USA vehicle modification rules - (BRZ)

[JeremyR]

Originally Posted by pcguru2000

In Cali, you can get tinted window, no front license plate, etc tickets while parked. Parking enforcement doesn't necessarily have to be a police officer. It could be a contracted company that works for a city. A good example of this is Santa Ana. They will ticket you every single day. They make money for a city so they lie on the tickets.

You can also be immediately referred to a smog station by a mobile exhaust sensing unit that are placed on freeway on ramps. I saw one of those one time and I shut off the engine and cruised through the beams, then turned engine back on.

I've lived in CA my whole life, and never have gotten anything other than a parking ticket from a parking enforcement officer. Granted, I don't tint my windows, but I have no front plate.

We don't have those mobile sensing units up here in the Bay Area as far as I know. And i've been down to socal quite a bit but haven't seen one.

I have gotten pulled over and state reffed twice before, but that's because I was driving around a slammed 240sx with a body kit. Also got a front plate ticket too. I paid my fines and went my merry way.

I'm not trying to say CA is lax on the laws, but these things are really just a slap on the wrist. Once you pay your fine and/or fix the issues your good and it goes away. I've never heard of a car getting towed for non-moving violations unless there is an obvious engine/emissions problem like smoke billowing out the back.

Either way, Santa Ana sounds like a horrible place so i'll make sure to stay clear from it. Thanks for the tip!

[bababooey]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

dont have photos but i as well have seen a loaded camaro cop car in balch springs in SE dallas.

and the photo i posted above was for a dui campaign & was not on patrol. i thought it was a sneaky way to enforce speeding, cause houstonites have their foot to the floor, crazy place to drive.

edit found one:

[bababooey]

& these guys took this vehicle from a huge drug bust. used for public relations events

[yurikaze]

Originally Posted by pcguru2000

In Cali, you can get tinted window, no front license plate, etc tickets while parked. Parking enforcement doesn't necessarily have to be a police officer. It could be a contracted company that works for a city. A good example of this is Santa Ana. They will ticket you every single day. They make money for a city so they lie on the tickets.

This sounds more like a Santa Ana thing than a California thing.
The only other place I know that cracks down on no front plates while parked is LAX.

[Tristor]

Originally Posted by Spuds

In Virginia anything over 70mph can get you jail time I think. Even if the speed limit is 65.

Virginia is also the only state that has an absolute ban on radar detectors. If you are just passing through the cop will take it out of your car and smash it on the side of the road before writing you the ticket. It happened to me in a rental car driving from South Carolina to Pennsylvania with a stop-over in Virginia with a cordless radar detector. That's how I found out they're illegal in Virginia.

Also state troopers in Virginia, in my experience, are not very nice. Although at least they're relatively professional, just not especially congenial.

Originally Posted by bababooey

YMMV, ive seen both troopers in spots as well as those sneaky APD beamer moto cops shooting laser. I was near the limit as I believe that is plenty fast enough, but some cars seem to not feel comfortable even doing 75 on that road. I believe it is sketchy as hell allowing the limits they do because those steep embankments on either side of road in spots.

and there are a hell of lot more troopers around the area (than other areas) given the capital & all.

It is a bit sketchy considering some of the vehicles on the roads in South Texas. It's not unusual to see 10 people stuffed into an early 90s mini-van with bald tires showing the belts, looking like it's about to fall apart, doing 90mph down the freeway. But in any decent modern vehicle, doing 90mph on SH-130 should be entirely safe unless you've specifically modified it in a way to make it unsafe (stance, people who make their SUVs/Trucks have even higher COG).

I've only ever seen DPS out there on days that there are races at COTA, otherwise its usually empty. I drive that road at least twice a month, so I guess YMMV, maybe I've just lucked out.

Originally Posted by bababooey

& these guys took this vehicle from a huge drug bust. used for public relations events

Oh yeah, I see the NBPD car a lot since they come to the Wednesday car meet in NB. NBPD is really chill though, good people. Not like some of the other agencies around here. Texas drivers are insane though, so I guess I kind of get it to some degree. The worst are the small towns though, most of the city police are chill except in Austin. While they are sneaky (especially during TX2K18 week) in Houston, they're usually pretty decent people and professional if you get stopped.

[HunterGreene]

Originally Posted by Tristor

Also state troopers in Virginia, in my experience, are not very nice. Although at least they're relatively professional, just not especially congenial.

Oh, I have a story for you...

Originally Posted by IloveBaldEagles

I was one of the two cars that was pulled over. Cop said my tags were expired when in reality I just was lazy to put the new stickers on. Cop also told me that he liked how I was the best behaved person on cruise. Overall cruise was respectful to speed limits and the scenery was perfect.

Cop was cool, told me to be safe and make sure everyone else remains safe.

For some reason my half of the story isn't on the forum anymore. Basically, an undercover State Trooper inserted himself in the line of cars, drove deliberately slow, and then when I legally passed him (he actually said as much), he pulled me over. The Trooper was actually fair, and let me off with a warning once he heard my story, in addition to respecting the fact that Eagles stayed with me due to my unfamiliarity with the area. I should have bought a lottery ticket after that.

