fix up ticket, front tint. give me a break!

[Jacobzky]

for the first time in 10 yrs of driving and 7 years of driving this car with the front tint, i got pulled over and the cop said my tint is too dark. i guess i just got lucky. ive been driving with this car, drving next to a police car on a stop light hundreds of times and never ever got pulled over just because my tint is "dark" but its not. just looks it dark because the body paint is red.

this is the first time ever i got pulled over in 10 yrs of driving in CA. though i told myself "at least its not a traffic violation"

ok, of course they want it out, but is there anything i can do to keep my tint? and take care of the ticket?

oh and by the way, he even said that the Rosary hanging on my rear view mirror is "obstruction of view"

 

[sketch1]

Yes, things hanging from your mirror can be viewed as obstruction of vision, but most police officers generally don't care about it... Sounds like you just got pulled over by a cop having a bad night.

Anyway, regarding your tint, if it truly just looks dark there is nothing wrong with it legally. I don't know the rules where you live but generally a percentage is used to state what amount of tint is legal. Where I am its 25%, which means that 25% of visible light is allowed to pass through the tint. I had 5% on my mustang for 4 years and never once had an issue with it. You might just want to speak to whomever tinted it and see what percentage of tint was used.

 

[HiVel-JR]

I would not lose any sleep over it, it is an easy fix, Jacobzky has it right... check the percentage of the tent.

As for the cop, he was probably picked on in his high school days by some dude that had a truck like yours and now he is taking his anger issues out on you, the populas as well as christians. lol

 

[RonMAIDEN]

If it's tint on the front windshield California traffic Nazi rules can be hard to get around but I'd just pay the fine and maybe it'll be another 10 years before you get pulled over again.

 

[tomhaney1]

for the first time in 10 yrs of driving and 7 years of driving this car with the front tint, i got pulled over and the cop said my tint is too dark. i guess i just got lucky. ive been driving with this car, drving next to a police car on a stop light hundreds of times and never ever got pulled over just because my tint is "dark" but its not. just looks it dark because the body paint is red.

this is the first time ever i got pulled over in 10 yrs of driving in CA. though i told myself "at least its not a traffic violation"

ok, of course they want it out, but is there anything i can do to keep my tint? and take care of the ticket?

oh and by the way, he even said that the Rosary hanging on my rear view mirror is "obstruction of view"

What a dick! Check the percentage of the tint with the state law. If it is within the law you shouldn't have to do anything. If it is above the legal limit you may be screwed unless it was installed prior to the current law. Some laws are retroactive, some aren't. Just like they can't make cars before 1975 or whatever have shoulder belts but new vehicle are required to have them.

 

[Mark86]

It seems like this cop was looking for a ticket after a slow day. That is a bummer. You could always just roll down your windows whenever a cop pulls up next to you!

 

[trdcorolla]

If it's tint on the front windshield California traffic Nazi rules can be hard to get around but I'd just pay the fine and maybe it'll be another 10 years before you get pulled over again.

That's what my sister did a few months ago!

 

[Jacobzky]

i decided to get the tint out and be done with it. pay the fine and then install new tint.
the cop may have need a quick one to fill up his quota for the month, and i got lucky to be the first car he saw.

 

[broncosi]

i decided to get the tint out and be done with it. pay the fine and then install new tint.
the cop may have need a quick one to fill up his quota for the month, and i got lucky to be the first car he saw.

this is a myth, cops do not have quota that they have to fill or any of that nonsense.

you have a couple of options, you can remove the tint which i guess you already did and pursuede the judge to drop the ticket, which is what we do here and then get it retinted. Or you could have left the tint on and for proof that you had it removed go and get an inspection that will pass you with illegal tint.

Some a**hole cops here will rip your tint off on the spot if they've had a bad enough day.

Cops are pretty cool about it around here, ive got 5% over 20% all the way around my 4runner and 22's going on this weekend, and ive never been stopped except for speeding. However if i do see a policeman driving real slow and if its late at night and they look bored or look like their trying to pull someone over for anything they can, then i will roll my windows down.

 

[cpguy33]

According to California Vehicle Code (26708-d) the front windows directly to the left and right side if the driver can only be tinted with a clear, colorless, and transparent material with a minimum visual light transmittance of 88 percent. And you must have a certificate in your possession, or in the vehicle, signed by the installing company certifying the material installed.

So basically your front tint is clear. If it looks black or dark then it is probably illegal.

The rosary hanging from the rear view mirror is also illegeal according to this same vehicle code (26708-a).

Usually cops don't pull you over for window tint, but I have had a couple friends pulled over and ticketed, sometimes the cops actually ripped off the tint.

Front window tint and not having a front licence plate are two examples of things that are illegal that cops usually don't pull you over for, but sometimes they do. They usually give you a "fix-it" ticket where you have to fix it and prove it to the judge, AND pay the fine.

 

[Jacobzky]

i havent got the tint off, i need a warmer day and its been cold out here in So Cal.
what if i have a neighbor who is a police, can he sign my ticket off? without getting rid of the tint. you know, talk to him about it. an acquaintance at work told me, they never check the car whether the tint is gone or not.

 

[xUSNavy]

i havent got the tint off, i need a warmer day and its been cold out here in So Cal.
what if i have a neighbor who is a police, can he sign my ticket off? without getting rid of the tint. you know, talk to him about it. an acquaintance at work told me, they never check the car whether the tint is gone or not.

Yes, any law officer can sign the ticket off. When I got a fix-it ticket for illegal colored tail lights, I had them corrected and went to the police station to have it signed off. The admin working the front desk came out and checked my tail lights and then signed off the ticket. She wasn't a police officer, but she had the authority to sign tickets since she worked at the police station.

My other friend was ticketed for illegal tint. Instead of removing it, he swapped license plates with another friend who had the exact same make and model vehicle. He brought in his friend's car which had no tint and the police officer signed it off! The officer didn't even bother checking the plates or VIN.

 

[broncosi]

yep, i second everything xUSNAVY just said, i got a ticket for not having my car inspected because i was in college in wilmington and the car is registered in raleigh and so i went home that weekend got it taken care of, went back to school the next week and showed the cop, he was campus police and he signed off and said dont bother going to court, he wouldnt show up either and it was dropped.