125 replies to this topic

[CodeBurn3r]

I kind of agree with the trend here.

If your car is legal it should be no problem...

But then you get to the grey areas..
I know my car has 2 things that might be trouble..

1 being the HID's (but they are in Projector lenses)

and 

2 being my Exhaust might be a touch too loud..

 

Technically i shouldn't have HID's at all.. but with saying that i think it is BS that it is a Defect.. if i was to be busted for it i would cop it though.

same as Exhaust.

 

But i have no time for these Stance idiots that Clearly don't care about the rules at all..

I have said it plenty of times.. Mod your car but do it safely..

i would bet atleast 50% of these so called future track cars would not meet scrutineering!

It is clear Targeting.. but it is also justified..

 

Just so you know this happened on Sunday here too at Caribbean Gardens
(i avoided the area also) but we have a well known Moron that was there.. the same moron that defected a heap of 86's due to Fog lights aka - DRL's and people in question had to go to court to have it retracted!
but thats a whole other story

[Shaz]

Just a further copypasta from Downshift. Perhaps some perspective.

 

 

Firstly.... wow... What an incredibly huge day. I want to start out with the positives, as it was easily our biggest meet. I want to commend each and every one of our attendees for your incredible behaviour and attitudes. Everyone was just on point. Thank you to Jamboree, Jett Racing, CDR Paint and Panel Pty Ltd, Trublutint Autostyling, Grunt Files, Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party and ACMC for coming out. 

With an estimated 1200 odd cars coming through the gates today it was truly incredible to see the support that everyone is showing. 

Now for the obvious downside to today. Today was an extremely disappointing approach from the QLD Police. They set up a large defect station down at the Bunnings, another group of guys at the servo to the right, and there were even police down the side street. 

As soon as we heard about the giant defect station, we had staff on all exits advising patrons the best way to go to potentially avoid any negative outcomes. 

Matyas (One of the owners of DS), and Keith Littler from Gruntfiles, and also the running candidate for the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party immediately approached the police at the petrol station, they were greeted with only resistance. After expressing our discontent at the blatant targeting of car enthusiasts we were essentially fronted with a brick wall. Matyas also spoke to the officers at the larger defect station at Bunnings immediately on receiving the news.

The police in attendance were not local police. They were a specific task force (admitted by them) sent down to target our event. When asked why they would come to an event, specifically organised to take enthusiasts and their modified cars off the streets, the response was: "If you want lollies, you go to the candy store." This is a direct quote.

On behalf of Downshift I would like to say we are sorry to all those that did get defected/fined today, even though you were just trying to enjoy the rights that you have to participate in enthusiast events.

Having spoken to Grunt Files, and also the AMEP, this will not be the last that the police hear of today's events. We will be putting in complaints, we will be contacting the officer in charge of the task force (whose number was given to us by the officer at the petrol station when our accusations got all too much for him), we will be fighting for your rights. 

This is a massive reason why we need YOU to support AMEP and unite and take a stand. There are hundreds of thousands of car enthusiasts out there, and by joining forces we can make a difference. 

What some of you may not know, is that also today, a man pulled over on the side of the Ipswich motorway as his kids were arguing in the back of his car, whilst speaking to one child, the other got out of the car and ran off. He approached us to look, which we did, thoroughly with our staff, and notified the police down the road. An hour later, 2 police from Moorooka police station arrived to have a look around, instead of utilising the 30 odd police that were already on hand. What's more important: the life of a child, or revenue raising?

Once again, we are sorry for any inconvenience people may have had. We did our best to alleviate the outcome, but at the end of the day, at the meet, there's only so much we can do. 

Some of these words may sounds hollow for you who were targeted and defected, but we are not letting this go. We will fight for your rights. 

Other than that though, you guys were fantastic! We hope you enjoyed the drag cars, the super cars, the food, drink (which you guys annihilated!) and the atmosphere minus police. Thank you for your attendance, and we will see you at the next one! (Back at Hamilton!)

 

[skillionaire]

Hi,

 

As soon as we heard about the giant defect station, we had staff on all exits advising patrons the best way to go to potentially avoid any negative outcomes. 

 

 

Probably wouldn't have said that myself.

 

Cops don't talk to children in the back of cars, I call bullshit.

 

I'm a car enthusiast, and my car is legal.

 

Like I already said, why send a HWP to a domestic dispute? Do you send an electrician to fix a toilet?

 

Cheers,

Nik

[mark300]

like everything theres two sides to every story

on the one hand you have a bunch of car enthusiasts who have gone to a car meet that has been taken off the public roads and away from the public, thereby segregating them from the rest of the population and not causing a nuisance of themselves, who are by the sounds of it trying to do the right thing while still enjoying their hobby/passion.

on the other hand, you have all these cars in the one spot which have the potential to be classed as unroadworthy due to the modifications performed to them.

