kkkustom wrote:
HIDs might be illegal to retrofit in your own car, but I doubt you will ever get a ticket for them. Not to mention a cop will have no idea if HID's were an option on a jeep. If I get asked about them I will tell them they are stock. HID's are a cleaner light, which gives the impression of being too bright. they are MUCH safer than normal bulbs becasue the light reflects better off the road lines.
I know of a kid that has a honda civic with lexus is300 headlights molded in the front, with the stock HID's installed. Now, is this illegal? it is the original DOT approved headlights, just not on the correct car?!
Did you know, stickers on the back window are illegal, an air freshener hanging from the rear view is illegal.. and these things I bet 90% of you have. Also open container, does not mean a beer! A guy at work got one for a soda. He was caught swerving around a bit, and the cop suspected DWI... the guy did give the cop a hard time (main reason for the ticket) and the cop gave him open container.
I have gotten pulled over and was told my shaved door handles were illegal becasue if the cop had to force his way into my car he couldnt. My license plate in the tailgate is frenched in crooked, he said that was illegal becasue it was not parrell to the ground and made it hardeer to read. My front plate was too low to the ground. I even got a headlight too low to the gorund, I measered mine and measured a Vette in a packing lot and his was 3 inches lower than mine! My friend has a mustang with a 4 inch cowl hood to clear the intake and carbs, he even got a ticket for that becasue it was in the way of the drivers view. Now all of these were beat in court by acting with respect to the judge and using a little common sense.
The bottom line is this, dont drive like a retard, and you wont get pulled over. If you build something that looks very different, you WILL get hasseled for it. thats just the way it is.
I don't know about where you are located, but I know that HID conversion kits are legal here in AZ. Where you get into the illegal part is when the owner of the car went the cheap route and bought a "blue" bulb (that is not designed for use on the street because it is actually a blue light and doesn't see nearly as far as stock halogens) instead of the actual HID's or HID conversion kit. Believe me... You can tell the difference if you've seen them.
As far as the open container... You might want to check your local laws. In Arizona Revised Statutes 4-251 it states this:
4-251. Spirituous liquor in motor vehicles; prohibitions; violation; classification; exceptions; definitions
A. It is unlawful for any person to:
1. Consume spirituous liquor while operating or while within the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle that is located on any public highway or right-of-way of a public highway in this state.
2. Possess an open container of spirituous liquor within the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle that is located on any public highway or right-of-way of a public highway in this state.
"Motor vehicle" means any vehicle that is driven or drawn by mechanical power and that is designed primarily for use on public highways. Motor vehicle does not include a vehicle operated exclusively on rails.
"Open container" means any bottle, can, jar or other receptacle that contains spirituous liquor and that has been opened, has had its seal broken or the contents of which have been partially removed.
Here is the link if you want to read it for yourself, cause I just cut out the important parts:
http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/4/00251.htm
The headlight thing... Well again here is AZ's laws on that: (28-941)
28-941. Multiple beam road lighting equipment arrangement
1. There shall be an uppermost distribution of light, or composite beam, so aimed and of sufficient intensity to reveal persons and vehicles at a distance of at least three hundred fifty feet ahead for all conditions of loading.
2. There shall be a lowermost distribution of light, or composite beam, so aimed and of sufficient intensity to reveal persons and vehicles at a distance of at least one hundred feet ahead, and under any condition of loading, none of the high intensity portion of the beam shall be directed to strike the eyes of an approaching driver.
4. A person shall not operate a motor vehicle with a colored transparent or translucent substance or material installed, affixed or applied on or in front of the head lamps, the auxiliary driving lamp or the auxiliary passing lamp or combinations of the head lamps, driving lamp or passing lamp that would obstruct, reduce or interfere with the visibility or effectiveness of the head lamps or that would change the color of light emitted. This paragraph does not prohibit the placement of clear transparent material mounted in front of the head lamps, fog lamps or auxiliary driving lamps.
http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/28/00941.htm
As far as the things hanging from the rear view mirror and stickers on the back window... As long as they do not obstruct the drivers view and your vehicle meets certain standards then they are not a problem. Here it is for that one: (28-959.01)
http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/28/00959-01.htm
In the end, I agree with you and that if you don't drive like a moron then you don't have much to worry about. However, in the west valley of AZ (West Phoenix, Avondale, Goodyear, Glendale, Tolleson, Buckeye, El Mirage, Surprise, and Peoria) custom vehicles are abundant in all shapes and sizes. They are not harassed or hassled provided they have the necessary equipment to operate their vehicle safely on the road. Many tickets have been written to owners of trucks that have such huge lift kits that they need to have various equipment mods before they are considered street legal. Many of them don't do that because they just don't know about the law. Now they know, have hopefully made the necessary changes, and life is good. They can then go to the judge say they weren't aware of the law and made the needed changes to correct the problem. Then usually the judge will either dismiss the case or lower the fine.
My suggestion would be that if you are pulled over by a police officer...
DON'T ARGUE!!! If you argue then it just makes things worse. If you argue then obviously talking to you about the problem is not sufficient and a ticket will probably be issued to get the point across. I work for a police department (in AZ if you haven't guessed) and can tell you that my job is not to write a bunch of tickets or meet a "quota".
If you are pulled over and told that you are violating some part of the traffic law then
nicely ask the officer how to correct the problem so that this doesn't happen again. If I were to write a ticket for something then I would be able to explain why it is considered a problem (according to AZ's traffic law) and the easiest way(s) to correct the problem. If I can't explain it then I wouldn't write it. Sometimes it is just as simple as turning off the little lights on the top of your hood that replace the windshield wiper fluid sprayers while you are on the street. They are not meant for the road and are not by any means D.O.T. legal.
Sorry for my rant, but I just didn't want people to think that all cops are jerks. Also I wouldn't want people to think that the laws in your state (guessing CA) apply everywhere.
BTW, I like the lights. HID's are much better than the stock halogens.
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Mike D.
2011 Brilliant Black KK Renegade 4x4 (New addition)
2003 Atlantic Blue KJ 2WD
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I'm going through my own squid proxy and the server denies HTTP GET from the proxy. Weird. The above instruction should work assuming you don't go through some proxy.
just kidding. I know you were jokeing! anyway...
) .. and the cop gave me a warning. 
