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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMIKE SUDOMA \/ FREE PRESS <\/p>\n
Robert Sudoma and his 1969 Dodge Super Bee<\/p>\n
Less-fortunate appreciators, or just curious folks, also gather along the route to watch the highly-polished parade. Portage Avenue is one of cruise night\u2019s best-known stretches.<\/p>\n
From inside the car, the appeal of Winnipeg\u2019s cruising culture is easy to understand. Tooling around, surrounded by beautiful, well looked-after automobiles, has a distinctly nostalgic feeling, like travelling back into a different era.<\/p>\n
The avenue becomes a moving showcase of restored classics, vintage trucks, hot rods, modern sports cars, sleek motorcycles and even, an occasion, a rare supercar.<\/p>\n
Police are part of the scene, too, keeping an eye on the traffic and the less-than-elegant behaviour that sometimes accompanies it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe car culture in Winnipeg and this area has always been very huge, so it\u2019s neat to come out and sport your car a little bit,\u201d said Sudoma, who has been part of Winnipeg\u2019s car scene since the late 1970s.<\/p>\n
There is also the generally unpleasant side of the cruise, and it\u2019s hard to ignore.<\/p>\n
As the Free Press interviewed people along Portage, conversations were periodically drowned out by vehicles revving their engines as they passed.<\/p>\n
They are momentary interruptions, but there are many, and for people who live along the route, the noise is a regular and annoying element of a summer Sunday night.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Spectators take in cruise night on Portage Avenue near Valour Road.<\/p>\n And that tension between a passionate car community and the small group of drivers whose need to crank up the cacophony has long been a part of the Sunday-night tradition.<\/p>\n \u201cA few bad apples\u201d was a phrase that came up repeatedly in conversations with people in the car-appreciation community.<\/p>\n They acknowledged the problems \u2014 noise, speeding, racing and other anti-social vehicular behaviours \u2014 but wanted to make clear that those drivers represent only a fraction of a community built around restoring, driving and showing off its adored autos.<\/p>\n The Sunday night cruise has undergone changes over the years, but the reason people are attracted to it has not.<\/p>\n Ren Cherlet, founder and events co-ordinator of Winnipeg Cruising Culture, said the ritual has a long history in and around the city. Once upon a time, it could mean root beers and burgers at A&W, or ice cream at the BDI or Skinner\u2019s before heading back to Portage Avenue, by then lined with people ending the weekend by watching the cars go by.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat it used to be, say, in the early \u201950s, was that cars would cruise around, and that was kind of a way for (owners) to show their car, because back then there weren\u2019t a lot of places to go,\u201d Cherlet said.<\/p>\n Sudoma recalled a time when the Sunday gatherings were far less organized.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Cruising Culture founder Ren Cherlet<\/p>\n \u201cWe used to meet up, and it wasn\u2019t quite as structured as what they have now. You\u2019d meet there Fridays or Saturdays or whatever, and throw a Frisbee around and watch the other cars go by and stuff like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n As the scene has grown, opportunities to gather have changed in nature and multiplied, and the social part of the culture has moved into organized shows and meets.<\/p>\n On a recent Sunday afternoon at the Winnipeg Cruising Culture car show at Grant Park Shopping Centre, the community was on full display.<\/p>\n Hundreds of cars \u2014 from vintage vehicles to newer sports cars \u2014 were on show in the parking lot. Lots of aficionados and a few curious first-timers wandered among them, stopping to talk with owners and admire their work. The weekly event begins at 3:30 p.m. and shuts down at 9:30, continuing through late September.<\/p>\n For the overwhelming majority of the people there, the appeal has nothing at all to do with racing or otherwise drawing negative attention.<\/p>\n \u201cCruising is more than just driving. It\u2019s camaraderie. It\u2019s hanging out. It\u2019s car shows. It\u2019s gathering. It\u2019s also meeting people, too,\u201d said participant David Meier, who has been part of the community since 1995.<\/p>\n Meier was gifted a Chevrolet Nova by his grandfather that year and began taking it out on weekends. He\u2019s still at it three decades later.<\/p>\n He said the soon-to-be 11-film Fast and Furious movie franchise that began in 2001 attracted more people into cruising and street-racing culture, but also contributed to a perception that the two are synonymous.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Cruise Culture attracts hundreds of vehicles, from vintage to modern, to Grant Park Shopping Centre on Sunday afternoons. <\/p>\n \u201cEverybody thinks cruising is racing,\u201d Meier said. \u201cYeah, no. Absolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the distinction has become harder to maintain as a small but disruptive group has intruded into cruise night with racing and burnouts.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like bad apples,\u201d he said. \u201cA few bad apples have tainted it.\u201d<\/p>\n In an email to the Free Press, the Winnipeg Police Service said many of the vehicle enthusiasts officers encounter respect road-safety laws and the residents of neighbourhoods where they gather.<\/p>\n They pointed to the Pony Corral Cruise Night as an example of an organized event where organizers work with WPS to promote safety and encourage compliance with Manitoba\u2019s road laws.<\/p>\n As a result of that collaboration, police said the number of tickets issued for offences at organized events is minimal, and the focus instead is on \u201cprevention, education and promoting voluntary compliance with road-safety laws.\u201d<\/p>\n Kendall Bingeman, displaying his Ford Model A Business Coupe (manufactured from 1927-32) at the Grant Park car show, said the community is, by and large, a warm, respectful and welcoming one that wants to grow.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t This Chevrolet Bel-Air is hard to miss among the hundreds of cars at Cruising Culture.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re kind of custodians of these cars. We don\u2019t see ourselves as owners so much,\u201d Bingeman said. \u201cAnd if we don\u2019t get the next generation passionate about it, it\u2019ll die with us.\u201d<\/p>\n The cars themselves reflect the range of people drawn to the hobby, from vehicles that have barely been restored to those that have had large stacks of cash poured into them. Motorcycles have a place, too.<\/p>\n Jocelyn Diamond brought her motorcycle to the show, with her French bulldog, Zora, riding along in a pet carrier.<\/p>\n Diamond has been watching cruise nights since she was a child, when her father would take her along on his motorcycle.