PA Legislators try to Ban The Bottle

[AoD]

Legislator wants to keep cars off the nitro bottle
By JOHN ANASTASI
The Intelligencer

State Rep. Josh Shapiro wants to keep drivers from "going on the bottle" while tooling around local streets, but his new bill has nothing to do with drinking and driving.

"Going on the bottle" is the phrase muscle car and racing enthusiasts use to describe the employment of nitrous oxide tanks to add horsepower and boost speed at the touch of a button. Shapiro has sponsored a bill that would ban the use of nitrous oxide in cars traveling on public streets. The bill, which recently passed the House, would not apply to legitimate racers.

Some industry people think Shapiro is posturing on a non-issue, but the first-term legislator argues the law would make public roads safer.

"The Pennsylvania State Police has been very much in support of this and has endorsed my bill," Shapiro said Wednesday. "They view it as a problem, and they are the experts when it comes to public safety."

Drag racers often have 10-pound nitrous oxide tanks installed in their trunks and connected by feeder lines to the cars' engines. When the driver engages the system, it injects the liquid compound into the engine where it is heated to a gas. It makes more oxygen available for combustion and fuel injection, allowing the engine to produce more horsepower. When it vaporizes, it also cools the intake air.

A 10-pound tank of nitrous oxide can vaporize in minutes, so it is only good for short bursts of power.

Shapiro said his law was motivated by a local tragedy.

On Dec. 4, 16-year-old Greg Salmon of Lower Moreland died in an accident on Meetinghouse Road in Abington. Driver Tyler Ramirez, 17, of Yardley, had lost control of the speeding car, which flipped on its side and hit two trees, police said.

Police found a nitrous oxide booster in the trunk. Ramirez did not face any criminal charges in the accident, police said.

"Greg's death brought this to my attention," said Shapiro. "Right after the accident, Abington police told me about it and told me that the nitrous oxide was legal. I was astounded."

Police tried to determine whether Ramirez was using the booster before the accident but could not tell. They called Dale Cherry, who owns Berrel Auto on York Road in Abington.

Cherry said he checked the vehicle but called his inspection "inconclusive."

Shapiro's legislation, which the Senate will discuss in the fall, will not restrict the installation of nitrous oxide tanks or outlaw their use during sanctioned races, but it would require them to be unplugged at all other times.


John Bodri owns Horsham's BP Speed Center and sells nitrous oxide kits. He said he believes those who buy his kits and come to him to refill the tanks are using them for sanctioned racing events.

"They aren't using it on the streets," said Bodri, citing the high cost. "At $5.50 per pound and a 10-pound bottle, it's not cheap."

Bodri believes the use of cell phones while driving is a more significant danger on the road.

"This is a politician's knee-jerk reaction to something that was unfounded," he said, referring to the uncertainty over whether Ramirez's tank was an issue in the crash that killed Salmon.

Cherry agreed.

"(The system) is not needed to get to a dangerous speed," he said. "It just enables you to use it to get to that speed faster. ... Regardless of what you decide to do, you have to make a conscious decision to use it."

He also believes most accidents that happen as a result of drag racing on local streets involve cars that do not even have the boosters.

"Will (the law) impact fatalities?" Cherry asked, rhetorically. "I don't think so."

Police in Horsham, Hilltown and the state police in Dublin said they were not aware of any booster-related accidents in their jurisdictions in recent years.

Rich Carey, a Horsham police sergeant, doubted a law restricting the use of nitrous oxide on local roads would make much difference.

"In the last 10 years, we have had two" high-speed accidents, Carey said. "Neither involved a car that was souped-up at all."

Still, Abington police deputy chief John Livingood supports Shapiro's bill.

"It really tremendously increases the horsepower to the cars," he said of the nitro booster.

Livingood said he understands there are legitimate reasons to have a tank in a racing car, but he could think of no reason why one would be needed on a local street.

Shapiro, whose district covers much of Abington and Upper Dublin, stressed that his bill includes safeguards to protect the use of the boosters by legitimate racers.

"If they have them and are stopped for speeding, but the unit is disengaged, they'd be subject to the typical speeding fines but not the additional sanction," he said. "We're not stopping people from getting them, but we have a responsibility to protect motorists and keep our roadways safe."

John Anastasi can be reached at (215) 957-8166 or janastasi@phillyBurbs.com.

Keep an eye on this story guys and gals. This could be a major event in the tuner world.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/ne...05-511556.html

[SilverTurboRidin]

How do you figure? They will allow it track wise, but i only skimmed the article maybe they are banning that too.

But why do you need nitrous to drive the streets?

[LSHatch]

Ok, so turbos and superchargers should be illegal too.

Hell, let's ban Sunocos from selling race fuel at the pump.

What an idot.

[igo4bmx]

Originally Posted by LSHatch

Ok, so turbos and superchargers should be illegal too.

Hell, let's ban Sunocos from selling race fuel at the pump.

What an idot.

sunoco sells race fuel?

