police harrassment....... grrrr comments please

leggei007

leggei007

Leaving Skid Marks
Location
Taree, NSW
First Name
Jeff Stewart
Drive
88 Astra turbo n 2012 Holden Cruze diesel hatch
:cursing: My brother in law was pulled over and defected today whilst driving my pulsar hatch, n the list is this:

Rear suspension - where is his certificate of inspection station
Exhaust to have Db test - its brand new what the....
Wheel track to comply - who is this guy
Front seats not standard - ok they are racing seats
Window tint check - looking thru rear screen means its too dark, where did u learn that one?
Oil leaks - ok I didn't clean it after I did the rocker gasket

Has anyone else encounted this garbage from the police service and where in NSW can I get my racing seats engineered as they don't make the original 1990 ones anymore.

Im taking this to the highest degree to ensure this doesn't happen again due to this officer doesn't know the regulations or rules regarding harassment.

Cheers Jeff
 
I think I know your problem: you live in NSW.

As far as I'm aware an officer of the law can defect (and fine) anything he deems illegal...even if an engineer and a mech can say it's legal.

Find a fabricator and ask him or find a qual'd auto engineer. Isn't consulmotive in NSw? Or maybe it's on Vic? Can't remember
 
Its the game we play. You can only play cat and mouse for so long till the cat catches you..
 
What Jon said. It sucks to be defected but driving a modified car will eventually lead to a defect...Just part of the crappy laws!
 
Disagree.

You will only be defected if you modify your car in a non-roadworthy way.
Many "common" modifications are indeed unroadworthy and therefore defectable- noisy exhausts, low ride height, exterior lighting, and so forth.
Modifying your car can be done in a roadworthy manner, and in that case you have nothing to worry about.
Yes, the police can issue notices on suspicion of unroadworthiness, but they'd only do that if either it was pretty close to the limit and they legitimately weren't sure, or if you've done something to annoy or make yourself visible to the cop in question.

Rear suspension - where is his certificate of inspection station

Is the suspension modified to a point where a reasonable person may consider it as possibly being too low?

Exhaust to have Db test - its brand new what the....

Brand new does not imply it meets emissions or noise laws.

Wheel track to comply - who is this guy

Comply with what? Is the wheel track, or indeed the camber, normal or has it been modified and visibly so?

Front seats not standard - ok they are racing seats

Racing seats do not necessarily meet roadworthy requirements.

Window tint check - looking thru rear screen means its too dark, where did u learn that one?

Perhaps it did indeed look too dark. How dark is the tint?

Oil leaks - ok I didn't clean it after I did the rocker gasket

And how is the cop supposed to tellthe difference between oil leaking and oil you yourself put on the outside of the engine?
 
Sigh! To add an unnecessary sentence to my other post, I meant modifying in the most common sense whereby people do (usually harmless, but often) illegal stuff to their cars and drive them in public frequently.

It's unfortunate that a cop is probably within his rights to defect your car for having defectable stuff, but in the end you can't really hang it on him. For someone to blame I'd probably look more at the law-makers/transport dept! Oh and at yourself for presumably breaking the law by having the car on the road, but as Jon said it's just part of the risk of modifying (as per my definition, Stephen :P ).
 
And they'll be changing the laws again shortly to make passing any modifications EVEN harder.

The reason they are doing it is to stop the VB drinking, winnie red smoking, mullet sporting, backyard mechanics chopping the springs in their VP commodores and driving them on the road.
 
could be worse, we could live in Vic.... must get that track car....
 
I noticed around sydney last week that drivers have been pummelled into submission - noone drove anywhere near 110 kph, slowed down way before speed changes etc. Although wrx-ankers still drove like dickheads

I would have thought harassment would be a few fun ins with the 5-0, not one uninformed officer catching you out

Not trying to be un-sympathetic, it is a pain in the ass but modded cars always run the risk, like Jon said
 
Depends on who you get really. I've never had a problem with police, only with driving with my foglights without realising (stupid Mitsubishi having the headlight & foglight icons in the opposite positions on the dash!).
I had MTA come do an inspection on my Super, & the guy was adamant my exhaust was aftermarket. Would not believe one iota that it was a factory fitted Ralliart muffler.
 
But at the end of the day ANY thing that is changed from factory specification does not meet OEM requirements, there for to a certain degree is deemed unroadworthy because the car is not in the same condition the manufacturer released it in. There doesn't have to be anything wrong with the car or even non-standard in the car, the officer just has to have suspect there is something. They do not have to be qualified mech's/engineers, that's not their job. Their job is to put the suspect cars in the room where the qualified mech's and engi's are. I'm well aware that mine and most of my mates cars are deemed unroadworthy and I know one day I will be sent to Regency(again)...it's the extrememly frustrating game we play.

I personally know 4 cops that are ex mechanics in Adelaide, these are the guys that if you are respectful to them, they will usually say "nice car mate" and let you off.
 
I feel for you, without reservation.. but as a few have said here, it's just some guy trying to do his job. I agree with Dawso, and sadly it's the same with everything... a small few messing it up for everyone. I think the A.C.T is the only place where the R.T.A are actually required to slap down a handful of defects, the police can order you to park it with a red defect but otherwise it's very different from N.S.W.. (I may be wrong and probably am, but I grew up there in the days when they use to defect randomly, now the R.T.A do it)

I hope you sort it out, and you probably will without a great deal of hassle.. Best of luck man.
 
gotta say, i have been pulled over a few times (once on the way down to the tune day, cheers for that christian :P) and a good attitude is the difference between a breathe test/going on your way and tow truck/a few yellow slips
 
This officer is the only 1 that seems to do what it takes to defect anything n it's the 2nd time for defecting things that he knows that aren't a problem like the exhaust due to it being tested on the day of fitment n being a window tinter n the laws stating that only the front windows need to b legal limit of 35% n the rear no darker than 15%. Plus I found out this evening that he needs to understand the new rules which is causing this misunderstanding

Cheers all for ur opinion
 
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