ASK a Traffic COP After Dark December 3, 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
That was that was supposed to automatically switch.
Hey, everybody. I feel like I should be wearing
a red sweater tonight. It's that time.
It's, it's, it's, it's it's Christmas time.
It's my favorite time of year. It also happens to be a very
busy time because we have folks who are, well, doing stuff and
things on the road that aren't always, well, good, like driving
while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

(00:22):
And generally speaking, that's ano bueno.
She's saying, how come that didn't change, trying to press
buttons and it ain't working. Oh, me, I have to press this
one. That's why I was pressing the
wrong button. My name is Shawn Shapiro.
I'm a former police officer who talks about Traffic Safety,
traffic law and police stuff. And I do that a whole lot.

(00:42):
Some people like it, some peopledon't.
If you're one of the ones who like it, that's probably why
you're here. And I appreciate you for it.
What's going on in your life if you've got questions about
Traffic Safety, traffic law or police stuff because then you
are definitely in the right place.
That's it's kind of what we do here.
Yeah. It's questions about stuff and
things. I, I, I got lots to talk about.
I, I actually created show notes.

(01:04):
Do I have them on the screen? No, but we'll talk about stuff
and things because that's what it's all about.
So if you don't know who I am inmy background, I, I was a
volunteer with the police service originally started as a
volunteer auxiliary officer. And then I loved it so much that
I also became a court officer because there was a hiring
freeze on policing. Then I patched over and became a

(01:26):
police officer, trading 2 uniforms into one where I spent
a good amount of time. The total, the total time with
the service from start to finish, just under 25 years.
And it was the best time. It was really the best time.
If you have an interest in becoming a police officer, feel
free to ask questions about that.
If you are a police officer, feel free to share your stuff

(01:48):
and things because we'd love to talk about whatever's going on
in your squad car. If you have, you know, just
something you got to get off your back, we can talk about it.
Talking about movies, talk aboutall sorts of things.
There are no there are there. No, I don't want to talk about
politics. That's where I draw the line.
I'm a no politics kind of guy. Otherwise, lots to talk about.

(02:10):
I see. Oh, we got rule.
What's going on? He says the police regularly
pulls people over in front of your house and blocks your
driveway. What to do?
That's actually a very unique question I've never been asked
before. But very often, if you live in
an area where there's lots of stuff going on, either a stop
sign or, or community issue, andpolice are there doing

(02:31):
heightened enforcement, you may very well have somebody doing
traffic stops in front of your house all the time.
And my suggestion to you would be call and let the local
division know. Just say, hey, listen, I
appreciate what you're doing. You're making the roads safer
for us by doing these traffic stops, but you're blocking my
driveway or it's really freakingme out.
And you know what? They, they, they can't always
accommodate you, but they might be able to take you into

(02:53):
consideration, move their, you know, their happy pullover spot
a little bit further down the road.
No guarantees, but it's worth the conversation.
If you're doing it friendly, I wouldn't have a problem with it.
But that said, cut officer safety 1st and it sometimes you
can't do anything about it, but better to ask than to say
nothing. Oh, it is a stop sign and they

(03:14):
pull people over every two to 5 minutes.
Yeah. What do I have a button for
that, don't I? No, no, I haven't programmed it.
Oh come on, I used to have. This is a different sound box
that I used when I was at the Toronto Police.
I actually programmed a siren sound and because I don't
usually press the buttons, it wasn't configured.
Hello to everyone. Actually, I should probably let

(03:36):
everyone know that I'm currentlybroadcasting on a multiple well,
nine different platforms. Really X LinkedIn, Instagram,
TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Kik, twitch rumble.
I'm probably X that I I started with XA whole bunch of them.
In any case, sometimes I'm not looking at you.
That doesn't mean I'm not answering your that I won't

(03:57):
answer you. It's that I'm reading a
different screen because there'sa whole bunch of them and I will
try and get to yours as well. Emma.
Emma likes the intro. She, she, she's, you know,
solid. So I thanks to Emma.
Emma was was one of my moderators back in the day.
Want to moderate again? You might even still be a
moderator. I don't know.
I mean, if you still have moderator status and if you do,

(04:18):
hey, moderate away, have fun. We, we have generally a good
crew of folks that come in and spend time here.
Sometimes we get some people whoare unfriendly and for those
times I really appreciate the moderators who come in and take
care of business. Oh, Raul wants to know how many
phones I've got plugged in to doall the multi streaming.

(04:38):
The tech behind the sorcery. Actually, I'm using Restream,
which is a platform that allows me to multi stream by sending
one video feed out, which I use ecam Pro to produce as a Mac
based software package. And ecam Pro allows me to do all
the the graphics and the the flyovers and whatnot.
They do stuff like saying that Diamond and Diamond are our

(04:59):
sponsors or at least our primarysponsor.
They are a law firm. In fact they are Canada's
largest personal entry law firm and they help us out.
They believe in what I do and keeping people safe through
education. They're all about it and I thank
them for it. So that is ecam Pro and if you
want to be able to do stuff likethis, like my when I go on to

(05:19):
Zoom and I have meetings on Zoom, it looks like this or a
variation of like I usually do this anyway, you know, got to
look, look good for the TV. It's all done through ecam pro.
Now Ecam Pro can do live streaming, but I like taking the
hard work and sending it over toRestream, which has a, a feature
in the studio and it allows me to do really cool stuff like

(05:41):
acknowledge Wayne. Actually, I can do this in Ecamp
Pro too, but it's, it's just about taking the, the heavy
lifting and taking it off my computer and sending it into the
cloud. They do lots of stuff like
schedule multiple replays. I can do all sorts of stuff.
If you, if you want referral codes, like if you want to get
discounts on it, go to trafficcop.ca.
I've got affiliate links at the bottom.
I will get a Commission for it. It actually goes to the, the

(06:03):
Canadian organization for betterTraffic Safety and education.
That's that BTSE not-for-profit.I, I set it up so that if you do
buy something, you'll get a discount and so will we.
Well, I guess it's a discount. Yeah.
Thanks, Raul. I appreciate it, he says.
Absolutely terrific. But do actually I should do a
whole bunch of shows just talking about the technology.
There's so much to learn. OK, let's see what's going on

(06:23):
here. We've got Tay 17.
Yeah, let's see here. Tay says prayers to the tow
truck driver family that lost a loved 1 today on the four O one.
I've not heard about it. That sounds terrible.
I'll have to look it up. There are so many unfortunate
situations because people don't give people the space.
The folks that work on the highway, whether it be tow truck

(06:45):
drivers, police, ambulance, fire, they all deserve your
respect and your, your, your attention.
You need to move over. You need to slow down.
And that, although I don't know the details, I'm going to say
it's a preventable death. If it was, it was due to
collision. It's all preventable.
There are no collisions that happen that are unavoidable.
If people just drive appropriately, they're
avoidable. So yeah, thoughts and prayers to

(07:07):
those suffering because they, the person who's gone is gone
and the people left holding the pieces, that's the family, the
community, the people who love that person.
And I, I feel bad that I don't even know more, but can't change
that. We'll have to look at it later.
Board repair guy says evening. Sure, well, evening to you.
Sure. Board repair guy does all sorts
of awesomeness right down to theboard.

(07:27):
I actually, I have an iPad that I have to pick up from someone
who said they couldn't fix it and give it to you to see if you
can. But that's that's another story.
You should go follow the board repair guy.
And I don't see his username at sign, but oh, it's the board
repair guy. I don't know the short form of
it. Anyway, go find his account.
You should follow him. That's some cool stuff.
He fixes the unfixable Cavalier gang says, Is it against the law

(07:50):
to put Christmas lights on your car and drive around?
Did I load the video for it? I have a video of it.
It is illegal. You can be charged for a number
of things like projecting the light of the incorrect color to
the incorrect direction. It's it's, it's a distraction.
It shouldn't be. Now, will you get a ticket for
it? That depends.
It really does depend. If you are projecting red light

(08:11):
to the front, whether it's flashing, whether it's bright,
whether it's dim, it's illegal. It confuses drivers.
The backside of the car can havered, the front cannot.
In fact, you can only project white or amber to the front, red
and amber to the rear, and thereare other restricted colors in
all directions like blue or flashing red.
Bunch of stuff. FM promotions just jumped in.

(08:31):
What's going on brother? These guys are awesome.
If you need any embroidery done,if you need any customized
stuff, they do all my work. They're amazing.
They're in Woodbridge and I've known them for years.
Like I think I met them in 1999 originally and I've been using
them ever since because they aren't the best.
So check them out. Oh the kids seven O 1 has some
stuff to talk about I'll come back to you in a second and I

(08:54):
want to just see what else we got here got too many mice, too
many roller balls track pads. I got stuff going on here OK,
just wanted to make sure I don'tmiss anybody All season tires
should not be called all season tires.
You hit that one on the head. All season is 3 season tires.

