Speed Cameras: More Debate

As an automobile enthusiast, I'm not a fan of speed cameras. I think they're generally a revenue stream disguised as public safety. The city where I live, here in Ontario, recently introduced speed cameras to our community.

At first, they said they'd put them only in school zones. This, of course, came with little protest since everyone agrees that people shouldn't be speeding in areas where children are present. However, I warned on local forums that this was just a gateway for them to expand the use all over the city, and sure enough, more cameras started appearing in what they called "high traffic" areas.

Debating with speed camera supporters, they instantly assume you dislike them because you intend to speed, and owning performance-focused cars, that's hard to argue with. However, I think if you look at it from a different angle, it becomes painfully obvious that the real goal is to generate revenue.

My car's GPS shows the posted speed limit of whatever street I'm on. So technically, the car knows the speed. Technologically, we'd have no problem creating vehicles that were physically limited to only go as fast as the posted speed of the streets they drive upon. So it would be physically impossible for them to be speeding, and thus there would be no need for speed cameras at all. Of course, it's not as easy as that. There are older cars this tech wouldn't work with, and people would straight-up hate it! But why?

I would assume most people see a speed limiter as a restriction of their freedoms. But if we're willing to accept speed cameras in our communities, which hand out automated punishment when you exceed the speed limits, aren't they also limiting our freedoms as much as a speed limiter in your vehicle would? Is it that we think we can get away with speeding outside the camera zones when "the law" isn't looking? What if there were insurance breaks for those who installed a speed limiter in their vehicles? What if all commercial vehicles were required to have them?

Like it or not, I think autonomous vehicles are opening the door to this future. Soon we will have taxis that drive themselves, buses, shipping vehicles, and I would bet that personal passenger vehicles that are not driven at all aren't too far off.

Once this happens, future people will be amazed that people of the past were ever allowed to control a vehicle by hand at all. When automation comes online, speed cameras, traffic cops, state troopers, and their revenue will be a thing of the past.

Wanted to share this vid posted when I talked about this subject on the Throttle House Discord channel.

I've Posted My 2014 Shelby GT500 FOR SALE

I’ve decided to finally put my triple black 2014 GT500 up for sale.  As I say in the ad it’s a very nice, very fast car that sits in my garage and does nothing.  So why do I have it?  I’ve posted it as $69,000 but that is negotiable.  I'm really just looking to get the loan paid off and out of my hair.

 

It’s stock expect for a few small cosmetic additions like headlight covers and fender scoops added by the previous owner.  It has the supercharged 5.8L rated at 662hp. There is really nothing wrong with it but the front spoiler is scratched up I assume from driveways, they were there when I got it.

I’ve really enjoyed the car.  It’s one of those vehicles that no matter how much you drive it you still get butterflies before starting it up.  Here in Canada we don’t get enough nice days to justify having a rear-wheel drive monster which is why my daily is the Focus RS.

If you're interest I'm in the Greater Toronto Area here in Ontario.  You can view the ad posting HERE

Daily Drive Episode 4: Late for Work in the Focus RS

Finally posted a new episode of the Daily Drive.  In this one I'm late for work, dealing with crap cameras, talking about Drake road rage, game industry crunch mode, and the Dodge Demon.  All while I try to make up for lost time.  I hope you enjoy it.

Episode 3 of the Daily Drive is Posted

Episode 3 of the Daily Drive is now live on YouTube. In this Episode I drive the Shelby GT500 home from work though the streets of Toronto Ontario.  I talk about Casey Nisestat's future plans with Beam, video games I've been playing with some sort footage, little talk about my car situation, and more. Plus I made a cool little intro showing some of Toronto.

Please check it out and give it a like if you'd like.

My Patient Plymouth

Many of you may not know I have a project car.  Well it’s a car that needs work which I don’t have time or space to start.  It’s my first car that I bought when I was 18.  It got me through many street races in high school, I lived in it for two weeks until a girl took pity on me, and it carried me into adulthood.  It’s my 1970 Plymouth Duster 340 4-barrel with a 3-speed on the floor.  Bright yellow with black racing stripes, everyone of course called it the bumble bee.

