ERASE is back!!!!!

SON240sx Automotive
1

Hey guys.

Well I was watching CityTV the other night and what do I see but a story on street racing and how ERASE (Eliminate Racing on Streets Everywhere) is coming back this year in FULL FORCE.

They have new infrared/nightvision camera’s on the chopper’s, more ghost cars and some other tricks up there sleves too. That probable means undercover’s at the races in done up cars. There main purpose will be to wait for someone to ask them to race, then the narc’s will call in back up and boom, the guy will be either bit on the line or at the end of the race. That is NOT entrapment either as it was the person asking the cop to race and not the other way around.

Further, even if you don’t race and so on just being at the “spots” can cause you grief. The cops have now been given full authority, under the HTA’s section on vehicle modifications, to have you pop your hood. They have “just cause” to do so on ANY car that does’nt appear stock. So just being there can cause you sh_t. They will be looking for any reason to pull plates and not giving out any second chances. Sure you can fight it in court but at the time, that won’t matter because you won’t have a car.

Well this is just to let you all know and give you the heads up on what will be going on this year.

So be safe everyone.

Take care.

Easy 8)

2

Bad news. I hope this helps things more than it brings people grief.

Thanks for the info!

3

It won’t help shit, cops are pigs. But then again, I neither race nor go to any racing “hotspots”, unless a SON meet is a “hotspot”. Meh, I stick by my original statement, it just give them an excuse to be more piggish than usual. Oink oink.

4

that cheif guy ‘wooly’ or whatever is doing up the streets…

5

Uhh… cops can pop the hood? What makes them an authority on automobile emissions equipment? Do they have a Class A? Are they ceritifed by the ministry?

what is this bullshit?

6

I agree, how would any cop know his ass from a stock engine. Or rather how the engine operates, and if any modifications would detriment emmissions control.

I hope they are targeting ricer civics, and not people, of which whom thier hobby is that of a performance enthusiast… I don’t see many modified muscle cars which are blatently and obviously modified under the same scrutiny, although they most likely do fall under classic vehicle status to which most of these rules no longer apply.

perhaps once our cars, 89-90 versions, reach thier classic status we will see less of this bullsnot directed at us.

it’s my belief that a person who obeys traffic laws, and maintains an emmisions certified vehicle, regardless of exterior, interior, suspensio, and reasonable performance modifications should not be a target. But those who willingly deffy traffic laws and are caught in the act of dangerous driving or speeding or racing, or fail to produce valid emmissions statements, should.

I blame the morons out there who are making the enjoyment and lives of the performance enthusuast more difficult, and they get exactly what they deserve. Yet through that we the enthusiasts are being mistaken for those morons whom we despise.

I don’t beleive that this i really the police officers fault, I’m sure most of them enjoy and appreciate performance cars. but something needs to be done, and we are mearly caught in the crossfire.

it sucks. so keep your cool. play smart and safe. and don’t wreck it for the rest of us.

EDIT 11:22 PM
I recently phoned the toront police and asked questions regarding project erease. Not only did I get the impression that I was nothing more than a neusence to whoever answered the phone, my questions weren’t exactly answered to the extent that I would have liked.

I started by stating the obvious, that I beleive the program has good merit and its intention was to eliminate street racing, which I agree is necessarry. I then asked, under what qualifications a vehicle would be pulled over. my responce seems rather offened in tone, and basically stated that any vehicle that did not appear to be stock. But that if the vehicle is deamed legal and safe there would be no issues and the hypothetical “I” would be on my way shortly.

I was curtly reminded that project ERASE was intended specifically for individuals engaged in the act or street racing, And that “I” would not necessarily be pulled over if I was obeying traffic laws. It was also stated that the “Project ERASE” task force, was in a sence a seperate entity of the toronto police force, and that not all officers would follow its guidlines. So I would assume that if a specific “Project ERASE” officer confronts you, you may not have the same tolorance as that of your “average” officer.

this whole situation, and through my interpretation of the responces I recieved lead me to beleive that although this initiative has nothing but the best of intentions. It can be easily affect those who would not necessarily fall into the catagory of “Street Racer” and its interpretation was vauge at best, a actually not very well understood by the “average” officer as well teh general public as I did quite a bit of searching on the subject, and ended up having to call the traffic office. which I don’t beleive I should have had to do in the first place. The lack of any “ACTUAL” information regarding “Project ERASE” seems to be again vauge, and difficult to find, or attain.