(09:16):
All weather. However, that's actually an all
season, a true all season tire which meets the requirements for
a winter tire. However, a winter tire that is
dedicated as a winter tire is the best tire for the season and
not a snow tire that's for snow.Winter tires really focuses on
temperature and not just tread pattern.
OK let's get into anti social media.

(09:39):
Who says? Hey Sean former firefighter
here. Question for you.
What are your thoughts on plate covers?
Well, they're illegal. I mean, thoughts aside, I think
some of them look cool. I kind of appreciate that Some
of them protect your your plate,which tends to be made by out of
garbage and peels in 10 seconds.However, if it obstructs in any
way shape or form the plate and obstruction is covering in any

(10:02):
way, it's against law. You can get $110 ticket for it
and you don't want that. No fun.
The the big deal is of course tinted.
That's the biggest thing. When I was on the road, if I saw
a tinted 1, I couldn't read yourplate properly.
You got pulled over with a warning and if you gave me
attitude, you got the ticket forit.
I was pretty easy. I have a screwdriver, take it
off no ticket. You don't want to take it off.
You want to give me a lip, here's your ticket.

(10:22):
Go away. And if I the the biggest way to
make sure I pulled you over witha tinted plate cover is make it
hard to read. If I read your plate, it was
really a non starter. But if it was something that
obscured it, well, then you weregoing to have a conversation,
and then it was choose your own adventure as to how it went from
there. Now, let's talk about license
plate frames. If it obstructs portions of the

(10:42):
plate, you're breaking the law. If it's clear and there's glare
or it's faded or it's dirty or even a dirty plate with no plate
cover is illegal, $110 fine. So ideally, clean your plate,
keep it legible. Yeah.
Yeah. We got NKV security popped in.

(11:04):
What's going on? All right, I see another
question here. Biggest challenge at OPCOPC, for
those who don't know, is the Ontario Police College, I'd say
located in Elmer, Ontario, the most magical place to get eggs
you'll ever visit. Listen it, I loved every second
of it. Not everybody agreed with me.
I, I had a lot of fun. I would go back and do it all
over again. That's how much fun I had,

(11:25):
except when I got gout and didn't want to run because it
hurt like hell. Actually, I had to.
I, I started medication at OPC based on coming home and having
some wine, which triggered gout.Who'd a thunk?
Yeah. So aside from the, the running,
I thought it was magical. Truly amazing.

(11:45):
Meet people you'll be friends with for the rest of your life.
Just stay focused when you go there on studying and being
involved with studies and absorbing as much information as
possible because it goes by quick.
And you can go for beers anytimeafter you graduate.
OK, boom, boom, boom. Oh, and anti social media was

(12:06):
saying the guy who got charged for having Christmas lights
don't wait, wait, wait. Yeah, the guy who got charged
for Christmas lights. I have that video actually
queued up. I can, I can throw that on.
See here. What's going to happen if I no,
no, let me hit this button. It's going to screw things up
for two seconds. I'll show up on the corner.

(12:26):
And then this guy, my 21 year old driver, was feeling a little
festive, but now paying the price.
Ontario. An officer spotted the vehicle
decorated with colorful Christmas lights in Norfolk
County on Saturday, but it wasn't the holiday cheer that
caught their attention. The truck clocked in at 160
kilometers an hour, double the speed limit, netting the driver

(12:49):
a 30 day suspension of his license and the impoundment of
his colorful lit up Christmas truck.
So in that situation, yeah, there's no Christmas spirit with
someone who's a bonehead doing, you know, stunt driving speeds.
If you're driving lawfully and safely, I don't think that the
average officer is going to havea problem with Christmas lights.

(13:10):
But it all depends. It's independent, you know,
discretion then that's a a big word, discretion.
Many people don't understand what it means.
And I, I say that with love, Many people don't get that
discretion means that not every interaction with police results
in a ticket. I can pull you over for speeding
and give you a warning. I can build pull you over for
speeding and give you a ticket. I can find 10 things wrong with

(13:30):
your vehicle and give you 1 ticket.
Like it's up to the discretion of the officer.
Maybe just having a warning is enough for somebody.
Maybe they get the feeling that that's going to change their
driving behavior going forward and maybe not.
It all depends. And, and at the end of the day,
being polite, being cordial, most important thing you can do
on a traffic stop, no sudden moves and no attitude.

(13:51):
I love the people who who want to educate the officers as to
the law, as to their interpretation.
The side of the road is not a place to argue what you think or
that person thinks is. It is where you say yes or no
Sir, 3 bags full Sir, have a nice night.
If you get a charge, you get a charge to take.
You take care of that in court afterwards.
But don't fight with the officeron the side of the road.
Don't argue, don't give lip. You know, just my two cents.

(14:14):
OK. Can someone arrest the icy
parking lot that assaulted me tonight?
Oh, no. What happened?
And how's your vehicle? Or did it, was it you?
Did you slip and fall? Melody.
That's Melody. The mechanic who is asking or
stating that question, I'm sure we can arrange to have.
Actually, I will say this. If someone fails to maintain
their their property, they don'tsalt it.
They don't prepare it. They don't.

(14:35):
Whatever the case is, if you could show fault, there might be
a case there, a personal injury case.
At which point you should call my friends and guess what
diamond and diamond lawyers because they're personal injury
people. That would be the the the place
to go and and get some consulting.
Better word opinion. If you got hurt because they
didn't do the right thing, you might have a lawsuit available

(14:56):
to you. OK, now we've got the kid 7 O
one who says hi Sean, does a cophave to hand you a ticket for
U-turn, which is illegal or comes in the mail?
What does a cop have to hand youa ticket for U-turn, which is
illegal. They have to hand it to you.

(15:16):
Well, they have to serve it to you.
And if you get served, it's served.
If you make AU turn and they don't serve it to you, you
didn't get a ticket. I hope that.
I hope that you get it. Like most offenses require a
police officer to serve you the ticket.
If you don't get served, you arenot getting charged.
Now that's not to say that an officer couldn't have seeing you

(15:39):
identified your vehicle, identified your like being able
to see a a a good look at your get a good look at your face and
then go look up the ministry records and then determine that
they know that you are in fact the registered owner and then
come serve you at home later. But you still need service,
whether it be you or a police officer on behalf of the officer
who made the observations. And the kid follows up with for

(16:02):
for an illegal U-turn for any Highway Traffic Act defense.
Yeah, Now the only charges that don't require service at least
by a police officer or don't require a police officer to
identify the driver would be stuff like, well, until the
removal of the the already beingmissed by many communities,

(16:23):
automated enforcement cameras, speed enforcement cameras, ASC,
those didn't require a identity of the driver because those are
those are owner responsibility tickets.
The tickets were issued to the registered vehicle owner and
they were responsible to pay whether they were the ones
driving or not. The the other fences that that
apply in that owner responsibility bracket are red
light cameras and school bus cameras.

(16:45):
Because our school bus cameras, although they're not rolled out
everywhere, if you blow past a school bus and don't stop as
you're required to when their red lights are flashing, well,
they can send you a a a ticket in the mail if that community is
using that technology. Brandon says Hello, Sean and all
hope you all had a fantastic day.
You still in Ontario? We got to talk.

(17:07):
We really have to talk. Yeah, we have to.
This is my friend Brandon needs to talk for the for the lunch we
keep talking about. But not just that, I have other
things we have to talk about. Steven Bell says good evening.
Good evening to you, Steven fromLondon ON long time listener and
often communicator by way of asking questions.
Thanks for being here and just afollow up from the kids 7 O1

(17:30):
says good to know. Thanks bro.
I watch your vids for great infoas always.
Well, I appreciate you and that's what we're here for.
I'm here to help you out. I'm like your your spirit guide
to the Highway Traffic act. I'm here to make sure you're the
hero and not the person getting in trouble.
That's really my goal. And if you can, you know, change

(17:50):
your perspective on some things.If you know folks who like to go
fast, if they slow down, it's amazing how good things could be
for them, like not getting tickets, not getting into
collisions, especially in the winter.
But oddly enough, the the highernumber of major collisions that
are linked to speed, they tend to be in the, in the summer.
You see more fatalities in the summer, whereas in the winter,

(18:13):
everyone's sort of says it's slippery out there, maybe we
should slow down. And they do.
And you get minor Fender benders, but not the big, big
ones. That or or fewer of the big, big
ones. There's always big, big ones.
I'm going to stop saying big, big ones.
I have fun. I have fun even when it's just
me having fun. Hey, if you're watching and
you're just new to the channel, my name is Sean Shapiro.
I'm a former channel. I'm a former police officer.

