This could be the plot for a movie, "Fast and Furious Canada," or maybe "Fast and Furious, the Young and the Rich."
Police in British Columbia say they impounded $2 million worth of high-end vehicles this week after witnesses reported the 13 cars racing on a metro Vancouver highway at speeds of 125 mph (200 kph).
The high-end race cars included a Ferrari, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, an Audi, an Aston Martin, Nissans and a Mercedes, according to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police press release.
Two of the racers would run side-by-side to block other traffic going in their direction on the highway while the others cars would take off in a race, witnesses told the RCMP.
"These drivers seemed to be looking for attention. Well, they definitely got the attention of police," Cpl. Holly Marks, spokesperson for the Lower Mainland District Regional Police Service, said in the press release.
What the racers, who police said are all under age 21, won't get is harsh punishment.
"Each driver will be charged with Driving without Reasonable Consideration and receive a violation ticket with a specified penalty of $196. Additionally, these drivers will be responsible for all associated towing and storage charges," according to the RCMP press release.
That's because police didn't actually catch them in the act and acted only on witness accounts. They weren't caught on radar, video or seen by a police officer, Superintendent Norm Gaumont, RCMP officer in charge of traffic enforcement for the Lower Mainland, told the Surrey Now newspaper.
"I know there's a lot of disappointment, wondering why we only charged them with an offence of $196. They fact of the matter is, we have to look at all the evidence we have and what we're able to prove," Surrey Now quoted Gaumont as saying. "That's why we've charged them with driving without due consideration for the public."
If police were able to charge the 13 drivers with more severe offenses, they could have faced forfeiture of their vehicles, according to a Vancouver Sun report.
The RCMP said most of the drivers were operating their vehicles on "N" class licenses, which means they had not yet attained full driving privileges. Only one of the drivers was the registered owner of the car they were driving, Gaumont told Surrey Now.
The drivers included 12 men and one woman, according to Surrey Now. Gaumont told the paper they were on their way to have a meal when they decided to race.
According to the Sun, the vehicles were:
I guess they would have all had to have snow tires on? Any time I've been to Canada, it sure is icy.
You bet.. icy all over. Gotta dodge the ice bergs.. and wait in sled dog traffic jams.
I live in Vancouver and young-adults, or teens for that matter, having these types of cars is not an uncommon thing. Frequently infront of my office building, there are 18-21 year olds driving their +$100,000 cars around with the "N's" displayed in their back windows. These cars aren't just their parents, these kids OWN these cars. Their parents, or extended family back in Asia, are buying these cars for them because here, for example a Jetta costs ~$20,000. Back in their home countries, when all the tarrifs and taxes have been added on, that same Jetta could double or even triple in price. The parents/family don't know any better, they think their kid is a getting a Yaris for all that money.
Millions of people working for pennies so the elite can buy their kids a "regular" car over here.
It does not matter who bought the cars, or how, or what nationality they are. The facts are they were "kids" (relatively speaking) racing or speeding and endangering the populace. Nothing more, nothing less. How the police deem fit on how to handle the situation should be the matter of discussion, in my humble opine.
Thank You for allowing my two cents.
Canadian kids love cars you can get your license at 13 here and the most popular car show in Canada "Igloo Garage" is like Top Gear in the UK with Justin Bieber as host.
My favorite show!!
Haha, I was doing 285 kph on Lionsgate bridge at 2:30 am Porsche Carrera 911 Turbo
Has anyone yet answered the question that really needs to be addressed here? Who won the damn race(s)? And which car was the woman driving? You go girl! I'll take one of the Maserati Turismos myself...might not be the fastest but you know it's a sweet ride.
Now those are cool kids, made it on CNN too...more kids should do cool stuff like this to end up on CNN
They all live in Richmond BC, Lotus and Flo condos to be exact. Late night you can see them coming out of the parkade reving their engines pretty loud. They are all Oriental, most likely satellite kids. All with green "N" stickers on back of their cars.
Vancouver property is expensive. The parents want them to live in homes that are on avg. around 1.17 Million. When the kids tell them that they can get a 2 bedroom condo that's around 970 sq ft for 650K.. then they would be like.. "oh mom and dad, you can get me a nice car to make up the difference!" Of course the parents would agree because costs of owning a car in say, Singapore or HK or Taiwan is DAM $$$$.
Done.. and of course the promise of doing well in school etc etc.
A Lamborghini Gallardo ans a Ferrari 599 only doing 125 MPH – Their respective car companies would be saddened as they go much faster than that – I've raced my Mazda 626 at those speeds. Why dont they join a car club then they can really race them and learn how to drive them properly they get track time as well.
They were never clocked, no one actually knows how fast they were going. The police went by eyewitness reports and the majority of the public, like yourself, are not that bright.
COP: "So would you say they were going 125mph or faster?"
WITNESS: "Uh, huh"
These tickets will be easy to beat.
I hit 155MPH in my Volvo S60R. The limiter kicked in. Can reach 170 delimited. People must have been surprised to see a Volvo go that fast.
One of them must have been Casey Anthony...
so what...european cars....even canadian mounted police on thorougbreds (1 hp) caught up to those kids.
Most "bikes" won't go that slow !!!
125 mph, yah need that in metric ???
We're the police. We can't stop people from robbing, raping, kidnapping or killing you, but we're really good at stopping people having fun.
Nice cars! I want one of each! Though its too bad for their stupidity of getting caught lol
Ha ha, they need a family care attention before its to late.