I beleive that I myself, not in the hypothetical sence any longer. having a almost squeeky clean driving record, and driving a safe, e-tested, and “legally” modified vehicle should not encounter much hastle from project erase or the general toronto police officers. This may be in fact a large problem fo those of our group who have imported JDM engines where which the vehicle and or engine is not deamed to be under classic car status.

I applaude the Toronto police for intiating such a program, as it does have merit and should make the streets safer and teach the morons a lesson. But I suppose with every surgry some innocent blood has to be spilled. I just hope that this initiative is not taken to a far extreme where our very hobby and passtimes are negativly or permanently effected.

laters ^___^

James

7

Last year’s ERASE program saw to four thousand charges being laid.
About half of those were for illegal/improper equipment.

Out of those four thousand charges, only 23 were for racing. (THAT’S HALF A PERCENT)

The remainder were for speeding/careless driving/dangerous operation.

It’s all media hype bullshit and it’s to our detriment.

8

If they are issuing tickets for speeding, careless, and dangerous driving
thats fine. If you break the laws you take the risk of getting those tickets.

However, I’m worried that regardless of driving in accordance to all traffic
laws I may be targeted simply because I am driving on a Friday or
Saturday night.

If they want to wait for people to challenge them to races, that is fine
and dandy, its a good way to cut down on street racing. If they want to
pull over people in modified cars who break the traffic laws that is fine
as well.

BUT, when they start pulling over people with a safe car who are not
doing anything wrong, that is not cool.

Yes my car is extensively modified, and makes me look like some sort
of hardcore street racer, but on the street I drive like a granny, so there
is no reason people like myself should be pulled over. I have a feeling I
am going to get nailed this summer just because my car is modified, no
matter how nicely I drive.

From our point of view it is unfair, but how are the cops to distinguish
the good from the bad? We all drive rolling deathtraps right?

My tips:

  • Keep your nose clean (don’t do anything to make them pull you over)
  • Keep all of your documents handy (center console is good)
  • Keep your driving record clean (tickets and warnings mean they won’t
    be so easy on you when you do get pulled over)
  • Be polite and give the police officers the respect they deserve (giving
    them attitude is not going to help you at all)
  • If they ask about your modifications be careful with your words… don’t
    say your car is stock if it obviously isn’t, they aren’t stupid and that is a
    slap in the face to them… but at the same time don’t list off a rap sheet
    of all your modifications
  • Be honest about why you modified the car (the only good answer is that
    you go to the track, and keep it off the streets, BEWARE this only works if
    you have a clean record, otherwise they think you drive the same on the
    street and the track which doesn’t do you any good)
  • Avoid the “hotspots” (what do you expect them to think if you hang out
    at known hotspots for street racers?)
  • Keep your exhaust as quiet as possible, even if you drive slowly, loud
    exhausts are a heatscore and will get you pulled over (they also seem
    to make cops really angry, they don’t like noise polution)

ehhh, I guess thats it. In my experience being polite (and appologizing if
you’ve done something you shouldn’t have) goes a long way with the
police. If they see you have a clean record and you look like a decent
kid, they will probally let you go without damage to your clean slate
unless you actually did something wrong.

And to everyone who drives like a dickhead on the street (speeding,
cutting people off, drifting everywhere, accelerating hard) stop it now,
you make all 240s look bad. If people drive 240s like ricers, we will be
the ricers, and they will specifically target 240s, so dont.

ERASE has good intentions, but they need to learn how to target the
people who drive dangerously, not everyone with a modified car.

I am tired so my rant sucks and has no particular flow to it… meh.

/rant

9

Have a few relatives on the MTO police and OPP I can safely say that the law, or any interpertation of the law in hte WTA is completely up to the officer… as a rule a traffic cop is NOT allowed to be wrong… In that he is NOT allowed to admit anything that would see him/her as being wrong. All HTA laws are pretty much ‘at the descretion and interpretation of the officer…’ This new erase law is going to throw even more ammo thier way, it used to be that only MTO had the atuourity to go into the engine bay.

My advice to everyone is to get a mini tape or a mini cam and have it in the car with you at all times… if you do get pulled over have it handy AND in front of ou in plain sight and before starting it, say, hello officer , for both our portection I am taping this conversation…

it tends to keep the BS tickets down to almost nothing… i’ve never had to use it but I’ve met a few people who do the same thing and have no problems when being stopped , most of the time it’s a warning and that’s it

If you do this, then be an adult with it. don’t give the cop attitude… it’s a tool for you to use not a big stick to hold over his/her head.