Legally the cops have done nothing wrong here. they are purely doing their jobs and as we are all aware part of that is unfortunately to defect unroadworthy cars. was this a cheap shot? more than likely yes. it was an easy target with 1200 odd cars there and the odds were always going to be in their favor in terms of netting some fines/profit. had the meeting being in a random carpark at your local maccas, and 50 odd modified cars had arrived, same thing probably would have happened on a smaller scale.

Morally i can see the car enthusiasts stand point on this. they are trying to do the right thing by behaving themselves and taking it away from public roads and streets but still enjoy their passion, and i can see why they are upset, as it is a rather blatant and easy cheap shot by the police in order to get as many as possible in as short a time frame as possible.

note im not defending the police at all, im merely presenting both sides of the story as i see them

[Scuba-Roo]

 
Ultiamtely, if your car is not road legal, you can't complain about it being defected...

And thats where it ends. It shouldnt matter where or when. The rules apply 24/7 to everyone.

[skillionaire]

Hi,

 

Can someone please tell me where the venue actually was? I have conflicting stories, and want to know before I comment further.

 

Cheers,

Nik

[Morgan]

Oh, sorry. I think my point was taken further than intended.

 

Simply meant that I'm glad there are places and events for people to show off and gawk at modified cars

 

[JRod]

The venue was held at Rocklea Showgrounds. The Downshift guys have been hosting different meets for months now Nik. Some months its a show n shine type of event, other times they have a track day/ skidpan day.

 

The Downshift guys have started these events to get some driver education out as well as just being able to have somewhere to get off the street and have some fun. Yes, the police were smart in the way they set up yesterday. These events have also been a way of promoting the car enthusiasts and have been working with the local authorities to clean up the image of the portrayed 'hoon'. What this did yesterday was shoot down a lot of work that's gone on to encourage guys to come back out and enjoy their rides.

 

Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with the whole defecting a dangerous vehicle and feel there should be a lot more going on than what actually happens here in QLD. Problem is, they don't seem to pull every car over when they do this. They concentrate on the imports and let the other cars run past. Some of the photos that local workshops have posted on the facebook pages show the normal everyday dime a dozen family cars with tires as bald as my arse (a few of the RSLC boys can vouch for this).

 

On the other events, they've had guys with their cars on trailers getting defected, purely because they are registered vehicles. One of the boys even had a cop that defected his car a month or so ago, come around at something like 6am on a sunday morning to do a follow up and make sure the vehicle was no longer registered.

 

You catch more bees with honey, instead of vinegar.  Gold Coast Police used to run Operation Drag. A place where you could legally race a cop car down the strip. Those days are gone now and until the government put in more recreational venues around the place, both sides of the game will continue to conflict.

[R-Y]

My 2c,

 

I wasnt there but I could all but gaurentee you that most of the officers there would have been power triping and defecting people for negligible defects (HID's, wrong rim sizes by small amounts, crap like that). Defects like that really get at me personally because their affect on the car and the other cars on the road are minimal. Just an easy cash grab.

 

But in saying that Im all for cars being defected for obviously being a dangerous car but how many of the cars at this particular meet where owned by mechanics or genuine motor enthusiasts who maintain their cars to a very high standard?? Now compare that to the other **** boxes that are running around the streets and are genuinly unsafe.

 

Its easy to see why so many people consider this a dog act and ultimately blattant prejudicial treatment of motor enthusiasts. Australias HWP officers and RTA bodies need to re-evaluate how they look at modified cars and the way they treat their owners. How many people on hear know someone who has been defected by one who decided he would "make up" some defects.

 

Anyway thats my 2c, I could argue about this topic forever but it feels like Ive already done to much of it on the internet already and nothing has changed.

[vicelore]

Ive literally just gone and spent my lunch time speaking to a engineer in my area after reading the negative comments on here.... And id say most cars on here would fail the roadworthy checks he gave me.. 

 

He stated any turbo back modification needed to have an emissions test ?? Im assuming at $1500 no one has one of them on here ?

[Tim.]

I've had an emissions test as it was a requirement of the "Application to modify vehicle - Statement of Requirements"

 

One place quoted $450, so I rang around a few places. Ended up costing me $40 and I passed. It wasn't even close. The specs were written back when there were carbies and no catalytic convertors.

[mark300]

But in saying that Im all for cars being defected for obviously being a dangerous car but how many of the cars at this particular meet where owned by mechanics or genuine motor enthusiasts who maintain their cars to a very high standard?? Now compare that to the other **** boxes that are running around the streets and are genuinly unsafe.

