Impounded!!

[readyGO]

It was another usual Saturday night... However nothing was planned and I was on the M1 heading outbound driving my cousin PJ back to his house.. The night was going well with the occasional flutter as i cruised past the other imports... Nothing silly tonight! I was cruising along and saw another skyline, yum i thought to myself... He realy looks gorgeous.... *Flutter Flutter Flutter* the sound of my bov as i cruised past him casually not going over the 100km/h.... The 32 responded with a quick rev of the engine and a drop of the clutch and took off from me...

Knowing my car hasn't been tuned and just got out of Hardcore on friday night I was reluctant to do anything with him, certainly racing wasn't on the agenda for tonight...

I casually drove slowly following the speed limit to the 32 which looked like it had slowed down a tad? and off it flew once more... Damn that guys fast i thought to myself, i bet hes off to BWCP...

*Hits the music* and i start to listen to some tunes casually as i ate left over lollies from my showbag... (wonka and warheads).. ,,,,,The next thing i see in the rear view were the worst possible combination lights you ever want to see in your rear view.. the red & blue from an unmarked ute..

f**kKKKK i screamed to myself and pulled off into springwood exit....... I initially though ok well i AM in springwood and its like 8pm i bet they think im meeting up and are gunna check me for defects.. Oh shit i thought, just got the bov on there with the front mount... hmmm.... not even a full 24 hours and i thoguht my fun was all over...

I pull over to the ramp and i notice the same 32 behind me who pulled up ahead of me... I initialy thought ohh wtf? is the 32 a cop car baiting me... (i thought i was getting in trouble from my gorgeous RB rumble or bov).... So the officer comes up and hes like bla bla bla im so and so... please get turn off your engine now and get on the foot path....

-nope sorry, ur gunna have to give me a few minutes to cool down..

The officer then walks upto the 32, whos driver got out.. i thought to myself ok time to turn her off....

Handed them over my details and they said i have been charged with STREET RACING..... WHAT THE f**k i thought... STREET RACING??

here is the actual wording of my notice to appear at court.....

"That at 19.39 Hrs on Saturday the 20th Day of August 2005 On the Pacific Motorway Rochedale. you did participate in a street race without permission from commissioner of police"

Furious as i was i gave them my story which they didnt belive and im gettin REAL cut typing this shit up so im gunna type real sloppy from now on....

so anyways he tells me they are gunna call a tow truck and impound me for 48 hours, the line aint comin home with me tonight.... f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k... my side of the story is the same as what i wrote there which i told to the cops and told them that NO i wasnt racing and no the 32 wasnt racing either..... i didnt say he was speeding either though... i just said i was driving normaly which i was and that the 32 wasnt racing me either....

Now where I think the cops got the wrong impression is that they were entering the highway and they saw the 32 speeding past and me beside it and initialy thought ok 2 skylines, they are racing coz one is speeding and got us both.....

I also asked how fast i was speeding coz i knew i wasnt doing anything wreckless, if anything i was doing 105km MAX and hes like nah i cant show u anything, i asked for a radar or video and he said no they dont have the speed i was doing.... Yeah typical mate i thought... dont have anything to back up your argument do you......... so i then asked how fast do you think i was going??? and they said that it wasnt a highspeed race and that there is no way i would of went over 120km/h and im thinking to myself well of course there was no way... coz i wasnt even speeding etc and yeh........

that was my saturday night......

Now what i also want to know is that if i get caught "racing" again i lose my car for what 3? or 6 months? and is there any way that they can determine what is racing and just plain speeding?? i dont want to be done for speeding and then lose my car again for a few months coz some officer is having a bad day..... Is there any way to remove this burdon from me by de-registering the car at all....?? like if i deregister it and i get impounded will it be for 48hours again or months?? ok thanks in advance for your help and listening to me whinge......

..anyone see this happen?

Mark

[Links]

Mate.. goto say that's verrrrryyy unfotunate.. Stupid thing is you weren't racing.. even if he was accelerating your still not racing, nothing wrong with opening a car up.. especially if you keep < speed limit.. I fail to see how that's dangerous.. oh wait.. it isn't..

unfortunately the courts will not see it from your view, they'll take the cops word, which sucks.. are you getting booked for speeding out of interest? or just street racing..

[MSPEC]

They can be pricks and usually are. Not even 30 mins ago I went down the street to grab a bite to eat and a cop car started following me and then harassed me at the lights. I was under the speed limit doing nothing wrong as other cars fly by. He came speeding up sat next to me and just eyed us off. Thankfully, he must have had some kind of conscience as he left it at that and sped off at the lights.

Your case is pretty f*cked up and I do believe that you would have been doing nothing wrong. Even if you did stir the other guy by showing off a little bov and giving it a quick squirt, that is hardly street racing and certainly not impound worthy. As crappy as you situation is I usually find myself in worse ones every six months or so ;( There is no way to avoid them other than selling the car.

