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  1. #1
    Yoda of Radar
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    Default CAN - Speeding crackdown starts Sunday

    As of 12:01 Sunday, police can take your car and suspend your licence if you're caught going 50 kp/h over the limit
    Sep 28, 2007 02:35 PM
    Curtis Rush
    Staff Reporter

    Ontario's new street-racing law goes into effect on Saturday at midnight and OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley predicts "shock and awe" over the tough new provincial legislation.

    If a driver is caught going 50 kilometres over the speed limit, police have the power to impound the vehicle for seven days, issue a minimum $2,000 fine and suspend your driver's licence for seven days.

    And there is no right of appeal in the case of a suspension or impoundment, police say.

    Safety officials are upbeat about the new law.

    "This is going to be a good day for safety," Brian Patterson, president of the Ontario Safety League, said.

    What a difference a day will make for many.

    On Saturday, before the legislation kicks in, if you are caught going 160 km/h in a 100 zone, you would receive a summons to appear in court and be on your way.

    A few hours later, when the legislation becomes law, that same offence will get your car impounded immediately "and you better get your bus pass out," according to Patterson.

    Woolley said police have been looking for "an immediate consequence" for some time.

    The way it is now, there are many court delays as well as plea bargains to get fines reduced and police felt somewhat handcuffed to mete out swift punishment and cut the carnage on the roads.

    "With this law, you will lose your car up front," Woolley said. "That will have a tremendous effect."

    The new law will be sweeping in breadth and is designed to catch everyone, not just teenage street racers, according to OPP superintendent Bill Grodzinski.

    He expects to see penalties handed out to everyone from teenage drivers to "your 50-year-old businessmen in suits driving really expensive vehicles, sometimes with their families in them."

    "This legislation is a pretty powerful tool," he said.

    Patterson with the Safety League agrees.

    "There are going to be some hot-rock racers upset and there will also be some upset BMW owners."

    This new law, ushered in after several street-racing incidents led to crashes that killed innocent people this past summer, is the toughest piece of highway legislation in the country, according to Grodzinski.

    "It came about because of the extraordinary carnage on our highways this past summer," he said.

    Julian Fantino, commissioner of the OPP, points out that the new law applies to unsafe lane changes, tailgating and not driving to suit the conditions, such as going over the speed limit in a snowstorm and risking lives.

    Infractions also include any kind of "stunt" driving, such as popping wheelies or doing "doughnuts" by spinning your vehicles.

    Also falling under the law will be motorists who cut off another vehicle.

    Motorists who have no intention of street racing could still be snared in the same trap if they aren't paying attention to their speed as they come off the highway.

    "If a motorist is coming off the 400-series highway at 100 kilometres an hour and hits an 80-zone and then goes through a small town with a 50-zone, they will be 50 over the limit and will get their car impounded," Woolley said.

    Affected will be everyone from couriers making deliveries to people racing to get to the drycleaners before it closes.

    The upcoming Thanksgiving Day weekend will be a key barometer on how the new law will work, Woolley said.

    The safety league's Patterson said he expects at least 300 vehicles to be impounded on that holiday weekend alone — based on previous statistics.

    Police are warning people not to rush too fast to get to Thanksgiving Dinner.

    "If somebody is rushing up to Thunder Bay and they get their car impounded going through Powassan, we'll take their car and they may not get a bus to Thunder Bay until Tuesday," Woolley said.

    Cars will be impounded no matter if it's your vehicle or your employer's vehicle, police say.

    Woolley said that impound lots are being cleared to make room for an upswing in business.

    He said that last year, about 2,500 motorists were charged after being caught going 50 kilometres over the speed limit and the numbers are close to 5,000 when the other infractions covered under this law are factored in.

    "We're serious about this law and we consider this fair warning," Woolley said.

    Based on police accident reports, excessive speed contributes to more than 25 per cent of fatal crashes and close to 20 per cent of crashes with serious injuries, Fantino said.
    Laser Interceptor Dual, Laser Interceptor Quad, Valentine 1 & The Escort 8500 X50 - Blue, Uniden BC296D, GRE500, Lasershield, 2011 Kia Soul +, Yamaha FZ6, 2005 Black Dodge Neon SRT-4,


  2. #2
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    50kmph, that's only 31mph. :shock: Taking that kind of action based solely on speed and no other factors is absurd.

