Defected !!!!!!!!

[GREGWATKINS75]

Just thought I'd share a story (rant) about my day.

Took my ute for a drive to the sports store to day to collect football clothes for my son, as alway driveing nice an sensibly, got the shopping done, decide on the way home to pull into hungry jacks.

Pull into hungrys and spot a copper of his bike with two nice looking comodores in a parking bay, drivers out licence in hands, one was a VE SS almost stock looking, other was a VS era stock looking bar mild lowering job and 17s or 18s on it.
Did my drive through and pulled out past the copper who was blocking the drive through, he waved me down and told me to park next to the other cars. so I did. He finishes working with the other two people and then comes over to me. Quote, Gunna defect this thing mate! Ever Been Defected in this before! Very politley i tell him no and ask why? Quote Gotto get me quota for the week and guys like you are our bread and butter! looks to low! Again quite nicely i asked him whats the legal requirement? as i paid a lot of money to have the car proffesianally lowered and was assured by the mechanic that i had plenty of clerance and it was legal!.
Quote, well Ill consoltue my book and let you know in a minute,! Of he went checked his book come back did some mesurments and according to him its too low.!
Fair enough If its to low I are not going to complain about being hard done by or harased.
After the paper work gets done the copper then strikes up a conversation, i was visably distrested, had lost my job 3 days prior, car had been defected and had no sleep cause i was up with a 8 year old having a tantrum all night, and the thoughts of how I was going to look for and attened job interviews without a car going through my head.
The copper starts to tell quote, cheer up mate not all bad, atleast you wont be out on the weekend when we are going to blitz commodores doing laps.

Any way just my story of what happened to day, and maybe a for warning to the hints the copper was implying for the weekend.

[Scooter79]

Sounds to me like you need to get cranky with the mechanic who lowered it.

[minux]

Yep if it was guaranteed to be legal, take it back and make them fix it at THEIR cost.

[dasa05]

amen to that shit!!!! I never trust Mechanics No affense to any on here tho?

[Jecs]

never go off a cops judgement. make them find the problem and point it out, or in this case pull out the 100mm wheel. looking at your pics, to me it seems your car looks the legal height minus the mudflaps.

[vr_owner]

amen to that shit!!!! I never trust Mechanics No affense to any on here tho?

i trust one of them cause ive known him for years. and its a good thing i live in vic not sa :P

[Sabbath']

pull out the 100mm wheel. .

Had a cop go over a mate of a mates ute, put the wheel under (ute was well above) pull the wheel out and say "Yeap it hit" When there was no way. When they said it couldnt have and to try again, he said that he didnt have to.

[CANYONERO]

lovin the fact there looking for their quotas. pick on commodores! this is the very reason im thinkin serious about sellin it and buyin a navara. cant do any spirited driving for the fear of losing it, cant even go cruising for fear of a canary? whats the point? might just drive my nanna spec falcon this weekend.

[Calaber]

I can only sympathise with SA members if this is typical of your traffic cops. Small wonder so many posts are full of anger and frustration at this mean minded, discriminatory attitude.

[greenfoam]

It is typical of Mount Gambier I know that, so I assume it's state wide. The Victorian Police are lovely in my area, you can drive any kind of monster around so long as you cruise nicely it's no problem

[CANYONERO]

we have good cops down here but unfortunately there are a lot of bad ones. it is not their fault for having quotas though. think it is really unfair for commodore owners and drivers as well as the the cops for being MADE to defect people. that is wrong.

[ephect]

I think its bullshit! and he even told you that they're only doing it for quotas!!!!

next time, pull out your phone, hit the voice recorder button, then tell the copper 'ur recording this' even if u remember half way through, and watch em pull there head in. Always be polite (as you were), ask questions and get them to show you, take a photo of them measuring the height if you can.

some coppers dont like it and will go over your car, but if they've already done something wrong (not by the book) they will pull out and let you go. Always maintain your cool thou! only done it once and was let off.

[Stressball]

next time, pull out your phone, hit the voice recorder button, then tell the copper 'ur recording this' even if u remember half way through, and watch em pull there head in.