(18:35):
That's what I was former police officer who talks about Traffic
Safety, traffic law on police stuff.
And if you want to know stuff about things you probably
shouldn't do or might have a better way of doing them, you're
in the right place because I talk about Traffic Safety,
traffic law on police stuff all the time.
If you would be so kind as to follow and subscribe wherever
you is, I'd appreciate it. And if you can go to the YouTube
page, I'm trying to hit 1000 followers.

(18:55):
We get some unlocked special features once we get to 1000
followers. And we're on the road to
monetization there because we want to raise money for the
not-for-profit. This is not a business that
makes money in a traditional way.
We're trying to raise money. We're trying to hire a team.
We want to go across Canada. We want to get cops in every
jurisdiction to be guests on this show.
We want to be able to have more shows.

(19:15):
It just takes money. Now the fine folks at Barrett
Legal at diamondanddiamond@ifinallywill.com.
New sponsor. I finally, I, I guess it's a
good time to segue and let you know that if you don't already
have a will, a will, a legal document that deals with what
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Yeah, they produce it and they're going to give you 50%
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(19:38):
Just letting you know it's all done online.
You can do everything. It's amazing.
Let's see. I want to.
I'll come back to the I finally,finally will thing.
I really appreciate the sponsorsthat help me keep this going
because oddly enough, it's bloody expensive to do what I
do, even when it's just chattingwith you on the phone like this.
Well, it's the Internet, but youknow what I mean.
It's in your phone probably. OK, let's go on here.

(19:59):
Steve Moss, 45, says Are the mobility car scooters legal on
the road? These mobility scooters aren't
mobility scooters. If you can't go shopping at
Walmart with them, if they don'tfit in the aisles or fit through
a door, that is baloney. They're not mobility scooters.
They're little electric cars that aren't legal on the road,
that people are lying to you just to take your money.
They want to make believe that that's a acceptable mode of

(20:21):
transportation on the road, and it's not also for the people who
use those because they got impaired driving charges and
they're not allowed to drive a motor vehicle.
According to the Criminal Code of Canada, that's a motor
vehicle. Actually, according to the
Highway Traffic acted technically as a motor vehicle
as well. Yeah.
So you can still get charged forimpaired operation or driving
disqualified when you were disqualified from driving motor

(20:42):
vehicles. Just just, you know, food for
thought. Yeah.
What about here? Bruce shared the live.
Thank you. Bruce and Carter followed.
Thank you for the follow. And the scroll backs.
It just updated and it gives a million questions.
Scroll by. I'll try and keep things a
little shorter and to the point as I I don't want to lose out on

(21:02):
time and and I do got a I've gotabout 3540 minutes before I have
to take off because I've got a meeting off base base being
home. I I'm not on a military base.
Mary Lynn Metra says I always pressed the wrong button.
We don't want to block you. We want to put you on screen.
Hello, Sean, love your show. Thank you so much.
Mary, you you're, you're a a long time watcher, full time

(21:25):
supporter. And then I really appreciate it.
Oh, Stephen Bell says Saturday is going to be my first time
driving in the Santa Claus parade with my van.
Any suggestions? Be careful.
I've driven many vehicles in parades.
I've been in the motor squad demonstration team when we
actually drive and do demo and we were doing show stuff.

(21:45):
Really really a lot of fun to perform for the kids doing
intricate maneuvers on motorcycle for Santa Claus
parade. You can I've I've actually found
myself on video on YouTube for because someone posted it.
So that's awesome, but go slow expect that anything could
happen. Just go slow.
Make sure you have a full tank of gas too, because it goes real
slow depending on how how long your parade is.

(22:06):
The Toronto 1 is long and you don't want to run out of gas.
OK, I appreciate that. Good luck to you by the Santa
Claus parade and the Saint Patrick's Day parade 2 parades.
I used to really, really like love being part of it was such a
amazing time when I was an auxiliary.
I did it as a police officer. I did it.
It's just so amazing. OK oh Carter 868 says not really

(22:30):
traffic related but starting college for policing.
Any suggestions for this career?Learn everything, keep an open
mind, keep an eye, keep an eye out for something that really is
interesting and unique that you could possibly get into as a
specialty. Like if you're in college before
becoming a police college, but you're in policing, if you're at

(22:51):
Seneca for policing, look at other courses like sign language
or something that makes you unique as a as a candidate for
policing. Just, you know, like forensics.
You have to really want to do that.
What do we got here? Clifford says, hey Sean, I have
a question on aftermarket LED headlights, the HTA and such.
May I come on ask away like the oh, you're talking about coming

(23:13):
onto the show itself. If you want to send me, AI can
actually do that, although just because time is short today,
maybe it's not the best time to do it.
Either way, send me an e-mail ataskatrafficcop.sorryaskatrafficcop@gmail.com
and we can configure something. Either we'll chat about it and
then have you on the show to do it or we'll see.

(23:35):
I can. I can bring people in by via
Zoom. Joker the Clown Prince wants to
know if I'm related to Ben. I am not related to Ben.
I don't know. I don't think I am if he, if
he's got a will and he wants to leave something to me in it.
Time is relative. Absolutely.
And you should go to ifinallywill.com to sign up and
get a will. But I have a feeling because
he's a lawyer and married to a doctor, he probably has a will

(23:59):
because, you know, smart people protect their families with
those documents. AATCA check out for 50% off.
You see, I'm trying to get people deals.
OK, what we got here, phone tickets.
Do the courts automatically sidewith the officer or does the
officer need proof? What proof is it?
So people really get pissed off when I tell them that when an

(24:20):
officer attends court, they provide testimony and that
testimony is what they're presenting as evidence.
On this date of time, I observeda A Bands who was driving a 1985
Cutlass, and that was with blackpaint and green polka dots and
tinted windows. And even through the dark tinted

(24:42):
windows, I was able to observe the fact that they were using a
smartphone. They were holding it for the
left hand. They were using the forefinger
in the right hand to swipe across the large lit screen.
Like that is the evidence that I'm providing as an officer.
Obviously fictional in this scenario, but that's what I'm
doing. I don't need photographs.
I don't need video of it. If I have it, that's just all

(25:04):
the better. Now, because I say it, you get
to say your thing too. I picked it up just to put it on
the charger. I, you know, I, I, it rang it or
it fell or whatever the case is,you get to say your piece and
then the independent driver of fact, AKA the judge or justice
of the piece sitting on the bench, they get to decide who

(25:26):
they believe. Now I have given flawless in my
opinion, testimony. And at the end of it, I was
really frustrated because the justice of the peace said, thank
you officer, for your fantastic evidence.
I believe you entirely. But I also want to give the
benefit of the doubt to the defendant.
And he dismissed the charges. So just because I do my job

(25:48):
doesn't mean that I get a conviction.
Sometimes it just goes the otherway just because I've had people
lie. I had someone who was very
clearly on their phone. It was before body Cam.
I never had a body Cam. I was pre body Cam when I was on
the road and they said well, I wasn't, I wasn't using my phone.
I had my wallet in my hand. Bo Bo shit.

(26:10):
It's but they believed it. You know, like what are you?
What are you going to do? Listen, I don't care if you get
convicted. I don't.
You got charged. I know what you did.
You know what you did? We go to court.
Whatever happens is up to them. It's out of my hands.
So I wasn't personally involved.I wasn't emotionally invested in
whether or not you got a ticket,conviction for your ticket or if
you just, I figure you came to court, you paid your penance.

(26:32):
As far as I was concerned, you know, you lost the days of work.
You had to go through the, the sleepless nights to determine if
you're going to get the points on your license.
And frankly I I was satisfied with that.
Hopefully you learned your lesson and you didn't do it
again and then it would have been worth it.
Because the idea of a ticket isn't about making money for the
government, it's about changing driver behavior.

(26:53):
If it sucked for you to get a ticket and go to court then I
did my job. I once had a boss when I was a
court officer who said if I'm not pissing someone off 5 times
a day I'm not doing my job. So my goal was 10 times.
If he was upper management pissing people off 5 times a
day, I had to do better. OK, board prepare guys says I
see more people on the road withmounts for their phones with

(27:15):
FaceTime videos active. Is that ticketable?
Absolutely screen visible to driver.
Whether you're communicating with somebody or not is is on
its own a violation. So if you're watching TikTok, if
you're if you're watching YouTube, even if you're just
listening, if you can see that even if it's your passenger
who's looking at their Instagram, they go, hey, look
at, look at, you know, I don't know Linda, who's doing, you

(27:38):
know, the 1980s Jazzercise and that's what she's showing you.
Well, you see that screen, that's a ticket.
Can't do it. Now if you hold it, if you touch
it, if you are engaged with it, if it's just recording you, but
your screen is visible, those are all enough to lay the
charge. In fact, if it's on your lap,

(27:58):
even if the battery's dead, but you're holding it or it's on
your lap, that's the courts havesided with with officers and
convicted people for use becauseit is about use.
Let's see our Honda Migs. I saw you come in and I saw you
type something. So hang on.
Oh, this is a good question fromRaul as well.

