Ontario crushes `hot wheels'
Government promotes stunt to deter `motorheads' from racing
Jun. 15, 2006. 05:11 PM
CANADIAN PRESS
COLIN MCCONNELL/TORTONTO STAR
The Ontario government crushed two tricked-out Hondas into a
heap of scrap metal Thursday as part of an effort by Attorney
General Michael Bryant to discourage ``motorheads” from racing
on public streets.
MARKHAM — The Ontario government crushed two tricked-out Hondas into a heap of scrap metal Thursday as part of an effort by Attorney General Michael Bryant to discourage ``motorheads" from racing on public streets.
The spectacle, performed in front of a horde of television cameras in this sprawling suburb just north of Toronto, came on the same day the federal government introduced new legislation to criminalize the increasingly popular activity.
"We are taking away these hot wheels from the people who use them forever," Bryant said as he presided over the theatrics, which featured a massive front-end loader crushing the cars on the driveway of a Markham paving company.
And Thursday's exhibition was just the start, Bryant said.
"We're not just going to take your keys away for a few weeks," he said. "We are going to take your precious vehicles from you."
Used in races in 2003 and 2004, the province took possession of the cars under the Civil Remedies Act, a law passed last December which allows police to seize property used in illegal activities.
The pair are the first street racing cars to be destroyed under that law, but Bryant said he expects more will meet the same fate.
The modified vehicles had been gutted — including the removal of the back seats and interior panels — to make them run faster.
One, a 1995 blue Honda Civic, was taken after an officer caught a 23-year-old man racing at a over 180 km/hr (112 mph) on a Markham street. The vehicle, outfitted with a TV screen and video game console on the dashboard, was registered to the racer's mother.
Street racing has killed 34 people in the Greater Toronto Area since 1999, including a couple who stumbled upon a race on Toronto's central Yonge St. when returning from their 17th wedding anniversary celebration.
Police said officers are reporting a rise in the number of races. Scarier still, the practice has moved from little-used back roads onto busy highways, said Sgt. David Mitchell, an internationally recognized leader in drag racing policing.
"Society has become more 24-hour-oriented," Mitchell said. ``There's always someone out on that roadway."
Government promotes stunt to deter `motorheads' from racing
Jun. 15, 2006. 05:11 PM
CANADIAN PRESS
COLIN MCCONNELL/TORTONTO STAR
The Ontario government crushed two tricked-out Hondas into a
heap of scrap metal Thursday as part of an effort by Attorney
General Michael Bryant to discourage ``motorheads” from racing
on public streets.
MARKHAM — The Ontario government crushed two tricked-out Hondas into a heap of scrap metal Thursday as part of an effort by Attorney General Michael Bryant to discourage ``motorheads" from racing on public streets.
The spectacle, performed in front of a horde of television cameras in this sprawling suburb just north of Toronto, came on the same day the federal government introduced new legislation to criminalize the increasingly popular activity.
"We are taking away these hot wheels from the people who use them forever," Bryant said as he presided over the theatrics, which featured a massive front-end loader crushing the cars on the driveway of a Markham paving company.
And Thursday's exhibition was just the start, Bryant said.
"We're not just going to take your keys away for a few weeks," he said. "We are going to take your precious vehicles from you."
Used in races in 2003 and 2004, the province took possession of the cars under the Civil Remedies Act, a law passed last December which allows police to seize property used in illegal activities.
The pair are the first street racing cars to be destroyed under that law, but Bryant said he expects more will meet the same fate.
The modified vehicles had been gutted — including the removal of the back seats and interior panels — to make them run faster.
One, a 1995 blue Honda Civic, was taken after an officer caught a 23-year-old man racing at a over 180 km/hr (112 mph) on a Markham street. The vehicle, outfitted with a TV screen and video game console on the dashboard, was registered to the racer's mother.
Street racing has killed 34 people in the Greater Toronto Area since 1999, including a couple who stumbled upon a race on Toronto's central Yonge St. when returning from their 17th wedding anniversary celebration.
Police said officers are reporting a rise in the number of races. Scarier still, the practice has moved from little-used back roads onto busy highways, said Sgt. David Mitchell, an internationally recognized leader in drag racing policing.
"Society has become more 24-hour-oriented," Mitchell said. ``There's always someone out on that roadway."
Not kidding either.