Melbourne? Whats with the EPA and the Police - discuss here

[Starionturbo]

guys,

I am sickened by reading posts every day about someone being EPAd or dicked by the cops. How do you guys put up with it. I mean I came over from WA and I sold my car because I couldnt handle the hassle and the serious threatening I got from the police.

How do you guys handle it. Im beginning to think that I will never be able to own a performance car in melbourne actually. Ive seen the way you guys drive and most of the time you guys are really sensible etc.

If this sorta thing went on in Perth, people wouldnt beleive it. Is there ANYTHING you guys are gonna do to stop or protest it ?

I know a lot of you and Myself even work hard and pay a lot of money to buy our cars, maintain them and we take pride in them, and ur getting harrassed like some sort of criminal. Lots of ppl interstate cant comprehend how bad the situation is.

Funny thing is, with all these police, hefty fines and cops pretty much everywhere- there are other idiots on the road in just normal family cars or shitboxes killing people and running a muck and they get away with it.

Please feel free to have a discussion- maybe a joint movement of car enthusiast protesting against this harrassment. Id love to see people able to enjoy there cars in Peace, seeing everyone out cruising on a nice day not worrying about the next cop around the corner.

I mean come on - fair enough if someone is caught speeding or doing a burnout, fine them and defect them or whatever - dont pull over the person whos quietly getting along not breaking laws for no reason.

[Ait]

Welcome to Dicktoria - Home of Revenue Bracks

I've given up on reasoning ideas with police. Sometimes it just takes a bunch of idiots in sports cars to get a blanket solution on every sports car owner. Of course if you look oldish and in your 40s, driving a skyline, they probably wouldn't hassle you too much. Now how's that for generalisation?

[pinoi_boi_r33]

i think a lot of the hassles have come from 1 cop, we all know his name and where he is. But people still parade out front of knox? Personally, driving a modded r33 gtst on my p's i have not had any bad experiences with police, i stay away from knox/chapel street and other hotspots. Yes i have been epa'd which i passed fine (85dB) the policewoman that gave it to me was very polite and kind to me and she didn't canary me when she easily could have. I've also been canaried once for bald tyres, which where worn on the inside (i didn't notice) due to the negative camber. Again the cop was nice and he didn't fine me nor did he stick it up on my window. It just depends on the cop and the situation i guess.

That being said i do agree that this state seems to have 2 tmo/tog for every ciu or the like. But it wouldn't matter if it were bracks or doyle, do u think things will change with doyle? Ofcourse not. And i don't think a few performance car people are really gonna make a difference because the media have portrayed our community as a bunch of hoons and so the general public take it as gospel. Its sad but its the way it is.

[predator]

just get rid of Bracks.. who cares whether things change.. if the issue is found to be a vote winner to lighten up on the police state.

I mean its ridiculous. Like I have been saying, I saw about 20 cops pull people over in the space of 2 weeks, which I would see in about 2 months in QLD. And yet my car is outside my old man's place (in Bayswater.. knox area) for literally 2 hours during broad daylight, and some **** has the gaul to try and break in.

I come out onto Mountain Hwy a day or so later (about 200m away from where all this happened) and there is a cop sitting with the radar. If he had been patrolling the streets, rather than sitting on his fat ass with a radar gun for probably hours - trying to show a police presence and reduce crime, this punk probably wouldn't have even got away with it. The priority is too much on revenue - it went way past "safety" many years ago, and yet I would say the place is worse off than even 12 months ago when I left. Why would I ever want to go back to that?

Victoria doesn't feel any more "safe" than any of the other states. I just remember all these lines of cars riding their brakes down hills so as to not creep that 3km/hr over.. it was a laugh, and actually quite pathetic from my perspective.

