Do not just pay the fine and then fight it next time! You would be admiting guilt and also setting legal precedent. Find out what the law is and if you are right fight it. Do you have any lawyer friends (oops that's right ,lawyers don't have any friends "

If you want to spend some money , give it to a lawyer to find out for you. The laws are public record though so shouldn't be too hard to find

Also here in NY if you go to court you can get a hearing where the Officer has to show up. If he doesn't, no evidence, bye bye ticket.

Don't give in and pay it.

Hondo

 

This type of stuff is all too familiar in VA. I used to travel through VA regularly several years ago. One time a state trooper pulled me over for illegally tinted windows (keep in mind this vehicle wasn't even registered in VA!) When I opened up my glovebox he noticed that I had a radar detector in there (it broke a long time ago and wasn't even connected.) He wrote me a ticket for illegally tinted windows and posession of a radar detector. He said that having a radar detector is like having drugs.

Since the tinting laws are different in MD and VA, there was no way he could cite me for this. VA's window tinting laws are much stricter than MD.

I didn't feel like saying anything to this moron that i'd regret, so I just took it to court. I explained the story to the judge right in front of the trooper and the tickets were thrown out immediately and court costs were waived. The judge then proceeded to lecture the trooper in front of the entire courtroom about his "knowledge" of the law.

Moral of the story....always fight the tickets if you have the time. This is just what the police think that the average person won't do. That is why I hate driving through commonwealth states like VA, because they like to raise money through writing traffic violations.

 

RamDan03,

If Im not mistaken, you are a police officer??

 

If stacks were illegal then they would be getting a lot of revenue from 18 wheelers.
Sounds like a young cop trying to make his quota before the end of the month.
Fight it!!!!

 

Nope, but there is another member on this board named Dan (I think he is from NY) who is a police officer.

 

a turbocharger is considered a muffler in TX... now... it may not pass a local noise ordinance, but they would have to use an SPL meter to measure how loud it is for a noise ticket to stick.

bottom line is the only thing I would have to worry about is if a highway patrol dove under and cited me for no cat...

 

Hmm, section 46.2-1047 says "It shall be unlawful for any person to operate on the highways in the Commonwealth a motor vehicle equipped with a gutted muffler, muffler cutout, or straight exhaust."

Doesn't say anything is wrong with stacks per se.

Maybe you're a victim of diesel profiling; or the guys x-gf/wife is going out with a guy with a loud diesel and he's upset????

 

Joel,

Not looking good. As Chris said 46.2-1047 talks about straight pipes and 46.2-1049 talks about "Exhaust in good working order".

§ 46.2-1049. Exhaust system in good working order.

No person shall drive and no owner of a motor vehicle shall permit or allow the operation of any vehicle on a highway unless it is equipped with an exhaust system of a type installed as standard factory equipment, or comparable to that designed for use on the particular vehicle as standard factory equipment, in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise. An exhaust system shall not be deemed to prevent excessive or unusual noise if it permits the escape of noise in excess of that permitted by the standard factory equipment exhaust system of private passenger motor vehicles or trucks of standard make.

The term "exhaust system," as used in this section, means all the parts of a motor vehicle through which the exhaust passes after leaving the engine block.

Chambered pipes are not an effective muffling device to prevent excessive or unusual noise.

May have to see what the leagle beagles say.

 

Cool, I went in and printed that out. Looks like I need to go to court. It says to the side or rear of the property carrying compartment and I am definately to the rear.
Now, I just need to see if there is anything determining if a turbo is a muffling device. I would put a muffler on it if I had to but don't really want to.

 

Like the guy said above, what about the Little Red Express trucks.
Need to find a pic of one of those.

 

Barrett-Jackson has one right now coming up for sale in Scottsdale.
http://www.barrett-jackson.com/event....asp?id=178802

 

Joel, I'd fight it. A picture of that old Dodge wouldn't hurt. At least it shows an OEM example and establishes a precedence (however slight).

A muffler might not hurt either. You never know, the judge might want to go take a look at it (and listen to it) if you drove it there.

Its not un-heard of to run into an over-zealous LEO performing their "duties". My brother had a run-in with a DNR guy who gave him a ticket for excessive exhaust on his Cigerette. He had to take off a day off of work to go to court, but the judge threw out the case, apologised to my brother and reamed the officer publically for not following the authorized procedures to monitor vehicle noise. And that boat was LOUD.

Good luck, you've got the entire DTR crowd on your side.

 

Man, I would love to have that one for sure, 794 miles.

Anyway, I printed that and also talked to a friend at work who has had several run ins with overanxious troopers and inspection stations. I got the lead troopers name that inspects the inspection stations and may give him a call too.

Thanks for all the help.

 

First, do you still have the muffler and cat? If so, I'd fight it. VA may have a law saying it can't be modified, which is fine for cars. You have a truck, which is also subject to other Federal, commercial vehicle laws. So why should the exhaust be different? Do you run a commercial plate? The law isn't always black and white, it's subject to interpretation by the magistrate (or jury). You just have to get your point across to the magistrate. Heck you might even end up with a lazy one that doesn't want to deal with it and toss it.

 

Not according to my friend at work that has been in direct contact with Mr Fowler, the main inspection station lead guy.