uponone

Hey fellow Canadians!

I am looking for some legal help and hope one of you might be able to help me out.

A couple of weeks ago, I was pulled over by a cop not far from my house. Fortunately I was only traveling about 20 km/h and had both wheels on the ground! Unsure as to why I was being stopped, I noticed the officer come bolting out of his car and run towards me. He was screaming and swearing at the top of his lungs for me to get off my bike. Worried that he had me confused with someone else, I asked him what the problem was. He again screamed at me, demanded my license, told me he was sick of this **** and instructed me not to move. He then got back in his car and left.

At this point my friend and I were very confused and waited 20 minutes for the cop to return. When he came back he asked my friend and I for our insurance and ownerships. My friend inquired as to why he pulled us over and he was told to shut up. I was fairly nervous as it was obvious this cop was in a really bad mood and had a personal vendetta he was gonna take out on us. He then looked at my friends bike, noted an after market exhaust and gave him a 90 dollar ticket! I couldn’t believe what an ******* this guy was being!

He then looked over my bike and told me I was gonna be here for a long time! I asked him why and he told me that I was not supposed to be using non-stock parts on my motorcycle. He said he “knew” bikes and that I was screwed!

After 2 ½ hours & visits from 2 other cops, the officer finally decided what he was going to charge me with. He had to look through 2 books just to figure something out! He wrote me up 5 summonses to court and un-certified my bike.

I had my bike towed and finally got home several hours later!

Here is what I was charged with and the questions I have about each ticket:

1. Operate Vehicle Not Complying With Emissions Standards.
Environmental Protection Act Section 6 (3)

I am running K&N air filters but as I understood it, motorcycles where exempt from emissions laws in Canada. Isn’t that why we do not need emissions test?

2. Drive Without Proper Headlight – Motorcycle
Highway Traffic Act – 62 (2)

My bulb is D.O.T. but the officer said that the casing had to say D.O.T. as well. As far as I can tell, the highway traffic act says nothing about D.O.T.

3.Improper Muffler – Motor Vehicle
Highway Traffic Act – 75 (1)

He said I got this one because my pipe is after market. Last I checked, that wasn't illegal!

4. Unnecessary Noise
Highway Traffic Act - 75 (4)

My pipe is loud, so I don’t think I can fight this one. He did not however check it with a decibel meter!

5. Unsafe Motor Vehicle
Highway Traffic Act – 84 (1)

I assume I got this one because I got the other tickets. If I can beat the above, maybe I can get off this one too?

If anyone has any suggestions for me, please let me know. My court date is coming up soon and I really want to get this **** resolved!

Thanks

F4i_Goddess

HIRE EX-COPPERS! That cop sounds like such an *******! argh..cops like that make so mad... the ones who think they have all the power in the world to charge whoever with whatever. He was probably just trying to meet his quota at the last minute and was being absolutely fu@king ridiculous about it! I've never heard of someone being charged with so many tickets at one time on a bike... CRAZY! Which district was this cop from? Peel?? Or was it an OPP?

uponone

He was a Metro Toronto Cop!

Pornstar

Well I am going to do my best to help you out. First off I will start off in telling you that I am a class "A" mechanic, so I have some idea what it is I am talking about. The headlight deal? What kind of housing is it? and where did ya buy it from?. The pipe, well yeah ok it may be loud, for him to justify the nosie, he would have to have heard the noise that you were making at that time with a proper reading, any vehicle will break the rating if reved high enough. Were you at that time?. It is not illegal to change pipes, look at it this way, when you exhaust rots out on your car, you do not buy an OEM system, you buy the cheapest dam system you can get... LOL... He does not really have the power to decertify your bike. He can suggest for you to get a safety. I would take your bike to at least two locations right away and get it safetyed and have that with you. Now if you have that safety within days of getting tickets all the better for you. I would also write a letter to his superior officer and explain. Be honest about it all. I am trying to remember... Oh, the K&N, they are perfectly legal and actually both that and the pipe do not make your bike polute anymore, because I am sure that you have a sport bike, and well they have not catalytic convertors on them, so you removed no emission related items. The K&N and pipe would actually allow the biek to run a little cleaner, more air to mix with fuel.