My car is loud and white and it stands out like dogs balls, not a good combo It is easier to get away with things in a quiet dark car, they go more unnoticed. Just 3 months ago my licence was taken away from me for 1 month for “speeding”. However, they admitted to having no evidence, they just believed I was speeding. Although I may have been they had no way to prove this. If my record was not already so f*cked due to a whole list of offences I would have contested it.

I was once fined $500 for an unregistered vehicle (my car) which was of course registered. The registration was never suspended and I go a print out stating this from VIC roads. The police didn’t care and I was forced to take the matter to court if I wanted to get off the hook.

Edited August 21, 2005 by MSPEC

[Guest DIRTgarage]

Mate.. goto say that's verrrrryyy unfotunate.. Stupid thing is you weren't racing.. even if he was accelerating your still not racing, nothing wrong with opening a car up.. especially if you keep < speed limit.. I fail to see how that's dangerous.. oh wait.. it isn't..

unfortunately the courts will not see it from your view, they'll take the cops word, which sucks.. are you getting booked for speeding out of interest? or just street racing..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The police have already erred in your situation.....if you were booked for racing.....where is the speeding ticket......no speeding ticket then how do they prove you were racing.....good lawers can rip police testamony to shreds.....how do i know?? cause ive already done it in court, and had the police pay for my lawyer and court costs......we made him look like an absolute dill....for example he couldn't tell what colour my car was, and thought that the chick in the car with me was actually a male because she had a guy's name, Toni.

[dangerous_daveo]

Thing is, with the QLD laws it is resonable suspision. They dont have to prove bugger all. In the future, if someone goes to race you like that, put your foot on the brake. This way its quite obvious you werent racing.

But I suggest if you do fight it, do something about your car being in the impound for 48hours (ie part of your punishment) before you were properly convicted of any wrong doing by the court.

[allblitz]

Terrorism at its best

[[WLDCRD]]

i suggest you get a lawyer if you plan on taking it to court. I wouldnt suggest representing yourself cos you will most likely make it worse.

[NXTIME]

The worst part of the impoound law is that the suspected/alleged offender is dealt instant punishment in the loss of his/her vehicle solely on the basis of the police officer's discretion. A much better law would have the offender booked/fined and the car impounded after it is actually proved that he was street racing - not purely based on unsubstantiated police discretion. But that won't have the impact that the lawmakers and police are after. Not that it has really worked as the illegal drags continue like they have done for the past 50+ years

[Haysey]

welcome to the wonderful world of police and imports..

Ive got a similar story......

Back in may i went out on a sunday night to catch up with some mates and for a mate to race his RC car in a quiet location..... i was tired and didnt plan to stay out long at all..... when the other few finally turned up i was ready to leave... so i turned my car around and said goodbye to everyone.... anyways a couple of my other mates decided to go and have a quick thrash down the road......

i was tired and wasnt in the mood so when they had pulled up next to me and left i drove off behind them.... i left maybe 5 seconds after they had....

gave it a bit in 1st and a tad in 2nd.... going maybe 60kmh.... anyways one car had thrashed the other and my mate who was the slower had stopped by the time i got to him and i slowed down to say goodnight....

just that second cop car thrashed up the middle of us and stopped in middle of road while cops jumped out and demanded our keys......

told us that our cars would be towed and impounded and gave us court appearances etc etc....

cut a long story short... went to cop shop to view tape but was useless because there was a car parked behind mine so couldnt see tail lights go out after others and cops were so far away that when we went over a little crest in the road u couldnt see us anymore.... so the tape couldnt proove me innocent...

went to court etc etc..... car was going to be impounded for 3 months but got it back after one month with special consideration.. a good judge and solicitor......

there was a chance that licence would be gone for 1-3 years... due to driving manner dangerous charge and streetracing charge....

again many court apparences etc etc i lost my licence for 2 months....

GET IT BACK ON TUESDAY YEE HAAA!!!!!!!!....

my mates lost their cars for 3 months and licence for 1 year.....

pleaded my innocence the whole time but they still want to screw you over.......

My advice... get a good solicitor...... pleade your innocence... get reasons why they pulled over and demand to see evidence....

and goodluck......

(all police= this story is totally fake and only there to make someone feel better... no evidence in it is facticious)

[[HOTNXR]]

get a good lawyer, because in the end they have no proof... they could of said you were doing anything...

[blind_elk]

Will cousin PJ back your story? If so, get a good lawyer. (Are you in RACQ, because I understand motoring organisations will provide free legal advice.)

[INASNT]

Thing is, with the QLD laws it is resonable suspision.  They dont have to prove bugger all.  In the future, if someone goes to race you like that, put your foot on the brake.  This way its quite obvious you werent racing.