(28:19):
We'll come back to that. Boom, boom, boom.
He gets, he gets someone pullingover a car in front of his house
every two to 5 minutes for stop signs.
So he says he gets a free show. Boom, boom, boom.
We talked about that already, but I saw something new.
I'm looking for the Honda mix comment.

(28:39):
Then we'll jump back into the TikTok.
I'm Shawn Shapiro, former policeofficer who talks about Traffic
Safety, traffic law and police stuff.
And if you're not already following me, please do what are
you waiting for? Hit the button and in fact, go
to YouTube also and make sure you're subscribing there.
There. There is different content that
will eventually be on the YouTube channel, but right now
I'm just trying to hit 1000 followers.
We're trying to to get expanded functionality.
Did you know that multiple that that YouTube is going to have

(29:03):
translation, you'll be able to dub or it'll automatically make
multiple languages available. It's already happening on
Instagram. You can go to my Instagram and
change the language settings so you can listen to me in Hindi,
Portuguese and Spanish in addition to English, which is
and what's scary about it is it's my voice.
It's it's crazy, crazy cool and scary at the same time.

(29:24):
Roe wanted to know if there was more pressure to issue tickets
in December. I don't think there's pressure
to issue tickets anywhere. It's anytime.
I think it's all go and make roads safer.
That's the the the idea behind tickets.
It's not about punching numbers.Now doing it, you know, what do
you call it? Tests for impaired operation?
There's definitely push there. There's ride programs that are

(29:44):
that are rolled out late 10 times because we know there's an
increase of impaired driving during the holidays when
everyone else is out celebrating.
OK Oh, Joshua Maloney has a goodquestion.
We'll get to that in a second. OK, the four O 1400 collision

(30:05):
involving the OPP officer was was it an OPP officer was pretty
bad. Was that the intentional contact
1? I don't, I don't know but which
one we're talking about anymore.It's like eventually they just
blend together, Joker the clown Prince says.
But people can't drive. I don't know if that's in
contact. He said something earlier.

(30:30):
I don't know what that so OK, what's your opinion on spirited
driving? Is that impaired driving?
Don't don't do it like spirits being I don't know what kind of
spirited we're talking about. Oh, thank you very much, board
repair guy. What about eating chicken

(30:51):
Alfredo at red lights? Well, I've seen everything being
eaten at red lights and while driving.
I've seen people with cereal. I've seen people, you know,
rocking chopsticks in a bowl. I've seen people eating.
What was it? What it what was it?
It was jerk chicken and I also, so I'll never forget this one.

(31:11):
It was one of my my first where I'd where I'd seen this anyway,
a cube truck. You had to picture this a small
cube van with a box in the back rear ends, a cement mixer with a
big cement mixer and the cement mixer didn't even notice that
this truck had become part of his truck and he was just
dragging him behind. Anyway, eventually he stops and
he says the, the the guy who rented the truck was a company

(31:34):
truck, rented, rented, rented the truck, but it was for
company business. He says my brakes failed.
I I couldn't stop. No, he was eating jerk chicken
because he had it everywhere. Basically.
You you just know, I could see it in my mind's eye that he was
eating crashed into the, the cement truck and it went

(31:55):
everywhere. I saw outside the vehicle when
he dumped it out the window. I saw it inside the cab of the
truck. Yeah, sometimes the truth is
just easier. But what about eating chicken
Alfredo or red lights? If it doesn't interfere with
your safe operation of the vehicle?
It's not specifically illegal inOntario, but as we have
discussed in previous lives and and clips, you can get charged
for distracted driving in Alberta or drinking water.

(32:19):
Anything that they determine is distracting you from the art of
driving could be a ticketable offense there.
It's pretty open. It's not just cell phones and in
Ontario it's cell phones or handheld communication device,
handheld entertainment device orscreen visible to driver.
So those are your options for Ontario.
Otherwise it's careless driving where they just have a a simple
ticket for distracted nose, distracted thick of his nose.

(32:44):
What is this? Senna wants to know if there's a
speed where the police have to stop pursuing in a chase.
Here's the deal with pursuits. That's why helicopters are such
a magical thing. York Regional Police just posted
about a fantastic snatch where they got someone who was
running. If they run behind you, you go
faster, you put the public at risk, you put a bird in the air

(33:04):
and, and, and follow them and they just arrest you.
They go surprise and you're done.
You're cooked like dinner. And that that's the ideal goal
is to catch you without putting lives at risk.
So, yeah, as soon as the speeds become reckless, dangerous,
putting lives at risk, they can call it off.
And it's not just the officer driving who says we're going too
fast. I think this one we're going to

(33:25):
know because that's the person who's invested in that, in that
chase. And they eat like a dog chasing
after, you know, the bone. They want to win.
We're all wired that way. We're competitive.
We're we're we're, you know, that alpha personality.
We're going to win. And we get television, right?
So that's where we need the, the, the supervisor on the air,
the dispatcher, anybody on the any another copper who's not

(33:45):
involved. Hey, guys, we're going to call
this off. It's not safe.
And that's, and that's what theydo.
So very, very rarely does a chase take on that, that
American style, you know, 6 hours, 12 cars, intentional
contact. They want to avoid it at all
costs. But there's there are matters or
there's situations when they have to make.
Decisions. To to update and that that

(34:10):
update. Like if there's a kid on board,
there's someone kidnapping someone.
God forbid that changes. Things so they.
Have to be able to weigh public safety and the safety of the
person potentially who's in the vehicle like it's complicated.
But to simply say is there a speed?
It's way way too complicated than than yes or no.

(34:33):
OK. What do you do if you need to go
into a? One way street but sign says no
turn allowed during four to six.You, you, you don't turn into
it. The chances are your turn is
across traffic. So you could go down the block,
turn around and make a right turn into it.
It's just no left turns into it.That's what I'm going to assume

(34:54):
based on where you're, the way you phrase the question.
So what you do is you go and make a legal turn or go around
the block and then come back in the other direction.
That happened to me when I was going to the Blackpink concert.
Yeah, I took. My kids to the Blackpink
concert. And I survived to talk about it.
There was no turn, no left turnsall the way across.

(35:15):
What was it? I don't remember the street I
was on, but they'd, they'd put temporary signs, no left turns
anywhere. But all you had to do to make
the left turn is turn around andmake a right turn.
And it was to stop interfering with traffic going the other way
because you were controlling traffic in all directions.
So that's the way to deal with that.
And if that doesn't work for you, let me know if we're if If
I've got that scenario wrong, you let me know.

(35:41):
We've got a. I don't.
Know how to use this name? Acor bet.
I don't know. I really don't know how to use
your name. OK, excuse me.
I have a question about trucks that drive in the left lane.
Don't they need to drive in the right lane unless they're
passing? Just like cars should too,
depending on the type of Hwy. they're on.
If they're on a controlled access highway, generally

(36:02):
speaking, they must be in the right lane.
They cannot be in the far left. If there's three lanes, they
can't be in the left lane at all.
I've been, we, we got into the minutiae of this.
We were, we were deep diving on this.
And it actually, if, if I read it correctly, on major
controlled access highways, theycan't be in the left two lanes.
So, and it's any commercial vehicle.
So then we started discussing asto whether or not that included

(36:23):
like a tow truck. So it all depends.
But generally speaking, they can't be in the left lane at
all, passing or otherwise. And since they are limited to
105 kilometers, they're not evenin the realm of passing, right.
They they should be in the far right lane.
Josh Oh, Joshua. Maloney wants to know what's the
damage if you steal a city bus doing a driver's job without

(36:45):
collision? What's the what's the
consequence? What are you're going to get
charged for theft over? Like it's, it's, there's
probably way more that they could lay.
I I haven't really thought aboutthat.
But yeah, I heard about the story where the guy was actually
rejecting people who didn't havethe appropriate pass.
I guess he just wanted to be a bus driver deep down.
And I've got some friends who work for TTCII think they're
hiring but probably not that guy.

