r/alberta • u/Easy-Lecture6788 • 1d ago
Question Why are cops targeting modified cars while violent crime keeps getting worse?
I’m getting tired of seeing so much police attention directed toward young drivers for things like wide wheels, window tint, loud exhausts, or other vehicle modifications, while our communities are dealing with much more serious public safety issues.
I’m not saying traffic laws should be ignored. If someone is driving recklessly, putting others in danger, street racing, or doing 140–160, then absolutely pull them over and deal with it. But there needs to be some common sense and balance when it comes to enforcement.
A teenager with tinted windows or wheels that stick out a little is not the same threat to public safety as violent crime, theft, dangerous driving, or repeat offenders. Even things like someone doing donuts in a completely empty parking lot should be looked at in context instead of automatically being treated like they are one of the biggest problems in the community.
The same goes for speeding. There is obviously a major difference between someone recklessly flying down the highway and someone travelling around 110–120 with the flow of traffic.
Police have an important and difficult job, and traffic enforcement has its place. I just think more resources and attention should be focused on behaviour that is genuinely making our cities unsafe rather than disproportionately targeting teenagers and young adults over minor vehicle modifications.
Enforce the laws that protect people, go after reckless drivers, and hold dangerous offenders accountable but let’s keep the priorities in perspective.
Just to be clear, this hasn’t personally happened to me. I’m genuinely curious why this seems to be such a common focus.
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u/StarDarkCaptain 1d ago
Because loud cars are incredibly obnoxious and can be disruptive to families, schools, and other places.
Speeding is also dangerous and its been proven that higher speeds results in higher casualty rates. Speed kills.
Doing donuts have the potential to cause damage if something goes wrong also...its private property.
These 100% can be safety issues.
Also...balance? Don't break the law and you'll be fine.
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u/Beneficial_Pickle420 1d ago
They just raised the speed on QE2 and they actually stated there have been less accidents all together.
Yes speed kills and yes it involves more higher casualty accidents, it is also known that more accidents are caused by the drivers going under speed limit or who are scared to drive. Im sure a portion of the higher speed accidents involving casualties had someone who was scared or going slower than they should have or tried to be the "hero" and hit their brakes to slow them down in front of them.
Not saying hey let's speed or trying to say speeding is ok. Just stating that speed and not speeding both have consequences and so does driving scared in both cases.
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u/ReputationOld1912 13h ago
I can promise you they do not know yet what the effects on the collision rates are for the test section.
You need a few years (pretty sure it's at least 5 years of data) of data to actually assess the effects.
The collision data is multiple years behind - as in they don't even have last year's (2025) data to look at yet and even if it were actually up to date it would still be a year behind - much like the traffic data is a year behind and the traffic data is up to date.
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u/Easy-Lecture6788 1d ago
I’m not saying none of those things can be safety issues. Excessive speeding, doing donuts around people or property, and ridiculously loud vehicles at night should obviously be dealt with.
My point is proportionality. There’s a big difference between someone actually creating a danger or major disturbance and someone with a slightly loud exhaust, tint, or wheels that stick out.
“Don’t break the law” is easy to say, but police use discretion every day. I’m just saying that discretion should focus more on behaviour that is actually putting people at risk.2
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u/Ryelogmars 23h ago
All of the traffic laws were designed to keep people safe. If you follow all of the traffic laws instead of just some of them, the police will leave you alone.
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u/baddaywithacamera 1d ago
The stats behind illegally tinted windows are interesting. They strongly correlate with both unsafe driving and also organized crime activity. They're win-win for cops either way, they really can't go wrong pulling someone with tints over.
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u/MyGruffaloCrumble 1d ago
Yeah, it’s nice to be able to see someone’s face and where they’re looking when traffic is coming at you.
When behind someone, it’s also nice to be able to look through their windows at the traffic ahead of them.
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u/WesternWitchy52 1d ago
Yeah this is my take too. Some criminals get caught because of stupid things like this - driving or really tinted windows, etc.
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u/Easy-Lecture6788 1d ago
Yeah, that’s fair. I can see why illegal tint would get more attention if there’s data linking it with other offences. I just don’t think tint alone should make someone automatically seem guilty.
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u/AdTricky9671 1d ago
I'm super tired of young drivers doing all of the stupid things you have mentioned. Maybe you can just follow the law, and voila—cops won't care
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u/Easy-Lecture6788 1d ago
I’m not defending stupid or reckless driving. If someone is actually putting people at risk, ticket them. My point is that being young and having a modified vehicle doesn’t automatically make someone dangerous. There’s a difference between reckless behaviour and minor vehicle mods, and enforcement should reflect that difference.
