Super cars impounded in BC

[M13]

I caught the end of this whole thing last night on the news. The Vanvouver police dept are already trying to make themselves out to be victims because less then 48 hours later they legally had to return over half of the cars to their owners. The spokesman for the authorities basically said they dont have much of a case and that the parents of the drivers are pursueing legal action.

Perhaps this will push for getting rid of the ridiculous tow-on command laws we recently adopted. A sober lawyer can throw out a hear-say clause in his dreams.

Towing your property before facing trial is like serving time before you were convicted.

I do not condone the fact that these kids were actually being dicks, but there is something fundamentally wrong for having your car towed, impounded and you charged for all the fees before the crown prosecutes you and prove your guilt.

The 40KM+ law allows ANY police officers (that includes transit police, kids) to legally tow your car at any time (based on his judgments and/or radar readings)

A better law would be if the 40+KM law carried out driving suspensions when that said driver is convicted in a court of law. If your neighbour called the cops and say he saw you kill a dog, you don't end up in jail and serve w/e the punishment is for that crime. The police would investigate, find evidence and the prosecutor must prove your guilt in a court of law first.

[Oakville]

In Ontario, our street racing laws look like this.

50km/h over is roadside seizure for a week, week long driving suspension, and $10,000 fine.

Street racing, all the cop needs to see is two cars 'believed' to be street racing (accelerating fast side by side, its as simple as this...ive seen it done.) and the two cars are seized and CRUSHED. Not a friend, but a kid I went to school with had his mothers 2002 honda accord (-_-) crushed because 'cracked vtec' along side his buddys del sol. retarded to say the least, but the second they crawled over the speed limit they were done.

[cortexx]

And the reason we see so many car chases here now is because people know this and know that they have less to lose by running and losing the cop than if they stop for the cop . A police car chase is infinatly more likely to end in fatalities than a mad moment 50klm over the speed limit.

To be prosecuted , you have to be stopped IN your car , catching you later after you got away is not the same .

In Ontario, our street racing laws look like this.

50km/h over is roadside seizure for a week, week long driving suspension, and $10,000 fine.

Street racing, all the cop needs to see is two cars 'believed' to be street racing (accelerating fast side by side, its as simple as this...ive seen it done.) and the two cars are seized and CRUSHED. Not a friend, but a kid I went to school with had his mothers 2002 honda accord (-_-) crushed because 'cracked vtec' along side his buddys del sol. retarded to say the least, but the second they crawled over the speed limit they were done.

[Oakville]

Yes^ indeed

[Phillyb]

This is such typical cop bullsh*t. How do the people that phoned in know the cars were doing 200+? do they have laser guns in their cars? I dont condone street racing but if the cop has no proof I would be pretty pissed off. If there was a group of them with 10+ cars they should have just ran...only one of them woulda gotten caught.

[M13]

And this shows the true injustice of our legal system.

These kids have the financial support to lawyer up and get their cars back and the case thrown out (and probably reimbursed for everything), while your typical kid won't have the same 'fortune' in the eyes of our 'unbiased' system.

What a freaking publicity stunt, this will just get those fear-mongering group of ppl to push for more strict laws.

[m_melen]

Hah, less than 50kph over the speed limit in Houston will get you a ticket for going too slow!
I saw a 20-ish year old driving a new lambo last time I was in Montreal. I wanted to punch that ghetto looking kid sooooo bad

[m_melen]

And the reason we see so many car chases here now is because people know this and know that they have less to lose by running and losing the cop than if they stop for the cop . A police car chase is infinatly more likely to end in fatalities than a mad moment 50klm over the speed limit.

To be prosecuted , you have to be stopped IN your car , catching you later after you got away is not the same .

Pull over, wait for the cop to get out and walk towards you, then take off and hide

[Snake556]

Pull over, wait for the cop to get out and walk towards you, then take off and hide

Honestly, you might as well. The legal system is pathetic in so many ways... I mean, yes, I see what they're trying to do by enforcing these laws, but they take them a little bit to the extreme. And like M13 said, kids with rich parents are all set when it comes to lawyers. Everyone else is just plain screwed...

