very pricey ticket...

[kaminaricelica7]

I have blue LED lights in place of my parking lights...the story went as follows:

Okay so I leave work around 8:00pm and head to my buddies garage to drop off some parts for my truck. I am going through an intersection, cruising about 10 under the speed limit cause of the car infront of me. This cop wheels around the corner, and immediately turns his lights on. I pull over almost immediately since there is no 'safer' place to pull off at.

He comes up to my car and the first thing he says is "Is there a reason why you have blue accessory lighting on your car?" I say, no not really, I just purchased replacement bulbs for my burnt out one and and I chose the blue ones. "Well you know those are illegal in the state of PA right?" I say no, and follow by saying that the last two cops I have encountered thought they were nice, so where is the real standard of conduct here?"

He says, " I dont know why they didn't ticket it you but can you turn them off?".....no. "So your telling me that those are on all the time when the vehicle is in operation?!"....yes sir. "Oh! Well that isn't going to work for me. I will be back in a moment."

He walks away, I swear like 35-40 minutes go past, cause I counted. He finally came back. In the mean time, another cop car wheels in behind him and he hops in the same car to most likely help him find a law I might actually be breaking...that took them 40 minutes with two cops, pretty sad. What they came up with is this:

"(2) Operate, or cause or permit another person to
operate, on any highway in this Commonwealth any vehicle or
combination which is not equipped as required under this part
or under department regulations or when the driver is in
violation of department regulations or the vehicle or
combination is otherwise in an unsafe condition or in
violation of department regulations.
"

My argument would be that I was unaware that these were illegal. They were made for my car, so I purchased and installed them. I have removed them and replaced them with new OEM bulbs and I show you if you would like... OR...The headlights still have the blue bulbs installed but they are disconnected and are not on unless I plug them in while parked. My mom said she has taken a ticket the police station with proof of correction and they have ripped up the ticket.

Do you think it is worth a try? The tickets totaled $109, and if anyone has any thoughts please give input. I plan on heading to the police station tomorrow to see if I can negotiate something before I 'waste his time' in court. I plan on fighting it. Thanks!!

[kaminaricelica7]

forgot to mention that I pass cops ALL! the time waiting to pull people over, none have ever pulled me over. I got pulled for a minor speeding violation, 8 over, and the cop complimented them and said he drives an Evo and likes how the car looked. He gave me a warning for the speeding.

I got pulled for the lights once at school, received a warning, and I removed them. Then reinstalled them once I got back home sicne I have never had a problem. My school cops are overpopulated in such a small town and have nothing to do......

[Salincer]

You should have just popped the hood, and took them out :S. And give them to him lol... Worth a shot?

[h8eternal]

fight it
that statute is confusing but i think it refers to adding extra lights. those lights are OEM although the bulbs are replacements. i say fight the ticket. its worth a shot. and get some nice white 6000k like leds instead.

[IPD84]

Ive heard that in the state of NY if a police officer pulls you over and holds you for more than TWENTY minutes, by law he has to let you go.

You might want to check if PA has a similar law and bring up in court the time you got pulled over until the time the ticket was issued.

[lamboceliGTS]

Sigh cops are tight for money.

They pull someone over for a minor traffic violation and call their mom up in excitment.

[lamboceliGTS]

Ive heard that in the state of NY if a police officer pulls you over and holds you for more than TWENTY minutes, by law he has to let you go.

hahaha yeah right.

Whoever told you that should never give legal advice again.

[IPD84]

^^Dude did you even research before replying to me?

http://dwi-nyc.com/ny-police-dwi-mistakes.html

The fifth paragraph. Yes its talking about DWI, but most of the laws apply to many scenarios, and Ive been told by a NYPD officer that the limit is TWENTY minutes. I HEARD about this having a conversation and did a quick google check and that link came up.

He told me about this since I had a lot of trouble getting pulled over in my supra because of my exhaust and how one cop took FOREVER to write me up. He then told me about that.

I dunno about PA but 40 minutes is a long time. I just recomend he checks if there is something similar like that in his state.

[Bitter]

did the bulbs say 'for offroad use only' on the package? theres a reason why. plenty of illegal things are sold in stores. if you shoot someone 'but they sell guns!' is not a valid defense.

[Mido]

if you shoot someone 'but they sell guns!' is not a valid defense.
x2, very well said, Kaminaricelica7, if you honestly didn't know they were illegal, you should have held on that that phrase and tell him sir, i didn't know this, and i have not been warned about this before, but .. if you did know they were illegal, then that's a difference story.. lol

[lamboceliGTS]

^^Dude did you even research before replying to me?

http://dwi-nyc.com/ny-police-dwi-mistakes.html

The fifth paragraph. Yes its talking about DWI, but most of the laws apply to many scenarios, and Ive been told by a NYPD officer that the limit is TWENTY minutes. I HEARD about this having a conversation and did a quick google check and that link came up.