[OutOfStock]

LOL so what everytime you get pulled over you have to pop the hood? Or do the just check the car for N2O? lol U just hide the tank like they said in Super Street awhile go in the "how to make a sleeper" thing. People were getting small tanks and hiding them in panels and ****. I dont understand how they will find you using them...."uhhh can we check your car"..."No I think you need a warrant for that" they get dog find no drugs and your off....

[AoD]

Originally Posted by SilverTurboRidin

How do you figure? They will allow it track wise, but i only skimmed the article maybe they are banning that too.

But why do you need nitrous to drive the streets?

In virginia it's illegal to transport the bottles without a hazmat liscense, hence, regardless of your true intent, if it's in the car, you can get fined.

It's rediculous.

[freshie]

who seriously says "going on the bottle"

[Chair-Force]

who cares

[LSHatch]

Originally Posted by igo4bmx

sunoco sells race fuel?

Not all of them. Only certain ones.

[Twin_Cam]

Nevermind that cell phones cause more accidents than N2O ever will :thumbdow:

Why isn't there a law against talking on cell phones in cars like in New York and Europe and other civilized placed?

[Nitro]

Originally Posted by LSHatch

Ok, so turbos and superchargers should be illegal too.

Hell, let's ban Sunocos from selling race fuel at the pump.

What an idot.

yea, seriously. I actually thought it alreay was illegal to drive on the street with it connected. Doesn't bother me, my bottle is hidden anyway.

[WRX27]

Some sunocos sell 100 octane. I as well thought if you had it - it had to be disconnected

[Buster]

Originally Posted by LSHatch

Ok, so turbos and superchargers should be illegal too.

Hell, let's ban Sunocos from selling race fuel at the pump.

What an idot.

**** that, im with you. Dont we have a growing immagration problem to worry about? Or maybe a spreading disease? Go find somehting better to "legislate" than weather jimmy is speeding or not.

[Nitro]

Originally Posted by SPEC-V Keith

*no cursing!* that, im with you. Dont we have a growing immagration problem to worry about? Or maybe a spreading disease? Go find somehting better to "legislate" than weather jimmy is speeding or not.

It's not even "weather Jimmy is speeding" it's "how Jimmy is speeding". Like a tuner car can't speed without nitrous. Please. If people are gonna be idiots and spped fast enough to lose it, their gonna do it bottle or not.

[LSHatch]

Car that crashed using the bottle in the story:

Probably some piece of crap that on spray ran 15's. So, the bottle had nothing to do with it, the idiot kid that crashed did.

[noreaga0221]

Funny, I was out tuning about a year ago. I pulled over on 95 to turn my boost down.. next thing I know a state trooper pulls up behind me. All my info is legal so I just didn't have anything to worry about.. he just walks up and asks if everything is ok. I reply yes officer, I just pulled over because a line came off under the hood. He replied have a nice day and started walking away. As he walked away he took a peak into my hatch area and saw the bottle. He stepped back and asked what was in my hatch. I played dumb and said Um my sub and amp. He goes no the bottle.. ohhh... umm... nitrous oxide..."step out of the car please".. ****


Long story short he takes my papers and runs them, all clean. Then he checks his law book and can't find anything about having nitrous hooked up to a car. He only said I should have a license to transport it like a doctor. The current law didn't make a distinction between race grade and medical grade either. He finally came back to my car and asked if the bottle was empty.. I said of course. He told me to go home.


P.S. $5.50 per lb.. ouch it was $4 last time I filled my bottle.

[Aaron]

Sounds like self incrimination to me. Did he really expect you to say its a milk bottle?

Its rude to ask questions you know the answers to.

[Dave]

the real reason those two kids died is 17 year old driver, not nitrous bottle in the trunk

[Twin_Cam]

If anyone's familiar with the Intelligencer, they have a "Vent" section, and I sent this to them today. Should be printed within a week if they like it

When I saw the article on the front page of last Thursday's paper regarding how State Rep. Josh Shapiro wants to ban nitrous oxide systems from cars, I was disgusted and annoyed. His rationale was even more ridiculous. He had heard about an accident where a car had flipped over and police found a nitrous bottle in the trunk. Was the bottle full? Were the feed lines connected? Were the solenoids wired up? I guess while he's at it, Rep. Shapiro will write legislation that prohibits turbochargers and superchargers from cars as well, because they have the same effect of nitrous, and both of which are capable of making much more power than nitrous. This is a feel-good law that will do absolutely nothing. Want to prevent some deaths and injuries on the road? Make it illegal to talk on a cell phone in a moving car. When's the last time you saw someone driving erratically because they were using nitrous? How about because they were talking on a cell phone?

[Spacepope]

This ranks up there on the stupid-meter with the kidiot on NASIOC who lost control of his WRX in a residential neighborhood, crashed into a house, and then said his throttle stuck open. People then proceeded to take pics of the area, showing how much time he would've had to shut the car off or react somehow. The bottom line is, like others said, ya might as well ban turbos, superchargers, and pretty much any car over say 200hp. I mean jeez, some kid might be out in mommy's V6 Accord and hit the gas and lose control.