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Kalifornia...the new Nazi regime.


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While I will be the first to object to police action without probable cause (if I was going to be angry about wiretapping without probable cause where the issue of national safety could truly be invoked, I certainly will get angry about this where there is no mitigating factor). And I don't like profiling.

But I really really hate sloppy writing. Look there is enough to be outraged about here without having to try to massage the facts into some thought police action. The people who were ticketed were ticketed because they had illegal modifications on their cars not for possibiliities of future racing (want to get outraged that there is a law regarding how deeply you can tint your windows? fine. Make that the point of your article). The police acted in the same way as they would at a road block for sobriety tests (which I think is an outrage as well, but this is not some new unheard of action you are relating). And you can't complain about how much the overtime is costing us as taxpayers and then complain that it is just a revenue making scheme for the state. If the latter is true, than the former becomes irrelevant (If I pay a guy 10 000 dollars an hour, and he makes me 40 000 dollars an hour, I am not going to complain about his hourly wages).

PS I HAVE to beleive that that policeman's quote about wondering why one would possibly want to have more power in your car is completely fabricated. While I may conceivably with a lot of imagination on my part picture someone in the US saying that. There is NO WAY a cop says that.

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That's the one and only thing I wish this country did emulate Europe with respect to: It's my understanding it takes something like a year of class and $2,500 to get a license in Germany. That should totally be the case here, it would solve much.

 

In France it takes around 1400$ and between 6 months and a year.

As a contractor coming back to France and needing to drive, this truly sucked balls for me. It is such a great money generator for the state that passing your driver's section on the first go is very rare (i failed once). So I can't say I totally agree, but it is true that when I got my US driver's liscence 20 years ago it was a joke. One of the questions I got was "when is it legal to smoke pot in your car?" a)weekends b)after 5PM c) never (no d) as Rhode Island decided that multiple choices with 4 options were too hard). And after ansewering 20 such questions I am allowed to drive a car?!?!? :wacko:

The driving part was me going around the block once, and then going in reverse for 40 feet. Out of a 100 possible points you get 50 for not stalling. Of course everyone is driving an automatic car.

One thing to add, is that as much as the driving here is so much better than on US highways and roads, a gallon of gas right now is 7.51$ in France....

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Did anybody note that the story was from 2008?

 

Here is another article on the same incident:

 

Riverside police may have put a dent in local street racing Friday when about 100 officers raided a parking lot on Valley Springs Parkway, where suspected racers are known to congregate.

 

Police from Riverside and other agencies shut off the exits to the lot to inspect more than 150 vehicles. Officers wrote a similar number of citations, including 48 for illegal modifications common to street racing, according to a police news release.

 

Twenty vehicles were towed from the scene as part of a crackdown funded by a $503,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, according to a police news release.

 

Police spokesman Steven Frasher said officers had been monitoring illegal activity in the lot for weeks. The large number of people who received tickets for illegal modifications common to street racing confirmed officers' suspicions that the lot was a hotbed of street racing activity, he said.

 

"Almost every vehicle that was there, even if they weren't street racing, they were ... an audience," Frasher said, adding that the lot was full of skid marks left behind by racers.

 

Neighboring business managers at Hooters Restaurant and John's Incredible Pizza are glad the problem was addressed. At times, they said, cars speed through their parking lots, threatening the safety of others and scaring away customers.

 

"They seek a big parking lot and ours is huge," said Jim Finigan, director of operations at John's Incredible Pizza.

 

He was seconded by Chris Guillet, manager of the Riverside Hooters Restaurant, who said problem drivers speed through his lot, barely avoiding collisions. While he was grateful for the police intervention, "I think it just moves the problem to another area," Guillet said.

 

Police organized a similar raid in 2006 at the Target store on Tyler Street. They believe street racing has killed at least two people in Riverside in recent years, including Reyna De Leon, 38, in 2006, and 14-year-old Carlos Cisneros in 2007.

 

"By its nature, (the street racing problem) can get up and go someplace else," Frasher said. He added, however, the problem may at least be solved at the Valley Springs Parkway location. "We were able to send a strong message that ... we are cracking down on this activity and we won't tolerate it," Frasher said.

 

He added that police will continue the fight against street racing, but he declined to give details.

 

On Friday, cars ranging from broken-down Hondas to shiny, new Ford Mustangs and BMWs lined up for the police inspection. Some car owners were ticketed for replacing a small exhaust pipe with a larger one that makes the car run louder.

 

John Ferrier got a "fix-it ticket," he said, because his car's exhaust system was too noisy. And yet the 21-year-old Moreno Valley resident said he was happy the police were cracking down on Honda drivers. He blames them for reckless maneuvers such as "burning out" and "doing doughnuts."

 

"That's what attracted the police attention," Ferrier said. "I'm glad they're here to stop people before they do something stupid."

 

Michael Calderon, 22, of San Bernardino, stood in the parking lot as his 1995 Honda Civic hatchback, which he bought for $600, was loaded onto a tow truck.

 

Police impounded his car because officers believed some of its parts were stolen.

 

Calderon said he bought the parts from a reputable business.

 

"It's devastating," said Calderon, who spent $20,000 on car improvements. "That's my soul right there. This is the worst night of my life."

 

And it wasn't over yet. He still needed someone to pick him up -- but first he had to find a friend whose car passed inspection.

 

link

 

I guess one man's street racer is another man's car enthusiast.

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