The system sucks As any police officer who doesnt like the look of you or your car can give you a defect notice. Its doesnt have to be a defect they dont even have to substantiate it (good luck arguing the point with them even if you are right, you will get defected for more things) what they say goes, here is a canary/fine see ya at the pits. It's expensive for the owner, its embarassing in some situations and inconvenient. The cops who hand these things out willy nilly in the majority of cases have very limited knowledge of cars in general. Gees try taking a zed to a commodore/falcon mechanic and they sh*t their pants as we all know and they have years of experience in the field. How can some rookie out of the academy with bugger all experience or some more experience guy who is allocated road patrol after years of service who is probably disgruntled as he still is stuck doing the shit jobs, probably looked over for promotion or higher level activities (usually cause they guy is an arsehat, traffic is the lowest of the low, if your stuck there its cause your a wanker, no one likes you or your dumb, or all the above) be expected to know whats legit and what isn't, I bet most of them couldnt take a look around zed engine and in lamens terms name the parts, what they do, how they work etc. But these same people supposedly know the ins and outs of the regulations and how many millimeters this can be or how this should function etc etc can defect you, Usually unfairly for a whole raft of reason most of which are not safety related.
its fair enuf to an extent.... depends how bald your tyres wer. and are both things people dont think about checking regularly. a simple are you awair your tyres and brakes are to low? "oh no oficer i try to avoid driving this car in the rain and havnt noticed my brakes being effected"(i meen your car seemed to stop ok when he pulled you over?) oficer: ok mate well im gona give you a warning and want you to report this car to the pits in a weeks time to make sure your problems hav been fixed. in the meen time plz park it up
Yep because things like bov's and loud exhaust will cause car accidents... And i HIGHLY doubt that camrys and corollas are pulled over and gone over by the cops..
We're just obvious easy targets that's all. I've had my stock seats gone over and asked where they were listed on my mod plate. When they couldn't locate the compliance plate because it was under my radiator air guide I was questioned as to what function the air guide serves. Piggys have to make a living and unfortunately Jap imports are easy picking. Mostly due to kids buying thrashed crap and not maintaining it.
Yep, I posted a thread about it. The point is, they aren't mechanics, hell this cop didn't have a clue he was just out to make some $. It doesn't matter how they're paid exactly, but I'm sure they have to full fill some sort of minimum requirement. I'm sure he was looking for my pod, and its unsecured life and death situation huge fines needed... :rofl:
I have an absolute shitbox of a 'rolla. Never been pulled over (except for speeding ages ago), and never had a hassle. It's a bucket of poo and will probably give it away or take it to the wreckers when I get a new car in a few months. Cars like mine are the ones they should be pulling over and defecting...
yea man same. i got a camary that has been run up the ass and front bar has a hole in it from som1's towbar going thru it. has rust holes the size of golfballs all over the shop and a loose exhuast system that rattles like buggery... yet they dont even glance at me.... and times i hav been pulled up for a random breath test they are still not intrested...
Knowing our cars are targets, we should be more careful to keep ours roadworthy. Fair enough most defects aren't safety related, but we should all try making and keeping our cars roadworthy with associated paperwork for mods. Its all the more satisfying sticking it to them when they harass you.
Yeh the laws are ridiculous and you have no comeback when they get it wrong. To have your car certified safe to register in Q it has to be inspected by a qualified and approved motor mechanic yet some unqualified cop can deem it unsafe. Make sense?
Exactly, doesn't make sense at all, government just love to throw laws around to make themselfs look better, we'll give the cops more power (And they introduce it right across the board) oh wait they aren't qualified in half the stuff we just gave them power to do, oh well, let the next government clean it up, we're only in for one term, 2 at the most. Its like giving a plumber a qualification to do surgery.... lol
wa its not so much fund raising.. got a sticker on the s15 the other day, near stock so not hard to get it over the pits but there is no fine in WA just the cost of the pits which is like $80-$100 or something and that would just cover the wages of the guys doing the checking... i do agree i drove a very shitty hilux and was never looked at, but a nice car.. yeah not good.... how ever it could have been the very bright HID's shining the sen sarge in the eyes as we went through the booze bus that bugged him lol...
Keeping a folder with all of your certs doesn't always work. If a cop wants to be a prick he'll defect you anyway! Happened to me years ago when I had a modified starion. A P-plater smashed into my car while I was driving through a car park. He was going way too fast and failed to give way. Got his details, etc. Damage was just a busted up front bumper. So I pick up my number plate and place it in the front window. Next day as I'm about to leave to get quotes a cop pulls me up and defects because of the number plate. I explained the situation and his response was I don't care. Then he asked me to lift the bonet and defected me for blow of valves etc. I pulled out my book of certs and he said "Put it away, don't want to see it!" I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Got the defects cleared at vicroads no problem. Then the guy re-instated my defect the very next day! I spoke to vicroads and asked how is that possible? Vicroads said he's trying to be a prick and cleared it no questions asked. Having said that, this has been the only bad experience I've had with cops and defects. Usually they compliment me on the car and I'm on my way.
When he didnt want to see folder saying what he was putting defects on was certified i would have considered it, but the second time i would definately of asked for his badge number and complained, he probably would have shat himself at you asking for badge number and said nevermind, all is good and not defected... in which case still get it and complain.
I've asked a cop for his badge number etc and he just said no. In the end if they wanna be pricks they will be to the end imo, and they have the power to do so which is bs.
if thats the case get the plate or painted on number of police car and complain, add that he said no, they might not beleive your word over his, but they will when multiple people say it if he does it a lotz or its usually on the ticket they give you anyway. and i would love it if the police were genuinely pricks beyond justification when i got a ticket, because if you have a legitimate complaint about their conduct the ticket gets dropped
somtimes i wish it was that easy aswell. but the same cops dont allways use the same cars. so they will find away to get out of it. and about the its not all about money raising in wa loud. well thats allmost our point aswell. they hav the power to do wat they want. its like the only laws where your guilty straight away untill you prove your innocent. and can be impossable. like when i was fighting a speeding fine from a camera. they pulled out all theese certificates and engineer reports saying how it was setup 100%correct and blah. then the judge is like ok so wheres your evidence... im like how am i spose to get evidence here.... unless i had a bunch of freinds standing on the side of the road with video cameras and stuff theres noway to get evidence against it.. its ur word against all there flashy paper work.