10

Ok so taday at about 4:30 PM I am out looking for used tires at random
tire shops…I pull into wheels direct, drive to the back, and see a cop car
there, and the officer is walking around the lot looking at cars. I pay him
no mind, and he seems like he does not care what I am doing. I get out
only to take a quick glance at what is available, get back in the car, and
head out to go see the next shop.

Surprise surprise…the cop follows me out of the lot as I make a Right on
Sheppard, then as I make a right on McCowan. A few lights down the
road, i hear woop woop… (i was already in the right lane knowing what
would follow) so I pull over on some side road. He comes to the car with
a smug smile on his face that just yelled “haha, I caught you doing illegal
scams”.
He asks me, “Who’s car is this?”
I say “Mine…?”
“What were you doing behid that factory?”
“Factory? You mean tire shop?”
“Yeah, whatever…”
“I was looking for used tires, for a buddy.”
“Let me see your licese.”

So I give him my licese, he does not even ask for registration and
insurance. He heads back to his cruiser, and chills there for about 5 min.
Mind you i kept my eye on him the whole time and he was not even
checking my licese or anything. He was just siting there, one arm out the
window, the other on top of the steering wheel. At this point I get out and
sit on the grass under a tree right by my car.

He then walks over to me and says, have a nice day.

I take my licese back and say nothing.

Moral of the story:
Cops are assclowns who will pull you over for absolutely NO reason, just
to waste your time.

11

Geez what is this coming to??

Anyone got any ERASE encounters or the like?

12

start a post with the recent stories of police pulling you over, make it so its only stories & no comments…sticky-icky…wait-a-minute… hasnt that been done before.

13

It’s horrible that they are bringing this back, such a hassle to drive ur car around :frowning:
:cry:

14

This recent long may 24 weekend i drove my 240 up to wasaga on a 10 day, i went up abit late because i had to finish acouple things on my car, just before wasaga me and my buddy in his crx come up to a ride program, there was a line up of cars, before he even said anything to me, he pointed down my 240 and my buddy’s crx to pullover to the side… i was like okay wutever since i know i didnt drink anything… cop comes up to my car and asks for all the papers but insurance only gave me the policy number to write down on the back of the 10 day because apparently my slip was being mailed, the cop comes back and asks what insurance im with and the brokers name blah blah and doesnlt believe i have insurance… then he goes on to tell me if i dont have the slip on me my car is going to be impounded, i didnt have the slip so there she goes, stayed there all long weekend and paid $400 bucks to get it out! and i got a $70 ticket failure to show insurance slip, when i got home it was in the mail and i faxxed the pig a copy of it so he wouldnt send me to court for failure to have insurance $5000 ticket! which he said if i didnt fax it I’d be going to court for sure, well yah this guy ruined my weekend which just incouraged me to get soooo wasted the whole time and i had to pay a total of $470 for no reason what so ever… the cops name was actually Officer Kuntz. Perfect name honestly.

15

Absolutely hilarious… :lol:

I was in Collingwood in the winter, and drove up in a pretty bad snow storm (freezing rain included). I went up after work, and due to the bad weather it took me forever, so I didn’t actually get into the town until 10:30ish. I’m driving slow along the main road, and see cops set up on either side of the road, on the left was a female, on the right was a male (who was talking to another male). The female waves me through, so I continue to proceed until the male officer on the right flags me down. It was slippery out, so I couldn’t stop right away, especially since he flags me down just before I’m about to pass. He come around and asks “you going to stop anytime soon?” I smile and apologize :roll: . He shines the fashlight directly in my eyes and asks if I’ve been drinking. I said no, which was true. Then he asks “are you sure, you’re eyes are pretty bloodshot?” I say “no sir, it’s been a pretty white-knuckle drive the whole way though”. He replys “yeah, I’m sure” in a sarcastic voice, then tells his buddy to come “see this kid’s eyes”. They both shine their flashlights in my eyes. They then made me wait for about 5 minutes while they check over all my info. He comes back and lets me know that “they will be keeping an eye out for me”. Wtf is that suppose to mean? Anyway, I was on my way with no real harm done. And I’m glad to say that I made it fine, even though it was one of the worst drives I’ve had, not including getting pulled over.

