mleblond
04-28-2010, 06:50 PM
Picked this up from another forum....when you think you do the right thing...guess again.
Ontario Provincial Police collars MINI convoy part 1
http://thegarageblog.com/garage/wp-content/uploads/minirattler1.jpg
The automotive enthusiast community in Southern Ontario has been in a bit of a tizzy over the past 24 hours about the story of a convoy of MINI drivers that was pulled over on Sunday afternoon north of Toronto.
This is a story of driving, questionable journalism and even more questionable policing. It affects each and every driving enthusiast in Ontario.
Late last night I received an e-mail from Leighton Irwin asking if I had heard anything about how the OPP had “nailed a whole convoy of Minis on #11 North of Barrie on the weeekend. From the footage shown there were several cruisers pulling out and pulling over a lot of the convoy of Minis (new version) Supposedly nailed several for 50 over and seized cars etc. Also apparently 11 cars (not sure if they were all Minis) had children in them and the OPP are involving the Childrens Aid Society.”
I found and watched the news report on A Channel, which were there for the event. As I listened carefully, I was astonished to find that the news coverage had been scripted in such a manner that it sounded like the car siezures, 50 overs and CAS involvement had applied to the convoy of MINIs. I decided a bit of digging was in order.
The news report with the offending verbiage was removed from the A Channel web site at some point earlier today. So much for the accountability of traditional media vs. new media, but that is another topic. Sort of. Another time perhaps.
Through the power of the interwebs, I have been speaking with one of the MINI drive event organizers. He has done such a great job outlining the day’s events that I have no choice but to respect his request for anonymity:
The “Rattler Cruise” Background:
We hold a cruise up in the Muskoka area in the Spring and the Fall called the Rattler (My wife and I came up with the name because of the effect that the run has on both your body and cars and the fact that Torrance Barrens is one of the last strongholds of the Massasauga Rattle snake). The cruises are designed as family friendly days out and pretty much mark the beginning and end of the ‘cruising’ season. This is the 5th running of the spring event which started out with only 20 or so Minis. The spring and fall cruises now attract some 40 and 60 plus Minis respectively.
2010 Spring Rattler (25th April 2010)
Approx 2 weeks ago I informed the OPP (web site message) about the cruise as a courtesy because our numbers had reached 30 plus. I informed them of the route, timings and approx numbers and passed on a link to the Rattler Cruise thread on our site. I’ve always figured that it is better to work with the law rather than against it. I did not receive a reply, nor did I expect one as it was an informative message, not one requesting any input.
On the morning of the event at The Colossus (Highway 400 and 7), those attending from the Toronto area and beyond met to form a convoy up to the cruise start point. All was well and they even got a visit from the OPP who informed them that it should be a nice driving day and that there was only one other patrol on the 400 Northbound. Regardless of this, cruisers are always reminded that they should keep to the speed limits because a line of Minis always attracts attention from everyone.
The Colossus group was joined part way up the 400 by an OPP motorcyclist, who did not seem in any way concerned with the driving behaviour of those in the convoy. No one saw any ‘ghost’ vehicles or aircraft (the cloud base was low anyway).
When the convoy approached the Memorial Avenue junction with Highway 11 the convoy noticed flashing blue and red lights approaching from the right and naturally assumed that it was emergency vehicles responding to an accident. They were totally surprised to realise that they were the focus of the OPP’s attention. Some pulled to the left to allow the emergency vehicles to merge onto the highway; some had to brake hard to avoid hitting the car in front and those in the front, aware of the reality pulled over immediately closely followed by OPP cruisers.
In short it was a badly executed exercise, which could so easily have been avoided. The news cameras were already set up and the OPP seemed to be ‘playing to the crowd’. I cannot understand why the offenders were not ‘booked’ when they reached Webers as the OPP knew that was where they were heading. In all 4 cars were pulled over, three received tickets for 121-123kph in a 90kph limit and one received a warning. They were caught just as the 400 turns into 11, where the limit goes from 100-90kph. One other individual was stopped for operating a radar detector (idiot) and had his equipment confiscated and received a fine.
We saw several OPP cruisers and ghost vehicles on the Rattler (Southwood Road) and Highway 169 to Gravenhurst. There were also a couple of cruisers that pulled into the car park at Muskoka Wharf in Gravenhurst whilst we were having our lunch.
The speeding fines are the responsibility of the individuals, but the whole operation seemed to be planned. Why did the OPP not inform us that they intended to increase their surveillance of the highway that day? I know that when you are driving a cruise you should expect to draw some attention , but this seemed a little excessive. Maybe we should consider requesting an escort on future cruises? (it would be cheaper for the OPP) It makes me second guess the value in informing the OPP of the cruises that I plan in the future.
