Stunt Driving Law Deemed Unconstitutional.

SON240sx Automotive
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“In this hypothetical world of mine. They managed to block my brother in with two unmarked black squad cars with their lights off. Now that’s fucking dangerous. Just pulled right in front of him in a vee shape and parked it. Who would be liable if his reactions werent quite quick enough?”

Hypothetically? Your brother. If the police think that the biker is a danger to others they will take action to contain the threat as quickly and decisively as possible. Hypothetically, if your brother then flies across the hood of the cruiser and eats a bunch of ashphalt, it’s still not the cops’ problem. It’s no different then when they try a PIT manouver. If they flip a car as a result and the occupants die, the cops will say they did it to protect innocent people from a dangerous situation.

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When that judgement call is made by testosterone fueled 22 year old hot heads traffic “police” cops, it can be a dangerous situation. That’s why the “no chase” policy came into effect.

In 2004 at around 4AM on a weeknight, an aquaintance of mine was spotted speeding on Kennedy road South bound near the 401. It was radioed in. A cruiser coming North bound saw the rider, the rider then switched lanes to the right to get onto the 401 westbound. Cruiser then proceeds to cut across all lanes to block the onramp. The rider was doing about 100 kph. He didn’t even have time to tap the brakes at all, let alone stop or swerve. He plowed into the cruiser at 100kph. Another friend of mine was behind the rider when this happened. They were together and weren’t planning on running, they were just speeding. According to him, they didn’t even see the cop until it was too late. They weren’t even running.

In no way shape or form was the rider in the right. In no way shape or form was the cop in the right. The punishment has to fit the crime. The rider did not live to face his consequences for speeding. The cop certainly lived to be discharged from the service.

When they blocked my brother in like that (in this fictional tale) he was on the off ramp on Steeles from the 404. He was doing about 60 kph and they both zoomed in from behind at WOT with their lights off and in unmarked black ghost cars. That shit is fucked. This was also around 4AM on a weeknight with no cars in sight.

Say what you will, a police cruiser trying to chase down a modern day sport bike is putting the public at risk. At any time of day. A supersport bike is made to handle excessive speeds…a piece of shit Crown Vic or Impala isn’t fit to corner at 20 kph, let alone 200 kph.

Have you been on the DVP in the wee hours of the morning? Cops don’t even bother the bikes as long as they are keeping clear of cars.

There is a time and place for everything…I don’t condone retarded speeding, weaving and idiocy on public roads when other people are at risk. I also don’t condone the same people who would be doing those SAME things in their personal cars or bikes or even cruisers to believe they can make a judgement call to pursue a speeding bike or genuine sports car safely and repsonsibly.

Cops are humans, they get tunnel vison too and when involved in a chase like that, let their feelings and testosterone get in the way. “I will catch you, no matter what!!!” They are so intent on “winning” that sometimes it ends very badly for everyone involved.

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^^^^ all valid points Ronnie.

A few years ago I had a young Waterloo cop chase me down at 3 in morning b/c I made a U-turn on a dead sidestreet which is not illegal. He proceeded to lecture to me about how I “should use my head.” He was a few years younger than me and was clearly bored. In fact he had to swerve to avoid hitting me when I pulled over b/c he was driving far too fast and close to my 82hp high performance Mazda 323. Who knows how that would have turned out had I done a U-turn to get onto an on-ramp and have him make the same mistake at 100-110 kph instead of 30-50 kph.

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Link right here!

Looks like the law will be overturned?

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okay so will they just move the car taking part under that law??

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http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/57533--street-racing-law-ruled-unconstitutional-opp-will-continue-to-lay-charges

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thanks for posting up the links guys.

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-The definition of a “driving stunt” includes driving a motor vehicle at 50 km/h or more above the posted speed limit.
-The Act also bans driving a motor vehicle on a highway with a connected nitrous oxide system. Some street racers use nitrous oxide to enhance the acceleration capabilities of their vehicles.

What the fuck?!? Seems like a damn little kid made this fucking law up.

