Spring Fever

Spring has finally arrived. This is the first week of spring-like temperatures forecast by the The Weather Network all year. It’s been an incredibly long winter with sooooo much snow that I think I’ve forgotten what having dry roads and clean cars feels like.Being a Montrealer makes you appreciate summer that much more. It also makes us appreciate our hobby more since, for almost half the year, the hobby doesn’t exist. Fairly soon the vehicles that have been in storage all winter will be hitting the streets and spring fever will be in full effect.

The long arm of the law has a few surprises in store for spring however. New this year is a ban on hand-held cell phone use while driving that went into effect April 1st. Speeding fines and penalties have also been increased just in time for spring fever on the road where there seems to be an epidemic of speeders around the city.

I’m going to bet that this year we will also see record numbers of vehicles being given infractions for modifications. The police have probably fine-tuned and expanded their initiative to see that the law is obeyed in this department. I’ve mentioned this before but I don’t think I can say it enough: if you don’t want any hassles whatsoever follow these few basic rules:

1. Don’t modify your exhaust. While it may seem like (and there probably is) some legal defence against being given a ticket simply for having any aftermarket exhaust you will likely have to deal with the police if you have one. We know the SAAQ and police seem to differ in their interpretations of the law and so do many individual police officers but it comes down to how much you like your exhaust and if you are willing to risk tickets for it. I’d rather skip the hassle.

2. Don’t change the lighting on your vehicle in any way. Many light modifications are legal but they will always attract attention of the police. Light modifications or additions were popular in the 1990s and early 2000s. Invest in something else.

3. Insure your wheels never touch the fenders. This is the number one reason why a vehicle would be impounded by the police as it is considered a major infraction and rightly so.

If you follow these three directives I can almost guarantee you won’t have to deal with police being on your case with respect to your ride. These aren’t the only infractions by any means, just the most common and easily ticketed. Use your head and do your research on MontrealRacing.com or the SAAQ website for other modifications. Most importantly, drive safe.

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