    I'll have to remember that next time I'm tearing it up on QEW and 401.

  3. #3
    Lead Foot
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    Stupid new law

  4. #4
    Yoda of Radar
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    Quote Originally Posted by stealthJamal
    50kmph, that's only 31mph. :shock: Taking that kind of action based solely on speed and no other factors is absurd.

    I'll have to remember that next time I'm tearing it up on QEW and 401.
    On the 401 you almost have to go 160 km/h it is like the speed limit signs are in miles

  5. #5
    Speed Demon
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    Its not as bad as California... if you're caught 'Street Racing', they crush your car.


    But the no right to appeal is what burns though. That is why I am not living in Canada. In the US everyone would go postal if rights to court were stripped.

  6. #6

    Default

    What about the out of provinces drivers ?

    I presume thay won't pay the motel :shock:

    From the most serious study I read on road safety :

    The bread and butter of many state and local police departments is writing speeding tickets. Published data on traffic citations issued in the U.S., broken down by
    violation type, is frustratingly rare. That said, Wisconsin is charmingly meticulous about
    tracking both traffic citations and crashes, and its data suggests that citations issued for
    speeding dramatically outnumber the citations issued for other dangerous driving
    activities. For example, in 2003, Dane County, Wisconsin issued more than 60 times as
    many speeding citations as tailgating citations.Indeed, speeding citations there
    outnumbered the combined citations issued for tailgating, running stop signs, running red
    lights, illegal turns, illegal passing, unsafe backing, unsafe lane deviations, and
    inattentive driving by a factor of 6.6. Targeting those who drive at excessive speeds
    may well be the optimal police strategy for raising revenue and minimizing traffic
    contests, because radar guns provide relatively objective evidence of a violations. Wisconsin data, along with recent data
    from other states, suggests that a failure to yield contributes to more vehicle crashes than
    speeding, and tailgating contributes to slightly more accidents as well, although speeding
    does contribute to more fatal crashes.

    Police officers, in short, seem to be
    overpolicing the motorist misconduct that is easiest to detect and underpolicing the
    misconduct that leads to the most collisions. Perhaps these distortions explain the
    public’s profound resentment of traffic police, especially among U.S. drivers, who are
    more aggravated by the presence of said police...
    Ref.https://www.law.uchicago.edu/academi...liclaw/125.pdf

  7. #7
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    The law is absolute Bull$hit.

    I can't believe that in a society where you are innocent until proven guilty you have no right of appeal to the vehicle impoundment. What happens it the cops were wrong? Radar does make mistakes. Police do make mistakes.

    Please, someone challenge this law.

    It's been making me furious for the past few days, especially when that smiling dink Sgt. Cam Wooley (the idiot mouthpiece of the OPP) gets on the radio/tv and is so f'in proud of himself.

    J/

  8. #8
    Good Citizen
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    Quote Originally Posted by jerry540i
    The law is absolute Bull$hit.

    I can't believe that in a society where you are innocent until proven guilty you have no right of appeal to the vehicle impoundment. What happens it the cops were wrong? Radar does make mistakes. Police do make mistakes.

    Please, someone challenge this law.
    Good luck in that challenge!
    It is based on the same principles as the formerly 12hr suspensions and now the 3 day suspension and 90 day ADLS suspensions...which have been around and challenged for years!

    Radar does not make mistakes! The operator could in how he/she would interpret radar readings.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by SmaartAasSaabr
    Quote Originally Posted by stealthJamal
    50kmph, that's only 31mph. :shock: Taking that kind of action based solely on speed and no other factors is absurd.

    I'll have to remember that next time I'm tearing it up on QEW and 401.
    On the 401 you almost have to go 160 km/h it is like the speed limit signs are in miles
    And Canada sucks even worse than Virginia when it comes to speed limits. Maximum of 100kmph everywhere makes no sense, that's only about 62mph. That slow speed makes no sense if you are for example out in the middle of f*cking nowhere Manitoba on a big highway it should be faster.


    3 places that officially suck: Virginia, North Carolina, and Ontario.

  10. #10
    Speed Demon
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    Ein volk, ein reich, ein Geschwindigkeit!

 

 

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