Car Enthusiasts Read This

[kawasakirider]

This forum and all other car forums around the country are suffering a constant barrage of posts from disgruntled members who have been unjustly treated by the police. It has been a reoccuring issue for a long time, the future of our hobby is bleak if we continue to roll over and let this happen. The reasons for which some police officers are issuing people fines are becoming ridiculous.

The people allowing this to happen are unbelievable, it's extremely unjust. It's persecution and it is rarely accepted by anyone these days, so why should we have to accept it? This sort of treatment shouldn't be part and parcel of owning a modified car. Someone has to speak up and represent car enthusiasts in the right manner, it is the only way for this to cease. It is time for a change.

I propose that all car enthusiasts from Australia join forces to launch a petition that actually has some weight behind it, rather than just people signing a bit of paper. We need Engineers to put together statements concisely explaining to every day non enthusiasts that, if modified correctly, vehicles do not pose a safety risk and in fact, can be safer than their stock counterparts. We need someone to be a spokesperson for the campaign; a person that has the ability to speak in a way that people remember and understand. The fact that enthusiasts are responsible people needs to be stressed, but it has to go deeper than that.

We need to convey how much the car scene benefits society. It boosts our economy greatly, it employs hundreds of thousands of people and it keeps people on the straight and narrow, doing something that, contrary to popular belief, is productive. Often, motorsport is a great family orientated hobby/sport, one that stresses safety is of the utmost importance. We need the general public and the people who can pull the strings to hear this side of what we are all so passionate about!

This could be done with little cost, by utilising free media like YouTube and Facebook to launch a campaign. Getting enough interest should be fairly easy, there are an array of Australian car enthusiast forums and I'm certain (well I'd like to think) that most, if not all members would sign a petition and get behind a campaign such as this. Who knows; by pushing our side of the story through forums like YouTube and Facebook, maybe we will even gain more enthusiasts, or at the very least change some people's minds about us.

I believe it's possible and I'm prepared to get involved. If anyone wants to have a crack at this, let's get the ball rolling. Anyone have any ideas about what else we need to launch a campaign? Any web designers, videographers or engineers on here that want to give it a go?

One person getting slapped with a fine can't do anything, but there's strength in numbers if people actually pull their fingers out and do something about it. Many minority groups rally for their causes. We can do the same, if we project the right image to the public, rather than carrying on like the immature imbeciles that ACA selectively include in their sensationalist stories, then we may be in with a shot. Let the law abiding members, which is the majority of us, fly the flag for our hobby. It has got to be better than letting some angry idiot getting defected for his poking 23's rave about how dodgy the cops are on ACA.

Let's make some noise!

Edited January 26, 2012 by kawasakirider

[kawasakirider]

No idea why the iPad finds it too difficult to post with proper paragraphs....

[Longz]

i am in LETS RIOT !!!

In Australia we bend over n cop it

IN UK THEY RIOT !!!

Edited January 26, 2012 by Longz

[045HOW]

All i can say is lol.

[GTR-N1]

You'll have more clout if you're a paid-up member > and the SAU state Board liaises with other clubs and CAMS.

What state are you living in?

You're onto something.

I encourage you to not lose your keenness on this.

[OVA 300]

There is and always will be MORE dickhead drivers than there are cops doing the wrong thing.

Every single day I lose count of the number of morons on the roads who drive as if they are the only ones on it.

f**kwits who think it's fine to play with their phones, oblivious to all around them and then get the shits when you tell them to wake up because they're swaying all over the place 10kmh slower than everyone around them.

Half the population must have broken indicators and have no idea how to merge or drive through a roundabout.

Edited January 26, 2012 by OVA 300

[the_wolf]

Agreed tez, although it with take alot of planning to do it the right way with the right people, but there are so many forums/car clubs that if we just all can sit down and liase/brainstorm a bit.....the resources we would have between us are more than enough. BUT.

We need our point/s to be very very clear, simple and precise.

All I can say for sure is that the abovementioned points need to end up distancing us from the likes of the people shown on ACA...

But for it to work at all, the right words in the right context need to be used for this to stay relevant, it's not enough to just say that the industry employs so many bla bla bla

Because at the end of the day joe public and the police don't care about that.