[paulr33]

The resoning behind police, well at least the concept was to patroll the streets and provide a "presence" in the area to prevent crime from happening. Resolution of the crime is left to detectives and forensic staff. So I guess you could say that doesn't really count anymore as they are making a presence to the car performance scene but nothing else? Have figures for robbery, theft, vandalism in other areas such as suburban streets declined? Are there less house robberies now? Probably not as there is no presence in the area. I went through a booze bus yesterday, they were about to wave me through but saw my car and then pulled me to the side, did full roadworthy check and gave me a warning. No big deal and I was fine with it but maybe they are focusing too much on the "hoon" stereotype

[Starionturbo]

Well, the bad part is I lived in Vermont South and the cop Pettet pulled me over less than 100 m away from home. Knox is just next suburb.

I mean come on - I used to go to knox (in my company car) and see idiots hooning around in hothatches, Commondores and Imports and none of there cars get done - sometimes I see the same cars over and over again. Does this guy only attack Skylines and Silvia/200sxs?

All I can say is that you melbourne guys are missing out on enjoying driving your cars - as someone mentioned, you have to worry about going 3 kays over the limit. I notice that no one even cruises much there, and if it is, its small,and cops still somehow hang around.

[hellrazorette]

"All I can say is that you melbourne guys are missing out on enjoying driving your cars"

Indeed, thats why we are considering moving back interstate...

I'm sick of seeing the car on our street driving to and from work every day with no hassles.. his magna has a boot tied down with rope, due to backing into a pole it would seem, a smashed indicator.. did I mention its been like that for FOUR YEARS.

Of course within a month of being here my partner got defected for just BARELY unRW rear tyres.

The other week on the Eastern we were SURE that a P plater commodore in a v8 would get pulled over. He entered the freeway and went straight across the lanes til he was 1/2m behind me, then pulled into the right lane and went roaring off (maybe 125/130).. until he realised there was a cop car 2 cars behind him. We were all excited waiting for the cop to pull him over.. only to see the cop go across 3 lanes and take the next exit. Theres no way he didnt see that. Not only speeding but a dangerous wanker driver in a commodore (as usual).. and getting away with it.

[ylwgtr2]

I have never had any issue with police/epa in my car...and its not exactly quiet...it kind of stands out too and its an everyday car.....so i clock up the klms

[Sinista32]

Sheeezus - I think I'll just avoid Melbourne 4eva.

I think if you all move to QLD that'd sort it. They seem to have big Skyline community up there and not suffering like you folks.

I'm up in Canberra, my Skyline stands out with a CF bonnet + Cwest wing, and I haven't been harrased yet. Well once, but I was a tad over the speed limit. After 25 minute discussion and pointing out all the mods on my car I was on my way with advice to get it all engineered. I always get the look from the boyz in blue who I think are waiting/hoping for me to light it up.

Unless I'm doing something stupid I dont think they will pull me over for anything more than a closer look (4 times since Sept). Generally I get to blow in the tube (reason for stopping me), Maybe just good cops and the other type havn't seen me yet.

It's a bit of Russian roulette as far as the RTA is concerned tho. I hope they never stop me!

[Starionturbo]

Look

I know what you guys mean - some ppls cars stand out too much and they drive like idiots and get caught - fair enough. I had a black car, not too flash rims, not too low and everything permitted and I got pulled over doing a Legal U turn to pull into my street.

Now my mate on here from melbounre with a GTR has been dicked by the police- as he was reversing, some old idiot who was speeding thru a carpark rear ended him. The cops came and blamed the WHOLE thing on him and even proceeded to give the car a thorough check to hand out a defect. CAN YOU BELEIVE THAT? All because he was Asian and was too nice to say to the cop "**** off your full of shit and you cant treat or talk to me like that".

Im sick of Melbournes Nazi police.Corruption and special treatment is how they operate - soon youll be having to drive around with a wad of cash just to pay em to leave ya alone.

[JAPCAB]

bah i've had it with my skyline. Its an r33 gts-t, and it used to have a straight pipe exhaust (no cat or resonator). I got reemed leb style so many times it has come to the point where if i cant have my car the way i want it (with the loud exhaust/bov/boost controller etc) then i'm forced to sell it because i'll never settle driving it stock.

