Street Racing Targeted by the Federal govt

[Cheers!]

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...l=968793972154

I'm sure most of you who are up to date with current affairs have heard of PM Harper's speech about street racing and his proposed policy to deal with it.

I have a question for the older generation. Has street racing not been around for decades and decades before 2006? Does street racing seem to be such a vast public problem and threat to Canadian society that the PM has to personally speak about it? Or has the media over portrayed it? Much like soldiers dying on the battlefield, last I recalled to soldier a weapon is to put your life at risk defending your country, it is not new that when a soldier gets hit with a bullet or blast from an explosive that he/she may die. Did we see thousands and thousands of hours devoted to soldiers who fell in WWII, Korean war, vietnam war, any other conflict...

Although I do not condone street racing, it appears to be over hyped by the media and by mass hysteria from people who are force fed and shovelled pre-programed news that is over portrayed when there are much larger problems such as increasing traffic, pollution, farmers not getting their fair share and such.

If you say that street racing was due to the fast and furious, well what about the old days when Bullit was filmed? Or American Graffiti?

I call BS and that Harper should focus his energy on real problems and not problems hyped by the media to make him look good by saying he is doing something about it.

[Maddog]

I agree it's just hype. They say 31 people in the GTA have died in the last 7 years because of street racing. How many have died from hoodlum gang gun fire in the last 7 years in the GTA. Probably triple that, yet they're enforcing street racing before gang wars, don't get me started on people that died from smoking in the last 7 years. That's probably in the 5 digit range...oh, I forgot, the government makes a boat load of money on cigs, so that's OK.

[slai]

After June 16th, there will be a special drifting task force!

[Cheers!]

Too add to this.

It's good to see that townships and cities are all itching and urging to shut down the local race tracks such as TMP, Dunnville, Calabogie, due to their so called "eye sore" / "noise problem" they seem to believe they have. Police say take it to the track, but what track? The track that your mayor/township decided to shut down?

[thgear]

utter

bullshit

[Maddog]

Originally Posted by Cheers!

Too add to this.

It's good to see that townships and cities are all itching and urging to shut down the local race tracks such as TMP, Dunnville, Calabogie, due to their so called "eye sore" / "noise problem" they seem to believe they have. Police say take it to the track, but what track? The track that your mayor/township decided to shut down?

Good point!

[Kent Missons]

I totally agree, I use to always want to street race everyone that pulled up beside me. But since I started doing real legal racing, like Solo II, Ice racing and eveuntally Ministocks I have no need to street race. It is so easy to get into this sport, you can use what ever you drive every day. I totaly agree with the cops, take it to the track. Its not to complicated to take it to the tracks, but the person who mentioned shuting down the tracks hit the nail on the head. How can we get the street racers to the track if they are all going to be shut down, I would like to see what harper would say to that. Him being a profesional BS'er(thats all a Politican(SP) is), he would squeeze his way out somehow.

[speedmerchant]

Originally Posted by Cheers!

Too add to this.

It's good to see that townships and cities are all itching and urging to shut down the local race tracks such as TMP, Dunnville, Calabogie, due to their so called "eye sore" / "noise problem" they seem to believe they have. Police say take it to the track, but what track? The track that your mayor/township decided to shut down?

your bang on Cheers. I bet if we were to ask all those opposing the Calabogie track, if they would agree that street racers should take it to the tracks and not the streets, they would all agree. For them it is a case of "yeah but not im my backyard". Very silly

[thgear]

what kills me is that all the kids driving slightly modified civics are gonna get his so hard, when their car hardly pushes 200 hp

when various stock M3's, porshes and ferrari's will roam free!

when an M3 gets pulled over for speeding, its a speeding ticket
when a civic gets pulled over for speeding, its a "OMFGBBWFTLURUNDERARRESTUSTREETRACERU"

[J.C.]

Originally Posted by Maddog

I agree it's just hype. They say 31 people in the GTA have died in the last 7 years because of street racing. How many have died from hoodlum gang gun fire in the last 7 years in the GTA. Probably triple that, yet they're enforcing street racing before gang wars, don't get me started on people that died from smoking in the last 7 years. That's probably in the 5 digit range...oh, I forgot, the government makes a boat load of money on cigs, so that's OK.

I agree, 44 people a day die from smoking related circumstances in Ontario. That is over 16,000 people a year! That is the equivalent of having a 9/11 incident every 3 months and it won't be getting better anytime soon.

The media, police, & government do a good job of diverting public attention from the real issues.


P.S. The taxi driver that died a while back had made an illegat U turn wich definately contributed to the accident. Maybe we should ban all taxi cabs.

[DasVW]

Anyone here that is concearned about this or is calling it unfair must have something to do with street racing or it wouldn't be an issue for you.

The whole hype about having a moddified car on the street and getting unjustly pulled over is BS because unless you doing something to catch the attention of the cops, you have nothing to worry about.

I think that those that do partipate in this activity should be cracked down on.

Isn't our motto "Take it to the track!"

[J.C.]

Good luck getting to the track or even leaving it. You have mods your an illegal street racer. That's how they see you.

[Maddog]

I have no problem at all with the "crack down" as most here agree, it's just that there is greater priorities that could have been dealt with before this minor issue, like gun violence or that native standoff in Caledonia that's putting most businesses in the town into bankruptcy.

[thgear]

when i'm driving on dufferin up in the middle of nowhere doing 100-110km in an 80 zone trying to get home at 2 AM, i really dont want to be pulled over and labeled a "street racer" because upon closer inspection the cop finds an aftermarket exhaust on my car

imagine i had a body kit!

imagine all the poor guys with heavily modified cars that are just //driving// fast!

and dont give me any lip that you dont //speed// once in awhile! everyone does it!

and if you say you dont, then your a liar!

right now as the article says, it very hard for cops to really pindown what constitutes as "racing"

this proposed law will give cops more exuse to hit the people with modified vehicles with bigger tickets and harsher sentences, and i dont think thats fair.

do i drive a little aggressive on the street? sure... but i thankfully stay off the radar cuz i drive a beat up golf with no stickers and black steel rims!

i have a set of rims i'm re-finishing in the garage, i'm afraid of putting them on!! can you believe it I"M AFRAID OF PUTTING ON A SET OF NICE RIMS because instantly i'm gonna get hit with the rice patty.

there is a law for speeding - check
there is a law for murder - check
there is a law for neglegence - check

there are enough laws! stop making new ones, and let the tuners drive around in peace. If i get pulled over for speeding, i want a speeding ticket, not a "illegaly modified vehicle" "loud noise" "too much tint" "crooked liscence plate" tickets~!

[ScottyH]

Originally Posted by Maddog

I agree it's just hype. They say 31 people in the GTA have died in the last 7 years because of street racing. How many have died from hoodlum gang gun fire in the last 7 years in the GTA. Probably triple that, yet they're enforcing street racing before gang wars, don't get me started on people that died from smoking in the last 7 years. That's probably in the 5 digit range...oh, I forgot, the government makes a boat load of money on cigs, so that's OK.

I guess the 78 gangsters arrested last week in the largest blitz of its kind in Canadian history is not an attempt to curve gang voilence? Further, what's there to get started on about smoking? it's a choice. All the information is out there to make the intelligent choice, if you don't, you pay the consequences, not me.

The bottom line is that street racing is dangerous, we should all agree on that. Innocent people can, and do die as a result of it. Whether the problem is blown out of proportion or not is irrelevant; the problem exists. They've proposed a solution. So what's the issue here? The only issue I see is defining what a street race is, as mentioned in the article. Rest assured it won't be as ludacris as thgear seems to think it will be.