Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

(Sorry for the log post).I've been stopped by the stopped by the VA state police 4 times Over the past 6 weeks in the new Kent / James City area (every time it's been on a Saturday morning .... Never for speeding). On one occasion 3 weeks ago, I was pulled for window tint ..... After my windows were found to be Legal, the officer says &quot;Nice big chrome pipe .... Mind if I see if you've made any modifications to your exhaust&quot;. After he looked under my truck, he said &quot;no Muffler &amp; no cat&quot; but he was going to be a nice guy &amp; only charge me with one count of &quot;no pollution device&quot; (he didn't believe me when I said the 93 was cat-free from the factory). The shop that did My straight pipe said It was legal by a local law that says the exhaust must have restriction. But I figured VA state law differ since I was getting a ticket.<br><br>Today, I was pulled going down Rt. 60. The officer Said he heard a &quot;strange noise&quot; coming from my exhaust (he did have his window down when I drove by). After he checked my license &amp; registration he says &quot;i didn't realize it was a diesel so there&quot; s nothing I can do ... Drive safe&quot;. <br><br>Based on my stop today I'm thinking about fighting the ticket I got 3 weeks ago. Does anyone Know for sure the VA state Law concerning straight pipes. (How does every harley and big rig in my area get away with it if it's not legal)<br>

Re:Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

Question #1:
What did you do to get his attention? ::)

As far as I know the Va &quot;Safety Inspection&quot; only requires an exhaust system to be free from leaks.
There is no Safety law regarding noise.
There is no VA law that I'm aware of about &quot;Modifying&quot; an exhaust system. If there was he could write a year's worth of tickets in a day by pulling over &quot;Ricers&quot; with Fart Pipes.
The 1st cop has a case of the arse for you and your truck.....perhaps it's a case of Diesel Envy, or maybe he's pi**ed at himself for settling for a Ford or Chevy instead of the Best of the Breed.
If you have a question regarding this issue, I'd suggest you drop by your local Virginia State Police Barracks and get the REAL DEAL from them.

Ed

Re:Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

Shovelhead hit the nail on the head. Go straight to the state police and get a ruling on the exhuast from them. If possible get a copy of the rules if they are in your favor ;) so you can show the judge in order to fight it. Here the turbo counts for a muffler with the D.O.T. so the straight pipe is completely legal ;D

Re:Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

Shovelhead, what did I do to arise their suspicion is still mysterious to me. I have noticed they always take a good look around in the bed of the truck as though they were hoping to find an illicit payload. Maybe I'll stop by the barracks in Richmond (that I pass twice EVERYDAY ... quite often with a trooper or two behind or beside me going to the barracks .... wonder why they haven't stopped me in almost two years).

Re:Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

Must be that target under your name on here... ;D<br><br>

Re:Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

[laugh]Good Point Tony [laugh]<br><br>Usually something piques their attention to initiate a stop.<br>That's all water under the bridge at this point.<br>Talk to &quot;The Big Dog&quot; at the barracks, be polite, not arrogant, and calmly explain the situation ........you might be suprised at the outcome.<br><br><br><br><br>Then there's always 1-800-Bail-Bonds.......... [laugh]

Re:Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

I GOT EM ...... I going to fight the ticket :) ;) :) ;) ;D ;D. The office who gave me a ticket 3 weeks ago said I violated this code:<br> http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp...+cod+46.2-1048<br>This would cover the cat only .... not my lack of muffler.<br><br>But on the other hand, I also found the following: http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp...+cod+46.2-1049 <br><br>I would still appreciate further input from the brain trust based on the 2nd link. Almost all of the owner-operators I see in my area are running straight pipes (maybe I should say Turbo Muffler :)) How are they getting away with it .... they are more likely to encounter state troopers that a passenger vehicle or p/u truck (scales, road side inspections, etc). Thanx for the input.<br>

Re:Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

If you were cited only for the &quot;Modification/removal of a pollution control device&quot; and your truck did not come with a Cat. Converter, then it's an open and shut case. Talk to the barracks, they'll probably void the ticket on the spot.
I don't think the officer involved is familiar with a diesel powered vehicle.

