Yesterday we had our early am Bob's Breakfast Club run up the local Sea to Sky Highway. It usually goes great as we have a couple of local POs that drive P-cars as well. But something felt odd this time from the start. First off, it's a long weekend up here (yep - we have socialized medicine, higher alcohol in our beer and extra holidays in Cananda!) and this usually means the local POs have their radar guns set to stun. I can attest to this a the last ticket I received was early am on a Sunday long weekend.
Secondly, the guy who usually leads they group, Bob, wasn't there. Why I don't know. Omen?
Thirdly, 3 patrol cars cruised the parking lot before the run started off, as if to rattle a few sabers at the group.
All went well with the run up but on the way back a black & white in the on coming traffic suddenly pulls a u-turn across the highway 50 yards up in front and stops the complete line of traffic. He then proceeds, with no lights flashing or anything to direct 4 P-cars up a head of me off to the shoulder and yanks their ignition keys out. I suspect they got towed and impounded for a week. Ouch! Myself and the two cars ahead of me and 10 or so behind proceedly soberly on past and along home.
I've come to the conclusion that drive anywhere on a long weekend is just a plain bad idea... It's just too serious up here since 2010. Anyone else run into this?

 

Seriously...??

 

Is BC Canada a communist state?

 

Yes, the 4 Porsches got impounded for 1 week.

No, they were not speeding excessively and were not passing each other.

I was about 4 cars ahead of this group and saw the police pulled out in my rear view mirror.

We were all going in a one line traffic with a few sedans mixed in with us. Our speed is probably within 10-15 miles per hour over the posted speed limit. I can see a regular speeding ticket, but no way they get impounded.

This is purely a money trap by the greedy police. It does nothing to protect the public against speeding.

One thing for sure, I will not be joining these kind of Porsche group driving for a long time. It is too attention seeking.

 

I think the trick is going to be timing. If there's a run scheduled for a long weekend, we cancel it. There's just too much heat and fired up emotions on the PO side of things.

It's odd timing but leaving Squamish, I let those guys go ahead of me. That could have easily been me impounded.

 

Just lovely!

Tom

 

I hope there is more to the story than just driving 10-15 mph over the speed limit, if not, that is a sad state of affairs for all driving enthusiasts and those who believe in basic civilian rights. I'll admit I'm not very knowledgeable about Canadian law. In the US we have the bill of Rights with the 4th amendment protecting against unreasonable seizure of property. If the cars were truly only going 10-15 mph over the speed limit then seizing the cars (even if only for a week) seems unreasonable.

What happened in 2010 that made everything so serious in Vancouver...some new traffic law?

 

Here's what I found for BC:


'B.C. speeders need to know that on September 20, 2010, new impoundment rules also come into effect for those travelling 40 km or more over the posted speed limit, Solicitor General Mike de Jong said.

“Excessive speed is often a death sentence for everyone involved – the driver, their passengers and other innocent road-users,” said de Jong. “We want to save lives by going after the kind of driver who drives significantly and dangerously over the posted speed limit, and then get them off the road. By doing so, we hope to make our streets and highways safer for everyone.”

About 10,000 tickets are issued by police annually for excessive speeding. As of Sept. 20, a charge of excessive speeding will trigger a mandatory seven-day impoundment for a first offence, a 30-day impoundment for a second, and 60 days for subsequent excessive speeding offences within two years.

Impoundment is in addition to existing penalties, which include:

A fine of $368 to $483, depending on how excessive the speed.
Three penalty points on a driver’s licence.
An ICBC driver-risk premium of $320 per year for three years, over and above Autoplan insurance premiums.
Street racers are also affected by the new rules. While street racing differs from excessive speeding because it involves two or more vehicles trying to outdistance each other, under the new impoundment provisions, both are subject to minimum seven-day impoundments.

Previously, street racing had a minimum impoundment period of 48 hours. Additionally, the Motor Vehicle Act now makes careless acts like excessive tailgating, and reckless driving actions like wheelies and doughnuts – subject to a seven-day impoundment.'

So what this is saying is that because there are multiple cars going over the speed limit they are 'street racing', which is nuts. I'm curious is to how this would stand up in court as I don't know how the office could be tracking th actual speed. Can they do this while traveling withi radar on against on coming traffic? Deducting one speed form another?

 

Totally sucks. Sounds like the Province needed some money for some social programs. City of Chicago is the same way.

 

Man, I thought Ontario was bad.
Ridiculous! I can't see the justification for impounding vehicles for going 10-15KmPH over the posted limit. Tell me they have more evidence than this, because if not, this would appear to be a serious breach against the Charter.

 

At Laguna Seca during the overnight of an IMSA race weekend way back in the '80s, one single cop tried to jump out and surprise a group of us under-age kids who standing around drinking beer in the turn two RV infield.

To this day I can still remember the look of pure surprise on that cop's face when every single one of us took off running in different directions.

As far as I know, that cop is still standing there stunned... mouth open, mid-sentence.

 

I hope those who had their vehicles impounded fight this in court and win. If they don't it sets a bad precedent and will encourage the police to continue harass club outings that appear to driving reasonably. I haven't driven in BC but here in NY driving approximately 8-10 mph over the speed limit is considered the minimum speed. Drive any slower and your vehicle becomes a hazard as cars continually change lanes to pass. On today's roads drivers talking on cell, texting or driving drunk seems to be the biggest hazard. The only problem is that it's much easier to tag a guy with a radar gun who is driving attentively and well within his cars abilities. Unfortunately there is no easy way to "tag" the drunk or distracted drivers from a 1/4 mile away. So when it comes to generating revenue for the police speeding is it.

 

Can you tell us how new laws like these "come into effect" in BC? It almost sounds like the Solicitor General himself thinking this was an excellent idea was all it took.

 

Don't you just love socialism and nanny states??
God Bless John Wayne and Texas!!!!! LOL!

 

Not really...

The Police told the group of 4 that he knew we are doing these social drives, and they will be out there each time we go out.

The 4 being picked was totally just bad luck. It could be me, you, or any of the other 30 Porsches that were driving out there.

I recommend not attending these runs for a while, or drive your Porsche at BELOW the posted speed limit, or drive a crappy sedan or SUV so you don't catch attention.