I live in Ontario, where a recent law gives police the ability to yank both a driver’s license and vehicle on the side of the road with no due process.
At the officer’s discretion, instant license cancellation and vehicle impounding can be enacted upon anyone who violates one of several driving laws under a ‘stunt-driving’ umbrella. Qualifying infractions include racing another vehicle, traveling 50 km/h or more above the speed limit, driving too closely to another car, or spinning ones tires.
Though Ontario’s street-racing new law was designed to crack down on an overhyped racing epidemic, it’s nabbed a whole pile of violators who aren’t the stereotypical male enthusiasts in modified ‘street-racing’ machines. Parents, minivan drivers, and even grandmothers have all been left on the roadside.
Apparently, the behavior this law seeks to punish only accounts for a fraction of a percent of traffic-related deaths.
Sure, going 50 over the speed limit or drag racing on a public road is full and proper stupidity. Thing is, like many, I’ve only ever seen a handful of street-racers in real life. In winter, like many reading this, I see far more people at the wheel who almost totally lack the ability to safely operate a vehicle in bad weather.
So, why not apply enforcement efforts towards a real threat? What about an all-catching super-law designed to punish incompetent motorists who risk their lives, and those of others, with their driving in wintertime?
You or I could lose our license for spinning tires. What about the guy who drives peering out a fist-sized hole in his frosted-up windshield? Or the driver with no washer fluid and old wiper blades, looking outwards through heavy streaks of salt?
Do you drive after dark in the snow with only your running lights on? Have you ever sped your minivan dangerously past slower traffic in a blizzard because you have ‘aggressive all season tires’? Or, maybe you’re the guy going 40 km/h slower than everyone else because you’re totally freaked out by driving in the snow.
Offenders like those above would be easy for police to spot, too. Often times, they’re parked conveniently in a ditch or ravine. Many even consider falling snow an ‘emergency’, and activate their emergency flashers as a warning sign.
If any of the above sound like you, I hope you’ll stay the heck off the roads. If you don’t, I hope someday the cops pull you over, yank your license, and stick your vehicle into impound. It would make winter driving safer and easier for those of us Canadians who have a clue.
Oh—by the way, Ottawa... most car enthusiasts aren’t street racers. In fact, many are more attentive, skilled and courteous drivers than the majority.
At the officer’s discretion, instant license cancellation and vehicle impounding can be enacted upon anyone who violates one of several driving laws under a ‘stunt-driving’ umbrella. Qualifying infractions include racing another vehicle, traveling 50 km/h or more above the speed limit, driving too closely to another car, or spinning ones tires.
Though Ontario’s street-racing new law was designed to crack down on an overhyped racing epidemic, it’s nabbed a whole pile of violators who aren’t the stereotypical male enthusiasts in modified ‘street-racing’ machines. Parents, minivan drivers, and even grandmothers have all been left on the roadside.
Apparently, the behavior this law seeks to punish only accounts for a fraction of a percent of traffic-related deaths.
Sure, going 50 over the speed limit or drag racing on a public road is full and proper stupidity. Thing is, like many, I’ve only ever seen a handful of street-racers in real life. In winter, like many reading this, I see far more people at the wheel who almost totally lack the ability to safely operate a vehicle in bad weather.
So, why not apply enforcement efforts towards a real threat? What about an all-catching super-law designed to punish incompetent motorists who risk their lives, and those of others, with their driving in wintertime?
You or I could lose our license for spinning tires. What about the guy who drives peering out a fist-sized hole in his frosted-up windshield? Or the driver with no washer fluid and old wiper blades, looking outwards through heavy streaks of salt?
Do you drive after dark in the snow with only your running lights on? Have you ever sped your minivan dangerously past slower traffic in a blizzard because you have ‘aggressive all season tires’? Or, maybe you’re the guy going 40 km/h slower than everyone else because you’re totally freaked out by driving in the snow.
Offenders like those above would be easy for police to spot, too. Often times, they’re parked conveniently in a ditch or ravine. Many even consider falling snow an ‘emergency’, and activate their emergency flashers as a warning sign.
If any of the above sound like you, I hope you’ll stay the heck off the roads. If you don’t, I hope someday the cops pull you over, yank your license, and stick your vehicle into impound. It would make winter driving safer and easier for those of us Canadians who have a clue.
Oh—by the way, Ottawa... most car enthusiasts aren’t street racers. In fact, many are more attentive, skilled and courteous drivers than the majority.