Suped up and modified cars?

[Crewman47]

You know those cars you see that are driven around as part of normal traffic but have big loud exhausts on them and are suped to be able to go faster than a normal car and have all the added extras on them, why is it that being able to make a car faster or rev faster should be legal to do when not being able to do it might prevent possible accidents? I mean you see these drivers (mainly young guys), speeding down 30mph roads that are mostly have people walking on sidewalks and other cars on the roads.

My question is , if you want to race then use the car on a race track and stay off the main roads.

Why, Why oh why is it legal and should something be done about it?

 

[Geckothan]

They should throw down more speedbumps and those really pairs of bollards that are JUST wide enough to get your car through. I'd like to see people drive through those at 70. Either they'll end up wrecking their suspension or you'll crash, and have to pay to get the bollards replaced.

 

[Spot's Meow]

In a lot of cases, especially when it comes to altered exhaust systems, it isn't legal. I have seen and known people who got ticketed for illegal modifications to their cars. There just aren't enough police officers out there to patrol everything.

I think more speedbumps would be hilarious. Most of these cars have lowered their suspension so much that they are barely an inch off the ground. I have seen them try to get over speedbumps before...they have to go at weird angles and at about 1 mph, it is great to watch.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Then you could also ask: Why is allowed to produce and sell cars that go over 100 m/h, a speed that's illegal almost everywhere in the world?

 

[Crewman47]

Yeah that's something I've always wondered about but I think I've heard different reasons for it that I can't recall any of. It would be nice though if cars did only go up to around 80mph, that also would cut down a lot of speeding accidents.

 

[Garrovick]

My car's exhaust should be allowed to be as loud as a Harley's.

In SC, a speeder can be fined an additional 600 dollars, above the normal fine, for having a car modified to increase it's horsepower or speed with parts that are not able to be purchased at the Dealer for that specific vehicle model and year. (That doesn't apply though to those goofy resonators some kids buy and clamp on the end of the tail pipe.)

 

[An Officer]

The law seems to vary from country to country. A nation like Italy, will confiscate your car if you are caught with certain modifications. Whereas others, Germany for example, are more liberal and almost anything goes. I think Britain sits somewhere in the middle of these extremes. Since Americans are car crazy, I assume perhaps you might be rather too liberal on this...?

 

[Roger Wilco]

Whereas others, Germany for example, are more liberal and almost anything goes.

I really doubt that, where did you get that information?

Much of the stuff they do on Pimp my Ride for example would be illegal in Germany for sure.

 

[An Officer]

Germans just have a different car culture, everyone from kids to grannies loves fast cars, and a lot of modifications related to increasing speed are legal. Whereas in Italy, if you so much as change you gear knob, the law allows the police to confiscate your car. That's quite a difference in attitude.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Yeah, but everything is regulated in Germany.

eta: you're probably right about speed modifications though (chip tuning and stuff like that).

 

[An Officer]

All sorts of crazy internal and external tuning is allowed as well. Check it out:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/international-automotive-scene/39147-german-car-scene.html

In a lot of countries, those cars would be stopped by the first police patrol.

 

[Emher]

Crewman47, I'm assuming you're not a car guy, so I expect you to get it. Then again the people you are reffering to are probably "ricers" who are wholly different from say muscle car fans like me.

 

[cultcross]

Why, Why oh why is it legal and should something be done about it?

Most of the time, it's not. Modified cars regularly break the "construction and use" regulations in the Road Traffic Act. The most common failings are: illegally tinted windows forward of the B-frame (i.e., front side windows and windscreen), illegal road clearance, illegal lighting devices fitted or legally required ones missing, obstruction of the driver's view, and illegal format licence plates.

The reality, unfortunately, is that very often these things go unenforced. The police will deal with it when they come across it but they don't have the time to spend on chasing down every illegally modified car on the road, and although suggestions have been made in incorporating these things into the MOT test, it is cost prohibitive. A lightmeter for measuring window tint costs £500 alone.

 

[MANT!]

Yeah that's something I've always wondered about but I think I've heard different reasons for it that I can't recall any of. It would be nice though if cars did only go up to around 80mph, that also would cut down a lot of speeding accidents.

In Texas the speed limit on certain Interstates IS 80 MPH..

Back in the '70s there was a bill introduced making no car constructed able to exceed 55 MPH...the bill was rejected on safety grounds..

Sometimes one needs to power his way out of a potential accident..such as an error in judgement in passing..and other such incidents..

Now racing on city streets is illegal in all 50 states..and street racing in California has a minimum 24 hour jail sentence with a $1000.00 fine..

illegal modifications can result in confiscation of the car..

http://www.teamsheriffracing.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=117

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Then you could also ask: Why is allowed to produce and sell cars that go over 100 m/h, a speed that's illegal almost everywhere in the world?

Hey my unmodified Nissan can go up to 140 mph. Not that i have any need to go that fast, but technically i could. I've actually only gone about ... 105, i think.

 

[ed629]

Then you could also ask: Why is allowed to produce and sell cars that go over 100 m/h, a speed that's illegal almost everywhere in the world?

Hey my unmodified Nissan can go up to 140 mph. Not that i have any need to go that fast, but technically i could. I've actually only gone about ... 105, i think.

Two of my cars have speed limters, one at 106 the other at 116. The other two top out at around 145 and 160.

 

[Niorah]

Those people who speed on 30mph roads are just idiots. The real tuners keep it safe, if anything because the mods they have done to their cars cost a fortune and the last thing they (I should say We) want to see on our cars is a scratch.

Most of the mods you can do (legally or illegally) can actually make the car much safer than it was when it came out of the factory: better suspensions, better brakes, mods to the engine bay to limit the car's vibrations and diminish the stress on the metal, making it also easier to control in sudden turns, better exhausts can actually allow for better fuel consumption and thus decrease your carbon footprint, and so do better air filters. All this and all the way down to nicer looking but also better quality windwipers, which make it safer to drive in the rain.

Just because you saw a couple of idiots revving by, it doesn't mean that ALL car mods should be outlawed and ALL tuners thrown in jail for life.

 

[Emher]

^*Ding* We have a winner! Well said, and pretty much what I would have said had I not been way to tired when I made my last post.

Sometimes one needs to power his way out of a potential accident..such as an error in judgement in passing..and other such incidents..

Exactly. Which is why I take it VERY easy when I'm not driving my own car, a car which I know the accelration and capapbilities off. Not that I drive very unsafely in my car.

 

[BigFoot]

Good post by Niorah which I totally agree with.

I also wanted to add something else... you don't need a suped up car to act like a total jackass on the road.

 

[FordSVT]

Most of the Civics and Cavaliers and old Integras with fart cans and big rims and tinted windows and gigantic spoilers are probably slower than their OEM counterparts because they weigh more and probably drag more. Putting a cold air intake and a fart can and headers on a 4 cylinder makes a car that used to hit 60 in nine seconds do it in 8.7 seconds, and it will still get murdered in a straight line by Grandpa in his V6 Camry.

95% of these "ricers" are not performance machines, however much their owners wish it were so. Most "tuners" couldn't tune a fork.

I've got a car that will do over 150 mph, no modifications at all. And any jackass can buy a 265 hp family sedan now that will run a 14 or 15 second quarter mile. Idiots will drive fast whatever they're driving, any modern car will do 100 mph +.