Unnecessary exhibition of speed or acceleration

[Mr. Peanut]

Could you not argue that your exhibition was necessary to ensure procreation, and thus the survival of the human race?

[MidnightMike]

For example, does hooning off from the car beside you, which is full of 18yr old blondes count as showing off for an audience?

i tried that once, but i got cut off.......













probably cos her boyfriend was in the drivers seat

[MotoGirl]

Could you not argue that your exhibition was necessary to ensure procreation, and thus the survival of the human race?

haha!!! Although semi off topic, you could argue that you're trying to reduce the number of immigrants.

[MotoGirl]

I would think so. Indeed, that is the sort of behaviour that the law was intended to curb.

But note the actual wording of the law


The qualification in subsection (4) is often ignored by the police. So they CANNOT ping you for excessive acceleration so long as you do not exceed the speed limit.

But note, the qualification does NOT extend to the loss of traction clause. So, accelerate as hard as you wish PROVIDED you do not reach 51kph (in a 50 zone) , or screech the tyres. Or breach any other enactment!

But , I would think that if pinged, and the cop did not also issue a ticket for breaking the speedlimit, or some other offence, you would have a good defence.

Thanks for that - very informative indeed

[scumdog]

I would think so. Indeed, that is the sort of behaviour that the law was intended to curb.

But note the actual wording of the law


The qualification in subsection (4) is often ignored by the police. So they CANNOT ping you for excessive acceleration so long as you do not exceed the speed limit.

But note, the qualification does NOT extend to the loss of traction clause. So, accelerate as hard as you wish PROVIDED you do not reach 51kph (in a 50 zone) , or screech the tyres. Or breach any other enactment!

But , I would think that if pinged, and the cop did not also issue a ticket for breaking the speedlimit, or some other offence, you would have a good defence.

Yup, due to q quirk in the way the legislation was worded technically it would take another offence in conjunction to fanging it to get you pinged - speed, worn tyre, failing to keep left etc etc - so be aware, you would have to be damn sure that giving the throttle a quick twist was ALL you did!!

[MotoGirl]

Yup, due to q quirk in the way the legislation was worded technically it would take another offence in conjunction to fanging it to get you pinged - speed, worn tyre, failing to keep left etc etc - so be aware, you would have to be damn sure that giving the throttle a quick twist was ALL you did!!

Phew! Cheers for that.

[KLOWN]

did you take it to court or just accept it?

I wrote in about it and got a letter back saying tough titties, pay the fine. its as far as I took it. It was my word against a cop and my record ain't great

just a thought, would the cop being there be enough of a person to facilitate(sp) exhibition. I mean, if NO ONE is around then neither are the cops. But like what happened to me, they ticketed for driving in a manner liable to cause damage and ALL i did was accelerate hard and I kept within the speed limit. If they wanna get you they can.

[kiwifruit]

I wrote in about it and got a letter back saying tough titties, pay the fine. its as far as I took it. It was my word against a cop and my record ain't great

Should have taken it to court.

[90s]

But, there must be *someone* to witness the exhibition, I think, And the defendant would have to be shown to be aware that the observer was there .

No, I don't think this semantic argument works. The OED defines an exhibition as:
d. concr. Something that is exhibited; a display, sight, spectacle.
(ref: http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/...max_to_show=10)

Is a display no longer a display if no-one is a witness? (this is getting close to "if a tree falls in a forest ..." No, it is a display for observers if they are present or not. The point about an unseen observer is exactly that - the observer percieves a "sight or spectacle" even despite any unintentionality.
I certainly think that a lawyer would not have any problem in removing the necessity of an observer to qualify for an exhibition and a defence that rested in this would be very weak in this case.
The rest of the leg. is pretty clear in linking this to racing or race like behaviours, whoever is observing or not. Exhibiting 'race-like' behaviours is the interpretation that I submit would be understood and accepted in court.

Ultimately of course the null hypothesis cannot be tested - if you are charged you have been observed by someone or in some way. You will never be charged with this is you have not been observed.

Of course, then we are into the arguments about different perceptions of observed events etc etc

But then again I don't actually know what I am talking about.

[gamgee]

i was threatened with this by a mufti cop, starting going up a hill, in a 1.3l automatic ford laser, I explained to him how I had to accelerate hard in first or else I wouldn't get up the hill in second, and how it just sounded like I was accelerating quickly

[Delerium]

This is exactly why so many young people were agains this legislation. we are already prime targets, and this is completely subjective to the cop that is there.

[Toaster]

Basically, I want to know this: If I blast off from the lights (alone, not racing anyone) and I don’t exceed the speed limit, can I be done for hard acceleration?

Yes, absolutely. It would be a simple summary of facts for the cops on that one!

[MotoGirl]

Yep, it's just another way we can get nailed for making our own lives amusing, whilst not endangering anyone else in the process!

[speeding_ant]

Cajun and I were discussing it earlier today. He suggested that Mr. Plod would assume you're accelerating hard if your bike is making truckloads of noise. My old Gixxer 1000 (+ Yoshi. pipe) was noisy enough riding it normally, let alone under hard acceleration. Gosh, I wonder how upset they'd get with the RSV

Thats what got me wondering. I obviously dont have as much of a sound issue as you might but I was heading up a street near newtown and I passed a cop whilst accelerating. It was lazy accelerating up to 50km/h but 250 happened to louder at 9000RPM as I passed him. He jammed on his brakes and started chasing me, thinking I was going as fast as I possibly could. He did me for 80Km/h as that was the speed he was doing to catch up with me. By the time I knew he was actually following me I had just gotten up to 55km/h. Couldnt get out of it, I was furious. Didnt help I was completely dressed in black with a tint visor and that it was 9:30 at night on a Friday. Writing a letter to get out of it now...

[Ghost_Bullet]

mmmm intersting one this, I could see it making sense maybe if it was strung on top of another charge, sa you took off so quick and stuck somthing.
I must admit to enjoying acceleration... Its just one of the wonderful things about a bike uh...