This was posted on www.canoe.ca today from Winnipeg

http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Winn...59863-sun.html

By CHRIS KITCHING, STAFF REPORTER




The video posted on the Internet includes a Civic racing on Wall Street.
Charges could be laid against people whose street races were captured on video and then brazenly posted on the Internet for everyone to see, including Winnipeg police.

Makers of the five-minute clip, which shows cars racing at high speeds on city streets, have left little doubt about their identities and made it easy for cops to find them.

Two names appear at the end of the edited video after viewers get a glimpse of a driver's face and licence plates of three cars involved.

"We're going to look into it to see what, if any, charges might apply. We want to track down the vehicles and the drivers of those vehicles," said Winnipeg police traffic unit Sgt. Barbara Tobin.

The investigation is believed to be one of the local department's first to stem from actions in an Internet video.


A passenger inside a green Toyota Sprinter Trueno GTS captured footage of the car engaged in three separate races.

The Toyota races a black Honda Civic on Notre Dame Avenue and Wall Street, where the cars pass through a school zone near Tec-Voc High School. It also races a red Civic on Keewatin Street.

Scenes show the cars passing a playground and at least one cyclist. The Toyota also does two sprints. One scene shows the speedometer at 120 km/h.

"If he had lost control of that vehicle and plowed into other vehicles, who knows what damage in human life and property would have been caused," Tobin said.

CAA Manitoba president Mike Mager said the people involved should be charged.

ABSOLUTELY STUPID

"It's completely irresponsible and absolutely stupid to be racing on the street like that and videotaping it for kicks," he said. "If you're so excited about racing, go out to a drag strip somewhere and do it safely and responsibly."

Mager and Tobin are worried the footage will encourage others to street race.

WPG Cruise Automotive Magazine editor Eric Thiessen said the actions in the video should not be associated with Sunday night cruisers.

"We've always maintained that the cruising crowd is separate from the racing crowd. Street racing is something the cruising community does not condone," he said. "People with such blatant disregard for public safety and the rules of the road have no business being on the road at all."

The video was uploaded to a YouTube.com user account in June. One person typed a response challenging the Toyota driver to a race. The clip has been viewed about 3,000 times. A link to the video is posted on an Internet message board Winnipeg car enthusiasts use to seek advice and talk shop, among other things.

Members of the website have denounced the races. One person writes: "This kid is part of the reason why cruisers and import owners get a bad reputation, no one wants this schmuck representing the import scene in Winnipeg."

It's not the first time someone has put footage of a speeding vehicle or street race in Winnipeg on the Internet, one user told the Sun.

Under new federal legislation tabled in June, street racers could face life in prison in cases where someone is killed or mandatory driving bans.

- On the web:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x67nRMHAJ4

Originally Posted by gixxer_fan

"It's completely irresponsible and absolutely stupid to be racing on the street like that and videotaping it for kicks," he said. "If you're so excited about racing, go out to a drag strip somewhere and do it safely and responsibly."

Full names, face, speedo shots, retarded driving and video taping it.

Way to go idiots.

fucking morons....this is why you never post video without editing the plates and faces first...and even then keep it off the net if your dumb enough to race on the streets and especially dumb enough to video tape it. Complete lack of care for anything including other peoples lives. Fucking losers.

you deserve to be caught and penalized if your that stupid to post your face or license plates on any videos

Here is the day after follow up story
http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Winn...62820-sun.html

vid got pulled off... anyone have it?

ya, it's not there anymore.........I want to see it too.

This is like a few years ago when some guys were filming themselves drving around shooting paintballs at people....and they left the vid in the VCR for step-mom to see!!!

morons

You know what's funny is they tell you to take it to the track, but there aren't any. I've kinda been meaning to hit up a track so I thought I would see if I could find one up here. Road couse, drag strip, whatever. All you can find is dirt ovals. The closest drag strip I've found in my area is over 5 hours away in Duluth MN. Just for kicks I tried to look for one in MB, and there's only one drag strip, and it's a half hour north of Winnepeg. How busy/how much of a cop stop would that track be on a race what you brung night?

I'm not trying to provide an excuse for those guys because they are tools, and that was just stupid doing that shit in traffic. But it's definately not like around southern Ontario where within a few hours drive you can hit a track.

Matt

say what you want about those guys, but have the cops never heard of streetfire, youtube, any generic car forum (ie car specific). They all have videos of streetracing, and in most of them you can catch a plate or face. Cops everywhere would be busy for the next 15 years laying out charges.

complete morons

Originally Posted by fixitmattman

You know what's funny is they tell you to take it to the track, but there aren't any. I've kinda been meaning to hit up a track so I thought I would see if I could find one up here. Road couse, drag strip, whatever. All you can find is dirt ovals. The closest drag strip I've found in my area is over 5 hours away in Duluth MN. Just for kicks I tried to look for one in MB, and there's only one drag strip, and it's a half hour north of Winnepeg. How busy/how much of a cop stop would that track be on a race what you brung night?

I'm not trying to provide an excuse for those guys because they are tools, and that was just stupid doing that shit in traffic. But it's definately not like around southern Ontario where within a few hours drive you can hit a track.