In about 1991 I parked the car in a nice cement floored building on my mother’s farm with the intention to restore it.  It had started burning some oil and needed an engine overhaul at the very least.  I got as far as pulling the engine and disassembling it.  During the process I found the issue which was a broken piston ring.  I had the engine bored and cleaned up but then I stopped.

One day I thought, “This car is going to cost a lot to restore.  Maybe instead of spending money on that I really should get out of my stupid factory job and go to college.”  So that’s what I did.  I started saving up for college, quit the factory and graduated with honors.  After college I moved to Los Angeles,  8 years later to Wisconsin, then 8 years after that I moved to Toronto Canada.  All the while my Duster waited.

Most places in the Toronto area seem to have one stall garages and Canadians don’t even seem to use their garages for cars very much.  My landlord here curiously asked me once why I put my car in the garage like it was a bizarre thing.  Certainly there are houses with two stall garages in Toronto but not at all as common as they are in the States.  So having space for a project car is not something I have the luxury of. But I really should get some momentum happening with the Duster.

For a time I felt I had a clever solution.  This was to rent a space like a garage or a barn or an old gas station as a workspace for my project.  Just some space nobody was using. It would give me a space to work and also get me away from the house for a little escape, perfect right?  However I quickly found that places renting these kind of spaces assume you’re going to start a business of some sort and charge rent accordingly.  In most cases the cost was higher than my living space.  So my next brilliant idea was that I would find a bunch of likeminded people and together we would rent one of these spaces for our projects.  But finding like minded people really became looking for like minded strangers, and strangers that would have access to my tools and parts.  Suddenly that didn’t sound like such a good idea.  So my beloved Duster remains in storage patiently waiting for me to get my act together.

During its wait I’ve dreamed of going many different directions with the build.  Of course there is the stock restore option but frankly a Duster isn’t the premier muscle car and mine wasn’t an original 340 car, it was a 318 from the factory so there really wasn’t much value in that.  For a long time I wanted to make it a vintage autocross car to join in those retro Trans Am races which is still in my head.  It would certainly be a challenging build to get a Duster to handle corners.  I’ve always loved the ’67 through ’69 Barracuda and my 340 would live happily in one of those.  I’ve also even thought a couple times of just selling it but I don’t know, the idea kind of hurts my soul.  One thing has always bugged me about the car though and it’s the lines.  I always felt to me it should be a fastback.  So I started playing with Photoshop and I think it works!  I’m not certain how I would handle the rear window but I think it could be good.  What do you think?

Anyway none of this is going to happen if I never find a workspace for it.  Do any of you have similar dilemmas?  Did you find a solution to space issues?  They say a real car guy can work in the driveway in any weather but “I’m getting’ too old for that”

Toronto/Ontario Sucks...lately

Yesterday I got up to go to work and the traffic was insane because the police had completely blocked the 400 south to Toronto.  Why did they do this?  Bad accident? Construction? Nope apparently at 4AM a woman's body was found along the road.  Not to seem cold hearted but why the hell does this require the entire 4 lane highway to be closed??  There is no reason that a body they picked up at 4AM requires the road to be closed at 8AM when I was leaving for work.  This made all the side roads absolutely jammed with people trying to get south.  After an hour of trying I said, "fuck it", turned around, and took a vacation day.

In Ontario it is very common for the police and highway patrol to close an entire road for stupid little things.  So instead of directing traffic around the incident like they do in the States the police shut down the entire road and sit on their asses in their car.  How you get around the closure is your problem.

Speaking of shit that is my problem I got to work today and found the road that goes to my assigned parking spot was under construction.  My mood was not good so I moved their pylons out of my way and backed into my spot.  Some construction worker started yelling at me and I said, "This is my assigned parking spot. Sorry" and I locked the chain in front of it.  He said, "Well I sure hope you plan on parking here next week because you won't be able to." What a fucking asshole.