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who even uses nitrous?

i havent even seen a serious nitrous system in a car that actually gets driven in like oh… 8 years?

i see it in show cars sometimes, but thats it.

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Nasssssssssssssssssss!!

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Bingzor…you have a very good point.

Then again, when I do see it in cars…well. Im sure you can figure it out.

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I was always contemplating putting a C02 system in as i have a nitrous tank laying around but i figured a COP would be like “OMG ur ass is mine STREET RACER” when they see it.

Not sure how many cars run C02… i believe STI’s have some sort of cooling system so wouldn’t be surprised if they upgraded their systems

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from the sounds of it, nothing about the law has changed then…

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Just saw this on CP24 today. They are gonna interview the lawyer that brought this up later this afternoon.

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Also, I have only been driving the 240 for 2 days and have already gotten an illegal muffler and no horn ticket. Yay!! I see now the harassment I’m in for. never got bothered driving the 300zx with dual exhaust but 2 days in my 240 and bam.

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lol that sucks

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http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/09/09/10804281.html

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i’d like to see traffic stats before and after the law.

and i mean really dig, not just newspaper numbers because those go through a dozen filters (guys like me) before getting reported.

as i like to say; numbers can’t lie by themselves, you have to help them.

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ctvtoronto.ca

The Ontario Provincial Police will continue to nab excessive speeders and charge them under the province’s stunt laws despite a judge’s ruling that the legislation is unconstitutional.

Sgt. Dave Woodford told CTV Toronto the legislation is still being enforced because the law has been effective in reducing the number of fatalities on Ontario highways by about 30 per cent in the last two years since its been inacted.

“This piece of legislation is helping us get to be number one (in road safety) not only in Canada but in the world,” he said.

Napanee Judge G J Griffin ruled Friday that convicting someone who is “morally blameless” of an offence that carries a jail sentence breaches the Charter of Rights.

Toronto-based lawyer James Morton said he was “really surprised” at the decision but that the judge is probably right.

He said by law, speeding is considered an absolute liability which means a driver can’t claim he didn’t know he was speeding as a defence. However, the driver could very well be “morally blameless,” meaning the motorist thought he was going at the speed limit even though he was not.

“The defence of due diligence is not a defence because of the way the legislation is written,” he told ctvtoronto.ca. “You would still be convicted even if you tried not to speed.”

The judge was presiding over a case involving a grandmother in her 60s, who was nabbed by police for driving more than 50 kilometres faster than the posted speed limit on Highway 7.

The woman said she sped up in order to pass a truck. However, she said, the truck also sped up which forced her to speed up even more to pass him. The evidence given by the police officer who issued the ticket demonstrated that the driver slowed her vehicle to 110 kilometres an hour after passing the truck.

Ontario passed a law in September, 2007 that allowed officers to immediately seize the car of any motorist caught driving 50 kilometres over the posted speed limit. Aside from having their car towed for a week, motorists automatically have their licence suspended for seven days. Drivers also face a hefty minimum fine of $2,000.

“The judge didn’t say licence suspension or a car tow was unconstitutional. What he said is that a conviction for stunt driving by speeding is unconstitutional,” Morton said.

Street racers who are nabbed under this legislation would not be affected by the judge’s ruling either, Morton explained, as they would be tried under a different subsection of the law that deals with racing in particular.

The Crown would have a hard time reversing the judge’s decision at the Court of Appeals, Morton said.

Prosecutors had a chance to argue the judge’s decision using Section 1 of the Charter which essentially says that a breach of the Charter can be justified if it is reasonable. However, in court Friday the Crown conceded it could not argue with the judge.

Morton said there are hundreds of cases in the system where people have been charged with stunt racing. Now the defendants have an excellent chance of getting the charge thrown out in court.

“This (ruling) is very important,” he said. “It seems to me that the judge is probably right but my instinct is that it can be reasonably justified. Going over 50 kilometres is a serious offence.”

With files from CTV Toronto’s Austin Delaney

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If nothing else, people will at least have a chance in court if they are charged with stunt driving. However, this will still cost someone a lot of money if they have to go through that whole process.