<\/p>\n As a teenager, she remembers Sunday nights on Portage as \u201cthe cool thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n These days, she prefers to watch from the sidelines.<\/p>\n \u201cPortage, it can be a little hectic and crazy,\u201d she said, adding the noise can take away from what she likes about the tradition.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t like the constant revving of the engine. I\u2019d rather appreciate a classic car driving by.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t A wide variety of motorcycles were on display at a Winnipeg Cruise Culture car show in August.<\/p>\n She said the community is a supportive one.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re kind of like a family. You\u2019ll do anything. You always help your fellow if they need some help or something.\u201d<\/p>\n The cruise has a distinctly different flavour for people who live near Portage Avenue and are subjected to the frequently raucous soundtrack every Sunday from their backyards and balconies.<\/p>\n A Crestview resident, who lives several houses off Portage, said the gatherings themselves aren\u2019t the problem; the noise, however, is disruptive.<\/p>\n \u201cThe noise is every Sunday night from spring to fall,\u201d said the resident, who asked not to be identified, adding that it can be difficult to enjoy nice weather in the yard and, past 10 p.m., it can be tough to sleep.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be great if noise ordinances were enforced by police or, better, self-enforced by the community so those who are just out to enjoy an evening in their backyards can, without being constantly disrupted.\u201d<\/p>\n Police say complaints are numerous from residents and business owners about increasingly large groups of vehicles gathering in parking lots and other areas around the city.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t A BMW and two Chevrolet Corvettes cruise down Portage Avenue as the sun goes down during a Sunday night cruise.<\/p>\n Meier explained that rising gas prices and shifting habits have meant people tend to spend more time parked together in lots rather than driving around all night burning fuel.<\/p>\n The complaints the WPS received last summer and to date this year include excessive noise, disturbances, dangerous driving, trespassing, mischief and property damage exceeding $5,000.<\/p>\n In response, police said they\u2019ve adopted a different approach through enhanced enforcement efforts under MPI\u2019s Cruise Night Campaigns.<\/p>\n That has included signage, a visible police presence and closed-circuit video to help identify people involved in infringements. Where appropriate, police said drivers or registered vehicle owners can later receive notices for offences including petty trespassing, operating an unregistered vehicle, obscured licence plates, driving with an invalid licence or while disqualified, producing unnecessary smoke and improper equipment use.<\/p>\n Police said the approach has been \u201clargely effective\u201d in reducing the negative impacts on businesses and residential communities, and that they have received positive feedback from those most affected.<\/p>\n At the same time, the WPS said it will continue to work with motor-vehicle enthusiasts and organizers who \u201cdemonstrate respect for the community and comply with Manitoba\u2019s laws.\u201d<\/p>\n Coun. Evan Duncan, whose ward includes part of the Portage Avenue cruise area, said he has noticed a similar shift among residents this summer.<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s police enforcement sent \u201ca clear message\u201d to people who were being disruptive, Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood) said, and his office has since received far fewer calls and complaints related to cruise nights.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Winnipeg police often have a presence on cruise night.<\/p>\n Residents\u2019 concerns have centred on noise, dangerous driving and other suspected illegal activities in some parking lots, he said. Some businesses along Portage have hired private security to prevent large gatherings from taking over their properties.<\/p>\n But Duncan said he does not think cruise night, itself, is the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cCruise night, when it\u2019s being respectful and when people are out there to show off their cars\u2026 that\u2019s not a problem,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the troublemakers that make it a problem for everyone. I don\u2019t ever want to see something where we eliminate cruise night altogether because of the few that make it a problem. I\u2019d rather have us crack down on those few.\u201d<\/p>\n As happens in almost any large group, some people just don\u2019t know when to quit, Sudoma said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is always somebody that has something to prove, and you know they get into accidents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The question, then, is how to keep that small group from overshadowing the better-behaved community of enthusiasts.<\/p>\n Duncan said better speed-enforcement technology could help, but Manitoba legislation currently limits how it can be employed. For noise complaints, he said police need to be on the scene, while bylaw officers can enforce noise complaints after 9 p.m. under the city\u2019s neighbourhood livability bylaw.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Cruising
Dr. Evelyn Vingilis, a retired psychologist, professor emerita and adjunct research professor in Western University\u2019s department of family medicine in London, Ont., said the tension between celebrating car culture and dangerous driving is not unique to Winnipeg.<\/p>\n Vingilis has studied street racing and risky driving behaviour for close to 20 years. Her first paper on street racing, published in 2009, described it as a neglected area of research.<\/p>\n She said street racers and stunt drivers make up a small subgroup within the broader car culture, and research from Ontario has found that tough penalties, when enforced, can deter street racing and stunt driving.<\/p>\n \u201cThe majority of individuals, you know, go to these meets, and we park our cars and walk around admiring other people\u2019s cars. But yes, there is a small group of the car meets; they\u2019re the ones that\u2019ll be burning rubber,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Her research has found that people who engage in racing and stunt driving tend to have higher levels of risk-taking and sensation-seeking behaviour.<\/p>\n Vingilis said younger men, particularly those between the ages of 16 and 25, make up the largest group of street racers, although she stressed that risky driving isn\u2019t limited solely to youthful males.<\/p>\n \u201cFor them, street racing on a track isn\u2019t necessarily exciting. It\u2019s more exciting to weave in and out of traffic,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s fascinating. That\u2019s their identity.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\ndown Portage remains a
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