So yeah, I come into work and there is an email saying. "Starting October 3rd (not today) I won't be able to park in my spot for two weeks due to sewer work." So where am I supposed to park in this crap area of town?  I have no goddamn clue.

This could mean no more driving the Shelby to work for the rest of this year.  The weather gets cold here pretty quickly.  I'm certainly not parking the Shelby on the street so that means I'm driving the Hummer.  By the time this construction gets resolved to could easily be too cold to drive it.

Needless to say my frustration level is through the roof today.

Traffic News from that Thursday morning.

Bad Parking

Bad parking makes me almost as crazy lack of parking.  Unfortunately my place of work has both problems. Downtown Toronto like most downtown areas does not value having ample parking but I fail to understand how a company can continue to hire hundreds of people and not have a thought regarding where they are going to put them all.

Certainly many take the subway, bike, or walk to work but with so many people not everyone can live within easy commuter distances.  I for instance live about 40 minutes away by car so walking is not an option.  It used to be that getting to work by 10 got you a spot, then it was you had to be there by 9:30, and now you really need to be at work by 9 if you expect to get a parking spot near the building.

So I understand that the later it gets the more desperate people get to find anywhere to put their car.  But some places just aren't parking spots.  As you see in the pic this area is meant to allow people to drive down the row and do a turn down the next row.   But with people parking in that space it's impossible and people are forced to backup all the way to the row's entrance.  One BMW asshat in particular parks there regardless, even if legitimate spots exist.

I used to have my own parking spot but I lost it when more senior people decided they'd rather drive than take the subway.  On days I drive my Cobra I refuse to park it on the street.  I arrive at 9, if there is parking then great.  If there isn't then I go home and call in sick.  So far I haven't had to do this.

Toronto Street Racing Scene

 

For some reason my lead sent me two articles about the Toronto street racing scene.  That is like sending an alcoholic an article about where to find free booze.  I really didn't need to see that.  Street racing is something I have a hard time resisting.  I don't usually go looking for trouble these days but I have an extremely hard time resisting the urge when someone is revving their engine next to me at a stop light.

Frankly there is street racing everywhere you find two or more people that enjoy their fast cars. So I'm not really surprised that there is a "scene" in one of Canada's biggest cities.

Article links below.


Street Racer: Inside the Modified Car Culture of Toronto's Suburbs

Riding Around in Canada's Street Racing Capital

Isn't This Illegal Toronto?

This area is part of my daily commute and every day I see people making this turn at the intersection of Dupont St. and Dundas St. W in Toronto.  Some people even demand it and honk if you don't accommodate them.  I have even seen police making this turn many times.

My understanding is you never cross a solid yellow line.  Is this not correct??

Here is the Google map link to the street. https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.664277,-79.4577325,41m/data=!3m1!1e3

Traffic Cops Serve No Purpose Beyond Cash Generation

Today I’m driving to work in my huge H3, nothing special just rollin’ along with traffic.  I pop over the hill and there is a cop, I was driving with others and didn’t think much about it.  But nope he singles me out and pulls me over.  He walks up with the attitude of a bored checkout clerk, shoves the radar gun in my face and says, “You’re doing 75 km in a 50km. License and insurance.” I give him what he requested and he goes back to the car.

So I’m sitting there thinking how I was just driving to work, not bothering anyone or driving recklessly at all.  I then realize it’s all a load of shit.  These traffic cops have exactly the same job as parking enforcement, they are sent out there to generate money.  That’s it.  They tell us we broke the law but it’s a bunch of shit.  I wasn’t driving reckless, I was with others doing the same, and we we’re all just going to work.

One enjoyable thing about it was that I pulled over into a super small and busy street so his car was in the way and blocking traffic which forced him to get his crap done rather than delay me as long as he could.  So he came up to the car and said, “Here is your license and your ticket” and walked away.  He then got back in his car and did a U-turn pulling up to the intersection behind a school bus.  The light was red and I guess he didn’t want to wait so he chirp his siren and light at the school bus until it moved and ran the red light, once he got through he shut them off.  What an asshole.