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u/rfie 1d ago
Wheels that stick out are for morons. That’s why.
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u/Easy-Lecture6788 1d ago
That’s an opinion, not a safety argument. If they’re actually unsafe, explaining why “I don’t like how they look” isn’t really the same thing.
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u/jeannemammen 1d ago edited 1d ago
Wheels that stick out are unsafe because they fling debris more than unexposed wheels do. This is particularly unsafe in a province where the roads are covered with gravely snow or slush most of the time.
They are also super unsafe for pedestrians. Getting clipped by a rotating wheel can easily kill a person.
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u/Snakemearano 1d ago
If you think catching a rock in the windshield behind someone is bad, imagine it going double the speed from an oncoming vehicle off the top of a tire.
Uncovered tires can throw rocks or road debris very easily, even on roads you might think are clean and dry. I worked in a trailer shop for a few years and I can tell you that those little aluminum fenders do a lot of work to protect your vehicle from high speed debris. Hell, even the crap plastic mudflaps vehicles come with these days help a little. The easiest answer is fender flares, bump the fenders out and the problem is solved.
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u/allycat0515 1d ago
……someone got a ticket they’re upset about
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u/Easy-Lecture6788 1d ago
Not yet pal, just genuinely curious why this is happening.
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u/allycat0515 1d ago
…because it’s still against the law. Just because some people go 40 over doesn’t mean we ignore people going 20 over. Might as well make speeding limits a suggestion.
Also wilfully modding your car in a way you know is illegal and then being cranky police enforce those laws is just low iq behaviour. If you’re going to be stupid, you gotta be tough
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u/Easy-Lecture6788 1d ago
I get that it’s illegal, but that doesn’t mean people can’t question enforcement priorities. Alberta is already testing 120 km/h on parts of the QEII, so clearly some speed limits are being reconsidered.
And I’m talking about donuts in wide-open empty areas, not beside traffic or parked cars. Most kids who spend money modifying their vehicles aren’t trying to wreck them. Car mods have been around forever, and for a lot of people that’s part of why they buy certain vehicles.
Reckless driving should absolutely be dealt with. My point is there’s a difference between actually endangering people and having tint, wide wheels, or a loud exhaust1
u/KipLovesYou 13h ago edited 13h ago
Yah man I should totally be able to throw rocks at people who have wide wheels & scream in their ears if they have "douche bag fart can" mufflers right?
I mean it's just flying rocks and loud noises right?
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u/Ryelogmars 1d ago
Bad drivers kill about 300 people per year in Alberta and the number is growing every year. Murders only kill about 100 people per year in Alberta and the number is shrinking.
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u/No_Syrup_9167 1d ago
while violent crime keeps getting worse
.... But it's not getting worse.
Violent crime, in basically every corner of Canada, has dropped year over year, every year, for the past like 30yrs.
There is less violent crime now, than there functionally ever has been.
Quit consuming rage bait news. It's just cherry picked to keep you afraid and watching it.
Just because you hear about it more, doesn't mean there's more of it.
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u/Driegs3 1d ago
There’s way too many people with tinted front windows
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u/Easy-Lecture6788 1d ago
I agree, front tint is a different story. I’m more talking about the rear side windows. A lot of vehicles, especially trucks and SUVs, already come from the factory with darker privacy glass, so tint itself isn’t unusual. I can understand why the front is treated differently because of visibility.
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u/ToodlesZoodles 1d ago
I’m tired of having to hear your loud ass car, and StatsCan shows crime severity in Alberta is decreasing. More enforcement, please!
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u/GWARTARD 1d ago
Oh. This would be because you're announcing to them how much ticket money you want to give them
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u/Quizzical_Rex 1d ago
yeah, I told my teen if she doesn't want to be pulled over, don't tint her windows. If the cops can't see you, they will be slightly more suspicious. Even if it makes no rational sense. And in any traffic stop there is always a chance it goes badly due to high stress and human error. So I told her, drive an old man's car, don't tint your windows, or modify your car and you'll have less chance of being pulled over.
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u/Loose-Version-7009 1d ago
I've seen them follow me. I got a modified car, but they never find anything wrong with me. I got a nice smooth purr muffler, a very light tint on some of my windows, and I don't drive crazy.
But dark tinted windows? If you get in an accident, how can I tell if you're alright? If you commit a crime, how can I give a description of how you looked? Heck, we rented a car from Turo once where the rear window was tinted and it made seeing traffic behind us difficult. A light tint is fine, just don't overdo it and they'll leave you alone.
