Explanation of towings paints a different picture
Filed Under Feature Articles
2007-10-13 13:04:43
Last month MontrealRacing.com reported on the large numbers of modified vehicles being towed in the Montreal area. Many members were at a loss to explain why their modified vehicles were being towed by Police instead of being issued inspection. We set up a meeting with the officers who were involved to find out what the situation was.
The Montreal Police Special Services division is located at Neighbourhood station 23, just south of the Olympic Stadium in the East end of Montreal. This division takes care of non conventional matters such as vehicle modifications. Present at the meeting were tuning specialist André Côté, Constable Savard, Constable Bégin and two other officers of station 23.
The officers began by explaining a little bit about where the laws on modified vehicles can be found. As most people are already aware the SAAQ has a basic guide for modified vehicles which can be found here. However there is another document called the Mechanical Inspection Guide which goes into much more detail about the severity of certain infractions. In the legend it explains that a yellow exclamation mark is found next to a minor infraction and a red hand is found next to major infractions.
On pages 76-78 you’ll find details infractions with respect to tires. Some major infractions include tires that can rub against a fixed part of the vehicle, tires that have been worn past the tread indicator and tires where the metal reinforcement filament is protruding or is visible. If you search through the document you can find examples of other major infractions such as a cracked frame or headlights & taillights that do not function.
These major infractions are significant because the CSR section 636.2 gives police permission to issue tickets, issue inspections, or seize a vehicle if it has a major infraction. The police explained that every vehicle that was towed had a major infraction and showed a photo to prove it. Each and every car that was issued tickets, sent to inspection or seized was fully documented with photo evidence in the event the case goes to court.
Some of the cars in the photos were appalling in terms of road worthyness. A majority of them were towed for tires that were in contact with the fenders or tires that were worn past their limit of use. There were cars that had so much metal protruding from the tires that it’s amazing they were still inflated. Some cars tires were rubbing so much against the inside of the fenders that it looked as if someone took a knife and started hacking away at the tire.
Many of these owners are MontrealRacing.com members as was evident by the number of new discussions created on the subject last month. What the police found interesting and wanted to point out was that the impression these individuals were giving in the discussion forum (yes the police do read the forum) that nothing was wrong with their vehicles and that they were victims of an injustice. The evidence the police had gathered seemed to indicate otherwise. Perhaps the number of new discussions was resulting not so much because the owners thought their vehicles were legal but that the severity of the consequences was highly unexpected. It was after all the first we’ve heard of vehicles being towed for modifications. Nevertheless the law gives police this power in certain situations.
Other infractions were given for the usual illegal modifications such as any aftermarket muffler (illegal for a few years now) vehicles without orange reflectors in the front or red reflectors in the rear, windshield band stickers greater than 15 cm from the top, removal of air bags, removal of factory seat belts, removal of the rubber on the pedals (apparently it looks more race-like), and window tints that are too dark. All of these modifications are prohibited by the guide put out by the SAAQ years ago and should be common knowledge by now. If you don’t modify your car on the cheap then you will have no problems whatsoever.
They explained that contrary to what we had reported, most of the vehicles seized were done during other police traffic operations and not specifically targeted.
So why is this happening now, who is involved and what can we expect from the police in the future? This was addressed in the meeting but there are a few points that need to be examined further before we can report on it. A follow up article will be written in the coming weeks to address these issues as well as some additional legal ones that have come to our attention since the meeting.
After the meeting we went to go look at the MontrealRacing.com Integra Type R. The vehicle has a set of Neuspeed sport springs, 17-inch Fast wheels with 205-40-17 tires, a carbon fiber hood, AEM cold air intake and a factory Acura skirt kit. The tires are at their limit of usage and will need to be changed soon as indicated by the marker on the tire. The metal is not protruding from the inner sidewall as is common when a vehicle has negative camber. The turn signals can be replaced for white ones as long as a yellow reflector is present near the signal. The exhaust is stock so there is no problem there.
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