But I suggest if you do fight it, do something about your car being in the impound for 48hours (ie part of your punishment) before you were properly convicted of any wrong doing by the court.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The same applies to cops when they canary you, even if you take it and get the car cleared 5 mins later cops can use the 'in their opinion' or 'resonable suspision' BS to get you.

The laws these days are written where cops have the power to book you for anything and you need to spend time and $$ proving your innocence.

[mad34]

Some cops are just aholes.

It makes you think to yourself what kind of person would actually go out of their way to book someone for doing absolutley nothing. I swear they do it for a power trip. Losers! i have had the same sort of things happen to me, especially when i was on p plates. I used to drive around my old boys bright red mitsubishi gto with p plates up when i was 17-18 i copped so much bulls**t it was un believeable.

The most memorable though would have to be the time i pulled up next to some Knob in a lancer at the lights. Who then when the light went green decided to smoke both wheels all the way across the intersection. Little did he realise that about three cars behind us there was a cop car who had been following me for a while. I saw the cop so i didn't do anything. i took off normally then i saw the coppers lights go on. The guy in the lancer just kept going eventually the cops lights went off and he was stuck behind traffic so i thought he had just let it go. Anyway the cop must have still been following me becasue i pulled into a side street next to a cafe so i could park and get out and have a coffee. Then the copper came screeeching around the corner lights and sirens blaring parked his car in the middle of the road got out like a real cowboy and demanded to see my licence. Ended up booking me for undue noise because according to him i had done a burnout all the way accross the intersection. I was like ummm excuse me officer that was the lancer next to me. Then he proceeded to tell me that he had been in the police force for 25 years and he knows what he saw. Then by this time i was pretty pissed off so i proceeded to tell him that i was driving a 4wd and it doesn't do burnouts (believe me i tried many times to smoke the wheels to no avail). He just wrote the ticket and left and to top it off when he took off he screeched his wheels (which constitutes undue noise) and left.

That is not all though. He then went back to the station somehow got my dads home number and rang him. He told my dad that i was involved in a high speed chase was caught doing burnouts and all sorts of things. To which my dad said yeah well why didn't you book him for speeding then!! then the officer was like well i just think you shouldnt let your son drive a car like that.

so basically he just pulled me over because he was jealous a hole

[Haysey]

Mum still thinks there is a massive sign on the top of my car that says PULL ME OVER!!!

I was driving along a quiet st sticking to the limit and just driving along..... cop drives other way turns around and pulls me over......

cut a long story short this "cowboy" was a bit of a smartass and kept me there for 40MINS!!!!!!! while they checked my licence...... he was sitting in the car like playing with the flashing lights on the top of the car and stuff i was like wtf?!?!

Normally i dont have a prob with cops and know most of them are good blokes but a couple of bad attituded ones and ones on power trips ruin it for them all

[grigor]

It's the asreholes who ruin the reputation of the force. A student was telling me of their family driving along Rainbow Beach in the 4WD. Up ahead is the police ute bogged big time. Everyone else is driving straight past, waving, blowing the horn, stupid coppers etc.

The student's Dad backs up, hooks on the snatch-em and pulls the hot and sandy coppers out of the sand. Gets out the retrieve his strap, 2nd officer proceeds to book him for driving without a seat belt while they were getting pulled out.

So there's a kid who has lost any respect for the force and who will definately think twice before helping any policeman.

[INASNT]

It's the asreholes who ruin the reputation of the force. A student was telling me of their family driving along Rainbow Beach in the 4WD. Up ahead is the police ute bogged big time. Everyone else is driving straight past, waving, blowing the horn, stupid coppers etc.

The student's Dad backs up, hooks on the snatch-em and pulls the hot and sandy coppers out of the sand. Gets out the retrieve his strap, 2nd officer proceeds to book him for driving without a seat belt while they were getting pulled out.

So there's a kid who has lost any respect for the force and who will definately think twice before helping any policeman.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

U cant be serious.

[MSPEC]

U cant be serious.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is ridiculous, a few years I would have found that very hard to believe, today I am not the least bit surprised.

[INASNT]

That would desirve a spit in the cops face and ram raid of the cop car back into the mud.

[hungry6]

mmm gtst, If I were you, I get some money together and take the matter to court. The last thing you wanna see, is a street racing charge against you, when you've never committed the offense. If you don't fight, the first charge, ie this one. You will never win the second and the third charges, if it ever happens, because copping the first one, set a precedent that, if you are ever caught again speeding or what ever, The jugdement against you as a hoon has already been set.

This is how this law "anti hooning" was initiate and design to work.

Alot of ppls get done for 48hrs, normally on the week end and by tuesday, they get their car back with a little fine, if they don't fight it.

But little did they know, that doing what they did, set a precedent of their "guilt" from there on.

[Haysey]

i havent heard of this 48 hr impounding........

in nsw its 3 months

and for a 2nd offence they take your car and sell it for a cheap price and you get nothing!