(37:07):
Joshua says if someone has AG one, what's the years that the
full licensed driver has to be? They need 4 years of experience
and that experience, Oh sorry, let me let me back that up.
They need 4 years of experience and they must be AG class
licensed driver. The four years though and start
when they get their G2. So if they had their G2 for four
years and then got their G, wellthen they'd be OK to drive even

(37:29):
though they only had their G fora day because they had four
years as AG2. If they had two years as AG, two
and two years as AG, they qualify.
G1 time does not count towards the four years of experience
though. That's it.
They also have to maintain a blood alcohol content below .05.
They have to be legally capable of driving the vehicle.
Important to know they also can be be the only other person in

(37:51):
the front seat with you. They have to occupy the
passenger seat. They and no one can be in the
the middle seat if you had a bench.
But what about the blue plates? You can't even read Allison.
I agree with you 100%. They're garbage and they should
be recalled, but they probably won't recall them.
But they should be recalled because they're garbage.
So Honda Migs the question I waslooking for the the comment I
was looking for is is found. Hey Sean, what are your thoughts

(38:14):
on Ontario finally bringing the Texas law where impaired driver
has to pay child support if theytake a life?
I think it's amazing. I don't think it's actually
passed. Maybe it has.
I don't know if like, yeah, he he said at least at least Doug
Ford talked about it bringing this law.
I don't know how we don't then make the person who shoots
somebody have to pay for the rest of their like, why is it

(38:37):
just impaired driving? How about distracted driving?
How about running a red light? How about like, if you kill
somebody, God forbid, you shouldbe responsible for what you
cause Making it only about impaired driving suggests that
the other ones aren't valid. The other ones don't matter and
they do. If you take someone's life and
you are not justified in doing so, you should be responsible to

(39:02):
pay for their children if they were the caregiver 100%.
But you can't just say impaired only.
It's got to be everything. You shoot someone you beat
someone you you robbed like you should be responsible because
that person did it. Sell them drugs.
You know, your old dad, the crack addict doesn't come home.
You have to pay for I don't know.

(39:22):
But how do you draw a line? Where do you say?
One life is is is worth this, but the other lives aren't.
Yeah. Michael Massa.
Wants to know if there's any wayyou can get a shoulder patch.
I don't have any shoulder patches anymore.
I'm now. First of all, shoulder patches
are property of the Toronto police and or whatever police
service you're looking for. And generally speaking, they

(39:42):
don't give them out anymore. They used to.
We used to hand them out all thetime.
They're very hard to come by nowbecause of security issues,
People who get them who could potentially pose as police
officers if they had them and use them for no goodness.
So yeah, they're, they're harderto get.
I, I certainly don't have one togive you.
And I had given a lot of them away at one point.

(40:05):
Honda Meg says spirited driving is just a fancy way of of saying
driving like an asshole. Interesting.
I've never heard that used that way, but I have been seeing an
abundance of people driving likeassholes, and that is both when
I drive as well as online peoplewho post videos of themselves
doing criminal things. And by the way, driving in many
of these videos is in fact criminal, dangerous driving and

(40:26):
not just stunt or fun or speeding.
It's actually wonderful evidenceof criminal behavior, and I hope
that people who do this stuff get arrested and charged, OK.
Adam, cool. Thank you for jumping in on.
That one, the lights and speeding on top of that.

(40:46):
Oh yes yes OK, just catching up on the TikTok comments.
I've been on multiple platforms because I'm on 9 platforms right
now broadcasting. Tracy says hi.
Hi Tracy. Tracy is one of our moderators.
She knows stuff and things too. Is there any?
OK, Michael. Asked many many times about a
shoulder patch. Oh, Tanya says.

(41:08):
Can you please? Reinforce how important it is to
pull over for emergency vehicles, emergency emergency
vehicles, or police, fire and ambulance if you see them.
If you hear them, not only is itlegally a requirement, but think
about it. They're on their way to save the
day in their own special way. I had to borrow the Paw Patrol
thing. And if you don't get the hell
out of their way, you're part ofthe problem.
Never mind the fact that it's against law.
You are stopping them from doingsomething that you aren't going

(41:31):
to do. So get the hell out of the way
so they can do it. Lives depend on it.
Seconds matter and it's not about high speed getting
somewhere. It's not, it's not about going
a, a, a Speedway above the limitfor them.
It's about just not getting heldup.
It's so important. Now, if you see green flashing
lights, you may not know what this is depending on where you
live, but it's Volunteer Fire and medic.

(41:52):
So if you see them, you're not legally obligated to get out of
the way, but they are going to go save somebody or do something
that you aren't going to do. You'll get the hell out of the
way. Please, just saying, OK, we got
Tracy Melody and I wonder if Emma's still here.
But either way, we got lots of fun folks in the chat.
Thanks for spending time here. I'm, I'm here till about 10:00.

(42:16):
It's 40, another 15 minutes answering your traffic and
police questions. My name is Sean Shapiro, former
police officer, and I answered those questions about traffic
law, safety, policing, you know,that kind of stuff.
Now very often I will get on here and I will speak for hours
because I have that ability to continue dabbing for hours, but
also because I don't have somewhere to be.
But tonight I do have somewhere to be.

(42:37):
So I've got to end in about 1520minutes, sad to say.
Jacob Elderfield says, hey, whatare the laws for riding dirt
bikes in farmers fields or on dirt roads?
Well, dirt roads. If they're assume dirt roads,
problem. OK.
If it's a legal Rd. you can't beon there.
If it's covered under the HCA. Dirt bikes aren't legal in
Ontario. Different jurisdictions may have
different rules. However, dirt bikes we're

(43:02):
talking about motorcycle kinds can be ridden on private
property with permission of the owner, but stunt driving laws
apply and people go, well, that's private property.
If you're driving a riding in this situation, but driving,
riding a motor vehicle and you're performing stunts
according to the Highway TrafficAct, which applies on private

(43:22):
property, including beaches, underground and above ground
parking lots. Like there's a whole list and
I've read it before and I can read it again, but the deal is
that you could be in a situationwhere you get charged and that
would include a suspension of your driver's license and
impoundment of the vehicle. A2 to $10,000 fine on
conviction, one to three-year driving prohibition after you're

(43:43):
convicted. Like it's just a bad, bad, bad
idea. So, and, and by the way,
wheelies, which dirt bikes like to do, that's stunt driving.
Now. No one's hiding out in the
bushes in your farm. Nobody cares.
But if a call came in and someone was to investigate,
they, I would assume that the average officer would say, cut
it out or, you know, we're getting complaints.

(44:03):
Don't do it. But just know that you're
eligible and you could find someone who would charge him.
Melody says slip and fall at work.
Oh my God, that's how far behindI am.
We talked about this like 15 minutes ago.
Melody slipped and fell at work.Brand new pavement temperature
dropped and started snowing. WSIB paperwork in tomorrow.
Yes, yes, this is where you, youhave to have to document

(44:25):
everything. I've had a gazillion WSIB
entries. Why?
Because I've been spat on, I've been punched, I've been in in
fights, I've been injured by other officers while we're all
trying to pile on. And so every one of those is
documented because you get hurt and you, you need to be covered.

(44:47):
Why am I? Seeing so many vehicles with.
Tinted drivers and passenger side windows.
Police don't stop them. The problem is.
That there's not enough police to.
Handle the lower priority stuff.Now.
Is it dangerous? Yes.
Is it illegal? Absolutely.
Is it a higher priority than people doing 150 on the highway?
You can't cover everything all the time now.

(45:10):
When we had automated speed enforcement, we could take the
officers who would be in school zones and redirect them to
handle higher priority stuff, the higher risk stuff and maybe.
They could spend more time on tinted.
Windows, if I pulled somewhere for speeding and I saw tinted
windows, I gave him a ticket forit.
You get, you get the I'm a full service kind of guy.
I show up. You got my attention.

(45:30):
I'm going to look through the vehicle.
I'm going to inspect. I'm going to look for
suspension. I'm going to look for exhaust.
I'm going to I'm going to look at from front to back.
We're going to look inside. Do I smell any drugs or alcohol,
any weapon like I'm looking for everything.
Once you've got my attention, you won the full prize.
If I can write 14 tickets to you, I'd write 14 tickets,
right? That's that's how I operate it.
Why stop at 1:00? You've wasted the police time

(45:51):
already. We're already invested.
I've already got read. I've scanned your card and then
we're here. We're going to check to make
sure you have insurance, that it's all documented properly.
We're here in for a what is it in for a penny, in for a pound.
But would any officer make that their priority?
I'm going to stop every tinted windows.
You'd never go anywhere because all you'd see is tinted windows.

