At least where I live, seat belts can’t be a primary reason to stop, but they can tack it on if they notice it while stopped.
This just means they pull you over and give some bullshit excuse about “unsafe driving” and write the ticket anyway. And unless you have dash camera with 360 views, good luck fighting it.
Only break One law at a time. If you’re carrying, you obey every traffic law and don’t scoot one bit over the speed limit. Incidentally, check all your lights before pulling out of your spot. Many a bag has been confiscated over a busted light.
Incidentally, check all your lights before pulling out of your spot. Many a bag has been confiscated over a busted light.
Even that’s not foolproof. My wife and I were once pulled over in her car while driving home late at night from an out-of-state event, by some podunk South Carolina cop for having a light that “wasn’t as bright as it should be.” Spoiler alert: there wasn’t a damn thing wrong with it.
Because I (a white guy) was in the car with her, nothing happened and we were shortly sent on our way, but part of me wonders if that would’ve been the case if she (a black woman) had been alone.
I’m having to drive another person’s vehicle temporarily and they have the brightest fucking lights ever and I feel like the biggest douchebag driving it. I hate being my own worst enemy on dark roads.
Halogens sometimes dim over time, so if you still have the original headlight bulbs, you might consider replacing them. I just replaced the bulbs in our 2014 vehicle for that reason, and the new ones are a bit brighter. But, I agree with your points in general.
Most of the LEDs that are a problem for me are the aftermarket ones. I don’t usually have an issue with the ones that are on cars designed for them, fortunately.
The problem for me is it’s so much of a hassle to get to the bulb that it’s not worth it unless they actually go out. You practically have to take the engine out to get to the headlines.
Yeah, some cars are real bears. The ones in mine aren’t bad, though our pickup does have a latch you have to unlock from the wheel well (Youtube helped there). But I know some older Mazdas, for example, required removing the bumper cover and other things to get to the bulbs. Yikes.
I miss my Nissan. Two plastic knobs, pop the light housing out, twist the bulb out, and then reverse it all and you’re done.
My current vehicle I need take off the radiator so I can get to the bolts holding the radiator support bar, which because of hoses and clearances I have to drain the radiator and refill every time.
Then I can access the bolts that hold the light housing support in, left one is fine but the right requires me to remove the wheel to access. Then I can take the support/housing combo out, remove the housing from the support, and finally remove the light bulb.
Rear lights I have to remove the truck bed liner and then the housings are held in by 2 10mm bolts. Easier, but still a small hassle solo.
I honestly think I would start laughing if a cop said “I pulled you over because your light isn’t as bright as it should be” because I can’t take that seriously. If a kerosene lamp light is bright enough, almost any incandescent light is more than adequate. And I know they aren’t pulling over the Amish around here for dim lights, just DWI. Granted, I am not in south Carolina more than a decade ago.
Clearly just some fuck who saw the plates and thought “it’s free money”, and I think we both know how it would have played out if you were not there…
I once got pulled over because my “driver’s side tires touched the center line around that corner.” But I kept my mouth shut because I had just passed a speed limit sign without having completely slowed down so I was technically still doing 30mph over the limit when I got pulled over. Pretty sure the cop knew that and just didn’t want to ticket me. It was 1AM so I’m pretty sure he was just fishing for drunks so when he found out I wasn’t drunk and that I’m white he just let me go.
It’s such bullshit they get the benefit of the doubt because: Am PoLiCe MaN.
I just passed under a light and it must have just changed to red as I passed under it because it 100% was yellow the whole time I could see it. I noticed the cop in the parking lot on one of the corners of the intersection start to move. He pulls out and pulls me over, I fight the ticket, and in court this mother fucker says “I (the cop) was sitting at the intersection and my light was green for almost 10 seconds when they (me) ran the red light.” …in the intersection and the parking lot at the same time. We have quantum police apparently.
Pro tip: most American stoplights are roughly 1 second for every 10mph. Speed limit 60? When the light turns yellow you have roughly 6 seconds before it turns red. If you can’t clear the entire intersection, stop. Still not foolproof as plenty of places can pull over a yellow runner, and you could still get pulled over by one just because they feel like it.
They can, will, and do lie outright whenever they think they’ll get away with it.
Dash cameras have gotten me out of several tickets, because as soon as I inform the bastard that pulled me over I know exactly how it happened thanks to my dash camera, suddenly their ticket became a “well you know what you did, I’ll let you off with a warning this time”
At least where I live, seat belts can’t be a primary reason to stop, but they can tack it on if they notice it while stopped.
