I would tend to agree with that comment. The SubWoofer thing is a huge pet peeve of mine.

 

Now the music up so high that you can't even hear anyone, I can understand that is pretty ridiculous. In Indiana their is a noise ordinance and I have to tell ya I am glad too. I was going down the road one day and their was a guy in his car he almost ran me and my daughter off the road because he wasn't paying attention and didn't hear my horn over the music.

 

I've never had and problems with law enforcement and my exhaust, surprisingly. This is my second diesel in Va and both have been straight piped and the '04 is now stacked. I've been pulled over (Fauquier Co.) for window tint in the 3rd gen and they said nothing about the stacks. However they did give me a warning for the brushguard because it "covers" the headlamps. Even though the light is not obstrucked, made no sense to me, but what do I know. Going on 8 years in Va and my last three trucks has been set up the same, and this was the first time i've been pulled over in any of them. So I just pay the fine and move on, it will stay tinted because I sleep in there sometimes plus I often carry close to a quarter million dollars worth of equipment in the back seat. Not that thieves could do anything with it, i'd rather it not be seen. And they wonder why everone favors FF's over LE...

 

there is a code section in VA that states that if there is a safety violation they can take you plates. 46.2-1000 here's a quote

Any law-enforcement officer shall, when he observes any defect in a motor vehicle as described above, take possession of the registration card, license plates, and decals of any such vehicle and retain the same in his possession for a period of fifteen days unless the owner of the vehicle corrects the defects or obtains a new safety inspection sticker from an authorized safety inspection station. When the defect or defects are corrected as indicated above the registration card, license plates, and decals shall be returned to the owner.

 

RBM, how dark is your tint? I am not even going to try to take mine for inspection with 5% all around.

 

The back is factory, the only thing I had tinted was the driver and passenger side windows and they are at 20 percent. The dealership I frequent has always passed all of my past and present trucks with no static. To pass this last time all I had to do was put covers on the Hella's. And the cops never said anything about no covers on the off road lights when I was sited, just the actuall brush guards that extends out over the headlamps. I've already smacked one dear this year and yielded no damage because of the guards, without it i may have broken a headlamp. That would have been an insurance claim, which inturn is what raises rates. So nevertheless it will stay on. I just think things like this is just way to trivial to be hassled over with all the drug and gun running on I-95 that could be attened to...

 

I agree and some of the worst Cops I have ever met were from the same size towns.

 

Some of the worst McDonald's employee's come from small towns. But so do some of the best.

 

Thank You very much

 

Well there is the answer about getting a court order to remove the plates. I guess they were doing their job like they should have.

 

I think there are a host of other things that allows them to pull the plates also. Stuff like unpaid fines, unpaid taxes, and no proof of insurance. The VA DMV sends out random letters to folks asking for insurance proof and gives you a certain amount of time to respond,,, if you don't,,,, I believe they can pull the plates.
On the other hand, I'm sure that there are quite a few SP officers who live in that area, not to mention one of their sub-station headquarters is right there on Rt. 40. and sometimes all it takes is to do something (ie. goofy,, wrong,,, dumb,,, knew better than to do on the street,,, etc.) to draw attention to yourself. There used to be an officer in the area years ago that basically went out of his way to ticket anyone on two wheels. I must admit,,, nobody could accuse him of prejudice, because it didn't matter if you were white, black, young, old, on a chopper or a full dress Goldwing, he could usually find something to write a ticket for. Rumor was his daughter ran off with a dude on a bike or something I think,,
Point being,,,,, something or someone has caused attention to be drawn to diesel pick-ups in that area. Maybe someone,, (not necessarily your son's friend) has been ripping up and down the road in front of the officer's house while he was trying to get some sleep for the graveyard shift, or someone in the area is constantly complaining of loud diesels in their neighborhood.
Joel,
Look how long you have had your rig stacked and it wasn't till just recently that you, and then your son both got tickets. Mine has been straight-piped for the last 5 years and just like you, I've never raised the eyebrows of the law. How come all of a sudden,,, exhaust systems on diesel pick-ups have become such an item? (Don't have a clue,,,) We know how the law is written and it basically says "If it's not the way it came from the factory,,,, it is considered illegal" which means we don't have a leg to stand on if we get ticketed. It doesn't matter if Joe Cool's gasser has an aftermarket cat-back system and his Honda Civic has a six inch phart-pipe with a stereo that's shaking the chrome trim off,,,, Joe Cool wasn't on the radar screen that week,,,,, diesels with stacks or 5&6" chrome tips are.
Light touch on the GO pedal and keep a low profile,,,,,, Oh yeah,,,,, crossing your fingers wouldn't hurt either.

