I don't have any problems with cops. I run a front plate, have a light over my rear plate, and drive within 5-6MPH of the speed limit most of the time. Rear tint is 15% and side is 35%. If I see a cop zooming up behind me in my lane, I move over to let him pass (just like other drivers who do the same). I've had more than a few cops pass me up late at night/early morning when I'm cruising at 70-75 in the second to slow lane when nobody is around. Hope that doesn't change... I'm thinking it's because I drive an American car, and driving safely doesn't hurt.

That said, I have been pulled over for B.S. reasons in New Mexico by a cop that when I tried to explain where I was headed, didn't know where the freeway he was patrolling went to. I seriously had to ask "What did I do, Officer? Did I do anything wrong??" because I thought he was going to pull over the family sedan that passed me doing 15-20 over.

 

American cars get away with alot and it's not fair IMO. Import cars get the "ricer" or "illegal" stereotype automatically. I've been pulled over for exhaust a couple times and it was under the legal decibel limit. My cousin has a '91 Vette with a super loud exhaust setup, way louder than mine, and has revved it in front of cops a lil and nothing.

 

a lot of cops i know have either a camaro, mustang, or corvette themselves. If you grow up around these cars and they are the icons, you're less inclined to notice the "illegal mods" lol.

 

Yup, it's not fair but with the car I have I'm not complaining! I just hope they go easier on the imports like they do with American cars. You usually have to be doing something definitely wrong for them to pull you over in an American car and cite you for modifications. I was able to drive around open manifolds (no y-pipe) for a week while trying to find a stock (quiet) exhaust setup - with no issues from the police.

 

this was in the city of Covina. some cities have different fees.

 

The court will simply correct it to be "correctable" since CVC states it is correctable.

Just show up to court with proof of correction, pay $25 per violation (yes, PER), and you'll be done.

I speak from experience with this.

 

Thank goodness. I do have certification that I did pass, I know about the $25, was clearing up two others lol. I seriously wonder how they will justify how my vehicle is fine now and that it doesnt rub, I doubt they'll make me drive up a driveway to prove to them. I guess my beat up fenders and chipped paint would be enough evidence?

 

You may think most of those little mechanical violations are petty, but your bitch should be with those that write the laws. Don't like them? Contact your local congressman. Submit a petition. Remember the three branches of government? Check and balances? Law enforcement does write the laws, it just enforces them. The legislature, for one reason or another, has determined that there is a necessity for having a front plate, and not having tinted window and modified lighting, etc. Somewhere in the history of automobiles, something catostrophic happened as a result of these things, so some legistator wrote it into law making it illegal or a requirement. So they want law enforement to go and seek out these violations. Go out and look for real crime? How many drunk drivers have been caught because they didn't have a front plate? How much drugs and guns have been taken off the street all because the officer made a traffic stop because the car didn't have a license plate light? That child molester/kidnapper driving down your street in a car with tinted windows? It goes on and on. We get grant money to go out on overtime to look specifically for these violations from time to time. Obviously there is a special interest group that has raised the money to send officers out on overtime to write tickets for what seems to be petty things. Why? Don't know? Maybe someones little child was killed while crossing the street cause someone with tinted windows made right turn and the windows were too dark to see the child. Maybe some legislator was rearended by someone that didn't have a front plate and then fled the scene. License plates, bumpers fall off at the scene. They leave imprints on rear bumpers on occasion. It gives officers someplace to start the follow up. Did you know it was illegal to wear sunglasses with more than 1/2" temple width? Something horrible probably happened and they wrote it into law making it illegal. I'll be honest, there are things in the vehicle code I don't agree with. Sometimes they are stupid and others are just poorly written. Ever actually read the Vehicle Code? Go down to the DMV and pick up a copy. Great bathroom material. Ah, who am I kidding. This is going to fall on deaf ears.

 

well with all due respect, going with the same logic as you have presented a lot of aspects of driving that are legal would be illegal

just because lets say a kid was killed because some idiot had windows tinted too dark and couldnt see him doesn't really justify making ALL tinted windows illegal,a driver can still see out of his window even with tints so thats not really an issue. The child molester driving down my street, i dont think that has anything to do with tints but rather those who make the laws that ALLOW people like that to still drive around. But that can't really be used against tints unless somehow the other states that allow tints don't have a child molester problem or don't have any idiots who tint to dark or they do but the incidents are too significant to write into law?

its already bad enough that police officers are given THAT much freedom and leeway as seen below

2804. A member of the California Highway Patrol upon reasonable
belief that any vehicle is being operated in violation of any
provisions of this code or is in such unsafe condition as to endanger
any person, may require the driver of the vehicle to stop and submit
to an inspection of the vehicle, and its equipment, license plates,
and registration card.

2806. Any regularly employed and salaried police officer or deputy
sheriff, or any reserve police officer or reserve deputy sheriff
listed in Section 830.6 of the Penal Code, having reasonable cause to
believe that any vehicle or combination of vehicles is not equipped
as required by this code or is in any unsafe condition as to endanger
any person, may require the driver to stop and submit the vehicle or
combination of vehicles to an inspection and those tests as may be
appropriate to determine the safety to persons and compliance with
the code.

like i stated before, we can already see how vague those terms are and how often those terms are used to the officers advantage just to fill a quota

i don't think the point here was to bitch at ALL COPS in general, if you thought thats what the point was, you surely missed it

the point was to speak on how ridiculous police officers get and the things they do as shown in example by donpisto

lastly the idea to complain to the lawmakers is a pretty good suggestion but that kinda leaves one question, so if the laws suck the police officers still enforce them blindly? surely there has to be some kind of ethics practiced, at least i hope so

 

meow??

