Thank you officer, may I have another one...

Originally posted by Low_SST



Originally posted by CHOSN1



Originally posted by WestCoast Sdime



Originally posted by A wrk in progss



You should just accept the ticket, lecture, or what ever else the police wanna do. And if you can prove that your innocent then just do it legally in court. It's pretty shitty though knowing we pay taxes witch pay thier salery, then they're dicks to us... what a world



if your wife and kids are driving on a highway next to a potentially dangerous vehicle, wouldnt you want us trying to weed out these vehicles,and make it safer? Exacley, look at it from the publics point of view,who think cutting holes in our trucks, using thin tires, altering our taillights, and riding on air suspensions are dangerous.

I am going to have to disagree with you here. How is any of this unsafe? 1)Cutting holes in our trucks? How is this this dangerous?2)Using thin tires? There are stock vehicles with a smaller tire than my 30 series. 3)Altered tailights? I can see your point maybe here but if i was a cop, I would only be concerned if the car in back of you couldn't clearly see it. 4)riding on air? I believe there are some stock vehicles using air suspension. If used properly, I see no dangers in having airbags.

what hes trying to say is that even if you know your vehicle is safe and are aware that its built with the safety of other motorists in mind the public might know recognize that. Perfect example is like when i get asked if my front axle is broken or if my tires poped. Most people dont understand our shit and even if its clean as fuck they will think its dangerious including the police.

The only unsafe response I have recieved was "where are your taillights?" I normally tell them I don't have any but about 95% of the time I will get a from everybody. Mostly guys my age but I have had a from a woman probably in here 70s.

OK, i just spoke with a DPS officer here in Austin and he told me the same thing that I already knew. As far as the taillamps go, he told me that they have to be as widely apart as practicable but there is no specific measurment. It is based on the officer pulling me over to decide what is practical. And if I take it to court (which I plan on doing), the judge will decide. I showed him a photo of my truck and he asked about how thick my led was. I told him about 5/8. He then told me that that could also be a reason why I will get pulled over in the future. Not being able to see the light from the required distance was his biggest concern. I reassured him that hitech lights are bright and that the distance requirement would NOT be a problem. So he told me to just take it to court and see what the judge says.

As far as the tinted window thing goes, he told me since they were down, it was stricly voluntarily to raise them up for the officer. So it was my right to refuse the window tint check. These were all words from a DPS officer here in Austin Texas.

So I plan on getting my inspected and then go to court about my taillamp. Oh and he didn't say anything about it being one solid light. As long as I have 2 turn signals and 2 brake lights, I should be fine.

i didnt think the solid light thing mattered
but i know the truck has to reflect red from the side
and also yellow in the front from the side


also how would they know to check for smog???
my truck had smog but if my new motor shows no sign of being smog equipped who knows the difference??? my local inspection place sure doesnt lol

Edited: 9/19/2005 3:31:32 PM by CHOSN1

Originally posted by RDS KUSTOMZ



i didnt think the solid light thing matteredbut i know the truck has to reflect red from the side and also yellow in the front from the side

also how would they know to check for smog???my truck had smog but if my new motor shows no sign of being smog equipped who knows the difference??? my local inspection place sure doesnt lol

Well the law does state to have 2 taillamps but I'm guessing that if my one led has (2) stoplamps and (2) turnsignals, it shouldn't matter. None of the officers that stop me said anything about the one light.

And as far as the red reflector on the side, I know alot of people think that Texas requires that, I don't see anything in the law that requires it. Even the DPS officer I talked to today said it is not required.

Originally posted by CHOSN1



OK, i just spoke with a DPS officer here in Austin and he told me the same thing that I already knew. As far as the taillamps go, he told me that they have to be as widely apart as practicable but there is no specific measurment. It is based on the officer pulling me over to decide what is practical. And if I take it to court (which I plan on doing), the judge will decide. I showed him a photo of my truck and he asked about how thick my led was. I told him about 5/8. He then told me that that could also be a reason why I will get pulled over in the future. Not being able to see the light from the required distance was his biggest concern. I reassured him that hitech lights are bright and that the distance requirement would NOT be a problem. So he told me to just take it to court and see what the judge says.

