this law, and will support and even be glad to see a law that crushes cars that are caught street racing. My point is that the police will not be able to seize vehicles and crush them without it going through the courts.

we dont have property rights on land, because we dont actually own any of it(its all owned by the govt and we can use it).. we do however own everything else.

You're right, Lercs.  I'm just pissed 'cause the government is interfering way too much in our lives as far as I'm concerned.   >:(  The very thought that they think they can seize someones car if they "think" it is involved in street racing gets my blood boiling.  If they do street race and get caught:  Sell it or something, but don't crush it (especially when the government pleads poverty when there isn't an election).  But while they're at it, how 'bout crushing the cars of drunk drivers who prove to be an even bigger menace on the roads?!   >:(

because drunk driving stats are just as manipulated as street racing stats.

and usually drunk drivers do a good job at crushing their own cars :o




and they are just saying it as a scare tactic, nothing can actually be done about it.

Yes and everyone has the high-rolling budget to successfully defend themselves with a lawyer army, don't they?   :-\