They care about goons street racing, ripping skids and disobeying the road rules. I think a good starting point is to convey the message that those actions are ones that are publicized too much, wrongly In the name of our whole scene. As ACA had done here. The nitty gritty in and outs of us are never seen. Not the sensible majority who just want to be left alone on public roads and follow the rules, getting our kicks on the track which we pay good money for. And of course this side would not be publicized... It's not good ratings and won't stir the shit pot.

But the police and joe public need to see this side, and that this side is the far majority of the car scene.

There must be a big line to publicly seperate us clearly as sensible car enthusiasts as oppose to hoons, on ACA the public was being fed

The like of. "they call themselves car enthusiasts, but these hoons bla bla". The line is currently non existent to the people who can make our lives s whole lot easier.

<end rant>

But it has to be very well organized by the car forums/clubs of oz and will take alot of work behjnd the scenes contacting people at the top of each forum etc.will need more of a "team" of people I think, can be done though...I am getting sick of not being able to drive down the road...following the rules only to be targeted by highway/police because apparently your car tells them everything about you as a person...and in our case, that definition is currently hoon. And will be treated accordingly, all tarred with the same brush

[kawasakirider]

1327610355[/url]' post='6205702']

You'll have more clout if you're a paid-up member > and the SAU state Board liaises with other clubs and CAMS.

What state are you living in?

You're onto something.

I encourage you to not lose your keenness on this.

I'm in qld, haven't paid up because I don't own a skyline (only a p plater).

To the people saying "lol" good on ya. If you're happy being forced to pay fines just because you own a modded car, sit back and let it happen! To the bloke that highlighted how many terrible drivers there are on the street, you're right and we can use this to our advantage. We need to distance ourselves from idiots. It should be easy enough to do if we can demonstrate how well organised the car clubs are and how much emphasis is put on safety. Most car forums do frown upon street racing and hooning, we need to put that image out their for the public to see.

[SargeRX8]

98% of idiot drivers I see on the roads don't even own import cars, or cars an enthusiast drives. More often than not, these idiot drivers are either in a civic, integra, ford xr, toyota camry or a commodore.

Its just easier to make money from someone who just spent all their money on their car.

[kawasakirider]

So let's do something about it.

[sydking]

I'm keen as mate, ive been thinking of something like this aswell last couple days, Just not sure how to go about it all.

[The Bogan]

Get your car engineered or keep it stock, dont dress it up to look like some FnF wanna be, obey the law, simple.

There will always be idiots that will cause trouble, these people will be the ones the story on ACA or whatnot are based on, but everyone will pay for it, it was the same 30 yrs ago when I first got my licence, and its only going to get tougher.

People are sheep and if the TV says that import drivers are hoons then import drivers are hoons, they will pick and choose random images to use to make it all exciting and dangerous looking, which isnt hard when every night some idiot is doing burnouts, speeding, or some other stupid thing on public roads and now with every man and his dog recording it on their phones and posting on some web site or another which makes their job so much easier.

You will never get a story about how a correctly modified car is safer than stock, or how the owners promote safe driving, no excitement, no sensationalism, people dont want to hear about that, they want some idiot who did a burn out to mouth off at the police, they want a car to run from the police and crash and burn, that sells news.

All we can do is follow the rules and regulations that are placed before us and deal with the outcomes, if you fight the system you will lose, you are not fighting for peoples human rights, you are not a crusading for child safety, you are fighting for a hobby whose regulations you dont like.

Car modifiers wouldnt even make up 0.1% of the population IMO, and the regular car owners couldnt give a stuff if modifications were banned alltogether, but, the 99.9% of the population love to see some "hoons" on TV when they are sitting on the lounge.

We are a minority, we can be smart and keep our heads down, speak out against the idiots, promote road safety, and deal with the issues as they arise the best we can, or we can get political against the majority, which in my opinion would be like inviting genicide.

[kawasakirider]

We don't need ACA to air a story about the good aspects of the hobby, we can promote it ourselves if people that don't have a defeatist attitude are prepared to have a go. It will get to the point that any modification will be defectable, if you're content with sitting back and watching then sobeit.

Black duck has been shut down due to deaths in the past, only to be reopened by a minority group of motocross riders rallying for it to be open again. If a detailed report landed on the desks of the big shots of the RTA, Vic roads and qld transport, along with a petition, it is more likely to entertain the person calling the shots. The report and the promotion of it all is what is important, we need to get the right message out before we send off a petition. If we can do that, THEN get a multitude of signatures, then we have a chance of setting a precedent of what is acceptable when modifying a car. It would be a hell of a lot better than waiting until we get fines and lose our licenses because our car has been lowered or has a loud exhaust.