[bababooey]

Originally Posted by Tristor

Oh yeah, I see the NBPD car a lot since they come to the Wednesday car meet in NB. NBPD is really chill though, good people. Not like some of the other agencies around here.

id have assumed they might be wound a little tight with having to put up with all the river tourism and the circus that brings

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by bababooey

... cause houstonites have their foot to the floor...

Unless you're behind them. Then they slow down to five under the limit until you get a chance to pass, at which point they slam down the accelerator to block you. In Houston, it's not about going fast. It's about "winning" traffic. You don't have to go fast to win. You just have to block the other guy so that he can't go faster than you.

I have driven in a lot of cities, and Houston has by far the biggest bunch of assholes I've ever seen. Boston, New York and Atlanta all get a bad rap, but none of them even come close to the belligerent stupidity of Houston drivers.

[Trap63]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

Unless you're behind them. Then they slow down to five under the limit until you get a chance to pass, at which point they slam down the accelerator to block you. In Houston, it's not about going fast. It's about "winning" traffic. You don't have to go fast to win. You just have to block the other guy so that he can't go faster than you.

I have driven in a lot of cities, and Houston has by far the biggest bunch of assholes I've ever seen. Boston, New York and Atlanta all get a bad rap, but none of them even come close to the belligerent stupidity of Houston drivers.

Houston drivers seem to be like Cuneo drivers in Italy...the only County without Highway...in Northern Italy. The ita valley people like in Scotland .

[Grady]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

Unless you're behind them. Then they slow down to five under the limit until you get a chance to pass, at which point they slam down the accelerator to block you. In Houston, it's not about going fast. It's about "winning" traffic. You don't have to go fast to win. You just have to block the other guy so that he can't go faster than you.

I have driven in a lot of cities, and Houston has by far the biggest bunch of assholes I've ever seen. Boston, New York and Atlanta all get a bad rap, but none of them even come close to the belligerent stupidity of Houston drivers.

And do not forget that using your turn signal is just a sign of weakness!!!!

[HunterGreene]

Originally Posted by Grady

And do not forget that using your turn signal is just a sign of weakness!!!!

I invoke an ancient Jewish curse on anyone who doesn't use their turn signal around me.

[pcguru2000]

Originally Posted by yurikaze

This sounds more like a Santa Ana thing than a California thing.
The only other place I know that cracks down on no front plates while parked is LAX.

I forgot about that one.

Originally Posted by JeremyR

I've lived in CA my whole life, and never have gotten anything other than a parking ticket from a parking enforcement officer. Granted, I don't tint my windows, but I have no front plate.

I'm not trying to say CA is lax on the laws, but these things are really just a slap on the wrist.

It was the same for me. Never happened other than Santa ana. The fine is cheap. Tint removal is not.

Originally Posted by extrashaky

I have driven in a lot of cities, and Houston has by far the biggest bunch of assholes I've ever seen. Boston, New York and Atlanta all get a bad rap, but none of them even come close to the belligerent stupidity of Houston drivers.

Spend a week in cali or in florida. Cali has the largest a hole BMW drivers in the world. They believe that their 50% overpriced cars entitles them to do anything they want. Worst than them are motorcyles. They like to play donkey Kong with your side mirrors. Just for fun and post their antics on you tube. They will kick and punch your car while you are going 45mph if you don't pull into the emergency lane to let them lane split. The emergency laNE is full of nails and debris. They get away with damaging your car with no repurcusions because they hide or angle their license plates and get away it.

A very large portion of chp are bike riders and have a soft spot with bikers. They will pull a car over with an Sri but let a biker pass with no mufflers. They also believe that "loud pipes saves lives." Banning lane splitting saves lives too but they turn a blind eye.

Originally Posted by bababooey

& these guys took this vehicle from a huge drug bust. used for public relations events

Must be nice. How about selling the car at auction and giving the money back to the tax payers?

Originally Posted by Grady

And do not forget that using your turn signal is just a sign of weakness!!!!

In Cali if you show your turn signal more than 1 second before you change lanes, people will block you. It's sad.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by pcguru2000

Spend a week in cali or in florida.

I have spent multiple weeks in California. I live in Florida and have driven fairly extensively throughout the state. Houston has them all beat for assholes.

Here's a typical Saturday afternoon drive in Houston. This was an argument over merging.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVv9O_j4bFQ[/ame]


When local news called the police after this went viral to see if there had been any arrests, they had no idea because nobody had reported it.

[gravitylover]

I've seen NYPD using all sorts of confiscated vehicles as patrol cars. Taxis, minivans, sports cars, limos, you name it. There used to be, I don't know if it's still active, one of the PD garages uptown or in the Bronx that would modify vehicles to be crazy fast compared to what they would have been otherwise. I was on the parkway one night and got passed by a couple of bikes doing well in excess of 125 and hot on their tail was a Chevy Astro, he had one of them pulled over and face down on the ground a few miles later

Originally Posted by Tcoat