I'm finally throwing in the rag and getting rid of something that i love so much because its costed me so much; financially and also wasting time going to and from vicroads clearing canaries, EPA, fines etc. Yes the stage has come where imports are public enemy number one and an easy pick for any cop because 9/10 skylines can be defected - you might get the odd stock example but other than that there is at least a BOV/Exhaust/bald tyres or something a cop can pick you for.

At the end of the day i've come to realise that i'm in the wrong by having an illegally modified car and there is nothing you can do about it to fix the problem except by making your car legal or to be happy with getting arse ****ed. I always used to think 'f*ck the cops...after i clear this canary/EPA, everything is going back on again etc' but its only wasted me heaps of money in fines/canaries. I'm so fed up with being pulled over, when i drive its like i'm some sort of fugitive on the run from the law, always looking in my rearview for cops, i cant take my car where i want to either. One time i cleared a canary on a friday morning, and the next saturday night, bang another canary slapped on. I've had my skyline a year and in that time 7 canaries, 3 EPA, countless fines, loss of licence. Sure i had my fun but it came at a cost!

[R33Hesh]

man if all this happnd back in sri lanka, the first cop to stop me would b in so much of shit i swear!!!

[83_R30_Hatch]

I think its time for some direct action against these terrorists, surely there is a way to organize hundreds, or even thousands of car enthusiests to rally in the city, or create rolling road blocks to get our message across, sure disrupting traffic will cause a bit of collateral damage to our cause, but the only way to win against such a vicious enemy is to comitt a few 'nessecary evil's' to get the message across.

Heck, I didn't win Letter of the Month in October 2003 edition of Motor Magazine for nothing, but sadly I have never been able to find the resources, and sheer numbers of people, to follow through with my proposals:(

Lets make 2005 our year of Victory and take these terrorists down!

[nismo818]

It seems to me almost everyone here has had some bad experience with the Vic Cops/EPA/RTA or some similar Terrorist Group. I lived in Queensland for 3 years previously, I never ever had such problems before. But i can tell you Melbourne is a totally different thing.

What really pisses me off, as some have mentioned, is that whenever I drive my import, I feel like a CRIMINAL. I have to keep looking at my rear view mirror, and i DO get nervous whenever a Commodore or Manga or any colour comes behind me. What the hell is going on? Why are we car import lovers made to suffer like that?

True, many of us have illegal modifications hidden under the bonnets of our cars. But we are targeted like we are Robbers, murderers and Rapists. Hell, I don't even think the cops put in so much effort in solving such crimes!

Instead of patrolling the streets looking out for the real criminals, these cops seem to have so much time on their hands sitting around and targeting imports the whole day long. Can someone explain to me what a "Cop" is? I thought Cops go around catching the bad guys, so r we considered a bunch of criminals?

One can argue that we are breaking the law by having mods & so on, but then again, there are so many other laws being broken everyday in other aspects. Why are we being targeted specifically? Don't the cops have anything better to do? Maybe we are employing too many of them.

Isn't there something we can do here? I would like to hear some ideas/suggestions. Are there any lawyers or someone familiar with the law in this forum who can give some advice?

[Roy]

I dont agree with some of the drama some owners are enduring.

But dont forget ppl, if we tar all police officers with the same brush, then we too can be accused of the same poor attitude we are complaining about. The police know there are ppl with cars irrespective of make that are time bombs, take for eg a Skyline with

big high mount, ECU pumping thru 11:1 A/Fs with no cat doing burnouts/thrashing on public roads with his 95db wastegate keeing ma & pa awake at night. They exist but they aint the norm.

Now with Police, sure there are those that are whether instructed to target, or choose to target young ppl in cars, or certain makes of cars, and do so. The fact that Skylines are popular with car theives and they are doing rego checks etc has some merit, but....where do you stop?

