Originally Posted by
Kerlenbach
In Florida, there is a mandatory drivers license suspension for a person convicted of street racing. The trouble is that it's difficult to prove racing rather than just speeding. We've all seen the a**holes that zip in and out of traffic, maybe racing or possibly just being a jerk because they have a hopped up Civic with loud pipes and they don't care about paying for the gas they waste.
Here's the answer. There needs to be a 100% tax on aftermarket car parts used to turn standard cars into street racers. I don't know much about what it takes to hop up a car, but I've seen enough of them to know they, and their drivers, are dangerous. If some jerkwad wants to spend $500 on parts, maybe he won't if it will cost $1,000. Such a tax would be just like a lottery - if you don't like the tax, you don't have to pay it.
The problem is this: how do you differentiate aftermarket from a 3rd party replacement part?
Is the Edelbrock fuel injection conversion kit an economy or performance upgrade? (it's actually both when converting a carbeurated big block to FI). Should some guy get penalized an addition $3-5,000 for trying to get an extra 5mpg out of his truck?
We get taxed enough as is in all aspects of life, and real performance already costs real money. Those fart-can exhausts and such add very little if any power (many of these kits are actually misused and REDUCE power), and the real upgrades are often too hardcore for these types to install (such as boring out the engine, increasing stroke, boring out the throttle body, and other topics where a slight miscalculation can result in severe engine damage).
just enforce the laws in the books....slam these guys with everything under the law, and most importantly, prove to the world that driving is NOT A RIGHT....it will be taken away from those who cannot handle it in a responsible manner.
It's the lack of enforcement of the last part of that which has lead to this.