Matt

I agree, there could be more resources out there when it comes to stuff like this but at the same time I hear of alot of stuff out there for people to get involved in. There are auto-x set up in parking lots all over, there are more tracks out there than you may be ablwe to find in a basic internet search and also it could have something to do with your location up there in Thunderbay. hell, you could enter your car in one of the road rallys to test you co-piloting, communication and navigational skills in a street legal race, of course speed limits are followed in those. I know most 1/4 mile drag strips are open every friday/saturday and costs are usually fairly low to get use of the track if your car passes the safety of course. I've noticed more lately car clubs are getting together to rent tracks out and do racing school like I know Kace was involved in with the honda's. Alot of tracks even have some set days where you can pay to get access to the track for a while so long as you have the required safety gear and can pass the track safety....I know alot of what I just suggested costs money, but not nearly as much as paying for street racing tickets and fucked up shit like that. it's all becoming more and more available to your average Joe public and I thoroughly plan on taking advantage of such resources and availabilities. Infact next year I'm thinking about shelling out to get into BMW race school or one of the other ones around here. Maybe even going to look into the rally school they have up North there. it's gonna cost me a pretty fucking penny, but the skill and control I'll learn and gain over thye learning process will prepair me better for any on-track racing on do, and in the event of emergency manuevers on the road to avoid danger or accidents this knowledge and skill and understanding of my vehicle could help save my life and someone elses. Look into it, it's most definatly worth every cent you put into it.

Originally Posted by REDSRT4

say what you want about those guys, but have the cops never heard of streetfire, youtube, any generic car forum (ie car specific). They all have videos of streetracing, and in most of them you can catch a plate or face. Cops everywhere would be busy for the next 15 years laying out charges.

well the new acticle states that if this goes to court for the kids it may be hard to use the video as admissable court evidence as they'd need a witness to say that the video acuratly depicts what happened. The kids edited the video so legally speaking they could have changed the sound, video speed etc and altered it in a way to make it seem like they are speeding when they are not. Thats the real killer with evidence like this is that it's admissability in court is rather static and basically loop-hole city for the defendants legal aid. Hell, if the kids keep their mouth shut and don't admit to anything, they wouldn't even need a lawyer, they could represent themselves and chances are nothing will ever happen to them. plus like you said if the cops set precident here by prosecuting these kids they'd have to start prosecuting everyone, and the government I'm sure is not willing to waste that kind of money on prosecuters for the crown in court and out. Overall, basically what I'm sure the cops are trying to do here, is make it very publically clear that big brother is watching. this is basically some posturing much the same as you could see with chimpanzee's...dominant male=cops...hahahaha, yeah right.Although what this would be a good sign of, is that with all the extra time cops have on their hands, availability of technology and a bunch of people sick and tired of seeing street racers fuck things up, theres gonna be a lot more hassles to come when it comes to the rather vague racing laws where many poeple are nailed for street racing just because two cars were speeding, while many real street racers don't get caught until their shit-bucket stops working right, a tire blows the brakes go, a bent control arm finally gives out and he/she loses control fucking a bunch of people and property up. I'd say just as many shit-buckets race as the tuner cars or muscle cars so I hope eventually that stigma is passed and they'll see it's not just us killing people.

you think you'd be smart enough not to post this onto a website? lol like...even I wouldnt do that, which is pretty bad cuz i'd probably be an idiot and forget to cover my plates LOL

As stupid as the people making/posting the video's, they can't lay charges based on the video alone... It will however attract SO much heat that they'll be busted for sure the next time they do something even slightly illegal in a car.

The shots of the speedo aren't valid, because the speedo could be malfuctioning, and there was no calibrated device to measure its true speed.

As for them racing, again, they have to be caught in the act to face charges(with current laws atleast). Dangerous driving, same thing.

Its definitely a VERY dumb thing to do, and even dumber to film/post online, but no charges will be laid from the video footage.

Espcially since if for example you get a red light ticket in a ranger such as mine where you have the sliding rear window and your face is visible they cannot charge you as its against privacy laws to have your picture taken while in a vehicle. Today woulda been a good day for it though. A cavalier with a can came up beside me laughed at my sticker for XTC (just a local club) and decided he wanted to race me and punched his AUTOMATIC cavalier. I laughed back and continued doing the speed limit. He got frustrated and took next right that he could find. What a douche....

ya they can. you were doing something illegal, there is no loophole saying "if your face is visable you can't get a ticket" or people would just be hanging their head out the window or platstering it on the windshield tog et away with it.

doy ou have proof rob?

Originally Posted by Riddle_Rob

Espcially since if for example you get a red light ticket in a ranger such as mine where you have the sliding rear window and your face is visible they cannot charge you as its against privacy laws to have your picture taken while in a vehicle. Today woulda been a good day for it though. A cavalier with a can came up beside me laughed at my sticker for XTC (just a local club) and decided he wanted to race me and punched his AUTOMATIC cavalier. I laughed back and continued doing the speed limit. He got frustrated and took next right that he could find. What a douche....

If you are out in public, whether walking or driving in your car, I can take as many photos of u I want and it's not illegal.