(46:11):
So IA 100% by the way, I, I, I've written articles about it.
Tinted windows are dangerous. They reduce communication
visibility and I make communication like non verbal
between pedestrians, drivers, everyone on the road, everyone
wants to look inside the car andsee your face and know that you
see them. They say you, you know, you know
what I'm looking here, you know what I'm looking at you that,
that that's non verbal communication.
It's so important. So if you have tinted windows,

(46:34):
know that. If you have not, I mean the
question, but anyone watching ifyou have tinted windows, know
that there are is a maximum permitted on your vehicle before
your vehicle is deemed unsafe. At which point you lose your
license plates and you have to go get safety checked.
And you cannot get a safety if you have more than 30% light
blockage or less than 70% visible light transmission
through the windows. Know this, if you're going to

(46:55):
the tinted window shop and say, hey, I want to tint my windows,
give me 30% light blockage. Well, if you put that on top of
the already 5% that was there before you put your tint, you've
now applied it in addition to you've compounded the tint and
it's now over the legal limit. So it's a problem that if you
safety the vehicle and you get the tints afterwards, you have a

(47:15):
vehicle that's listed as safe, but it's not safe.
And if a police officer sees youand determines that it's not
safe, you lose your license plates.
Now, if you have less than the legal limit and at night time we
can't see you, can't identify you, you could still get a
charge for obscuring the interior of your motor vehicle
with a color or reflective coating.
Oh yeah, you cannot have any reflective tint because you
can't see in not loud. Now to specify, the windows,

(47:38):
left, directly left and right ofthe driver are the ones that are
actually enforceable. The back seat, we don't care.
It's not enforceable. But whether we care or not, it's
not enforceable. Oh, Melody says she has a
headache and she landed flat on her back.
I feel for you. I, I today I went for a walk and
my, my kids said, Dad, that's shiny.

(47:59):
That could be a slippery. Why are they telling me it's
shiny and it's slippery? Because last year I fell flat on
my back while walking them to school.
It was not fun. You got 300 lbs pounds, 6 foot 5
landing flat on the back. It was not fun.
Actually, I was not as injured as I thought I was going to be.
I was quite panicky. I was like, oh, crap.
Is this going to be a hospital visit?
No, I was fine. Fortunate.

(48:20):
Fortunate. I hope you recover quickly.
I I I feel for you. OK.
Tessa says can't. Be projecting white light
backward or red forward? Yes 100%.
The only white light you can have on the rear of your vehicle
is your license plate illumination, which is 3 candela
of power and is directed at the license plate, not backwards.

(48:43):
Spider man says, Sir, what shampoo do you use for forehead
growth? This is actually an angle.
It's, it's not just forehead. I guess it's all just head.
But you know what this is not? Well, anyway, I was going to go
into a big joke about that, but it's not for, for, you know,
you're, you're, I'm assuming you're 12 or 13.
I don't want to give you anything that would confuse you.
So we'll move on, Adam, who wanted.

(49:04):
To know if I heard of a tow truck.
Driver who died today when they were helping a stranded driver
you've just given me I heard about it earlier in the show.
I didn't, I didn't even know what they were doing, but I
assumed they were helping somebody because tow truck
drivers all, all some of them are bad because they, they
overcharge people, but the vast majority are just good people
helping other people and they don't get the credit they

(49:25):
deserve. They're, they're, they really,
I, I've had to use tow truck drivers before and I had to, to,
to call and say, help me. The cops can show up and, and,
and arrest somebody, but they can't get you out of a ditch.
So I, I really appreciate tow truck drivers and we really need
to slow down and move over. As the law states, you must,
whether it's a tow truck driver with their lights on or police

(49:48):
fire an ambulance, this guy out of the way, they're working,
they're helping people. OK, Allison, yes, 100% is
supposed to move over and give space.
If you're watching and you're new to the channel, my.
Name is Shawn Shapiro. I'm a former police officer who
talks about Traffic Safety, traffic law, and police stuff.
And I I appreciate your time. If you've got questions about
Traffic Safety, traffic law, andpolice stuff, feel free to ask.

(50:10):
That's what I do. I share my knowledge, at least I
try to. And the, the the way I work is
if you ask questions, I answer them.
If you don't, I find other things to talk about.
But I there's very rarely a shortage of things to discuss.
OK, Do you have a will? I talked about I finally

(50:34):
will.com. They're a company that sponsors
the show. They're a new company.
They just launched their website.
It's amazing. You can go in and create a will
and with code AATC, you get a discount, 50%.
You're very welcome. If you don't have a will, you
should have one. About 50% of Canadians have
wills. That's pretty scary.

(50:55):
That's a whole. Bunch of people who haven't.
Protected their families and if you want to protect yours yet it
will. They're not expensive and it's a
legal document that their website will walk you through
the creation of and make sure you're covered.
Then they do other sort of stuffto make sure that you you get it
all done right. But you should check them out.
You don't realize what you're not protected for and what you
leave your family and the situation your family's left in.

(51:18):
And you know, it's so important that the widows and orphans fund
for the police actually will pay$100 to a police officer, like
reimburse them towards getting awill.
That's how important a will is that they're willing to say,
we'll give you the money to please do it because they know
how how dangerous policing is and how many cops have died who
don't have a will that directs or even if they're forgetting

(51:40):
will, how about power of attorney?
What if they get hurt and they're they're not available?
If they're not there to they're unconscious, they're in a coma.
Who decides what happens to them?
They could put those directions in a will in a in APOA.
Anyway, I learned stuff when I read about it.
Yeah, I've had a will forever. As soon as I had kids, I got a
will. You don't have one.
You should really look at it again. 50% off AATC at I finally

(52:01):
will.com. And just because I'm reading
something else that I'm preparing for you, I want to
talk about some fun stats. I'll put that on the screen.
OK, Where is it? I talked about this briefly
yesterday, but I want to bring it up again today.
I put up a video that said or asked people what their number

(52:21):
one complaint was, what what upsets them when they're
driving, what ruins their commute and I got a bunch of
answers and I got a top ten list.
So going down the list or from 12:50 like those Late Show guys
used to do. I'm going to read them to you.
If you were here yesterday, I apologize for the repetition,
but you're new. I think this is interesting.

(52:43):
The number 10, the cyclists not sharing the road or having a
conflicts. I'm like really?
How about just not stopping for stop signs and red lights?
I that that was my cyclist thing.
But Rd. sharing conflicts? Interesting.
Of course these are summarized into groups and I imagine that
three out of the four were for stop sign runners that were on

(53:03):
bicycle. But whatever #9 distracted
driving, I'm shocked that it wasonly #9 because that is every
other vehicle now. Maybe it's because so many
people are doing it that they'renot upset by it.
It's just like, you know, they're just like me.
No, not cool. Speed issues was #8 I'm shocked

(53:24):
at how many people who are like,rocketing past me on the 400.
When I go up to Berry. It's like a racetrack.
I mean, I'm doing 100 and they're doing 140 based on my
estimation, 150. They're passing us like we're
not even moving. And it's not one occasional it's
like packs four or five. Very scary #7 is tailgating.

(53:48):
I, I concur. People who who like your butt so
much they want to ride up it notOK, not OK give space.
They're they're, they're a collision waiting to happen.
Number six is lighting issues. I guess that's people who are
riding ghost karts driving at night with no tail lights
because they've turned their, they haven't turned their
headlighting system on. They're just operating on their
daytime runners. I think that is what that

(54:12):
absolutely pisses me off. So I, I I I can understand that
merging. And lane changes.
Is #5 like people were cutting in and zip zipping between
traffic and just being a holes. Yeah, I can, I can, I can
understand how that became #5 stop sign and red light
violations. I guess that could be bicycle or

(54:32):
car. That's number four.
It's kind of shocking. I, I didn't think that would be
more than the others because stops, I mean, yeah, I guess if
you're well, yeah. I, I've, I used to do a lot of
speed or stop sign enforcement and I've, I've actually stopped
someone who passed a car into oncoming traffic who was
stopping for a stop sign. They blew the stop sign it.

(54:54):
Was I couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe it.
But there's, there's all sorts of drivers out there.
If you can call those drivers, I'd call them tools.
Then you've got left lane misuseis #3 Now this one's interesting
because it's probably someone who wants to go real, real fast
and they're upset that the person who wants to go the speed
limit is in the left lane. Shocker, I know, but the speed

(55:14):
limit is the same in all lanes. There's no speeding lane.
There's no fast lane, there's nopassing lane.
If that requires you to go abovethe posted speed limit.
I know I, I don't always give good news.
I just share the realities of things.
Max Truth or we'll talk to you in about a SEC.
Your, your question in a second.So #2 in the top 10 signals not

(55:40):
being used, not signaling lane changes or turns.
I would not have expected that to be so high in the list.
It's an annoyance, but I think most people say most people
signal well, don't they? Is it just me?
But I think it's most people whosignal the number one in this
top ten. And it was only bite.