You don't have to tell them. As long as you are in a public place, only one person has to be aware of the recording; the person recording it, obviously. I'm not sure if it's the same with video footage, but I know you are legally allowed to record audio of a conversation that you are involved in without their knowledge.

[ephect]

Bonus!!!! Thanks mate

[Stressball]

No worries If help can be offered, why not?

That way they won't stop from doing dodgy shit, but it means you have some course of action afterwards. Also if you tell them you are going to record, technically they can tell you not to. You are legally obligated to follow police officer's directions, if they direct you to stop recording/put the phone away, what can you do? Best to do it subtlely.

[trentvy]

probably be better to let them know and see there change in attitude.

[Stressball]

probably be better to let them know and see there change in attitude.

There is every possibility that they will, instead of 'picking on you', actually find something that it defectable. For example, do you have an aftermarket exhaust? It probably no longer meets emissions standards. *CANARY*

Any car that is even slightly modified from factory regarding exhaust, tuning, nearly anything mechanical is likely to have broken an emissions regulation, and is defectable. I guess in some very roundabout way you can relate irritating the cops in a perfectly legal manner to the adage, "Don't feed the troll"

Though you may be doing something perfectly legal, if they don't like the fact that you're subtlely hinting to them that you will get out of anything they try to pin you for, they will instead go out of their way to pin you for something that is undeniably defect-worthy.

[minux]

You don't have to tell them. As long as you are in a public place, only one person has to be aware of the recording; the person recording it, obviously. I'm not sure if it's the same with video footage, but I know you are legally allowed to record audio of a conversation that you are involved in without their knowledge.

I would be very careful offering this advice unless you fully understand state and federal acts.

[garth]

where do they measure it from to determin it's not legal?

[Stressball]

I would be very careful offering this advice unless you fully understand state and federal acts.

More than once in the past year I have been referred to passages of legislation regarding this topic, though I am unsure if they were state or federal legislation. I am yet to ever find anything even remotely suggesting that it is incorrect, and have found various articles from different sources suggesting that it is indeed correct.

Of course, someone with greater legal knowledge might be a better option to consult. My auntie agrees with me though, she's a lawyer

[Stressball]

where do they measure it from to determin it's not legal?

Lowest point of the car I think, whether that is the bodykit or the exhaust etc. To my knowledge it is 100mm clearance across the entire underside of the car from front to back, side to side.

[minux]

More than once in the past year I have been referred to passages of legislation regarding this topic, though I am unsure if they were state or federal legislation. I am yet to ever find anything even remotely suggesting that it is incorrect, and have found various articles from different sources suggesting that it is indeed correct.

Of course, someone with greater legal knowledge might be a better option to consult. My auntie agrees with me though, she's a lawyer

I guess lawyers know best.

So what does your aunty say to do once you have the convo recorded? It is a criminal offence to then play it back to any other party without consent. So what will you do then?

[CANYONERO]

in SA im pretty sure they measure from the centre of the wheel to the eyebrow of the guard.

[immortality]

, technically they can tell you not to. You are legally obligated to follow police officer's directions, .

so if a cop tells you to jump of a bridge you are legally required to do it i'd suggest that cops can only direct you to do something that is legal. recording isn't illegal so there is no way that they could direct you to do otherwise.

Lowest point of the car I think, whether that is the bodykit or the exhaust etc. To my knowledge it is 100mm clearance across the entire underside of the car from front to back, side to side.

thats a BS law then isn't it. i bet there can't be many cars runningaround on superlows that are legal. my VH is on superlows and the lowest part of the car (exhaust) has about 60mm clearance. here in NZ it's 100mm from any structural point on the car, so bodykits and exhausts don't count. that makes the VH legal here in NZ.

there really are some crap cops around, hence the reason sleepers are the way to go. having said that, i've he's got a stockish VE then we're all introuble. new to catch em stating that it's a quota thing and then go to the media and have a field day

[greenfoam]

My Wifes brand new Fiesta wouldn't be 10cm off the ground in places around the front on the body kit and it's straight off the show room floor