 

 

see now this is the part that gets me a bit angry as well. every time you see someone getting defected it is always a modified car (im not doubting the fact that there are probably defects on the car, but thats not my point here)

how many of us on here on a daily basis see cars driving round that can genuinely be defined as an "unsafe car"

im not saying the car has been modified in any way, alot of the time its probably been kept stock its entire life. but cars that have generally not being maintained, rusty, falling apart, lights faded/cracked, bald tyres, brakes squeling their heads off. you name it, im sure you all get what im saying and know the sorts of cars im talking about.

to me cars like that are just as dangerous, and yet dont get picked on as much as modified cars.

sorry to take it off topic. end rant

[Shaz]

Just to put this here as well, Keith Little from the AMEP posted this to Campell Newmans office today. 

 

 

Mr Newman. I wish to voice my utter disgust at the Queensland Police Service's blatant (and openly admitted) discriminatory targeting of an organised car event at Rocklea Showgrounds yesterday, Sunday 25 August. An event which, as a display of unity, attracted some 1200 vehicles and gave them a safe place to meet in a family oriented environment.

Motoring enthusiasts have attended several 'sit downs' with senior police officers in recent months and have been assured that there is no targeting of these events; nor, indeed, of enthusiast vehicles. We, as representatives of the motoring enthusiast community, have been making every effort to educate our community about compliance and about road safety - something which, I might add, has not been done by your own Transport and Police departments, an issue which, we have been told, is due to a lack of funding from your government to allow this to happen.

The total lack of respect displayed by the officers targeting yesterday's event is a sad reflection of your government and bureaucratic stance on the motoring enthusiast community. As a community we are, sadly, fast losing respect for your government and for your enforcement agencies and ask, Mr Premier, what you intend to do about the situation. When we make the effort to attend organised meetings with your senior police and transport officers, and with duly elected members of your governing party, and are given certain assurances and guarantees, it is extremely disappointing to later learn that your own people are dishounorable to the point where, from our perspective, everything we are told is a compounding lie.

With this being said, we are reasonable people who are prepared to negotiate a resolve to this issue. So, Mr Newman, the ball is in your court. As the leader of the Queensland Government, the buck stops with you. We ask that you take action to resolve our concerns and that your government put an end to the discrimination displayed towards our community. I eagerly await your response.

 

[Liberty]

Me = stock. I'm 100% legal and safe.

 

 

I do understand both sides of the story, and although it seems like the police are screwing people over for revenue, I have found three valid points that I agree with.

1. They are organised by the RTA, and it is the RTA that contact the police to perform such 'routine' defect stations/stops.
2. The police are doing their jobs
3. If a car is not roadworthy, unsafe or dangerous, then why shouldn't the owner be defected/fined?

I understand the whole idea of the event and why the organisers went about it, I am all for enthusiasts to have places to go to enjoy their hobbies. And I strongly disagree police defecting cars on trailers. It's on a forking trailer. The reason why it's on a trailer is to transport the vehicle from point A to point B, have a good day driving it LEGALLY on a race track or whatever pushing the car to its limits in a controlled environment where it is much safer for the driver and the spectators, only to have it transported back from point B to point A. That's it. End of story.

 

Not a personal dig at you, vicelore, or any other person on the forum that has spent a lot of money on their cars. But if I was spending $10,000-$15,000 doing up my car, what's an extra $1,500 to make it 100% legal? There may be inaccuracies in how much it may cost to obtain a certificate from an engineer, but I'm just speaking in general. I think I read a topic on the forum actually where someone was pulled over and a police officer asked them whether they had an engineer's certificate. The driver went about things the right way, and did indeed have the certificate. After showing it to the officer, he said something like 'It's good to see that people like yourself want to do the right thing', was thanked and was sent on his way.

 

Easy. No dramas, no forking around and no complaints from either party. It would've been a 10 minute stop and at the end of the day, you know your car has been cleared.

 

Some of you might be thinking that I'm just posting to increase my post count and have no idea what I'm talking about. For some of it, I admit that may be correct. I've not spent thousands of dollars on a car before and have never had to deal with any of my cars being defected. But I have had MANY run-ins with the police over the years and understand 100% that there are good and bad police officers. It's not everyday that someone like me, whom used to be pulled over left, right and centre for nothing (nothing at all, zilch, no defects, bald tyres, burnouts, etc) can turn around after having a bit of a bad run and hatred of police to want to become a police officer himself.

 

You can't just see what's happened here in black and white. Sit back, rid yourself of the emotions and read on the grey area in between.