(56:00):
It only went out from signals not being used with only two
votes. More aggressive and reckless
driving I guess. If you're the victim of it, that
that. That would be something that
puts you into a bit of a panic, into a bit of a tizzy.
Yeah, I can understand that. A lot of aggressive driving
though, and, and I imagine that a number of these things kind of
blend together because if you're, you know, merging and

(56:23):
lane changing could be aggressive driving too, like
those might compile into a single one.
Just saying. OK.
That's my top 10 if you go if you want to vote on this.
I'll redo this next week. I will.
If you go find the video that asks.
It's 3 or 4 videos ago. What your most annoying thing is

(56:44):
that you see on the road that ruins your commute.
Go throw your comments, tell me what it is, and we'll we'll run
this again and see what we find.Munchie Mix says no insurance.
No registration, no license, 3:00 AM in the morning.
Cop let me go. Why I I feel like you've asked
me this question before. The cop didn't want to do the
paperwork. You should not have left.
He was being too nice or he was too lazy, or he was nice and

(57:07):
lazy, but you should have been jammed up.
You should have been charged fordrive no insurance, 5 to $25,000
fine. First offense.
You should not have driven. It should have been towed.
Your no license was a $300 fine.But there's no freaking excuse.
Are you 12? Like I, I mean that sincerely.
Like was he saving you from like?

(57:28):
Ruining your life and giving you.
This. But he shouldn't have left you.
There's no way a good cop lets you leave because your
interaction and he pulls you away there.
You pull away from him after youyou.
He's seen you and documentedly stopped you and you crash.
You're not insured, you're not licensed.
He's responsible. It's a bonehead move.
He may have been trying to be a nice guy or getting lazy.

(57:48):
Not OK bad bad cop, not bad cop like dirty cops.
Just just bad. Poor decision.
Not OK. OK.
Lily says as someone who got in a car.
Accident. We don't have accidents.
We have collisions. Speeding is scary.
I got T boned on the highway last weekend.
Aw, Lily, I'm sorry to hear that.
I, I hope you're OK. Collisions tend to change lives

(58:09):
and whether you're hurt or not, it can really change and create
stress. I hope you don't give up on
driving. I hope you get back in the
driver's seat, but I hope you'reOK and know that there are there
are you may not realize that you've had trauma mentally from
that collision. They want to talk to somebody.
If if you've got stressed or if you're getting stressed out
driving going forward, get talk to somebody.
It's it's worth it. You don't want to get to the

(58:30):
point where you don't want to get in the car again.
And, and I hope I'm not putting,you know, seeds in in in where
there are none. If you have no issues with the
power to you, that's great. I remember after my, my
collision, I was in a major collision where I was hit by a,
a car when I was in a police motorcycle.
Every time I heard screech, actually it was that.
And then six months later I got into another collision.
Every time I heard screeching tires, I, I, I got really tense

(58:52):
because I was waiting for the impact.
Ross Mitt Gang says when a crossing guard has their stop
sign up, is that a four way stopor a two way stop?
You can't pass them stop. No one can cross the path, the
crosswalk whilst a pedestrian ora crossing guard is in there.

(59:14):
So it's just a stop, stop. I mean, could could someone make
a left turn? Is that what you're asking?
I need more information. What do you want?
What do you want to? Know Oh I just had an update of
stuff. Scrolling back, I don't want to
leave anybody behind, but there's way too many questions
here. There's way too many questions
here, so I have not there's. No, I'll go.

(59:37):
OK, we're going to. Try and do 2 minutes after the
one hour mark. So it's one hour and 2 minutes
into the show and I need to end the show soon so I'm going to
keep going and then try and speed through some of these.
OK, picking all my. Favorites, and I apologize if I
don't get to you. If you want to throw questions
in in advance of the show, you can always send your questions
to ask a traffic cop@gmail.com. You can also visit

(59:59):
askatrafficcop.ca. You can leave me voicemail
messages. I've been getting a bunch of
those where I respond with my voice back to you through
e-mail. But then we can also put that on
the show if I get organized enough to do that, because
that's the intention behind it. Why?
Why? Is it?
They don't. Teach people how to drive
through a traffic circle. They're just not as popular
here. And they should then they should
be part of the licensing programsince they've been doing it.

(01:00:22):
Ed Fleming, what's going on, brother?
He says, hey, Sean, been listening to you on Jerry Agar
in the mornings. Also TikTok.
Great job. Thanks so much, brother.
Ed's a former member of the service, now retired.
And it's it's good to see you then.
OK, we got scrolling, scrolling.Know that I'll be back here next

(01:00:43):
Tuesday, 10:00 AM if you want tojump on the AM.
If you like the PM, then we willbe here Wednesday night as well.
So Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10 AM or 9:00 PM depending.
There you go. Johnny Boyce says what's the
charge for driving through rush hour traffic on the highway on a
motorcycle? You mean lane splitting,
careless driving at the low end,stunt driving in the middle,

(01:01:06):
criminal dangerous on the high end?
Depending on what you're being seen as doing, Andre.
And Chase says if I get a speeding.
Ticket in Quebec and fought it down to one point.
Will I show up in Ontario? Yes, it would, Zach.
Has a question. What's the penalty for running a
stop sign on the school bus? I think it's $490.00 Max,
Truther says. I got a stunt ticket about 19

(01:01:28):
years ago. Can police still see that on my
driving record? Yes, so your insurance company
can only see three years, but your convictions since the day
or even before you were licensed, if you were stopped as
an 11 year old who joy rode on in your mom's car and you got
charged and convicted, that would still show up.
It would all be there. Can I put license Christmas

(01:01:48):
lights on my truck legally now? Would you get in trouble for it?
Depends on the officer. Is it legal to cause someone to?
Drive off the road by snow plowing from my tire.
Oh, snow blowing from my tires. Is it legal to?
So if you're asking the way you've asked it is like, can I
cause someone intentionally to do that?
No, if if you don't if if you're'cause why is snow blowing from

(01:02:14):
your tires? Snow could be blowing from on
top of your vehicle if you didn't clear it, and that could
be causing things that ultimately contribute to someone
and then you'd be indirectly involved in that collision.
So no, you can't cause anyone like legally to get into a
collision. You're kind of responsible for
your part to play in it so. Let's see here.

(01:02:37):
Is it illegal to operate a pedalbicycle under the influence of
drugs or alcohol? It's not impaired operation
under the Highway Traffic Act oror I should say Criminal Code,
but it could be public, in talksand would be most likely.
What do we got here? Someone who's spamming don't
spam. Is plastic plate covers legal?

(01:02:58):
No, you can't plate. You can't cover your plate.
So actually, yeah, I see. I'd ask the same question.
No I saw you it's just I was waybehind.
What is this? I got a ticket for my black
aftermarket dot tail lights allowed.
Should I bring it up in courthouse?
When you say black aftermarket dot tail lights, you can't tint

(01:03:20):
your. Tail lights, they have to be.
Discernible at 150 meters, regardless of how they look.
So when they're not illuminated,if they're tinted, they still
have to be discernible. So you have to see them, you
have to be able to recognize them as on and functioning at
150 meters and you must be able to determine whether they are in
the active or passive mode. So in other words, when they're
just on and when you're actuallyapplying brakes, you must be

(01:03:41):
able to see that at 150 meters based on the officer's
interpretation of discernible. So if they're there, then I
can't tell you. Charge is appropriate.
So, yeah, aftermarket, no one should customize their stuff.
I mean, I know that people like to customize their stuff, but
it's not worth it. OK, here we go.

(01:04:05):
Liz. Nice likes the intro.
Cool. Thank you.
Appreciate it. This is YouTube by the way.
We have the kid. Seven O 1 says I got my.
G1 September 2020, got my G October 10th.
How's that possible that I got 4dots on my license?
Because your time as AG2 appliestowards your four years.

(01:04:27):
So if you had four years of G2 then you would you would have
the appropriate amount. OK.
Is it distracted driving if you're using?
The car's infotainment system, selecting a map destination or
changing a song. If you're using the infotainment

(01:04:47):
system, no, it could be carelessdriving.
If you were all over the road weaving on the road because you
were messing around with the infotainment system, that could
be careless. But it isn't distracted, which
requires you to be utilizing your phone directly, your
entertainment device directly, or watching something on the
screen. Oh.

(01:05:12):
So sorry you. Might have already mentioned
this. But I just tuned in.
This happened this morning. A home owner shoveled snow into
the clean Rd. in front of my car.
What are the possible charges? There is a charge for plowing if
it was a snow plow plowing it onto the road.
I don't believe if they shoveledby hand they'd be eligible for
any charges. But it's not something I could
speak to with any authority. I I, I don't know.

