Video: Toronto cops bust pedal-powered Buick

[Christopher Jordan]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Victory for the pedal powered Buick!
]

Yep- thrown out of court. Nice day to take a drive.......

countersTrike

[JasonG]

When will the police learn that just because it looks different it's not illegal.

[NiHaoMike]

It may be slow, but hey, it gets infinite MPG...

[bgd73]

Originally Posted by JasonG

When will the police learn that just because it looks different it's not illegal.

this type of custom needs legal accreditation. In my own locale, welding a car doubled over can set off a few non-thinking inspectors about safety, and that is an oxymoron.
the buick on main roads, with framing other than oe (not a repair, or built upon oe, as the pan is missing in the buick, and a belly pan has more specifics than some do not need to ponder)
it needs a way to get respected, and more laws...it is on the main street after all.
I say the cop was nice about it, and the courts was even more graced about it.

[Dan9]

well, it was only art to begin with, right? So I doubt the artiste was thinking much about engineering.

I agree on the accreditation. Seems to me in the UK you need your modded car to be inspected/certified by an engineer, right? Why not have more of that. More work for engineers (good economic growth) and less tickets (baaad source of revenue, pointless).

My 2cents
D

[Old Tele man]

...gee, I was thinking: "...gosh, we (USA) really don't have ALL the dense cops in the world after all..." (just a majority)!

Way to go there, Fred, Barney, Wilma & Betty!

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by JasonG

When will the police learn that just because it looks different it's not illegal.

As long as they have the support of their superiors, they won't learn.

I don't know about Canada, but in America any supposed violation would probably be thrown out of court for the simple reason that it is NOT a motorized vehicle. Non-motorized vehicles do not require registration or licensing. Obviously, it's illegal to drive it on the freeway, but short of that, locally it should be permissible, just as with horse-drawn carts, etc. They probably can't get a conviction of any violation of law, but they can make life miserable for him dragging him into court with charges that won't stick.

Unfortunately, if it catches on and becomes popular, the powers that be will quickly pass laws prohibiting it, as is done with non-conforming entities in this society.

[Christopher Jordan]

That Buick would be extremely popular in this area. I will keep my eye on Craigslist and hope it appear for sale

[FSUspectra]

Jumping in late on this one, but I can understand the police officer's concern. Being that it looks like an automobile, another driver may mistake it for a "normal" car. His concern was that they go through the next intersection and get hit by another (or should I say A car) car, and they are all injured and/or dead... there were no seat belts or anything. Glad they won their case though! Hope they stay safe!