Quietly on July 1st 2021 some new laws came into effect to crack down harder on street racers. They claim street racing increased significantly in 2020 and this is the response.
Street racing has always been illegal and has always had harder punishments than even drunk driving. So racers have always known what they were doing has harsh consequences and it hasn't stopped them. But instead of racing these new laws are wording it as "stunting," and this term has some broad definitions. For instance the following things are seen outside of a street racing daily on the roads on Ontario.
- Driving in a way that prevents a vehicle from passing.
- Intentionally cutting off another vehicle.
- Intentionally driving too close to another vehicle.
And these have NOTHING to do with street racing.
- Driving a motor vehicle while the driver is not sitting in the driver's seat.
- Driving a motor vehicle with a person in the trunk of the motor vehicle. (Watch out mobsters)
So people not racing could easily be charged with stunting depending on the mood of the officer and what they feel they saw the driver doing. One motorcyclist mentioned that just briefly standing on the bike to stretch his legs could be called stunting. Rushing through traffic to get to an offramp you don't want to miss could be called stunting.
I've been pretty vocal that I'm "pro racing," although not pro STUPID racing. Street racers need to take it out on a deserted road. If you crash and get hurt/die out in the middle of nowhere, well you knew the risks. But weaving through traffic or on busy streets or highways is stupid racing. Hammering it as you leave a car show is stupid racing. Screaming down a residential street is stupid racing. When I was a teen I had a cop pull me over after I smoked my tires. He said, "I don't care if you do this outside of town. Go out of town and smoke them till the tires fall off." That pretty much sums it up. Go where you're endangering nobody but yourselves.
Street racing is a symptom of a problem that nobody wants to do anything about. Racers are gonna race. That's not going to change no matter how many punishments they throw at it. But they could race safely and legally if cities were willing to have tracks for people to compete. However most cities stick their tracks WAY out in the boonies hours away, or they have none at all complaining about the noise levels. If you aren't going to have accessible tracks, people are gonna race at the stop light. I realize it wouldn't stop them all, but it gives a driver something to say when challenged rather than wussing out. "Let's go to the track." When I lived in Madison Wisconsin I tried to rally to get a local track setup and was shut down. I was told they didn't want the noise in the city limits. But racers are gonna race. If there's not track, it's gonna be on the street.
Anyway fellow racers look out. If you're gonna mess with the cops you better be able to outrun them. Here are the new laws in Ontario.