As far as the tinted window thing goes, he told me since they were down, it was stricly voluntarily to raise them up for the officer. So it was my right to refuse the window tint check. These were all words from a DPS officer here in Austin Texas.

So I plan on getting my inspected and then go to court about my taillamp. Oh and he didn't say anything about it being one solid light. As long as I have 2 turn signals and 2 brake lights, I should be fine.

Yea TWO brake lights. If the lightbar lights up as ONE LIGHT then that is one taillamp. Exactly what I said.

Also, yes you voluntarily let him see your window tint, and if you hadn't and said No. He probably would have written you up for all the other illegal shit on your truck. Just like a said.

Good Luck in court bro. Let us know how it turns out.

Originally posted by WestCoast Sdime



Edited: 9/19/2005 2:16:38 PM by WestCoast Sdime

i spoke with a retired chp officer Sgt, he told me we can open your hood as long as we have reasonable suspicion that a Vehicle violation has occured there. But we can only check smog devices and intakes, vehicle code related offenses only.

Which means we cant start moving certain things in the engine trying to find drugs, or weapons, etc, because if we did the court would say, but thats not smog or intake why did u go there,that is when we get into search and seizure.

I am going to look into that because no matter how you slice it that is a search and I bet it is protected. I mean, if I had a package of drugs in plain view under my engine bay it would be fair game. Todd, I know what that officer told you and I respect it, but I would disagree and I think that officer is wrong.

Last time I checked I believe officers are only allowed "plain view" which means if you can see it from the exterior. Such as, if an officer saw an intercooler sticking out from the front bumper or heard a blow off valve then he has probable cause.

Devin dude, I understand what you are saying about the 1 light. I will see what the judge says about it. All I am saying is that none of the officers said anything about it being 1 light. And next time some officer pulls me over for my taillights and then asks me to raise my windows to check the tint, I will say no just because I will again consider that harassment and I will let him know it also. I know my rights now and will not be harassed by some officer who wants to write me up for everything possible.

devin your turning this into search and seizure, this is different. Were talking about checking your vehicle for any other vehicle violations. 4th admendment does not protect you from a cop wanting to inspect your vehicle for vehicle code offenses. Search and seizure protects you from inpractical searches that result in arrests or seizures. Just call your chp office,say hey id like to ask an officer about a ticket, and say hey, if i get pulled over,and he wants to check under my hood for intake or smog devices, can i refuse? And let it goto rest,thats what i was told right now,and im pretty sure they taught us that when we learned vehicle code law.

And im also pretty sure but not 100% sure,if CHP were to say,hey roll your window up im checking if its tinted,its 60 degrees, and your driving around at night with them down,that is suspicious to me that you are hiding something,you have to pick them up. Because when you are being detained you are not free to leave,therefore you have to comply with an officers commands,unless it is inpractical. You are however free to leave when the officers suspicions are confirmed and he has nothing else to talk to you about. of course the officer has to articulate why and what peaked his suspicion about you.

I haven't had time to read all of this, but since my brother actually WAS harrassed with his duallie that he had several years ago, unless it's the SAME COP pulling you over consistantly, I don't think you have a case for harrassment.

The cops in town here will spend 15 minutes ripping my car apart looking for guns/drugs or whatever their reason for wanting to rip it apart. I'm all for standing up for your rights, but sometimes, it's just easier to let them waste their time.

I had one problem with one particular cop in town, I needed a police report for a stolen computer and he refused to give me one. I believe his exact words to me were "things fall off the back of the UPS truck all the time." Basically, he walked into my house, where we had 2 or 3 modified vehicles, lowered trucks with blacked out windows, and made the assumption that we were just a bunch of punk kids.

Believe me I was on the phone with his 1st Sgt, I had a new officer sent out to my house, got my police report, and had the computer replaced, and I don't know what happened to that cop, but he isn't a cop in any of the 3 counties around me any more. You just have to pick and choose your battles, but make sure that if you are choosing to fight them on something, that you have all the facts, you weren't in the wrong and you present your case very well.

Don't let the man get you down.