The Man wins I lose :( (Civic VX ordered off the road by police for aero mods)

[Xist]

Unfortunately, it sounds like an attorney would be greatly useful, but bringing up that does not seem helpful.

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by redyaris

Step one if you deside to go to court is get "disclosure" from the crown prosecutors office. Then see what he has as evidence. study the law he used, then look up precedents if there are any... not likely... the first hearing will be used to see if you will plead guilty if they drop the fine in half. then you will work out a trial date. At trial you should be ready to present your case "on the evidence".
What is most likely is that the cop will not show up and the crown will withdraw the charges at the very last moment...
I am not a lawer but have defended myself in court... successfully.

...should have read the whole thing first...

That's how it works here too.
Your best bet at beating a ticket is for the cop to not show.

[j12piprius]

Originally Posted by WD40

I got a $109 fine for obstructing my tailights , I had clear plexi to cover the sides so as to make the kamback more aero.

Since the plexi was fine, did the inspector say how to avoid tickets from using it?

[WD40]

I asked the inspector about the plexi, it didn't bother him. but agreed that it did break the law as it is written.
Solution is to move the lights as far back as possible, which was my original plan, but opening the tailgate would not be possible without hitting the lights, that's why I opted for the plexi.
The only way moving the lights would have worked is to widen the near rear end of the car.
Meantime I'm still waiting to get my car back and on the road.

[WD40]

Wow I am just reading the motor vehicle act for B.C.

Powers of peace officer

25.30 (1) If a peace officer has reasonable and probable grounds to believe that a vehicle is, by reason of mechanical, structural or other defect, unsafe for use on a highway, whether or not the vehicle meets the standards prescribed under the Act, he or she may order the owner or operator of the vehicle, either immediately or within such time as is specified in the order, to do one or both of the following:

(a) remove it from the highway and keep it so removed until either

(i) repairs as may be set out in the order of the peace officer have been implemented, or

(ii) the peace officer revokes the order;

(b) surrender the vehicle license or number plates, or both, for that vehicle to the corporation or to the peace officer.

So they literally can take your car off the road permanently even if it passes every ACT.

The other thing I read is that no temporary insurance can be placed on a car that has failed the test. However ..
25.13
(3) If the authorized person is not satisfied that the vehicle meets the standards, he or she may, on being satisfied that the vehicle would not present a hazard to other road users, place on the vehicle an interim inspection certificate and must indicate on the inspection report issued under subsection (1)
(4) An interim inspection certificate expires 14 days after the time of issue.

All this is great ... however as usual nobody you talk to knows all or in some cases anything regarding these issues.
I was told by the inspector that I can't drive my car home until its passed, when infact he could give it the interim pass, at least as far as the rust is concerned.
The its the rust question.. How is rust, which can only be placed under the Body Exterior/Protruding Metal section of the test considered a hazard to other road users.

I called my insurance broker to ask about temp insurance to drive a failed car home to fix, they thought for sure it was ok but to call ICBC the provincial motor vehicle insurance company and ask them.
So I did, asked the same question, they said as long as the cars current insurance was still active I could drive it as is .. no temp required... Both answers are incorrect
Then he asked for my DL # just to see what if anything was actually listed against my car, guess what .. nothing was listed .. this was 13 days after i was issued the notice and fine.
They told me that sometimes the cops don't actually file the paperwork.
So in my case I am jumping through all these hoops for is personal amusement.
I told all this to the inspector and he confirmed it all... WTF
Anyways the leaking oil onto the exhaust was a valid safety issue as it could start a fire, but the rust I mean really.
The inspector said he would probably just pass the car after the leak is fixed.
Bottom line read and reread the motor vehicle act for your area.

[Littlestan]

Absolutely ridiculous! As all the officer seen was the external modifications and
some rust, then never filed anything in the end, it leaves you wondering who pissed in his cornflakes that day.

On a positive note, this is primo information in the event I run into some problems with the law. Will definitely be checking to see if anything was filed officially before taking the next step.

[dirtydave]

wow man, WTF!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by WD40

sometimes the cops don't actually file the paperwork.
So in my case I am jumping through all these hoops for is personal amusement

What are you going to do about it? Is there any way to put that cop under scrutiny?

[WD40]

What would the point of the complaint be ..
Either way I would still have to go through the inspection.
1)notice says go
2)complain and still have to go
If he sees my car again I get pulled over and he sees no inspection sticker and paperwork, now he can nail me with failure to inspect and I get a $598 fine.
He will just hand in the paperwork that is still dated the day it first occurred.

[Fat Charlie]

Laws that allow for discretion are actually a good thing. On one hand, they let hackers be creative in areas where there isn't a specific prohibition, and on the other hand they let authorities squash things that were so obvious that nobody thought to pass a law against them.

It doesn't look like WD40 is being stomped by overbearing authority here- Dudley gave WD40 an off the record "this car is all kinds of wrong" warning and a few weeks later wrote him the smallest ticket he could while still sending him to a garage for an inspection. Now that the garage has it, they're big fans of the aeromods but can't issue a roadworthiness sticker because of other issues. The other issues are the real problem here.

Random garages and insurance salesmen not being able to walk you through a rare situation isn't a surprise, and it's not the cop's fault here either. The system expects cars to get fixed at the garage, and it probably also expects people to be in for regularly scheduled inspections instead of being sent there by the police with registrations provisionally revoked.

Odds are, once the car gets a fresh inspection sticker it's good to go. At least on that car, it'd probably be best to integrate lighting to the mods in the future, just to avoid problems: