People in Ohio your life sucks, but could spread if it passes.
The law shit
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=128_HB_191off another forumOriginally Posted by HB191 Bill Summary
The bill expands the definition of "street racing" to also include "any exhibition of speed or acceleration that is inconsistent with the normal operation of a vehicle on a public road, street, or highway."
This includes rapid take off, burning tires, driving fast on curvy roads. You do not need another car involved to be considered racing. Revving your engine at the light if your carb loads up could be considered an offense. THIS WILL BE A FELONY.
Under the bill, in addition to any other sanctions, the court must order the criminal forfeiture of the motor vehicle the offender was operating at the time the offender committed street racing if either of the following applies: (1) the motor vehicle the offender was operating at the time of such violation is registered in the offender's name, or (2) the motor vehicle the offender was operating at the time of such violation is not registered in the offender's name but is registered in the name of another person, and the person in whose name the motor vehicle is registered or the person in control of the motor vehicle permitted the offender to operate the motor vehicle and that person knew or had reasonable cause to believe that the offender would operate the motor vehicle in violation of the street racing prohibition or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance.
If you get convicted of street racing -which now includes ANY AND ALL hard acceleration, high speed, hard cornering, even if no other car is participating- then the court will be REQUIRED, not allowed, REQUIRED to seize your car, with no discretion given to a sentencing judge. So quite literally, if you take off from a light any faster than the rest of traffic, an officer can decide you were racing, arrest you, impound your car, and the court will convict you, take your car and either crush it or sell it at auction.
Even worse, if you are WITNESS to a race, they can decide you were ENCOURAGING the race, and THE SAME PENALTY APPLIES. Worse, there doesn't seem to be any limitation on what can be considered "encouragement" of a race.
Originally Posted by HB191 Bill Summary
In addition, the bill provides that persons rendering assistance or encouragement in any form or manner to the defined competitive use of vehicles must be equally charged as participants (bill's additions to existing law are in italics).
This means, potentially, that if someone talks about a street race on here, and they get convicted for that race, hat anyone who even says something positive about that race can be charged with street racing, and face jail time and long-term license suspension.
In addition, for you guys with nitrous systems, they're going to require you to sign a statement saying you won't use purchased nitrous "in any motor vehicle that I operate on any public road, street, or highway in the state of Ohio." Gee, it doesn't say "in any motor vehicle BEING OPERATED on a public road", it says that you can't use it in a car that you operate on a public road. That leaves a lot of room for them to decide this means that even if you never use it on the road, they can charge you for using it at the track in a car that is also driven on the street. If you "violate" that statement, they'll charge you with misdemeanor falsification.
This bill gives police and courts free reign to consider ANY behavior they disapprove of as street racing, and destroy the life a livelihood of anyone they wish to without even having to produce any kind of real evidence.
chicks!
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Topic: WTF Ohio? *nws* (Read 6180 times)