(01:05:34):
I've never enforced that. I think it's just going to be a
bylaw that would be doing that. But it would be most in most
applicable for folks who are working for like, like snow plow
companies if they were, if they were, if a snow plow company was
just plowing everything onto theroad, they're causing an issue.
And that that's what I think thelaw is there for.
But it's a by law and I have to,I don't even I know I've read

(01:05:57):
it. I just don't remember if it's
City of Toronto by law or if it is a by law that expands to the
province. I don't remember.
It could be a, it could be provincial, it could be HDA.
Stephen Bell says his cousin is a tow truck operator.
Awesome. Thank him for what he does.
They, they don't get the things they deserve.
They really do some great work and work crappy hours and crappy

(01:06:18):
weather doing stuff to, to help other people.
Yeah, they get paid for it and they, they get paid pretty well.
But it is what it is. They they, they get a bad rap
because some people are bad actors.
What is this my dad used to giveout?
Shoulder. Oh yeah, yes, yes.
Trading between, so we were talking about shoulder patches

(01:06:38):
being controlled. So between police officers is
different than giving it to the public.
A police officer is not going topose as a police officer.
They're already a police officer.
So I totally get that. Yeah, it used to be a big thing.
Now it's challenge coins. I think if you plead down from
stunt to 30 over, will it affectyour ability to get a driving
job? Depends on the the employer like

(01:07:02):
they could say we want someone with no more like even the
police. You cannot apply or you cannot
you're not supposed to be hired as a police officer.
You shouldn't be eligible to be a police officer if you if you
have more than six demerit points on your on your license.
So stunt driving that's that's already more than 6, isn't it?
So it could it. It could definitely depends on

(01:07:23):
the the the how much they want to let you touch their toys like
their their vehicles and represent their company.
If you have a terrible driving record, it really says a lot
about you. OK.
Jim Watson said something about sitting in court, but I don't
see your original question. Sit in court as well as

(01:07:44):
government pays us to. Be there.
I, I don't know what you're, I mean as a witness or as someone
who's being charged. This is a, this is one of those
popular questions. I always get this.
What happens if you're stuck in a red light and an emergency
vehicle comes up behind you? What do you do?
You can't get, they can't get around you.
Well, first of all, if they're planning ahead, they go into
oncoming traffic. They should never be in an
emergency situation approaching a lineup of cars going, can

(01:08:06):
everybody 6 lanes wide get out of my way?
No, they should be going into oncoming traffic and avoiding
it. That's what lights and sirens
are for. But if they're right behind you
and they get a call for a priority, they may want to go,
but they should be waiting untillight changes.
That 30 seconds is much better spent waiting than to try and
make everybody nervous and do stupid stuff and get into
trouble with moving cars around.You have no authority to go

(01:08:29):
through that light, even with the person behind them with
their lights and sirens on. The only thing you can do is to
make a right turn on red as legally permitted in safely.
It's the only thing. Everything else you do is going
to put you into a position of liability.
Is this high on a red light? It says.
Stop. Should I take a right turn if

(01:08:50):
it's safe? If you're are you talking about
getting around the emergency vehicles?
OK. Oh and Anthony is talking about
well at this point I'm not sure where the conversation is, but
if you are in Ontario and every province will have different
rules. If you're in Ontario and you are
going to make a right turn on red, you're legally permitted to
in Ontario. However, you must come to a

(01:09:10):
complete stop, and you must ensure that it's safe to do so
before you get on. Again so.
Many people are just not stopping for red lights and
sailing through them. I've seen it with all size of
vehicles. It is scary.
And Tessa supports. Anthony's statement about making
the right turn make sure there'sno sign prohibiting it as well.

(01:09:32):
Has has anyone ever humored you enough to get them off with a
warning? I've given a lots of warnings.
In fact, I used to give too manywarnings and I, I scaled back
the warnings because I would find the same people getting
multiple warnings. I, I would look at we, we record
the warnings. You don't get 2 warnings like I,
I, I, I stopped. There's statistics that suggest

(01:09:55):
that warnings are as effective as enforcement.
I don't believe that at all. I think you can skew any report.
And I think the study that said that was someone who didn't want
to get tickets. So I think the real consequences
are the ones that are most important.
I gave someone a warning and I talked about this before on the
show. I pulled someone over.
They said it was I'm driving my mom to work.
I really sore out on my license with me or whatever the charge
was. And I said, you know, here's a

(01:10:17):
warning. I I, I pulled the same dude,
same dude a year later, same offense.
And I don't believe people. I don't believe.
I mean, he's he, he ruined it for so many people, so many
tickets. I gave up because that guy, he
did get the ticket the second time.
Can you pass it right? No, we talked about that already
and Alberta adjudicators typically dismiss cases with non

(01:10:38):
alcoholic drinks. What are we talking about?
Oh you're talking about for distracted?
What are we talking about? Despite restrictions on phone
and driving time, do drivers still do texts?
Not legally voice every smartphone in the world.
You just talk to it and it does everything.

(01:10:58):
I'm I'm, I'm a texting theme, but my fingers never touch the
screen. I am dictating to Siri, who does
everything for me, my personal assistant when I drive.
I love it. I love it.
I don't love her. It's weird.
I love, I love the fact that shedoes that work for me.
Cajun wants to. Know if an emergency vehicle is
in the oncoming lane is there inand there's a median do I have

(01:11:21):
to pull over No if there's a median if it's if it's a divided
highway you don't pull over for oncoming emergency vehicles OK
we're almost aware there's so many more but I'm not going to
be able to go through all of them let's see here do.

(01:11:41):
Snow covered accessible permit. In windshield will officer
check? No, if you can't see it, you got
to clear the snow. I mean, they they will likely
and this is parking and I was not parking, so I don't know for
sure, but if if they were in a wheelchair spot, you got to
generally look for the VIN. So yeah, they probably will.
If it's if they if they've got ahunt for Red October to try and
find this thing, it's not they're you're going to have to

(01:12:04):
take it. You'll have to defend yourself
in court afterwards. But very often they're not
chasing parking offenses during heavy snow.
I would think, I would hope, butjust put it where it's supposed
to be so they can find it. At least then you can.
Say because they're. Going to look at the in the in
the average or the most common place and I think there's a
charge for not putting it in theappropriate place, whatever that
is. So he wants to know if it's

(01:12:27):
smart to hire a. Lawyer or paralegal to fight my
careless driving ticket I slid into someone.
Careless driving is a serious charge.
You can certainly go to court. You can ask for disclosure on
your own. You should download the guide to
provincial offenses defendants. You can get that online.
You can go to traffic cop dot CAI got links to it there.
If you do that, you can get an idea of what to do.
Now when you go to court, you can get that disclosure.

(01:12:49):
And based on the disclosure, youcan say, I'm not prepared to do
this. I need help.
Or you can you, you, you so you can say I'm not prepared to do
this. I need help and say I need to go
seek legal counsel, legal advice.
They'll put over your, your, your case to another day.
So you can hire somebody. You don't have to start with
that. You can go do the initial part
yourself and it'll be a lot cheaper for you if you do that.

(01:13:09):
You're paying for all the time at 300 bucks or 400 bucks an
hour. What do?
You mean you can't? Oh, OK, I I see.
We'll call them WB, they said. I'm so sorry for my name.
I can't change it for seven days.
OK. Each guy has a question and I

(01:13:32):
didn't. Yeah, we talked about it.
OK, cool. Do do do.
Do cops chase you if you're already going over?
200 kilometers an hour, At that point you're a blur.
Generally speaking, it's you. You can't outrun a radio.
They'll just put it over the airand if there's a helicopter
available, they will follow you from the air.

(01:13:54):
OK, could G2. Driver on the can G Can AG2
driver drive on the highways andcross the border driving?
Yes. Is it to follow all the
conditions of their license? It flooding says yeah, it's.
It's spinning because it's like I'm 1/2 an hour behind.
OK, how are we doing? I'm so late.
I got to get out of here. Charged and arrested for

(01:14:20):
speeding a little too. Much, don't you think?
No. OK.
All right, I hate to do. This to y'all, I'm going to save
these questions and I'll we'll make some videos from them, but
I got to get out of here. I just got a text message saying
where are you? I'm late for a meeting.
I will be back on Tuesday. In the meantime, I will try and

(01:14:42):
make videos to respond to a whole bunch of these questions
because I don't want to leave y'all hanging.
So I'm making a video or a file of your questions and we'll try
and respond to a whole bunch of them.
Have a wonderful night, drive safe, drive sober and we will
see you on Tuesday. Till then, smile, enjoy the
season. Put snow tires on.

(01:15:02):
I said snow tires. Winter tires on, not snow tires.
And that's it. That's my story.
My name is Shawn Shapiro. Go follow me on YouTube.
Voice over. Why?
Because I'm trying to hit 1000 followers, and I appreciate your
help. That's it.
That's my message. All right, Have a great night.
Take care. Yeah, I'm on my way.

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