I would like to see better cooperation between the OPP and ALL motoring clubs. To this end I have contacted the OPP, but have not as yet received a reply.
There are so many issues to address here that I’m not sure quite where to start.
Perhaps a break in the story would be a good idea, as this is too long already!
OPP vs MINI convoy part 2
Earlier this evening, I wrote about the convoy of MINIs that were herded off the road by the Ontario Provincial Police while on their way towards Ontario cottage country for a Spring cruise. In that post, I shared the viewpoint of one of the cruise’s organizers. I have a few thoughts of my own on the story.
Perhaps the fun stuff first: The road they call The Rattler, is in fact Muskoka County road #13. Muskoka 13 is quite possibly the best driving road in Ontario. During the winter. During the Spring, Fall, Summer it is a beautiful, twisty road that is heavily populated by cottagers and motorcyclists. It is quite narrow in places and is horribly bumpy. One of our writers here in The Garage, and not yours truly, used to test a rally car on this road. He will remain nameless at this point. I however did encounter this road way back in about 1993 during the Ontario Winter Rally. 3 am, -34C and sheer ice. That is absolutely the best time to visit Muskoka 13.
Warning: Do not attempt this at home unless you have experience, the proper tires and proper safety gear. Like a roll cage!
Secondly, the OPP has been involved with organized driving events for many, many years. In fact, when organizing a navigational rally, an organizing club must inform the local police which is usually the OPP. By law, route speeds must be calculated to within a certain percentage of the legal limit. On occasion, a driver who is behind schedule might exceed the limit somewhat. It has been 17 years since I’ve entered a navi, but even then the occasional speeding ticket was not unheard of. It was rare to have more than one in any event. The officers usually got bored sitting around an empty gravel road waiting for an errant driver and went on to better hunting grounds.
Now the not so fun stuff.
The organizers acted in good faith by attempting to co-operate with the OPP beforehand and during the cruise. They were rewarded by being used as a rather pathetic media stunt. Not having been there, I can’t comment on the actual methods used by the attending officers. The presence of media as the cars were herded in a line across what was for many years the longest street in the world however, was nothing short of premeditated.
You can hear the phone call: “Hello, A Channel? You guys need to get over here real quick. You’ll never believe what we’re about to do”.
Then, the television reports are carefully worded to sound like 11 MINIs were impounded and Children’s Aid have been called in to rid these MINI driving menaces to society of their offspring. The fact that none of the MINIs were impounded, nor were there any children in the cars that were ticketed, was not relayed to the television viewer. The report did not come out and say specifically that these acts were committed by the MINI drivers, but the inference was there.
I am aware that A Channel is a rural Ontario station that wants to believe they are major market, but do they need to resort to this sort of sensationalistic journalism? Surely a video of the actual people who were driving at 50 kmh over the legal limit with kids in the car would have been a more exciting story, as Julian Fantino himself wretched the poor child from his or her delinquent parent. No, probably not as exciting as a convoy of MINIs.
Following complaints from event organizers, A Channel has removed the offending video from their web site. As of this writing, they have not issued an apology to the participants of the MINI charity cruise.
Did I mention that this was a charity event? That’s correct, this was a charity event.
This cruise is also billed as a family event. The ironic thing is that organizers noted on the private message board that the OPP had been informed of the event. In large red letters. There were even instructions as to how to approach a mid drive lunch stop to prevent any accidents or inconvenience to other patrons. Organizers acted in a fully responsible manner. Anyone behaving outside the law had been full warned.
As for the 4 cars who were actually pulled over, 3 of them were ticketed and the drivers are accepting of their tickets if not of how they were ticketed. It would seem that all acknowledge that if you play, you run the risk of being caught. The issue is with the fact that they were set up with the purpose of making the OPP look good on TV.
We all know that radar detectors have been a rather large no no in Ontario for many years, so the guy who had his taken away and was fined deserved what he got!
The Ontario Provincial Police do a great job on our roads and their officers have always seemed to me to be a great bunch of guys and girls. When management decides to make an example of a very visible minority for the sake of media coverage, they have gone a bit too far.
Yes, a convoy of little shoe boxes being herded by a gaggle of black and whites makes for compelling TV. We get it. Just because it makes for good TV doesn’t mean it should be done. How many more real criminals could they have caught during the time it took them to mess about for the cameras?