 

i'm down with the popos!!!

havent had a moving violation in 4 years woot!

 

haha mee too bud, 5 yrs now i think

jus lotz of fix-it's

 

yeah good job man! I'm loving my insurance rates, i pay like fitty cent a month HAHAHAHAHA

 

Wow, you're a CHP officer and THIS is your attitude? I'll be blunt, you may be one of the officers that pulls someone over for something stupid, then again I can see you not doing it because you have some general knowledge about automobiles (unlike the cop that pointed to engine saying its illegal when I had a painted engine cover, sure don't think that breaks any laws in the vehicle code).

I'm glad you agree that some of the laws are ridiculous and are vague. How do you enforce a law justly if it isn't clear cut? You simply CAN'T, but you see officers citing for those same vague laws.

IMO, an officer uses what you say against you when they don't know something. In my case they said my wheels poking were unsafe. They probably have never seen that so they will assume it is. They did not state 1 law or provide any factual evidence how it is unsafe, they went off their assumptions. The moment I said I rub tire going up a driveway at an angle it becomes unsafe because suddenly all roads are like that and I must rub all the time . That is what I got cited for, is there an actual vehicle code in regards to that? Nope, but as eurodre pointed out there is a vehicle code that touches on it, but it is so vague that it can cover a variety of other and include some that do not pertain to it. To me, who ever wrote that was just lazy and it was written to give officers the ability to cite someone for anything.

Also, some special interest group pays officers to work overtime and specifically look for certain types of vehicle code violations??? Wow, so when someone that has money invests it into the government, they have power. But when someone who doesn't, nothing gets done. Or if something happens, then they decide to pay attention to something. Wow, welcome to America...where money is everything.

You mention I should go to my congressman and complain about the laws. Tell me what that will do. I'm not forking any money over to the government, oh yeah, I am. Taxes, and business tax as well. True hustle right there. I work hard and make the money, government takes NO part in the sale, yet they take 8.75% from my hard work? (9.75% in other areas in CA). Anyway, back to my point, I work for a local government agency and I know what goes on behind closed doors. Nothing gets done when only a few people complain, you have to either have a large group or send quite a bit of money to the government.

And to be honest, some of these special interest groups are just retarded or something. Sunglasses being illegal for covering too much of one's temple. Gotta be kidding me. I guess it was better for the sun to shine in someone's face and cause possibly a greater accident right? But no, some idiot with money felt the need to go through legislation because their Mercedes got rear ended because the other drive had sun glasses on? Come on, so ridiculous, he probably was jerking off to the hot chick next to him or something, maybe getting head from his female passenger.

Be real though, front license plates...do you REALLY have that much time to run the plates from the front? That will require quite a bit of concentration, and at that point isn't the officer endangering other motorists on the road by not paying attention? Why is it that some states don't require it? Doesn't that make you think "if one state doesn't require it, and another does, what's the purpose?" In the end it all boils down to money, how much of it can the government take from it's already tax-paying civilians.

I can go on and on, but I'll just end it here. Last thing I'll say is if an officer can't figure out why they are pulling you over and for what specific cause, rather than "other" then they shouldn't pull you over. I don't mind getting pulled over and explaining that my tires are the way they are to clear the fender, or how I'm within spec, etc etc and the officer understands and lets me go. Sure it's a waste of time for me, but at least I know that officer has something called a brain and puts it to use, rather than get into "i'm a cop, so what I say goes and I'm too lazy to deal with this sh*t, let the state/county, whatever get money out of it, I just wrote another ticket, one less to go."

BTW, I know how that quota works. I have friends that have relatives in law enforcement and I actually know a couple myself. There really is no set quota, however, you have officer A and officer B. If officer A cites for 50 violations within a month and officer B cites for only 10, Officer B is in bit of a trouble, so officer B has to pick up their slack and cite for more violations so they won't get in trouble, something near what officer A does. IMHO, just because one officer doesn't cite people as much as others doesn't mean they are not doing their job or doing it improperly, it could be that other officers have power trips, are d*cks or b*tches, stumbles upon more violations, or whatever. The purpose is to protect and serve. Yes many people have gotten pulled over because some of these laws like no front plate, tint, etc, but how many HAVEN'T? And how many that are not in violation of a vehicle code aren't pulled over? Protect me, the civilian, from the murderers, the rapists, the thieves, etc...I can care less about someone without a front plate, they're not harming me, it's not the front plate, it's the person. If you have some tard in a civic revving his engine, trying to show off, pull his @ss over too, they give us import drivers that abide by the laws a bad rep. Ok, guess now I'm done.

 

^^ wow pisto! ur pisto---offf lol

ya that was hella ghey ... i tried

i just think that cops are really bias these days, my friends has a decked out '10 shelby and he never gets ****ed with. i have intake exhaust and tint but i still get harassed F Ca lol