So I hope that helped you out a little and talk soon...

QBALL

Hey Hey uponone,
You got screwed BIG TIME!! Sporty and I are teaching a safety course this weekend!! (HEHE)!! Yes me of all people. I am teaching a metro officer, and I will print off your posting and see what he can do for you! If he can't hook you up I will fail him!! (HEHE)!! I have taken law enforcement in school many years ago, and you should not have a problem getting off, but I will double check for you. One thing that you might want to do is to take your bike into a bike shop, and get them to safety it. Take some pics and the safety with you to court. I will send you a pm and let you know what the cop tells me tomorrow. I hope that I can pull some strings for you, and maybe you will not have to go to court. If you were in Halton I could help out more!! Keep in touch, and we still have to hook up soon!!!
QBALL

QBALL

Hey uponone,
I talked to the officer that I tought this weekend. I gave him a list of your fines and told him what happened. He said that as long as you were not fooling around that you should not have any problem getting off all the tickets! He said to get your bike safety, and take it into court. Also, that the officer had no right to hold you up for 2.5 hours. That will be very hard for him to justify in court. He also said to go to xcopper or some place like that. A place that you will not have to pay unless you win in court. I hope that it all works out for you. Let me know what happens.
QBALL

uponone

Hi F4i_Goddess, Sporty & Qball,

Thanks for all the advice guys; it has really helped me out a lot. After reading your posts I decided to invest a few hours in law research. I found an awesome site published by the government called http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca. It has every Canadian law out there and is updated daily.

I think I am going to do well in court if the officer even shows up. I am pretty damn sure I can get off each ticket and even had my bike re-certified to show that it was in perfect running order. This guy was a real moron and if he shows up for court, he will definitely be embarrassed. I have each law and regulation for motorcycles in Canada and I can prove that my bike meets or exceeds everyone!

I will keep you posted on the outcome of my court day!

Thanks again,
Chris

P.S. Qball, we definitely have to go riding soon! My friend is running a stunt show at Cayuga on July 1st; perhaps we could meet out there? The StarBoys are coming and few of my friends will be competing. I think its gonna be a good time! Send me an email if you are interested and we can arrange meeting up! I will post the detail of the show a.s.a.p.

Pornstar

Hey there UPONEONE... Hey we all try to do anything that we can to help out another fellow two wheeled freek. I will try to be at cayuga with QBALL and I hope to meet up with ya there. Sounds like it should be a good time. Anyway good luck with the courst and I hope you get off them all.



All in that order.

CrazyKell

Well......what happened? We're all on the edge of our seats here!

uponone

Hey,

Well I went to court on Wednesday and I am happy to say, I am a free man. Believe or not, the cop did not show! Actually, it was even better than that; he never even filed the tickets. As far as the court and police are concerned my alleged offences don’t even exist.

It was a real nice feeling to walk out of that courtroom with no fines! I was starting to look forward to defending myself though. I spent a ton of hours researching the law and was able to put together 11 pages of documents proving my bike’s innocents.

If something like this goes down again I will definitely be prepared. Thanks again to everyone for all their help!

If anyone else finds them selves in a similar jam, send me an email. I can point you to just about every Canadian law regarding motorcycles!

fergy016

what are the laws on legallity of motorcycle exhaust if you don't mind me asking. I am in the states but still i doubt the laws are far from each other. thanks

pussycat

im going to tell on you....hahahahahahahahha
ill make him give you the tickets again.

pussycat

FO SHIZZIE.

WheelieKing

Pardon me......Don't you remember the thread you started.

pussycat

i do it 4 u

Regstunts

You should call the ****er up on the phone and tell him your a motorist(don't say rider, or he'll just go overkill next year) he screwed over sometime ago (stay annonomoys) and tell him bluntly that he's an asshol and for him to **** himself. If you don't threaten him you can't be breaking the law - and it'll be fun.

Regstunts

Oh ya - glad to hear you got off.

pussycat

damn , you sound mad.

FiSh

if that was on the west coast we would have killed the cop CUZZ WE GANGSTA BIC

pussycat

so let me get this straight your a gangsta and a lighter at the same time????????????????