theiceman

Well what you point out is a discusion we have quite often here, there are tonnes of posts on due process being removed. Not to different from blowing over the limit and having a road side suspension , the evidence is there so a " summary judgement " is made.
Also as we have discusssed often , it is a huge money generator for the province. Brad ( an OPP officer ) reads and posts once in a while and helps keep a "reality check" on our threads like this, and I am sure he would agree with you , the officer has a job to do and he did it.

Besides .. I am sure he won the microwave ....

GomobileR32

I don't doubt it. It's the same here in the states. The judicial system is completely driven by money. That's completely obvious when a court will say 'OK, we'll reduce the violation to a lesser charge but the fine will be higher than usual.' Whether in Canada, the US or anywhere else, making money for the government is the main reason for laws like this, but it's well crafted and written to appear it's for the 'safety' of the people.

But again, follow the rules and laws, and nobody has to worry about the concequences. ...Unfortunately when people are handed the keys to some of the high HP vehicles in production today, it's not as easy as it sounds to just 'obey the speed limit'. LOL

And as far as putting signs to notify of this law, (again, there are none between the Thousand Island crossing and 417 on my way to Ottawa that I have seen) that wouldn't make sense for the politicians to do. Signs cost money in the first place, and then to lose some of the revenue...(I know I would have been more conscious of my speed had I seen one) I wouldn't imagine signs are going up any time soon.

LAT

About 15 years ago I sat on the board of the city parking authority as a member of the public. Our parking fine revenue BUDGET was about $500,000.00 for the year in a small community of 120K people. The contracted security firm was expected to generate this revenue and would not be meeting their contract obligations if they did not.

It was all about the money and not about the movement of vehicles from the downtown areas that the meters are in.

Our speeding tickets are in the same budget category and not about safety.

turboGary

Well... my friend lost his BMW this weekend. He passed a beige Suburban with no tinted windows, dishes on the roof or anything. Came to a stop light and the truck had a red light in his dash. He pulls over the guy aproaches him in plain cloths and informs him he is under arrest!. Simple says hand over your keys and writes him up.

He called me to pick him up as he stood on the side of the road for 1/2 hr in the freezing cold while his car was towed away. Cop was there in a marked car when I arrived and my friend was red from the cold... cop didn't even offer for him to stay warm in his car.

Dale Gribble

cruise control, 140....once you're out of Ontario into prairie land...drop the hammer. God bless underpopulated central Canada.

Anyone think the government will ever let people use downsview airport as a drag strip? Zoning wise, people are used to jets taking off from there, so noise issues are, well, a non issue. It has the space, it is just costing the government money. They should just charge 5$ a run and let people just go and do it.

...Either that or expand the airforce so that i can enlist and actually get some flight hrs.

jumper5836

Sad story.
I don't think I would have stopped for an plain clothes officer and a that doesn't even look like police. Not in todays world where it could have just been a crazy person that car jacks you. I think I would have tried to get away and if the person followed would have called the police.

Dale Gribble

yeah exactly. if the car doesn't have ghost letters, keep going, call real cops. They ran an article about this in the U.S. papers.

Christien

It would make a ton of sense to build a dragstrip and even a road course at Downsview. Which is precisely why it will never happen.

pongobaz

Hope he fights it. The more people clog the court system fighting this stupid law, the better.

Turbodan

I believe you can rent downsview. Minis were tested there last year and I think one of the cruise threads explored renting it and was too expensive to do a few drags.

Dale Gribble

Just so i'm clear on it, they take your car right then and there, stick you with a fine and a bill, and you have to pay both even if you do fight it, you still have to pay them first to get your car back?

How the hell can you take the car without having a person convicted first? What if they want to fight it? Prove it first, then take their car for a week. Either way it's a week without driving so the point has been made.

Hot Oil

I always thought the highway problem in Ontario was wheels and axles falling off the semi trailers and landing on innocent families in cars, I can't fathom what stretching the legs of a sports car in the left hand lane of a highway has to do with that. My cousin who retired recently from the Toronto Police Gang unit visited with us out here and listed all of the major problems that they have to deal with and speeding on the 401 was never mentioned. It may be a better use of your tax dollars to enforce commercial truck safety and/or keeping the left lane clear of dawdlers, but then, I'm no politician. Good luck in dealing with that and could I ask that you make it look bad so this idea isn't brought out west past the rockies.

Cheers.

Bob

turboGary

I agree if it was me in my Pcar I would not pull over for an unmarked car with a simple light on the dash. Car jackings do happen. I would have turned off at the next right and punched it. I know they would say to proceed with your signal on till you came to a public area to pull into or something but why the hell sould we take the chance not knowing who this person could be? Heck a little while ago a police officer had their house broken into and a couple uniforms were stollen. Anything is posible these days and I wouldn't stop...

If a cop showed up at the door later what do you say though? Could they make you pull your car out of the garage and tow it still? I don'y think they'd go for the old "I lent my car out" line....

Christien

I think the best idea would be to phone 911 from your cell, explain the situation and have them confirm that it's a real cop, and if it is, pull over. This is of course assuming you have a cell phone on you.

turboGary

well I don't have a cell so maybe that would be a good thing and possibly a way out later in court. hahaha.... man I hope I never find out....