My wife wants mirror tint on her yellow Redline. Anyone have pics with this tint?
Actually, they cannot use it as an excuse to pull you over. HOWEVER, if they cannot see in the car and they wish to pull you over, they WILL find something they can pull you over for....No front license plate is a good one, failure to indicate when changing lanes, not wearing your seat belt, doing 66 in a 65, coming to a stop past the limit line (which is technically "running" the stop sign/light)...but pulling you over specifically for tinted windows is not allowed.+1 on checking local laws. CHiPs will absolutely ticket you for it and/or use it as an excuse to pull you over and hassle you. In a bright yellow Sky that may not be a great combo :banghead: (FYI, do not actually call a Cali Highway Patrol office a CHiP, or Ponch... they don't think it's funny)
CHiPs will absolutely ticket you for it and/or use it as an excuse to pull you over and hassle you...
Actually, they cannot use it as an excuse to pull you over. HOWEVER, if they cannot see in the car and they wish to pull you over, they WILL find something they can pull you over for....
DaveOC, Note Nova was referring to CHiPs...technically CHP or California Highway Patrol (of which they made a TV show in the 70s about called CHiPs...) so what I was referring to is in CA, they cannot pull you over for window tint but yes, other states may have different laws which would allow them to pull you over for that. Always check local laws.It all depends on the laws of the specific state you live in, or are traveling through. I have always found that it is not wise to tell an officer of the law that he has stopped you illegally . . . The proper response is usually "Yes Sir".
This quote is exactly what I'm getting at. These items...the tinting, spoilers, gauges, racing stickers...none of them can you be pulled over for individually. They're saying in this quote that a couple of these things taken together may indicate further illegal modifications under the hood. Now...having a big spoiler, no law against that. Gauges? No law against that. Stickers? REALLY? Absolutely no law against that. So unless they are willing to prove in court that they ROUTINELY pull people over for these things and can prove that a large percentage of them have illegal modifications under the hood thus justifying the probable cause to pull them over, they have no right to pull you over for those items. This is an illegal search unless they can prove what I just talked about or the driver gives them permission to look.Under Drag-Net, San Diego officers come to train other departments how to look out for what they believe to be tell-tale signs of illegal modification such as window tinting, large spoilers, extra gauges or racing stickers. Police say this gives them probable cause to stop and inspect a vehicle and its engine compartment.
That's the game in a nutshell. They want to pull you over what whatever reason they want to pull you over for but then need to find something that allows them to legally pull you over. Like you mention, it's not hard to do. As I said in my example, I got a fix it ticket for "window tint" on windows that weren't actually tinted!They don't even NEED the laws to have probable cause. Sneeze and swerve a little...? Probable cause. Going too fast (or too slow, lol)? Probable cause. Probable cause is ALL they NEED to stop you. It's nearly impossible to "fight" their PC because the judge is pretty much always going to side with the professional (that observes people driving for a living). You'd have to have witnesses, cameras, recordings, or something like that on your side because the "he said/officer said" argument is near impossible to win.
True, if their probable cause is total weak sauce or if the PC is some minor violation (IE front plate) then they have nothing much to write a ticket on. Heck, the officer that pulled me over for the front plate didn't even write me a fix it ticket. Of course, I think he only wanted to check out the car. He was one of the officers that asked "what kind of car is this?" oh, wait, I had the registration for that stop so his comment was "this is a Saturn???"