If you were cited for the Modificatuion of an exhaust system, then with a little &quot;diplomacy&quot; on your part and you could end up with the same result.

BTW the State Cops work 24/7/365 so you don't have to wait until Monday.

Re:Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

Been there done that. Got told twice at the security check point by State Police that I better put a muffler on my rig. Mine is about as modified as you can get and real obviuos. I get some strange looks from the cruisers when they pass but have not been stopped yet. I usually try to sneak by them though and try to be reasonable in towns.<br>New Kent is not a good place to get stopped. (I'm right across the water from there, my dogs go to New Kent animal hospital) Got stopped for doing 35 in a 45 one morning at about 5 o'clock. Went to court to fight and still lost. That is how they make their revenue in that stretch of the road.<br>Just be careful and try to keep it quiet when you go through. Put a muffin on as a last resort and then get a free flow one.

Re:Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

OH it's the old Boss Hogg/Rosco P.Coltrane &quot;speed-trap&quot; huh.<br><br>I thought that stuff went out with the Dukes of Hazzard.

Re:Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

When I was at Ft Riley, one of the villages at the gate would stop for anything over the speed limit. Psot Commander had a meeting with the local officials, told them if the didn't show some reasonable disgretion, he would lock the gate. This would have landlocked the vaillage and the two little stores and gas stations would dry right up.

Re:Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

[quote author=Shovelhead link=board=8;threadid=11643;start=0#110649 date=1046569965]<br>OH it's the old Boss Hogg/Rosco P.Coltrane &quot;speed-trap&quot; huh.<br><br>I thought that stuff went out with the Dukes of Hazzard.<br>[/quote]<br><br>Not in the places he is talking about. They're still hard at it.

Re:Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

[quote author=Redleg link=board=8;threadid=11643;start=0#110668 date=1046574597]<br>When I was at Ft Riley, one of the villages at the gate would stop for anything over the speed limit. Psot Commander had a meeting with the local officials, told them if the didn't show some reasonable disgretion, he would lock the gate. This would have landlocked the vaillage and the two little stores and gas stations would dry right up. <br>[/quote]<br><br>That's what I call coming to the table with a real bargaining chip.

Re:Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

[quote author=Shovelhead link=board=8;threadid=11643;start=0#110571 date=1046547248]<br>Question #1:<br>What did you do to get his attention? ::)<br>[/quote]<br><br> I would say the reason for the initial stop was for the window tint. The police hate it! And if they see that the vehicle has VA tags,,,,, chances are they will pull ya. I think that all of the state police have the tint testers in their cars. <br> As far as the exhaust,,,, I know I paid a fine for &quot;Illegal Exhast&quot; years ago for drag pipes with no baffles on my Sporty. ??? (I didn't try to fight it) The big question is if the ticket is written for Modification/Removal of a pollution device. Then I would think that all that would be needed was proof that the vehicle did not come from the factory with a pollution device. I'm not sure that the police will void the ticket,,, but you might have to go to court and present the proof in order to get the charge dismissed.<br>

Re:Straight Pipes vs. Virginia State Law (Please Help)
 

Stopped in Blacksburgh, Virginia, at a Chinese buffet on the way back from Roanoke last night. (Part of the year I live in Top's West-by-God-Virginia, on the border.)

Virginia state trooper pulled into the parking lot right behind me -- he was meeting his wife there for his dinner break.

He heard me idling to cool the EGT's after the long rise up I-81, and walked over to talk to me about it. Seems a little loud, he said. (I've got a 4 inch exhaust and a Dynomax straight-thru muffler, I'd left the stock straight-thru resonator on.)

Where's the catalytic converter? he asked, looking under the truck. Is that a couple of big cherry bombs you've got on there?

We talked a little bit about diesels and exhaust systems, and then he asked me to wait a minute, and walked over to his cruiser and called in. He came back and said, &quot;You're exactly right. It's been real interesting. You have a very nice evening.&quot;

Guy was trying to do his job. We push the envelope a little, they try to make sure we don't push too far and interfere with or endanger someone else. That's the game -- a matter of watching the edges carefully and negotiating, sometimes. Often, the local gendarmes aren't as good at it, or they have some other agenda in mind.

GP