Would suck to be a Mini owner in Canadia...

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/05/01/canadian-police-pull-over-entire-mini-convoy/

You down wit OPP?!

berkeley no.

Total bummer. I bet the cops down here in TX wouldn't try that with the local Harley club.

Probably arresting them for driving pathetic caricatures of the original.

ddavidv wrote: Probably arresting them for driving pathetic caricatures of the original.

Well played.

ddavidv wrote: Probably arresting them for driving pathetic caricatures of the original.

I thought I was the only one.

The story? The idiot who organized the drive contacted the cops, and told them about their function. The cops were waiting (with media), to see if any of them were stupid enough to break the law during the course of the function. They were, and they busted them.

It sucks to be stupid in Canada.

Imagine that, their media is as FOS as all the rest of them.

Careful there, big guy. Remember Canadians are smarter and more civilized than us Great Sataners.

I'm glad the police have started cracking down on people doing charity events in silly little cars. Now hopefully I can enjoy the rhubarb festival parade without being terrorized by those darn Shriners in their little convertibles.

Jensenman wrote: Careful there, big guy. Remember Canadians are smarter and more civilized than us Great Sataners.

yeah but cops is still cops. Jerks in highschool and jerks after highshool.

ignorant wrote: yeah but cops is still cops. Jerks in highschool and jerks after highshool.

The police were just grabbing low-hanging fruit.

The TV station, on the other hand, is where the jerks reside.

"they broadcast a story claiming that 11 of the Mini drivers had been arrested for doing 50 kmh over the speed limit and that they had their vehicles confiscated as a result. Even worse, the story claimed that some of the Mini drivers had their children with them and that the OPP had called the Canadian equivalent of child services on the parents."

What, is that not the same as ticketing a couple drivers for a mild speed infraction?

my ex GF had a cop for an uncle. Imagine the most hilarious sitcom scene where some docuhenozzle gets hot headed at a community soft ball league game, and then make that jerk a richard-head cop...i lived that one out, and trust me, not even Seinfelds writers could have done that scene the justice that reality did.

Ive only a time or 2 met a cop that wasnt a total massengil off duty, so I can only imagine them when theyre on the clock

All the years I've raced, I've only ever had 1 person come after me in the pits (and I thought he was going to kill me). He was a cop.

Lest we forget how stupid the organizer was to tell the cops what they were doing.

We autocross at a local airport, the locals got mad at all the car noise. (yeah, at an airport, go figure)

They claimed we were "street racing" and speeding while on the way to the event.

WE, the event organisers, not the competitors called the local constabulary and asked them to hide on the road coming into the event. We didn't tell the people attending, only the event organisers new about it.

Cop sat their all day and only handed out one ticket. The ticket was to one of the local soccer moms in her minivan.

Add the surcharge to the traffic violations and leave my viewing of race events out of it. Why should I pay for irresponsible idiots unless I'm one of them.

Shawn

Is there some sort of legal requirement to report any event open to the public over a certain size in canada or something along those lines. Reporting it the police before the event may have been an attempt to follow the law.

Oh and after reading this story, berkeley canada. Ill vacation in mexico where i know the cops will steal my money. The surprise bullE36 M3 i can live without thanks.

There's no law in Canada that says you have to alert the police if you're running a big drive like that. But it is pretty stupid to tell the police, then proceed to drive 30 kmh over the limit.

GlennS wrote: Oh and after reading this story, berkeley canada. Ill vacation in mexico where i know the cops will steal my money. The surprise bullE36 M3 i can live without thanks.

So it's OK to speed where you live?

That's where I want to vacation.

I'm no cop, but I think the element of surprise is critical to catching people doing illegal stuff.

I guess what they did not mention... how close was the cop to the drop in speed from 100 to 90k/mh? doing 120k/mh is a lot different in a 100k/mh zone than in a 90

It's got nothing to do with Canada for pete's sake, it's a story of stupidity, which is universal.

Umm, shades of grey perhaps. I don't know if I'd say 120 in a 90 and 120 in a 100 are a lot different. To a radar gun, they're both above the limit.

Again, if you're going to alert the police about what you're doing, it's probably a good idea to keep the police in mind as you do it. The problem with a convoy of 30 cars, though, is that the cars near the back are always going to have to run faster to keep up, then slow down more as the whole conga line accordions. I had an experience with this when leading a bunch of cars at our Open House a few years back - I was very careful on the interstate to keep the speed at the limit, but someone at the back was complaining about the crazed pace I was setting because they had to drive so fast to keep up.

During the Targa, all of the competitors were told that collection of a speeding ticket on a transit would garner impressive penalites - and from what I recall, ticket #2 was a ticket home. The police knew exactly where we'd be and we were definitely conspicuous. So we were very careful with our speed. It meant that the biggest complaint Newfoundlanders have about the Targa is probably the fact that we spend all of our time obstructing traffic , but still. Bad time to speed. Same as if you're in a giant convoy.

What an arresting tale

I'm guessing the reason they told the cops about it was because it was a charity event. They probably wanted to get the idea into the cops' heads that they were not a bunch of idiot kids out screwing around with their "race team", but a group of responsible adults out for a drive with friends. We've all seen videos of the stupidity that can happen at a meeting of car enthusiasts, and I'm sure the police did too, so the organizers were probably trying to distance themselves from that kind of thing. If you can affect someone's preconceived notions coming into a situtation, it can have a huge affect on how they treat you (is it affect or effect? I can never tell). Unfortunately, it didn't work out in their favour this time.

Bob

Informing the cops was a stupid, stupid move. They're lucky all their minis weren't crushed for "street racing" or "being prepared for street racing" (modifications).

This particular police agency has a history of bad judgment, however.

Calling the news to be there beforehand is proof that the charity cruise was targeted even before the cars gathered that day. they were considered guilty beforehand. The cops did ghost the group for a long time before the media zone and could have prevented any speeding had they chosen to. If speeding was dangerous and shouldn't be allowed to happen due to that, then allowing it to go on until the media can catch you responding is premeditated douchebaggery. The fact that the entire group was pulled over on camera, but only 4 got tickets shows that they weren't simply pulling speeders over and simply caught a couple of cars that HAPPENED to be in the group, but that they were intentionally, and premeditatingly targeting a charity group on camera in hopes of both nabbing at least a couple people, but making a media circus out of it.

Yes, it's illegal to speed (and in this case, not very much speeding at all) but it's morally bankrupt to pull this police stunt in response to the knowledge that a group of car enthusiasts for charity are driving through your area.

I agree.. calling the media in was just that force being happy shiney people. What a way to kill a charity event in the future