[doublejceballos]

They were no in neighborhoods. Another great media spin. They were on Cypress Bowl road. A mountain highway where I`ll admit I`ve done well over 200 in the past on a motorcycle (in my stupider days). The road is dead. You will rarely see any cars up there at the time of day there were on it. 140kph on Cypress is like walking.

Yeah I was confused as well...? Cypress is a barren playland.
I mean wasteland.
There is no residential areas at all.
It's one fantastic road though, I'll admit.

[DreadedFist]

So they're pursuing civil forfeiture now? How does that even work? As far as I've gathered, they didn't actually witness them racing. And even then, I thought the whole forfeiture thing was supposed to be for stuff purchased with the proceeds of crime. And is difficult because you have to prove that it was purchased with the proceeds of crime.

So they're trying to confiscate legally purchased stuff, after not actually witnessing the supposed crime? I... I don't even know. What?

[collector240sx]

You mean they want to spend the tax payers money, so a highly paid and more able lawyer can tell them off.

It's really too bad we can't sue the government official that does the call on these issues.

And this is really a no win situation for any tax payer, because there going to loose (going to cost a lot of tax payer money), and even if they win that would mean that hear say is enough for conviction, which is total bull.

Let see how the media try to brain wash us into thinking there doing the right thing. lol

[M13]

You mean they want to spend the tax payers money, so a highly paid and more able lawyer can tell them off.

It's really too bad we can't sue the government official that does the call on these issues.

And this is really a no win situation for any tax payer, because there going to loose (going to cost a lot of tax payer money), and even if they win that would mean that hear say is enough for conviction, which is total bull.

Let see how the media try to brain wash us into thinking there doing the right thing. lol

We got an eagle in this crowd, most people are just turkeys.

[leeaspin]

Yeah I was confused as well...? Cypress is a barren playland.
I mean wasteland.
There is no residential areas at all.
It's one fantastic road though, I'll admit.

I love driving up that road....so fun!

[Snow]

I think Dragon Humper was thinking of Seymour... Which is a residential area. Cypress is empty most of the time. If you want to get your jollies off that could be one of the places... If you **** up all you're doing is killing yourself when you send yourself over an embankment. The only issue is timing, since they tend to close the road at 10PM (or at least they were when I worked there) and during the day in the summer there's a ton of downhill bikers cruising down the road.

This situation with all the exotics is utterly ridiculous. To an extent, it serves the dumbshits right considering they were doing it in broad daylight with tons of people around. At the same time, raise your hand if you've ever done a tunnel run through massey tunnel (or any tunnel for that matter) to hear your gorgeous exhaust note? The same thing could have happened to you then, regardless of whether you actually even broke the speed limit.

There should be another type of charge, a "warning charge" if you will. If you are so blatantly identified but no police actually witnessed said actions, a documented warning should be issued that will be used for further prosecution or to help base judgement should you ever screw up. Example, Matt Zhang is identified as being a ridiculous driving douchebag breaking 200km/h evident with 3 warning charges; no punishment as of yet. When he does finally get in an accident and kill a couple people his insurance agency can give him the middle finger, force him and his family into bankruptcy and maybe serve a cold plate of justice. This would protect the police from getting sued and would add some responsibility to the individual driver who decides to boot it down a crowded highway.

And on a final note, a lot of us have booked it in our cars... Generally speaking on an empty highway. Do you think every car they passed called the police? No. I'd say 10-20% MAX would have called them in; everyone else would have reacted one of two ways:
1.) Shake their head in disgust
2.) Go, "Holy ****, that's awesome."

So that begs the question of how many people did they pass at those speeds? Chances are a lot. You ever been doing 120 in a 90 in the fast lane and had some dumbass change lanes in front of you doing 70 without even looking? Remember that oh **** feeling when you hit the brakes? Now imagine that at 200. You could argue it's the dumb bitches fault for changing lanes so erratically. You could also argue her 3 children in the back seat would still be alive if Matt Zhang didn't cut them in two with a matte black R8. The choice is yours.

Both the police and the perps are wrong in this situation. Both are all hopped up on power. One group is fighting for the ability to drive 200km/h down a crowded highway and the other group is trying to save lives. The absolute best outcome for us now is for both groups to drop all charges and walk away... Give their head a shake and rethink the potential consequences for next time.

Sorry for the novel.