[mark300]

I understand the whole idea of the event and why the organisers went about it, I am all for enthusiasts to have places to go to enjoy their hobbies. And I strongly disagree police defecting cars on trailers. It's on a forking trailer. The reason why it's on a trailer is to transport the vehicle from point A to point B, have a good day driving it LEGALLY on a race track or whatever pushing the car to its limits in a controlled environment where it is much safer for the driver and the spectators, only to have it transported back from point B to point A. That's it. End of story.

 

while i agree with you and completely disagree with cops defecting a car thats on a trailer, unfortunately the reality of it is, that the cops have the ability to defect any registered car, even if its parked up on the side of the road and unattended. as long as the car is registered and has rego plates on it, its able to be defected. had it been on the trailer and it wasnt a registered vehichle they couldnt do a thing

[Liberty]

And that's where things get silly. They may have grounds to, but where's the logic in that? It's somewhat mind-boggling.

[mark300]

And that's where things get silly. They may have grounds to, but where's the logic in that? It's somewhat mind-boggling.

 

the logic is that because its a road registered vehicle it has the potential to be driven on the road. ergo can be considered unsafe due to the defects. thats pretty much the nature in which the law was written. I'm fairly sure that the vast majority of cops would have the common sense to realise that because its on a trailer its not been driven on the road for just a reason. I agree its completely irrational and has no logic in some respects

however, when it comes down to it, as mind boggling as it is, the law is on their side in such a case, and they will use it when it suits them, IE in this case use it to firstly snag another defect and raise revenue and secondly send a message.

[B4TT]

Me = stock. I'm 100% legal and safe.

Not necessarily, I am sure a picky cop would find something that he could get you for.

 

Unfortunately a lot of NSW HWP are not mechanics/engineers, they do not understand what they are looking at..so they are given the freedom to defect your car if they suspect that something looks suspect, it is then the responsibility of the owner to have the defect cleared.

[R-Y]

Me = stock. I'm 100% legal and safe.

 

 

I do understand both sides of the story, and although it seems like the police are screwing people over for revenue, I have found three valid points that I agree with.

1. They are organised by the RTA, and it is the RTA that contact the police to perform such 'routine' defect stations/stops.
2. The police are doing their jobs
3. If a car is not roadworthy, unsafe or dangerous, then why shouldn't the owner be defected/fined?

I understand the whole idea of the event and why the organisers went about it, I am all for enthusiasts to have places to go to enjoy their hobbies. And I strongly disagree police defecting cars on trailers. It's on a forking trailer. The reason why it's on a trailer is to transport the vehicle from point A to point B, have a good day driving it LEGALLY on a race track or whatever pushing the car to its limits in a controlled environment where it is much safer for the driver and the spectators, only to have it transported back from point B to point A. That's it. End of story.

 

Not a personal dig at you, vicelore, or any other person on the forum that has spent a lot of money on their cars. But if I was spending $10,000-$15,000 doing up my car, what's an extra $1,500 to make it 100% legal? There may be inaccuracies in how much it may cost to obtain a certificate from an engineer, but I'm just speaking in general. I think I read a topic on the forum actually where someone was pulled over and a police officer asked them whether they had an engineer's certificate. The driver went about things the right way, and did indeed have the certificate. After showing it to the officer, he said something like 'It's good to see that people like yourself want to do the right thing', was thanked and was sent on his way.

 

Easy. No dramas, no forking around and no complaints from either party. It would've been a 10 minute stop and at the end of the day, you know your car has been cleared.

 

Some of you might be thinking that I'm just posting to increase my post count and have no idea what I'm talking about. For some of it, I admit that may be correct. I've not spent thousands of dollars on a car before and have never had to deal with any of my cars being defected. But I have had MANY run-ins with the police over the years and understand 100% that there are good and bad police officers. It's not everyday that someone like me, whom used to be pulled over left, right and centre for nothing (nothing at all, zilch, no defects, bald tyres, burnouts, etc) can turn around after having a bit of a bad run and hatred of police to want to become a police officer himself.

 

You can't just see what's happened here in black and white. Sit back, rid yourself of the emotions and read on the grey area in between.

 

Hate to burst you bubble but if you get the wrong cop they can and will most probably defect you if they really want to. Their are a lot of cars out there that come off the show room floor that are technically illegal in one way or another. So really no one is safe. If you rub one the wrong way look out.

 

And as for engineer cert. they're not worth the paper they are written on to some police and they will defect you for the exact thing you have engineered and deemed safe

[B4TT]

And as for engineer cert. they're not worth the paper they are written on to some police and they will defect you for the exact thing you have engineered and deemed safe

Correct, once again they are not trained to know exactly what they are looking at on an intricate level.. That is why they can look at an engineers cert for a FMIC and yet they can still defect you for it if they really want to and simply say "I am not satisfied that this is the same item that is on the cert" and then once again, it is up to the owner to clear the defect.