help!! car impounded !!

[Silver-Arrowz]

He's about 20yo. He was clocked at 140 in a 70 zone. IMO sucked in. But i don't think it's the speed that's the killing part of the penalty. It's the fact that he was simply racing. I think regardless of what top speed was achieved, racing is simply racing and the court would probably see it that way too.

What what the speeding zone where you got busted? You'll cop the fine for speeding if it's over regardless. Then it's a case of arguing the case that you were racing.

[Roy]

Another word of caution... try and find the proper definition of the "street racing" charge, you may find that its worded so it encompasses a quick blat between any two cars up to or under the speed limit, such as a merging lane 200mtrs after a set of lights.

If this is the case then you may have a tough time proving you werent racing if the law defines street racing as something as generic as heavy acceleration in conjunction with another vehicle????

[hippy]

so how fast do u have to go to be street racing?? say u just took off fast as u were in a hurry still staying to the speed limit ... and someone else decides to go off fast too ... how are they meant to know the diff??

[Silver-Arrowz]

It probably would come down to the cops decision as to whether the two of you were racing or not.

[Clint32]

Provding there is no wheel spin and you stop at the speed limit, you have not realy commited an offence.

But anyone who purposley races someone from the lites to 30k over the speed limit, with traffic around them is running a big risk, if you get cought bad luck, no one to blame but yourself.

Is all about time and place

[pentae]

I would admit to speeding, and heavily deny racing. Say you have no interest in racing another car, you where simply in a hurry to get to where you where going. You even slowed down to let the other car through.. the police can possibly verify that. Argue that if you where racing, why would you slow down for another car?

Isn't racing about trying to go faster than another car?

[Duncan]

clint32, I understand this is a specific offence of "street racing". I would love to know what constitues racing in a magistrate's eye because I often leave light quickly to give myself a more "open" road....

[carlo]

Firstly I am going to say that what Roy is saying is spot on. You cant go into court and say the police officer was lying. First because you would just lying and the judges job is to figure out who is lying and who is not and secondly its just wrong.

Your best option is to go speak to a lawyer, go to court and contest the punishment. The court will then decide what to do, they can release your car and drop the fines. You may still lose points but it might only be for speeding.

Now for those who have an issue with the whole impounding thing, stop bashing on the cops. I have been fined twice for speeding and while I was pissed it is not the cops fault, its the laws which he is PAID to enforce.

I have also been followed by police and find that at times they are a pain in the ass. But they are only doing 2 things..

1. Going with what they know. Alot of people who drive performance cars break the law. So they pay extra attention to performance cars.

2. They are only enforcing the laws written and put into place buy the various government bodies. If you have an issue with these laws then petition the government.

[silverskyline]

did u admit that u raced,

[Warpspeed]

It seems to me, that to be racing there needs to be more than one car doing the same thing at the same place and time.

If you were going a bit quick ALL BY YOURSELF that is obviously not street racing.

But if the cops pull over two cars and nail both of you for racing, I think you would be stuffed.

[Roy]

I have also been followed by police and find that at times they are a pain in the ass

Another reason is often they follow a car long enough to check the plates of a car, to see if it has been reported stolen, a car of a similar description has been used/witnesses at a scene of a crime, or the owner has suspended licence/warrants.

If any of the above is the case then i can perfectly understand the driver being pulled over, even if your a clean skin and pulled over, as long as both parties conduct themselves with a a degree of maturity an respect for one another then i have no prob with it.

Look at it this way, if my car gets stolen then its more likely to catch the eye of the Police (So ppl say, but i have never really been the focus of their attention) and car hopefully recovered.

[Warpspeed]

One little trick that often works when you see the police following immediately behind, and you know you have done nothing wrong.

Adjust your internal rear view mirror, the cop will see you do this and realise he has been seen and lost the element of surprise. He also realises you are wide awake, watching all around, and not about to do something really dumb. In every case, the cop has suddenly changed lanes and accelerated off into the distance (hehehe).

This has worked for me quite a few times. The police just cruise around looking for something a bit out of the ordinary. They will just sit behind someone waiting for them to change lanes and fail to indicate, or clip double lines or something.

On the other hand if you want to go for a fang, and you get spotted, you are going to get done no matter what. Simple.

