Hi Folks,

A cop pulled me over the other day. I have my orange (Amber) bumper lights replaced with the clear Diamond cut ones. So the cop told me that these are illegal and he said he will write a ticket to me and a one that stays on my recod. I told him that these are DOT approved - but he wouldnt listen to me. After lot of pleading he left me with a warning to remove them as soon as I reach home.

Gals/Guys, I need help - can someone tell me if they are legal (DOT Approved). I bought them from Custom Maxima. I searched the web for the DOT specifications but couldnt find more information - except that somewhere it mentions that the lamp should be Amber. Now my lights have tran sparent lens but amber bulb.

Can someone point me to the actual DOT specifications so that I can print it out and carry it with me?

More funny stuff to add to that.
I was driving peacefully and no mistakes what so ever but he still pulled me over. Looking at my modified maxima - he told me to open up the hood - he said, "What no NOS, no headers?"

Then he turned to my bumper lights and the above story started. I had my windows down - but dont know why he told me to roll up my windows and started, "Hey these look tinted and I'm gonna ticket you for that too". How strange.

Anyways I always respect Cops and appreciate what they do for the society - but I guess I came accross some one who probably didnt have his morning coffee and donut yet.

 

depending on the state, i think you are fine as long as you have orange light coming from them. take them ou of the bumper. they should say DOT or something on the plastic housing. if they do, bring that as evidence and fight the warning. not sure if they are DOT approved, though.

 

By law (in most states) you need orange reflectors in front and red in the rear.
The clear aftermarket lenses for our cars do not have any orange reflector in them.

Listen to your local law enforcement.

 

wow, as i was reading your story, it got me very frustrated and angrryy. I've had my clear bumper lights for more than a year, and never got pulled over ANNDD i also live in CA.

 

you need orange reflectors. and there is no way it can be on your record.

 

I couldn't find that data aswell but i do remember that the CE one's are DOT approved. I wouldn't worry, you just got one of those d!cks. There's plenty in New York. Believe me if he would have found "headers or nos" you would have gotten a speeding ticket!

 

dont we have orange reflectors beside thye headlight on our cars? and shouldn't that cover the orange reflector law?

 

was it late at night? i had a cop pull me over on my way to work at 4 am once because of my exhaust. saying that any after market exhaust is illegal. he just wanted to see if i was drunk. once i said i was on my way to work he simply said don't work too hard, nothing about the muffler.

 

Just make sure you have orange bulbs in them. That should satisy the law.

 

i recently found out that the cops in my town dont even use their radar/laser guns. my friend and i went and baught a $150 12 band radar detector that detects lasers and radar...then we probably drove by about 10 cops (no idea why there were so many out lol) and all the cops out of my town the thing beeped and warned us for. then once in my town we drove by about 3 or 4 cops and it didnt beep at all.

maybe that explains my "45 in a 30" ticket i got the end of last summer when i was watchin the speedo the whole time and didnt break 40...got me cause of my loud music i swear. cops in my town got nothin better to do but bust kids *****. it sucks. theres no crime whatsoever. ahhh pisses me off. (the cops bustin kids *****, not the no crime)

 

It wasn't night - in fact it was early in the morning on Sunday and I guess like what dabooki says, the cope just wanted to make a check on me and see if I had some illegal stuff.

Because I saw that the cop was behind me so there was no way for him to see my front bumper lights before stopping me. Same for the tint on my front windows as my windows were rolled down.

But still would appreciate if any of you have a link to the DOT specifications on the clear bumper lights.

Also answer to jos - yea I have Orange bulbs in them.

 

wow, so a cop in fremont told you this?

**** him ... i've read in the DMV handbook where it says the front blinkres hve to be orange or white ... same goes w/ the lens.

Tell him to look for the new lexus SUVs and ticket them.

btw, i live in SJ, commute to mipitas / fremont daily & never had this issue.

 

Just put the orange bulbs on ur car and u should be str8.

 

He was just checkin your ride. Bet he liked it, and he didn't want to look stupid asking you to show it to him, so he took the jerk approach instead and looked for "illegal" stuff.

 

probably just some underpaid pig looking for some action and too bad he ran into you! i cussed out a cop for tryin to give me the same **** and told his *** to stick his big head right on my bumper coz it says "DOT approved" on my clear/smoked bumper lights..fawk em!

 

The cloudy clears say DOT, but in reality if you dont have the correct color relfectors its illigal. The DC's are not even a reflector at all. One of my 1st mods was installing the stock amber lights. I never liked the clears on a black car, but they look rather nice on say Ruby Pearl.

