DriveSmartBC - Vehicle Impounds as a Penalty

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by sebberry

But an immediate impoundment is just that. You don't have access to your car until the review can take place.

I don't care about the reimbursement. If I am cleared of any wrongdoing, I shouldn't have been deprived of lawful enjoyment of my car in the first place.

Any police officer who supports this might as well have been rounding up innocent passers by at the G20 protests and locking them up overnight on suspicion of being anarchists.

But the same argument can be said that driving is a privilage and not a right.
If an officer suspects your car is not up to code, they can give you a VI and you will have to take the car in and pay to have it inspected.

Same thing for excessively speeding and having your car impounded. But is the chance that a person who had their car impounded for 7 days by this law will win their dispute by proving they were going only 39 km/h over the speed limit?

[sebberry]

"race" means circumstances in which, taking into account the condition of the highway, traffic,
visibility and weather, the driver or operator of a motor vehicle is driving or operating the motor vehicle
without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway or in a manner that may cause
harm to an individual by doing any of the following:
(a) outdistancing or attempting to outdistance one or more other motor vehicles;
(b) preventing or attempting to prevent one or more other motor vehicles from passing;
(c) driving at excessive speed in order to arrive at or attempt to arrive at a given destination ahead of one or more other motor vehicles;

Scenario:

I'm taking off at a green light on a 90km/hr highway and some kid driving a riced out civic in the next lane wearing his hat backwards spots my COBB tuning RSB and takes it as a challenge. He releases the almighty grunt of his 1.8l engine from his fart cannon muffler, catching the attention of all cops within earshot.

As I always have, I immediately reduce my rate of acceleration to remove any chance that the kid with the crooked hat thinks I am trying to race. Unfortunately the new overzealous road safety sheriff who just passed his radar gun training the week before pulls me over and takes my car away for 7 days for trying to incite a race.

From now on, I will take no less than a full 20 seconds to accelerate to 90km/hr to be sure to avoid that situation.



Meanwhile at the other end of town, Mr. "I have just discovered how to use a radar gun" hears the tires of a car chirp as the driver turns a corner on a really cold day. Sorry sir, I will have to take your car away for 7 days. You turned just a bit too quickly and I think you were trying to stunt.

"stunt" means circumstances in which, taking into account the condition of the highway, traffic,
visibility and weather, the driver or operator of a motor vehicle is driving or operating the motor vehicle
without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway or in a manner that is likely to
cause harm to an individual or likely to distract, startle or interfere with users of the highway by doing
any of the following:
(a) causing any or all of the motor vehicle's tires to lift from the road surface;
(b) causing the motor vehicle to lose traction while turning the motor vehicle;
(c) driving the motor vehicle in a manner to cause the motor vehicle to spin;
(d) driving the motor vehicle in a lane intended for oncoming traffic for longer than necessary to pass
another vehicle;
(e) slowing or stopping the motor vehicle in a manner that prevents other motor vehicles from passing or
in a manner that blocks or impedes other motor vehicles;
(f) without justification, driving as close as possible to another motor vehicle, a pedestrian, or a fixed
object.

It makes me wonder - why not have mandatory impoundments for ANY AND ALL driving infractions, no matter how trivial they may seem?

[sebberry]

What if a civilian, untrained in traffic enforcement or not well versed on the MVA, phones in a traffic complaint that falls under the "7 day impoundment" laws? Are police going to be impounding cars based on such complaints?

[Bainne]

Interesting, depending on how the courts choose to address certain issues, I could forsee big legal challenges ahead.

Will stunting and racing be considered absolute liability offences? I am assuming so given it is an MVA offence and results in immediate impoundment?

My issue is, for the most part, an officer will rely on subjective observation, especially "racing" - even as outlined in the law, "racing" and "stunting" require some form of intent, yet punishment is immediate based solely on an officers observation and determination of the accused's thoughts.

But then again, the old friend "reasonable grounds" emerges.

At least we never have to worry about the outlandish BS with imprisonment for racing and stunting like they are going through in ON right now.

Personally, I fail to see what the issue was with driving without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration.

[Soundy]

Originally Posted by sebberry

From now on, I will take no less than a full 20 seconds to accelerate to 90km/hr to be sure to avoid that situation.

But just think of all the gas you'll save with your slow and steady acceleration!

[sebberry]

Originally Posted by Soundy

But just think of all the gas you'll save with your slow and steady acceleration!

I didn't buy a turbo to save gas..

[sebberry]

Originally Posted by Bainne

At least we never have to worry about the outlandish BS with imprisonment for racing and stunting like they are going through in ON right now.

I'm sure that is on the way too along with the new safety sheriff program.

Originally Posted by Bainne

Personally, I fail to see what the issue was with driving without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration.

Because the government is attempting to appeal to the publc by implementing programs that "keep people safe". They're trying to do for driving what airport security does for flight travel. Safety/Security theater.

[nns]

serberry has a lot of valid points. Nice to seem some intelligent comments on RS. It's so, so, so, rare.

[Great68]

Originally Posted by sebberry

Because the government is attempting to appeal to the publc by implementing programs that "keep people safe". They're trying to do for driving what airport security does for flight travel. Safety/Security theater.

They need to "Get Tough" so they seem like they're doing something...

It gets lots of votes from the right wingers and geezers. Those that voted BC liberal got what they voted for.

[sebberry]

A quick Google search shows that the "Get Tough" approach in Alberta has seen an increase in total traffic collisions.

[BallPeenHammer2]

I don't really agree with the new laws and regulations, given that i've been on the receiving end of it (Get my license back tomorrow, yay!).

I've been in situations where i'm a passenger and have officers in our face in regards to modding/speeding/racing/tint/whatever.

Had a cop pull one of my techs over a few months ago while he was doing an overnight roadtest, and tried to look for "tint". (I work at volvo, which comes with polarized front windows and windshield from the factory). He tried cutting out a piece of the tint, FAILED, and messed up the glass. Then we had to listen to the client yell at us and have her never to come back again.

Again, I myself have been in situations where the driver was NOT speeding, and get pulled over and given a ticket for speeding, with a whole lot of intimidation and attitude on top.


Honestly, I understand that excessive speeding/reckless driving/racing is dangerous and irresponsible. I don't condone it, and I hate seeing it.
However, what Ii hate to see MORE is the cop NOT pulling over said civic with cherry bomb muffler bombing down victoria at 90+kph, and then pull ME over to chheck for tint and tell me that it was ME with the speeding/reckless driving.

It's a bit of a rant but what I'm trying to say is that this doesn't seem much more than a more liberal cash-grab method, utilizing the police instead of taxes, since they've already screwed that part up.

I don't believe it will improve the situation much, and put the police in a position where everyone will think THEY'RE the bad guys.

Wanna improve driving safety? educate and train. Give actual and achievable outlets for people to race/speed (track, events, etc. A lot of them are not feasible on time, or too far, or just no space). No one in this bloody city really even NEEDS to learn how to drive properly, let alone race properly.

The best approach should be to "get SMART", not "get TOUGH". There would be less resistance that way.