So far my own personal experience with a Vic officer was when i had a few drinks and a friend was driving me home in his yellow 180SX. I made him go to a kebab place in the city on the way home, and with him being from SA turned down a one way street the wrong way..threw it in reverse and back out onto the mainroad right in front of a marked police car. The officer pulled him over, a few questions and licence check we

were on our way:)

The police force (or do they like it to be called service these days ) is a big machine, and there are countless task forces, plain clothes officers, detectives etc busting their asses with little thanks. Because highway and some general duty officers cruise around looking for 'hoons'...well lets not forget thats only what those certain officers are doing.

Somewhere esle in the state is an officer at the end of a 16hr shift finishing a brief for a court appearance hoping to lock up a pedaphile, or doing surveillance on a sh1tbag with weapons and assault charges....there are some bad ppl out there.

[R33Hesh]

Roy ma man, couldnt put it in a better way bro.

[JAPCAB]

sure i dont disagree with the fact that the cops have a vendetta against import drivers. If a cop pulls you over once the chances are if he sees you again your going to get pulled over again. Once your known to a few TMU officers u'll get your chops busted at every chance they get.

There are new EPA fines of $511 for first offence and $2500 for second offence. This is no doubt a direct result from the cops sending every import car they can get their hands on into EPA. EPA are sick of guys coming in with a stock exhaust, clearing the EPA then changing it back. Its a waste of time for them. Lately with the cops sending so many people there in an attempt to kerb the repeat offenders they have started issuing fines. $511 the first time...fair enough you could pay it but $2500 fine...not many people would be willing to risk it.

Its simple. If you dont want to get canaried/EPA'd then keep your car legal. The cops can pull you over and they cant touch you. If you dont want to abide by the rules then please be prepared to happily bend over and recieve when the time comes when you get pulled over. They have only launched this offensive because a) bad publicity B) revenue raising c) there loads of people doing the wrong thing and you cant get away with it anymore. why shouldn't they cash in on this opportunity? thousands of skyline owners are happily handing over hundreds of dollars each in fines. The import scene exploded and there are heaps of illegally modified cars. At the end of the day the cops arent doing anything wrong, you are by having illegal mods.

[WLD747]

I think someone should send a email to seven sunrise / current affair / today tonight to bring up this issue. Once this issue is raised in the media it should change the way the victorian police force and epa are working (stop revenue raising).

[GR33DY]

hey guys.. i used to havea an R33 series 2 gtst and had it for 3 months.. got 3 canaries during that time and had to sell it as hard as it was coz of the trouble.. i bought a 2002 spec S S15 abt 3 weeks ago just becuase its legal to have on ur P's and is turbo'd and i thought it was australian delivered that cops wouldnt treat me that bad.. lol as sif.. Driving home from work one night i get pulled over.. My car is as stock as a rock man not one single mod yet lol... Anyways i was asked to lift my bonnet, and they couldnt find nething.. so they walked around my car looking for something to be wrong.. then .... he said my car is too low.. I said to the officer its stock its not lowered how can u say that.. i told him to measure it.. he wouldnt, instead he tried to convince me that the springs had been cut.. went home with a minor defect..

its F*****G not FAIR!!!!! And that Officer P****t Pig in Knox is a total ass...

I have written countless letters to Today tonight and a current affair but no response coz they probably too busy filming some weight loss documentary shit... ARGH... The only good thing is that i know there are ppl who feel the exact same as me..

Rob...

[R32Big_boy]

Yep, thats all sorts of fu(ked up right there. I sympathize with you there gr33dy, the fact that they can go and decfect a stock out of the factory car is an absoulte joke. it makes my bloody boil when you know that police have the right to make a decision that is based on a personal belief rather than a proven fact.

The fu(k sticks in the government that wrote these laws wrote them up so that if the police thought it was unroadworthy then they are allowed to say it is, without proving it otherwise. What ever happened to innoncent untill proven guilty???