Take the Vortex exhausts for example, systems like this are legal and stock on many cars, but slap it on an import and you get a defect. This doesn't make sense and every part of our judicial system operates on precedence. This would have to be taken into account if the matter went to court and was brought up. They must make it fair for everyone.

[the_wolf]

There will be many options on action to take against all this. One thing is for sure though....if it keeps going this way..in 10 years ANY mod will be illegal.

I really don't want to see this scene and culture die out that's all....

[The Bogan]

Southern Sporting Car Club (SSCC) have been doing this, inviting police to meetings, having cars shows "cops and rodders" but in the end nothing much has happened to change public opinions.

BAN LOW PERFORMANCE DRIVERS NOT HIGH PERFORMANCE CARS, was a phrase they came up with years ago, pity that the 99.9% of the majority of people feel threatened by that phrase.

In the end you should go for it, fill your boots, if you can get your point across, more power to you.

Its a bit like not being able to have a beer at a BBQ on the beach anymore, a few idiots who think they are above all others have ruined it for everyone, all your good work can come unstuck by 1 idiot doing burnouts.

You would be better of to push for compulsory advanced driver training before a licence is issued, yearly retests of licencing, and harsher fines and jail terms for serious offences, these proposals would at least be given some thought by the powers that be.

Having a licence is a privilge, not a right.

[Daleo]

I think the other interesting issue with the ACA report, was the way they deliberately tarred "Car enthusiasts; people who like to modify their cars" as "Hoons". Excuse me?

Their standard "burnouts and donuts" footage is getting stale, so they just go after an entire community; because you might like a different set of wheels or paint colour than what the manufacturer supplies.

Honestly; putting a light meter on factory tinted "privacy glass". These guys know; and they love a soft target. But then you get guys with 117dB exhausts giving them a free hit...

The biggest issue now, (apart for the fact that the RTA thinks it can just make its own laws) is that EVERY licensed engineer is having to re-apply to be re-certified. All the old guys that know the rules, and will engineer cars and mods that the RTA doesn't like, are being pushed out.

A friend has just jumped through all the hoops, and been certified, said that ANY car that didn't come factory fitted with forced induction; will pass engineering if it has aftermarket forced induction. NONE; full stop. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

All the little loopholes have been closed, and life is just going to get harder. The RTA (or whatever it is that they are called now) want no one to modify cars AT ALL, and are doing everything in their power to ram through all their self serving nonsense at a parliamentary level, but for once they are actually meeting some stiff resistance.

A couple of years ago there were reports within the RTA that stated a policy of effectively banning Motorbikes from the streets; and Motorbikes were not part of the planning process for road safety or policy changes. This was fought, and motorbikes/scooters had to be formally recognised in State/Federal road safety/planning documents. The rigorous L's and P's training for Motorcyclists was introduced by the RTA; essentially as a disincentive to people who wanted to ride. Now; rider deaths & injuries are steadily declining; the numbers consistently go down year to year. this is in spite of the fact that more and more people are riding. The little guys can win.

These kind of sensationalist tabloid reports just make it harder for the MP's that want to stand up to the bullying bureaucrats within the RTA.

We need to play smart; engineer our mods, and not give people an excuse to tar us with the "Hoon" brush. Especially now that being an "Enthusiast" is somehow tantamount to criminal behaviour.

[045HOW]

http://www.boostcruising.com.au/forums/index.php?showtopic=797983&hl=

[kawasakirider]

http://www.boostcrui...opic=797983&hl=

So? You have to get ACA out of your head, they are not needed.

[The Bogan]

So? You have to get ACA out of your head, they are not needed.

But this is where the general poplulation get there info from, what people see on TV regulates what issues they see as a threat and what is brought up at loal council meetings, from the local it goes to state, from state it goes to federal.

ACA not needed ? the people sitting on the lounge watching this rubbish make their discisions on voting and such on what the media tells them, how can you think you change things if you think that doesnt matter.

The media and what they vomit may be incorrect, seem unfair and is bias, but Joe Public bases there views on what they see and are told is a threat.

And reporters are paid for a good story that gets airtime, fear, terror, violance, sensationalism, people crave these things,and the media supplies.

We may be passionate about our hobby, they are not.

Gun laws anyone ?

[Berk]

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