Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here. I came across a story, a complicated and interesting story, that absolutely revved my engine the wrong way. Now there are often times that many of us who drive frequently are pulled over for violations that we feel were unjustified or just plain stupid. While the topics of “ticket quotas” and “raising money for the state” are gray subjects at best, some grumbling drivers have often felt that “safety” was not one of the considerations taken into effect when a law was written. Nonetheless, this story will challenge many of your basic assumptions about driving in California…

First of all, a summary. Basically, on Friday March 28th of 2008, Riverside PD and several other agencies swarmed a parking lot in Riverside off of Valley Springs Parkway. Over 100 officers participated in the raid, with the aim of cracking down on street racing. They blocked off all the exits and inspected nearly 150 vehicles; without warrants. Almost all the cars were issued citations, and 48 of them were for “illegal modifications common to street racing”.

While you can read two versions of the story here and here, the gist of the story is that this was a large scale attack on the Import Tuner community. Forums across the internet have been up in arms over the incident, with several forums having to lock or delete the topics due to the heat of the argument and differing opinions.

I for one found some aspects of the incident quite disturbing, with potentially dramatic consequences for tuners everywhere; not just ricers looking to copy the Fast and the Furious. According to the story, citations were issued to almost every vehicle (estimated at about 150), yet only 48 were for “illegal modifications common to street racing”. While there were no specific citations mentioned, some digging in the DMV code finds a number of offenses that would result in a citation. Certain offenses seem to apply to fit the average stereotype of a street racer, including:

Underbody Lights

Lowered or Raised Cars

Aftermarket/modified Exhaust

Excessively Loud Vehicles

While these offenses are arguably fair ground for enforcement, the math doesn’t add up. According to the story, only 48 citations were issued for “illegal modifications common to street racing”. Well then what were the other 102 cars cited for? An interesting twist! The 48 citations, according to the other report, were NOT for the above violations but for “engine modifications”. Now returning to the list of Mechanical Violations laws in California, there doesn’t seem to be a single law or offense in the code that has anything to do with a vehicle’s engine.

The question is… what were these “illegal engine modifications”? And how are they any different from any other performance car on the street? Are aftermarket turbo’s and intakes illegal now? What about headers and performance cams? How exactly does an officer, who may or may not have any real knowledge about engines, know what’s stock, whats not, and whats illegal?

While the violations listed above are fair game, and can easily account for the 102 citations aside from the ones written for “engine modifications”, the question remains… what were they written for? If that’s the case, it sounds to me like there is some serious discrimination going on, and something stinks in the Riverside PD. What exactly is it about these modifications that sets the supposed street racers apart from any other tuned car? You don’t see them raiding Corvette or Mustang gatherings; and they have the same kinds of modifications made to their vehicles. Furthermore, the gathering that was raided, according to the other report, resulted in NO evidence that any street racing was actually taking place, and that the “skid marks in the parking lot” alone proved that street racing had been going on.

Now, I’ll play devils advocate here, and just say that without matching those skid marks to a specific car, or even a specific frame of time, it would be impossible to assume in court that this group was responsible. The tuners in the lot could just as easily argue that the skid marks were from street racers other than them, or were from the accumulated marks of hundreds of cars coming through a parking lot over time; the burden of proof is in the hands of the prosecution.

Even more disturbing were comments made by a police spokesman, saying, “Almost every vehicle that was there, even if they weren’t street racing, they were … an audience”. By law, attending a street racing event is illegal, but the assumption in the first place that illegal street racing was taking place, and then extending it to all the people there as being spectators of an event that arguably never took place, seems like a stretch at best of our time honored tradition of “innocent until proven guilty”.

Expanding on my previous assertion of discrimination, it seems as though the Riverside PD and other agencies are specifically targeting modified Imports. It’s not apparent that they are raiding Domestic gatherings or older vehicle gatherings, despite the fact that these cars are frequently in violation of the law. Hot rods that ride so low to the ground that the frame scrapes on hard bumps come to mind, as do trucks raised so high that their low beams blind everyone who looks into their rear view mirror. What about Roush and Saleen Mustangs? How about modified Corvettes? What makes their modifications any more legal? In this case, it seems to be a case of discrimination. The demographic of people who drive certain cars is being targeted by law enforcement. On the whole, one could argue that older, wealthier, “more respectable” people drive expensive Porsche’s, BMW’s, Corvette’s, and Mustangs- yet all of these have their own hard core group of enthusiasts who make extensive modifications for the street. Meanwhile, younger, poorer, “irresponsible teenagers” are the stereotypical demographic of “street racers”, and in this case, tuned Imports. This is a sentiment commonly brought up in several forums, like this one. And yet both groups admit driving fast on the street, and upgrading their cars for that purpose.

What sets them apart? Nothing except the ability to fight back in court. While law enforcement can crack down and bend the rules when it comes to searching and seizing vehicles of younger, poorer people without fear of backlash by branding them as street racers and law breakers en masse, similar conduct against a lawyer or architect with a fast Mustang at an event with a similar demographic might be met with outrage. Sounds like discrimination to me, and while street racers are stereotypically Imports, you can’t tell me that there haven’t been people nabbed in other cars for “speed contests” as the law defines it. Similarly, why are only the street racers with their lowering jobs being ticketed for the minor infractions? If the laws applied equally to everyone, then you would think that the massively raised trucks running around southern California would be ticketed as well.

So what’s the point of all this? The fact is that law enforcement is unfairly targeting certain groups of enthusiasts, while claiming that they’re just enforcing the rules. If they were really enforcing the rules, then there would be a lot of angry car owners out there. But by labeling all import tuners with modifications “street racers” they take the moral/lawful high ground and avoid criticism. A masterstroke to be sure.

What can be done? Well despite the fact that many groups don’t like the whole “ricer scene”, they should recognize the slippery slope; eventually the law will start cracking down on everyone else, when the money dries up and modified imports are ticketed into submission. Instead of fending for themselves, the Classic car enthusiasts, Hot Rodders, and Domestic tuners should come together with organizations like SEMA to ensure first that the laws are fair and reasonable to begin with, and second that they be enforced in equal measure with justice in mind; not the generation of revenue for the state.

Well Webriders, I hope that wasn’t too depressing. Hopefully you don’t get short shrift when it comes to the 5-0. Remember, avoid flash, go for the sleeper look, and avoid those big crowds without sponsor tents to protect you. This is Dr. VW- out.