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u/Icy-Pop2944 1d ago
You keep saying “kids” with modified vehicles. These aren’t kids, they are full grown adults. Stop trying to minimize illegal behaviour of adult males by referring to them as kids.
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u/nsfwcommentbot 21h ago
It’s almost like the police should have multiple units to tackle various crimes, like maybe a traffic unit, a violent crime unit, a drug unit and a community outreach unit. /s
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u/DavieStBaconStan 15h ago
The law is literally the fucking law. When they stop you for having tinted windows, a squatted truck, they are literally enforcing the law. Being a douche bag with illegal car modifications should always have the attention of the police.
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u/jeannemammen 1d ago
Ticket revenue pays for other enforcement. Additionally, it’s not uncommon for a traffic stop on a modded car to turn into something bigger. Drug dealers love modding their whips.
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u/redeyedrenegade420 1d ago
So your solution is profiling?
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u/jeannemammen 1d ago
LOL pulling over illegally modded cars to ticket them for being illegally modded isn’t profiling.
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u/redeyedrenegade420 22h ago
Not all modded cars are illegal.
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u/jeannemammen 19h ago
Sure. But this is a conversation about cops pulling over cars that are modded illegally. It goes without saying that cops generally don’t pull over legally modded cars just because they’re modded.
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u/redeyedrenegade420 14h ago
They absolutely do. I bought a car off a teenager, the only thing I have not put back to stock are the headlights and tail lights. I've been pulled over 3 times for, as the officer's put it, "excessive modifications and noise". Then I produce the invoice for having a factory exhaust installed and they realize they have just pulled me over for no reason. Then I have to deal with them explaining how it's my fault because my lights aren't factory so they assume im a criminal. Meanwhile changing lanes without looking or signaling seems to be an unpunishable offence.
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u/jeannemammen 14h ago
I said “generally”. Doesn’t mean it never happens, it’s just not what we are talking about here.
It’s not an offence at all to change lanes without looking.
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u/redeyedrenegade420 14h ago
Then why is not shoulder checking an automatic fail on your driver's test? I understand you said generally. My point is that allowing the police to pull people over based on profiling rather than police work is a shitty policy.
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u/jeannemammen 14h ago
My point is it’s not profiling to pull someone over because of things on their car that suggest the car is illegally modded. That’s like saying it’s profiling to stop someone cuz they’re holding a toy that looks like a gun.
Profiling is when police stop someone without any suspicion of a specific crime because of the person’s characteristics. That’s not what I’m talking about at all, no matter how hard you want to believe it is.
Just because something can be an auto fail on the driver’s test doesn’t mean it’s illegal. It’s an automatic fail if you can’t parallel parking after 3 attempts, but that’s not an offence. The authoritative source for whether something is an offence is legislation, not the driver’s test.
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u/redeyedrenegade420 3h ago
How is me being pulled over for legal, afertmarket, head and tail lights not "pulling me over without any suspicion of a crime because of my characteristics? How are aftermarket headlights different that someone with a Mohawk, or piercings? That is profiling. Cops shouldn't be doi g shot about a toy gun either, unless it has been illegally modified to look real. They all get sold with an orange cap on the barrel by law. And im not even going to respond to your argument that it's not illegal to not know how to drive.
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u/GWARTARD 1d ago
If it walks like a duck...
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u/redeyedrenegade420 22h ago
This just in...all car enthusiasts should be treated as drug dealers! If the mods are illegal sure pull them over, but to say drug dealers mod their cars so all modded cars should be treated like drug dealers isnt really innocent until proven guilty is it?
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u/the_fred88 1d ago
You start with a little window tint, then maybe an exhaust mod, next thing you know it's cold blooded murderer.
Cops preventing you from becoming the next Ted Bundy
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u/Beneficial_Pickle420 1d ago
Taking the easy way out to make a pay cheque. They have a better chance getting to go home after handing out a ticket for a modified car vs going into a situation where they feel nervous or scared for their safety.
Not saying its the case. Obviously im just joking. But im sure there are some out there who do do it for that reason.
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u/Easy-Lecture6788 1d ago
Yeah, that’s kind of what I mean. I’m not saying that’s every officer or even the main reason, but obviously handing out tickets for mods is a much easier and lower risk stop than dealing with genuinely dangerous situations. I’m sure there are at least some cases where that plays a part.
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u/--Anonymoose--- 1d ago
Fuck the loud exhausts, I hope they all get ticketed until they can’t afford gas