 

Ahhh, law enforcement...
Why is it that when we need them, LEOs, or when they help us, rescue us etc., etc., they are the greatest, yet when they are "hassling" us they are the enemy? On either occasion they are doing their job. Like in every profession some people can and do a better job and some do not. Cops, and I mean that for all varieties of all agencies, local, federal, are the same as us every day folks from every walk of life and from all kinds of towns and cities. And like all people some are nicer than others and some can even be outright nasty. Having said that, I believe that the best way to interact with then is to first of all be respectfull, even if not of the person whom you do not know, or even if you do, but of the authority and the responsability they cary. In these dangerous days we are all living in, they do put it on line day in day out, so give respect where it is due. It they make a mistake there is a rith time and place to dispute them, and it is not while they are doing what they think is right.

Now if I can just figure out why is it that they can and do speed with impunity?

 

It's like I said in an earlier post, if he did or we do something stupid, then we deserve to face the music. Maybe he did do something stupid, maybe not but he did have a muffler on the truck and I understand he was pulled for muffler violation. From what I understand, he was pulled because it was not a "factory" muffler.
I was pulled twice and neither time was I doing anything stupid like smoking, making excessive noise, or anything like that and neither was Joshua. He just saw the two pipes sticking up and figured that was an easy ticket. And on top of that, I took the truck to the state police barracks in Suffolk and had two different officers tell me my system was fine since it was a truck and that they didn't have any problems with it.
What aggravates me is that we get hassled for this kind of stuff and yet just this very evening on the news, an old man in Chesterfield was robbed and beaten in his own house and they stole both of his cars. This stuff happens every day. Now it seems they would be more interested in that kind of stuff than chasing trucks for minor violations. I may very well end up taking my stacks off if I get pulled again and I will tell you that the contributions that I now make to law enforcement every year will cease if so. Not that that makes any difference and call it childish if you want but I think our tax dollars could be better spent on protecting individuals lives. Of course, I'm just a dumb hillbilly that has some strange views too.

As Forrest would say, "that's all I'm gonna say bout that".

 

OK.

The cops (state or otherwise) CAN NOT remove plates for the offense mentioned. There had to be other circumstances involved.

In VA, the exhaust must be factory or comparable. That means if the muffler you put on meets the same decibel levels as the factory muffler, they can not ticket you for it...even if it is made by flowmaster !!!

Many cops think the law says factory and nothing else.

A guy I work with just went to court over his phartpipe muffler. He was stopped, and the cop told him it was illegal because it was not factory.

He went to court, and had all his documents with him, and won. His car is a Hyundai, and the exhaust is not loud at all.

Hyundai mufflers are made to meet CA standards, which I think is 85 db @ 20 ft. The muffler he had on was also made to meet this requirement. So, he and the judge reasoned that if both mufflers meet the 85 db @ 20 ft requirement, then the aftermarket muffler he had was exactly comparable to the factory muffler, and hence met the requirements of the law.

The ticket was thrown out, and the cop was slightly embarassed.

Personally, I think the rash of diesel exhaust tickets lately is from too many smoke shows.

On another note, also here in VA, if you can hear the radio more than 15 ft away from the car, it is loud enough to get a ticket.

 

Just tonight on our way back from supper and some overtime elevator repair, up from the rear comes four of the brightest lights I've seen in a long time. Right up over the tailgate of my 2500 4X2. Probably 6' away from my bumper at 45mph with blinding lights in all three of my mirrors. I was in the left lane to turn left at the next light so I wasn't in the mood to move out of "his" lane on "his" road so he could H/A and show off. So as soon as traffic allowed, he blows around us in his lifted PSD F-350 CC, cuts back over in front of us and gives us the black cloud. I guess if I were an off duty cop I'd have his number for the next time I wanted to "harrass" someone. You never know who's wife, mom, friend etc you might be p'ing off while you're being annoying as all *$%^ with your toy. I and hundreds of thousands of others like me will vote for any legislation that will curb being harrassed by people in their toys. I voted in favor of our noise ordinance concerning boom boxes too. It's becoming less boomy around here lately. Believe it or not, you can have a lifted 4X4 lit up chipped straight piped diesel pickup and never have a problem with the local LEO. It all depends on your attitude with it.