16

i fucking hate pigs.

biggest gang in the worldfuckers need to burn in hell and fucking kill themselves

like honestly in the past 5 years 32 people have died street racing. So what the fuck is the huge rush to stop it?

Money. Tons and tons of money to be made by giving people tickets and impounding their cars.

You dont get the same kind of money for stopping people from beating each other, abusing women, being a pedifile etc.

So who cares about them, lets make money giving out ridiculous tickets that do not endanger anyones life at all, that are entirely pointless and meaningless. Like your car cant be too low, who the fuck cares? Its my car if i want it to be low it’ll be low go suck a dick you fucking faggot

17

Don’t hold back, Sasha. Get it all out man.

18

Got pulled over by the RIDE program a few weeks back, 1:30 am jane and 7, way back from a clients office… anyway, they decide that i have to do a breathalizer becuse my seeing aclient story didn’t sit well with them. long story short, I blew zero’s cause i didnt’ have a drink in a few days… then one of the officers comes over to my car and hands me a stack of Ride FLyer to “give to your friends”… I smurked, reached into my bad and handed him a stack of my company flyers and said:" no problem but you have to give these to your friends." Needless to say he wasnt amused.

Our tax dollars hard at work, go figure.

19

I had a HUGE rant about this fucking PACER/ERASE program on GTRC…

It’s all about media misrepresentation .

20

It has very little to do with money. It’s not like the states where money that comes from tickets or unlawful acts goes back to the department.

It is entirely media hype. The sad fact is street racing really isn’t THAT dangerous.

Granted with the more recent above ground nature of it, more people are getting involved in it that shouldn’t be. People that can afford to build 400+hp cars and do, because it is the “thing” to do, then unleash them on the streets. Problem being a lot of these people are operating on testosterone and over confidence alone.

The 5 deaths that were blamed on “street racing” had nothing to do with the “street racing” they are targeting. No offense meant to those that were lost, but two 17 year-old kids dragging in a school zone in a Navigator and a minivan are not street racers. Their vehicles were not modified, and had all emissions equipment intact.

But the media takes off, and all of a sudden “street racers” become a household menace. They are easy to spot. Those loud cars with the flashy paint and shiny rims. Who lives in a neighborhood that doesn’t have at least one guy that pipes down the street every day in a tuned-ish car? Hell, I’m sure a lot of you ARE that guy.

In the minds of the voters, we’re all street racers. If you’ve got a blow off valve, sorry, you’re a street racer.

This is all about voter appeasement. Next time you get pulled over (face it, it’s going to happen … a lot) take a look at the people that drive by. Look at their faces. Don’t they all seem pretty happy to see you pulled over? You’re a menace, even if you weren’t doing anything. These are the people that write letters, go to council meetings, have organized “block meetings” etc etc. And there are a lot more of them than “enthusiasts”. So we’re always going to get the dark smelly end of the stick.

Ironically, most of these people are the ones that are actually causing the accidents. Number one cause of highway fatalities? Inattention. So why aren’t soccer moms being targeted? Why isn’t there a Stop Idiots From Ever Driving campaign? At least once a day I see someone signal the wrong way. It seems like a small thing, but if you can’t grasp the simplest concept of Up is right, Down is left … what else are you missing?

How many 240s have been cracked up on the board? How many of them were the fault of the 240 driver?

Don’t for a second think cops are stupid. That’s a big mistake. They won’t know anything about cars? Why not? We’re not talking quantum physics. They get memos. These memos say things like, what kind of cars to watch out for, common modifications, etc etc. It’s not like they need to crack some kind of mystery code. And this is a TASK FORCE. They didn’t just grab a bunch of brain dead beat cops and turn them loose.

None of you noticed 2 or 3 years ago that having an H on the hood of your car was enough to get pulled over? Well, guess what … same task force, same motive, different target.

Watch yourselves going to and from events and track meets. Last time they pulled this shit, I thing half of those 4,000 tickets were issued within spitting distance of Cayuga.

And yeah, muscle cars are ignored. I’ve seen cops put away radar guns when they see me coming, just to nab the import behind me. Why? They’re not the targets. Voters don’t mind them. People seem to accept loud if it’s old. Maybe it’s a nostalgia thing … who knows.

Fact remains, if you drive a 240, and it’s modded … brace yourself. It could be a long and expensive summer.