This just means they pull you over and give some bullshit excuse about “unsafe driving” and write the ticket anyway. And unless you have dash camera with 360 views, good luck fighting it.
Only break One law at a time. If you’re carrying, you obey every traffic law and don’t scoot one bit over the speed limit. Incidentally, check all your lights before pulling out of your spot. Many a bag has been confiscated over a busted light.
Even that’s not foolproof. My wife and I were once pulled over in her car while driving home late at night from an out-of-state event, by some podunk South Carolina cop for having a light that “wasn’t as bright as it should be.” Spoiler alert: there wasn’t a damn thing wrong with it.
Because I (a white guy) was in the car with her, nothing happened and we were shortly sent on our way, but part of me wonders if that would’ve been the case if she (a black woman) had been alone.
Too many people are getting these ultra bright LED lights that shine with the intensity of a thousand supernova.
I’m sorry but my 2012 car has an incandescent bulb which is still perfectly safe even if it cannot illuminate the next two hundred miles of road.
This happened a decade+ ago, before LED taillights were a thing. There wasn’t even that BS excuse!
I’m having to drive another person’s vehicle temporarily and they have the brightest fucking lights ever and I feel like the biggest douchebag driving it. I hate being my own worst enemy on dark roads.
Halogens sometimes dim over time, so if you still have the original headlight bulbs, you might consider replacing them. I just replaced the bulbs in our 2014 vehicle for that reason, and the new ones are a bit brighter. But, I agree with your points in general.
Most of the LEDs that are a problem for me are the aftermarket ones. I don’t usually have an issue with the ones that are on cars designed for them, fortunately.
The problem for me is it’s so much of a hassle to get to the bulb that it’s not worth it unless they actually go out. You practically have to take the engine out to get to the headlines.
Yeah, some cars are real bears. The ones in mine aren’t bad, though our pickup does have a latch you have to unlock from the wheel well (Youtube helped there). But I know some older Mazdas, for example, required removing the bumper cover and other things to get to the bulbs. Yikes.
I miss my Nissan. Two plastic knobs, pop the light housing out, twist the bulb out, and then reverse it all and you’re done.
My current vehicle I need take off the radiator so I can get to the bolts holding the radiator support bar, which because of hoses and clearances I have to drain the radiator and refill every time.
Then I can access the bolts that hold the light housing support in, left one is fine but the right requires me to remove the wheel to access. Then I can take the support/housing combo out, remove the housing from the support, and finally remove the light bulb.
Rear lights I have to remove the truck bed liner and then the housings are held in by 2 10mm bolts. Easier, but still a small hassle solo.
I honestly think I would start laughing if a cop said “I pulled you over because your light isn’t as bright as it should be” because I can’t take that seriously. If a kerosene lamp light is bright enough, almost any incandescent light is more than adequate. And I know they aren’t pulling over the Amish around here for dim lights, just DWI. Granted, I am not in south Carolina more than a decade ago.
Clearly just some fuck who saw the plates and thought “it’s free money”, and I think we both know how it would have played out if you were not there…
I once got pulled over because my “driver’s side tires touched the center line around that corner.” But I kept my mouth shut because I had just passed a speed limit sign without having completely slowed down so I was technically still doing 30mph over the limit when I got pulled over. Pretty sure the cop knew that and just didn’t want to ticket me. It was 1AM so I’m pretty sure he was just fishing for drunks so when he found out I wasn’t drunk
and that I’m whitehe just let me go.It’s such bullshit they get the benefit of the doubt because: Am PoLiCe MaN.
I just passed under a light and it must have just changed to red as I passed under it because it 100% was yellow the whole time I could see it. I noticed the cop in the parking lot on one of the corners of the intersection start to move. He pulls out and pulls me over, I fight the ticket, and in court this mother fucker says “I (the cop) was sitting at the intersection and my light was green for almost 10 seconds when they (me) ran the red light.” …in the intersection and the parking lot at the same time. We have quantum police apparently.
Fuck that pig…
Pro tip: most American stoplights are roughly 1 second for every 10mph. Speed limit 60? When the light turns yellow you have roughly 6 seconds before it turns red. If you can’t clear the entire intersection, stop. Still not foolproof as plenty of places can pull over a yellow runner, and you could still get pulled over by one just because they feel like it.
They can, will, and do lie outright whenever they think they’ll get away with it.
Dash cameras have gotten me out of several tickets, because as soon as I inform the bastard that pulled me over I know exactly how it happened thanks to my dash camera, suddenly their ticket became a “well you know what you did, I’ll let you off with a warning this time”