 

you dont even like the smoked clears on black cars?

 

Hey guys, last week I got pulled over AND GOT A TICKET for the clear bumper lights, $70.00. I amdefinitly gonna fight the ticket; I'm just so bumbed about it and trying to figure out a way to make these clear bumper lights legal (i.e. openning up the clear lens and installing the amber reflector I took out from rear taillights when converting to red/clear taillights. ... Sometimes I hate cops, sometimes (when they pull me over).

 

dont the jettas have clear side markers as well?

 

two words, INSTANT ON.

 

How did that work out?

 

I had our SRO (J Hicks) pull me over at school because "the car did not look like it belonged there" he told me he thought I was a drug dealer!!

 

Damn, that cop played you, here in Tucson, they only pull you over if you are speeding, they don't even care about mods.

 

What? That Fremont cop was too ****. They should have something more important. They should bust those "boom" cars (turning on subwoofers and crusing in residential zones).

Try to search CA DMV's web site and get the vehicle code. The code should state clearly. Mostlikely it's the cop's BS.

By law, the cop has no rights to serach your vehicle unless he/she has a warrant.

 

Well I got a ticket the other night for not wearing a seat belt and he didnt mention anything about my clear tails or anything. The lights are amber so I never thought it would be a problem.

 

DOT approved = legal IF your state doesnt say otherwise.

 

I usually respect the law as I've never been given a hard time, except when I didn't want to stop for the Click It or Ticket thing in the middle of the road with cones. I would say in this case the police officer is totally incorrect, even in Calif.

"Incorrect color of turn signal. It must be white or yellow to the front, red or yellow to the rear (24953 VC). "

That tells me the color of the signal is what matters, not the lense. C'mon now, Kias have clear lenses with amber bulbs. It's not like a rarity.

http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/streetlegal.html

 

coz where im from,cops aint really got much to do so they pull ppl over for no such reason just to either check up on you or get some action..i guess i got used to it since they've been doin it to me since i was back in high school so i've had it where i got to the point when i didnt give a **** anymore but to talk back..plus, my step bro. is a cop "supervisor" so if they try to pull something stupid on me or give me a bull5h1t ticket i just show my step bro. the ticket and he handles them. As long as you know that you're right or doing the right thing you aint got nothing to be afraid of!

 

so basically you have the bad *** attitude cuz your brother will get you out of it. Their doing their job show some damn respect.

 

Wow..dont wanna mess with you

 

i mean seriously if they have an attitude its because they deal with people like you ALL DAY LONG drty.......grow UP. God i hate people that slam cops and **** like that.

 

yes, i do have a bad attitude and i know it..but, only to the ones that throws a bad attitude towards me,im not gonna sit there and their **** and for your information i do respect the law..my real dad was a cop,most of uncles are swat, i been surrounded by cops all my life so dont tell me that i need to grow up and yes, i know that they do deal with ppl like me all day but some ppl like me are reasonable with certan situations... some cops are just plain a55hole5 and they take advantage of it coz they got that badge and they know that they got the power to give you a ticket or take you in jail for no reason and if u have a problem about how i see things towards cops then i say u can kiss my ***...

 

99.9% of my familly is cops and if yours is too than i feel truely sorry for them. Personally i say your full of **** because anyone with signifigant law in their familly would tell you to stfu and grow up. Respect to cops itsnt coming on the internet and posting the crap you post and intentionally passing the language filter in hopes people will think your cool.

 

Hey Hey Guys,
We're going off topic. Let's not discuss about cops. They too are human and humans can be bad or good in varying degrees. Even after this incident, my respect and love for cops remain the same.

OK Coming back to the topic, first of all thanks to Frank for the useful link - http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/streetlegal.html - I am going to print that page and carry it in my car. Also, when I checked the clear bumper lens on my car, there was some kind of a code written on it - KS-DS 509 SAE AP2 92DOT - and I guess that says it all.

 

tell the cop to grab a beer if he is that bored.

 

well, woopty effing doo!! good for you, so freakin what if your family and dogs,cats are cops? it dont mean **** to me. hell,i can careless if yall got yall own police academy still doesnt change how i see things and if u think im full of **** that's your own opinion, i aint gotta prove you shiet. i cant tell you what to believe or not..still, you can kiss my ***..

 

and

 

Wow. And if you get pulled over so much then get some fop cards from your brother so you dont get all those tickets then?

 

Ok im done, its like talking to a wall. Grow up

 

i guess i was wrong. here's the link to the CA DMV http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d12/vc24953.htm

and cops dont need a warrant to search your car. they just need "reasonable doubt".