Has anyone ever had a ticket for tinted tail lights? My wife got one today. My understanding is that lights have to be visible from 300 feet away...and my wifes are. How do I battle this out in court?
Park the car 300 ft away from the courthouse and tell the judge to look outside? :rofl: jkjk This is a simple fix it ticket so if you dont want to pay the fine, you can plead not guilty (i think) and on the rescheduled court date, either 1. the Officer will not show up, or 2. he shows up and he will explain to the judge why he thought the tail lights were not acceptable. Im not sure if the same rules apply to all counties, but i know in some states, any obstruction of the tail lights, or head lights is illegal. You can probably take a a few pictures of your car with the tint on it from a distance away and close up, while holding the breaks. and let the judge do the judging. im not sure how they will deal with these tickets though. they seem to get annoyed by the little things.
Its Cobb County Police that wrote the ticket. Same officer that gave my wife a speeding ticket when she was in labor trying to get to the hospital. Douche didn't even offer her medical help or anything. I think I will take day and night pictures of the tail lights from up close and a distance. Good idea
You're changing the visibility of the taillamps therefore it does not meet SAE/DOT requirement. No offense but I'm glad LEO's are paying enough attention to this and writing citations. I wish they paid more attention to the a-holes that install HIDs in halogen reflector housings. Think of this way. If I were to rearend you/and or your wife. By law, I could sue you (the end consumer), the retailer (Advance Auto, AutoZone, etc) and the manufacturer. Trust me on this one, my previous job was being a project manager for a lamp supplier for a dozen different large auto manufacturers (Ford, Dodge, GM, Subaru, etc.) and fully aware of the SAE/DOT requirements; check out FMVSS 108
GA law says visible from 300 ft. My wifes are visible from well over 300 feet. I'm on the same boat as you are with pitch black tail lights that you can't tell if the brakes are on or not...however this is defiantly not the case with my wifes car. They have a minor tint to them, and are very visible.
Doesn't matter. If the judge wants to push it all that matters is that ANY modification of the signals, headlights, and tail lights is a federal offense.