For the record, the MINI folks are fully intending to continue their annual charity cruises, collecting donations for the OSPCA.
source:
http://thegarageblog.com/garage/ontario-provincial-police-collars-mini-convoy-part-1/
http://thegarageblog.com/garage/opp-vs-mini-convoy-part-2/
Ontario Provincial Police collars MINI convoy part 1
http://thegarageblog.com/garage/wp-content/uploads/minirattler1.jpg
The automotive enthusiast community in Southern Ontario has been in a bit of a tizzy over the past 24 hours about the story of a convoy of MINI drivers that was pulled over on Sunday afternoon north of Toronto.
This is a story of driving, questionable journalism and even more questionable policing. It affects each and every driving enthusiast in Ontario.
Late last night I received an e-mail from Leighton Irwin asking if I had heard anything about how the OPP had “nailed a whole convoy of Minis on #11 North of Barrie on the weeekend. From the footage shown there were several cruisers pulling out and pulling over a lot of the convoy of Minis (new version) Supposedly nailed several for 50 over and seized cars etc. Also apparently 11 cars (not sure if they were all Minis) had children in them and the OPP are involving the Childrens Aid Society.”
I found and watched the news report on A Channel, which were there for the event. As I listened carefully, I was astonished to find that the news coverage had been scripted in such a manner that it sounded like the car siezures, 50 overs and CAS involvement had applied to the convoy of MINIs. I decided a bit of digging was in order.
The news report with the offending verbiage was removed from the A Channel web site at some point earlier today. So much for the accountability of traditional media vs. new media, but that is another topic. Sort of. Another time perhaps.
Through the power of the interwebs, I have been speaking with one of the MINI drive event organizers. He has done such a great job outlining the day’s events that I have no choice but to respect his request for anonymity:
The “Rattler Cruise” Background:
We hold a cruise up in the Muskoka area in the Spring and the Fall called the Rattler (My wife and I came up with the name because of the effect that the run has on both your body and cars and the fact that Torrance Barrens is one of the last strongholds of the Massasauga Rattle snake). The cruises are designed as family friendly days out and pretty much mark the beginning and end of the ‘cruising’ season. This is the 5th running of the spring event which started out with only 20 or so Minis. The spring and fall cruises now attract some 40 and 60 plus Minis respectively.
2010 Spring Rattler (25th April 2010)
Approx 2 weeks ago I informed the OPP (web site message) about the cruise as a courtesy because our numbers had reached 30 plus. I informed them of the route, timings and approx numbers and passed on a link to the Rattler Cruise thread on our site. I’ve always figured that it is better to work with the law rather than against it. I did not receive a reply, nor did I expect one as it was an informative message, not one requesting any input.
On the morning of the event at The Colossus (Highway 400 and 7), those attending from the Toronto area and beyond met to form a convoy up to the cruise start point. All was well and they even got a visit from the OPP who informed them that it should be a nice driving day and that there was only one other patrol on the 400 Northbound. Regardless of this, cruisers are always reminded that they should keep to the speed limits because a line of Minis always attracts attention from everyone.
The Colossus group was joined part way up the 400 by an OPP motorcyclist, who did not seem in any way concerned with the driving behaviour of those in the convoy. No one saw any ‘ghost’ vehicles or aircraft (the cloud base was low anyway).
When the convoy approached the Memorial Avenue junction with Highway 11 the convoy noticed flashing blue and red lights approaching from the right and naturally assumed that it was emergency vehicles responding to an accident. They were totally surprised to realise that they were the focus of the OPP’s attention. Some pulled to the left to allow the emergency vehicles to merge onto the highway; some had to brake hard to avoid hitting the car in front and those in the front, aware of the reality pulled over immediately closely followed by OPP cruisers.
In short it was a badly executed exercise, which could so easily have been avoided. The news cameras were already set up and the OPP seemed to be ‘playing to the crowd’. I cannot understand why the offenders were not ‘booked’ when they reached Webers as the OPP knew that was where they were heading. In all 4 cars were pulled over, three received tickets for 121-123kph in a 90kph limit and one received a warning. They were caught just as the 400 turns into 11, where the limit goes from 100-90kph. One other individual was stopped for operating a radar detector (idiot) and had his equipment confiscated and received a fine.
We saw several OPP cruisers and ghost vehicles on the Rattler (Southwood Road) and Highway 169 to Gravenhurst. There were also a couple of cruisers that pulled into the car park at Muskoka Wharf in Gravenhurst whilst we were having our lunch.
The speeding fines are the responsibility of the individuals, but the whole operation seemed to be planned. Why did the OPP not inform us that they intended to increase their surveillance of the highway that day? I know that when you are driving a cruise you should expect to draw some attention , but this seemed a little excessive. Maybe we should consider requesting an escort on future cruises? (it would be cheaper for the OPP) It makes me second guess the value in informing the OPP of the cruises that I plan in the future.
