Canada and street racing- They mean business
Province will `crush your car (and) the parts,' racers told
HENRY STANCU / TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO
A cabbie was killed in January 2006 after his car was hit by one of two teens speeding down Mount Pleasant Rd.
Souped-up vehicle can be seized before it hits the road, Bryant says
Jun 21, 2007 04:30 AM
Robert Benzie
Peter Edwards
Staff reporters
Likening speed shops that make street racers to bomb factories or illegal drug labs, Attorney General Michael Bryant warns "juiced-up" cars could be seized and destroyed before even hitting the road.
After the tragic death Monday of trucker David Virgoe on Highway 400 in an accident allegedly caused by racing, Bryant yesterday threw down the gauntlet at The Fast and the Furious wannabes.
"Just on the balance of probabilities if we can establish that a car is being used for the unlawful purpose of street racing, we will seize it and you will never see it again.
"We will crush your car, we will crush the parts."
Bryant's get-tough words were welcomed by York Regional Police Chief Armand La Barge, who said 39 people have been killed in the Greater Toronto Area since 1999 because of illegal road racing.
"We welcome any proposed new legislation to make it easier to do that (seize vehicles in road racing). That's the type of strong message that needs to go out," he said.
La Barge said he would also like to see the courts send a tougher message to people charged with racing.
He said his officers have laid some 550 racing charges over the past six weeks, but that many drivers expect to be treated lightly by the courts. Police try to educate road racers, but that's sometimes an exercise in futility, he said.
"Some of these people are not prepared to listen to us talk. ... There needs to be a very strong message sent from our courts."
Sgt. David Mitchell, a York Region traffic officer, said road racers range from teenagers driving their parents' cars to adults who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars modifying cars. Some have been so overhauled they would be unfit for a motor speedway, he said.
Mitchell said charged drivers often opt to take their chances with the court because they believe "not much is going to happen there."
Mitchell said racers use the Internet and text messaging to quickly call races and locations, making it tough for police to stake out races.
In his message at Queen's Park, Bryant charged: "Somebody who's putting together a ... car for street racing might as well be putting together an illegal narcotic or putting together an explosive.
"What I would say to anybody who is engaging in the illegal act of street racing is we don't need to wait until that car hits the road fully loaded.
"The damage that these vehicles can cause can sometimes be catastrophic," he said, referring to Virgoe's death.
Bryant noted Ottawa and Queen's Park have worked to tighten laws curbing street racing.
While Bryant declined to discuss details of Virgoe's death or the three men charged in it, he noted "Ontario Crown prosecutors are using the brand new street racing crime provisions under the Criminal Code for these offences.
"We have in Ontario generally the ability to seize street racing cars," he said.