[ron]

had a read in my GF's law book last nite. was called something like law & litigation or something.

it goes. .. for a police officer to make an arrest, he/she has to use his/her own judgement to call the arrest. no matter if they are right or wrong in the judgement call, the arrest and fine/s will be issued. after that its all up to the magistrate to determine the outcomes of the case."

this is where i think is the weak link in our legal system, how can ones judgement/opinion be the same as another?

we young skyline drivers fit into this weak link perfectly, and we automatically give out the right to be judged on.

M3boy let us know the outcomes after seeking legal help will ya?

im sure we all would like to know the outcomes.

good luck

ron

[m3boy]

A huge thank you to all who have posted on this thread, not matter it be shaking their head or supporting none the less. All of your input is valuable to me now. Tomorrow i will be speaking to a lawyer, which is dam costly, but thats the way it goes.

I did not admit to anything at the time, as i have already been reading these forums and everyone says admit nothing if pulled over as it can be incrimiating.

I'll keep you all posted on the outcome.

Is there any lawyers out there in SAU members? would love some help from you!

[GTS26DETT]

Heres what you do buddy, speak with Mr Soarer and get your stories straight, get a lawyer and deny having raced the soarer, instead this was a situation of confusion...you really needed to get into the lane the soarer was in, you werent racing just needed to get into his lane and make your turnoff and rather than waiting for the soarer you wanted to get in front of the soarer. As long as you didnt wheel spin the most they can do is get you for acceleration, they obviously had no idea how fast you where going....so it should be okay.

[firebladejr]

ok I've been in a similiar situation..

The story is way too long to list here but I'll keep it simple.

Basically I was on probation for a year (had 2 weeks left). I got pulled over going through an amber light, under the speed limit and was followed by another car. About 1km up the road a cop hit the sirens and pulled me over (letting the guy that went through after me keep going). Both cops stated a "red light" offence. I argued amber until I turned blue. Heaps of attempts to defect the car were made (wheels, exhaust, headlights, suspension, etc) however I also argued out of these. As i was near home I called my dad and asked him to come down to be a witness. I refused to talk and locked the car until dad got there.

Ended up taking it to court with a lawyer and I won the case. Nothing satisfies like the feeling of beating unfair cops the legal way and smiling at them the whole way out of the court room

In this case I wasn't doing anything wrong and can honestly say that for the whole time I was on probation I truly did behave myself.

Also, to the previously mentioned post re getting ur car stolen and needing cops for help.. bwaaahahahahah

They will never help with that. I have 5 experiences with that, yes thats FIVE. Not once was I helped satisfactorily. I was actually asked once after the cops arrived at the scene "well what do u want us to do? call the theft hotline"... dumb bastards.

Good luck m3boy, I hope u get the outcome ur after.

[Ozzy]

Warpspeed & Roy - You are obviously two level headed, mature blokes. Yeah, if it happened to me I'd be pissed off, and probably contest the impound.

M3boy - If the police have a reasonable belief that you were drag racing, the you can have your car impounded up to ten days after the alleged offence. The law was specifically designed to combat illegal street drags, so get a lawyer, go to court and maybe you will get away with proving that you were just speeding. If they didn't charge you with speeding, then perhaps you will get away scott free. Good luck, and what the others said...tell the truth in court. Be true to yourself.

INASNT - 1. We meet again my forum e-nemesis. It will make you happy that I have removed the GTR badges that were on my car when I imported it from Japan. (I know they annoyed you and caused you many sleepless nights, and I feel terrible for that)

2. Why are you so angry. The coppers do something to you? Why do you constantly preach anarchy to all and sundry on this forum. Your views are extremely left wing. As stated, if your car was stolen, who ya gunna call??....surely not those rotten coppers?

3. 'Something that I'd like to say, but can't because the moderator's will have a go at me'

Ozzy

[m3boy]

Update on the situation, police report is seriously flawwed, they didnt get a single fact correct. More to follow...

[m3boy]

Hey fireblade, thanks man. By the way..i just i'll have to wait a bit longer for my window tint!

[EnricoPalazzo]

Dude i got pulled over ages ago... I wasnt speeding, so i fought it out at court. The police report was totally different to what was happening. the time the offence occured was incorrect, the road i was pulled over was incorrect, the way they measured my speed was bs.

Also in regards to recoving cars, my mates car got stolen in the beginning of this year. He was notified 2 months later, yet the car had been sitting in the impound for 7 weeks.

WTF wer they doin the whole time.