I would like to see better cooperation between the OPP and ALL motoring clubs. To this end I have contacted the OPP, but have not as yet received a reply.
There are so many issues to address here that I’m not sure quite where to start.
Perhaps a break in the story would be a good idea, as this is too long already!
OPP vs MINI convoy part 2
Earlier this evening, I wrote about the convoy of MINIs that were herded off the road by the Ontario Provincial Police while on their way towards Ontario cottage country for a Spring cruise. In that post, I shared the viewpoint of one of the cruise’s organizers. I have a few thoughts of my own on the story.
Perhaps the fun stuff first: The road they call The Rattler, is in fact Muskoka County road #13. Muskoka 13 is quite possibly the best driving road in Ontario. During the winter. During the Spring, Fall, Summer it is a beautiful, twisty road that is heavily populated by cottagers and motorcyclists. It is quite narrow in places and is horribly bumpy. One of our writers here in The Garage, and not yours truly, used to test a rally car on this road. He will remain nameless at this point. I however did encounter this road way back in about 1993 during the Ontario Winter Rally. 3 am, -34C and sheer ice. That is absolutely the best time to visit Muskoka 13.
Warning: Do not attempt this at home unless you have experience, the proper tires and proper safety gear. Like a roll cage!
Secondly, the OPP has been involved with organized driving events for many, many years. In fact, when organizing a navigational rally, an organizing club must inform the local police which is usually the OPP. By law, route speeds must be calculated to within a certain percentage of the legal limit. On occasion, a driver who is behind schedule might exceed the limit somewhat. It has been 17 years since I’ve entered a navi, but even then the occasional speeding ticket was not unheard of. It was rare to have more than one in any event. The officers usually got bored sitting around an empty gravel road waiting for an errant driver and went on to better hunting grounds.
Now the not so fun stuff.
The organizers acted in good faith by attempting to co-operate with the OPP beforehand and during the cruise. They were rewarded by being used as a rather pathetic media stunt. Not having been there, I can’t comment on the actual methods used by the attending officers. The presence of media as the cars were herded in a line across what was for many years the longest street in the world however, was nothing short of premeditated.
You can hear the phone call: “Hello, A Channel? You guys need to get over here real quick. You’ll never believe what we’re about to do”.
Then, the television reports are carefully worded to sound like 11 MINIs were impounded and Children’s Aid have been called in to rid these MINI driving menaces to society of their offspring. The fact that none of the MINIs were impounded, nor were there any children in the cars that were ticketed, was not relayed to the television viewer. The report did not come out and say specifically that these acts were committed by the MINI drivers, but the inference was there.
I am aware that A Channel is a rural Ontario station that wants to believe they are major market, but do they need to resort to this sort of sensationalistic journalism? Surely a video of the actual people who were driving at 50 kmh over the legal limit with kids in the car would have been a more exciting story, as Julian Fantino himself wretched the poor child from his or her delinquent parent. No, probably not as exciting as a convoy of MINIs.
Following complaints from event organizers, A Channel has removed the offending video from their web site. As of this writing, they have not issued an apology to the participants of the MINI charity cruise.
Did I mention that this was a charity event? That’s correct, this was a charity event.
This cruise is also billed as a family event. The ironic thing is that organizers noted on the private message board that the OPP had been informed of the event. In large red letters. There were even instructions as to how to approach a mid drive lunch stop to prevent any accidents or inconvenience to other patrons. Organizers acted in a fully responsible manner. Anyone behaving outside the law had been full warned.
As for the 4 cars who were actually pulled over, 3 of them were ticketed and the drivers are accepting of their tickets if not of how they were ticketed. It would seem that all acknowledge that if you play, you run the risk of being caught. The issue is with the fact that they were set up with the purpose of making the OPP look good on TV.
We all know that radar detectors have been a rather large no no in Ontario for many years, so the guy who had his taken away and was fined deserved what he got!
The Ontario Provincial Police do a great job on our roads and their officers have always seemed to me to be a great bunch of guys and girls. When management decides to make an example of a very visible minority for the sake of media coverage, they have gone a bit too far.
Yes, a convoy of little shoe boxes being herded by a gaggle of black and whites makes for compelling TV. We get it. Just because it makes for good TV doesn’t mean it should be done. How many more real criminals could they have caught during the time it took them to mess about for the cameras?
For the record, the MINI folks are fully intending to continue their annual charity cruises, collecting donations for the OSPCA.
source:
http://thegarageblog.com/garage/ontario-provincial-police-collars-mini-convoy-part-1/
http://thegarageblog.com/garage/opp-vs-mini-convoy-part-2/