There was really no point to the ticket other than to generate money.  He wasn’t serving and protecting anyone, he was just making cash for the city.  I’m glad my job isn’t that pointless. 

If someone is driving recklessly or unsafely certainly pull the guy over but to bother people just doing their daily grind to work is just bullshit.  I really didn't want to break out the radar detector just for my boring daily commute but it looks like I have to.  Yes I know they are illegal in Ontario but better than a ticket.

Second Drive and Ticketed!

Some people have never gotten a ticket.  Some have gotten so few that they can recall what happened with each one.  I have gotten so many tickets I literally have no clue how many I have gotten.  Mainly they were all from speeding but there have been other things like excessive acceleration but never a fix ticket because I generally keep everything in tip top shape.

Well today I was driving the Shelby to work for the second time since I bought it and got pulled over.  I was doing absolutely nothing wrong so I had no clue what the problem was.  "Sir, I'm pulling you over today for not having a front plate."  I said, "Go look, there is no place to mount it." "Sir, that's not our problem.  In Ontario you are required to have a front plate."  BAM! Fix ticket for $110.

I'm sorry Officer but no amount of money is going to force me to drill holes in the front of a Shelby Cobra.  Really stupid law, all you see of a Shelby is the back anyway.  ;)

Canadian International Auto Show Photos

As I mentioned I went to the Canadian International Auto Show with my girlfriend Julia.  I took a few shots with my phone but she brought her pro camera and took loads of shots.  They are really great pictures of some of the new models coming out and also some classic cars.  It took her several days to go through and edit the pictures but she just got them posted on her blog and I wanted to share them.

As you can see in the picture to the left she posted them in a few mixed galleries and also individual galleries for each model.  Below are the links to the mixed gallery pages but don't forget to check out the drop down menus for even more pictures of specific cars.

Don't miss the Acura NSX and the Ford GT galleries.  They were pretty awesome to see and I posted one of her beautiful Ford GT pics below.  As I mentioned before my "best in show" was the Viper ACR.  It was amazing.

While you're at her site feel free to check out her other galleries.  She not only does photography but also paints portraits, does a little writing, and has her own blog.

GALLERIES

CARS 1

CARS 2

CARS 3

Canadian International Auto Show

For Valentine's Day my girlfriend surprised me by taking me to the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto.  It was a pretty fun time with more people than I expected for Valentine's day. Most manufactures were there showing their new wares.  I took a few shots with my phone but my girlfriend took her pro camera and took hundreds of shots which I hope she will let me post on this blog.

The Ford area had such a different vibe than the other areas at the show.  It was light, friendly, and very family oriented with games and fun stuff for kids to do.  No other manufacturer thought about kids at the show.  We didn't have kids with us but it was still a pretty smart move.  The kids played allowing the adults freedom to browse Ford products.  Bravo Ford.

Most of the cars there I expected to see like the Ford GT and the Acura NSX, which I liked way more than I thought I would.  There were a few unexpected things like a Nissan Titan Warrior concept truck that was pretty cool and the Final Edition Lancer Evolution.  Dodge disappointed me a little because I couldn't find the ridiculous Jeep Grand Cherokee Hellcat everyone was talking about but I really just wanted to laugh at it.

Viper ACR

For me personally the SRT Viper ACR was looking amazing and I wanted it to follow me home.  I also got to see a Pagani for real which I've never seen before.  It was the Huayra and not my favorite, the now retired Zonda but it was still incredible to see such an elegant super car.

Like I mentioned my girlfriend took lots of pics which I hope to post later.  But for now here are a few I snapped on my crappy phone.

Challenger Hellcat

Challenger Scat Pack

Ford GT

Ford GT

Pagani Huayra

Something New In The Parking Lot Tonight

I'm not the greatest at defining hot rods but I think it's a Ford?  The guy that owns this seems to flat black spray can everything he drives.  Not sure it's working here.  Sorry about the photo quality, my phone isn't the best.