Nothing was referenced in there about that. And you can't go by what an officer says because it varies by the discression of the officer.

I've been told by a trooper they wont pull you over if you travel below 74 on the thruway, is this true no. But it was one reference that specific trooper used.

So no they can take their sweet time writing a ticket. The average is around 30-40 I would guess.

[Pool Playen Bob]

then they would have said you need to know your law. anything thats blue on our cars here under or around that involves some kind of lights is gonna get you pulled over. thats a firefigher light thingy. im suprised they didn't throw that atcha.

[ateens4]

holy cow, ima take mine off right now. well ill replace the parking lights to super white led but ill always keep my front parking lights led blue. it will be harder for cops to see since they can only ticket only if following behind me and see the blue license plate lights.

[IPD84]

Nothing was referenced in there about that. And you can't go by what an officer says because it varies by the discression of the officer.

I've been told by a trooper they wont pull you over if you travel below 74 on the thruway, is this true no. But it was one reference that specific trooper used.

So no they can take their sweet time writing a ticket. The average is around 30-40 I would guess.

Here is the copy and pasted part from the link in case you missed it.

"Detaining a driver longer than is reasonable to investigate. The Constitution does not allow officers to hold you without limit. It is an illegal seizure."

Your 125% right about the discression though. I cant agree with you more on that one.

My understanding is that a police officer can not pull you over without having a reason. He has to know and witness you break a certain law to be able to pull you over. If the officier pulls you over and takes 40 minutes to give you a ticket, it shows the judge that he did not know which law precisely the driver broke. He also cant pull you over if he "thinks" you broke a certain law. It seems like the cop knew he broke a law but didnt know what section or code or whatever it was that the OP broke.

In the OPs case, he did have a reason to pull him over, granted. But he didn't know how to write off the ticket it seems.

Im no legal expert though, nor I attended law school. As a fellow forum member I just want to throw that idea to help you save a hundred bucks. Does no harm to research it before you fight it. It might be true! Or my understanding is wrong and its bogus. Doesnt hurt though.

But the fact remains that blue parking lights are illegal and you were ticketed for having them. I hope you get it dismissed though, change the lights to something white and prevent it from happening again. Sorry, and GL!

[Kangaruu]

What kind of ticket is it?

I had blue parking lights in the front before and I only receive a fix-it ticket.

Went to the police station, had an officer there come and see that I've corrected the violation, the officer signs off the ticket, and I pay the fee which is like around $20 or something and that's all.

Kind of weird how your ticket is $109. But I'm in California so laws may be different :shrugs:

[kaminaricelica7]

I assume it is a full citation. he probally saw I already had a warning for them back in April while at school and found it to be a good time to make some revenue.

I plan on running by today to see if I can show proof of removal/fixed and maybe negotiate a lower fee. I will be glad to pay $50 for this, but not $100+...I will just explain that we can work something out now, or I will schedule a court date and waste more of your time having to appear in court to accheive the same thing.

[kaminaricelica7]

fight it
that statute is confusing but i think it refers to adding extra lights. those lights are OEM although the bulbs are replacements. i say fight the ticket. its worth a shot. and get some nice white 6000k like leds instead.Yea, I am thinking about getting some super white LED with a nice color temperature. But I agree. My argument if it goes to court is that my old bulbs burnt out, I went online and found direct replacement bulbs and they had your choice of color. I chose blue. No where on the packaging did it say for offroad use only. The headlights or wiring has not been modified. This is simply a replacement bulb.

[03GTSTRD]

I hope you get the ticket dropped man. I have been running PIAA super plazma bulbs for 3 years with no problems yet. They are not very noticeable with the HID's on though.

[kaminaricelica7]

are they blue in color? its not that i want it dropped, to be honest, I have been warned once. its the fact that not EVERY cop cares about it that pisses me off. if he cuts the ticket in half I would be more than happy with that i suppose.

edit: i have had these blue bulbs for over 3 years...i got pegged twice in two months suddenly. WTF!

[kaminaricelica7]

must be the louder exhaust. that is all that has changed haha

[03GTSTRD]

are they blue in color? its not that i want it dropped, to be honest, I have been warned once. its the fact that not EVERY cop cares about it that pisses me off. if he cuts the ticket in half I would be more than happy with that i suppose.

edit: i have had these blue bulbs for over 3 years...i got pegged twice in two months suddenly. WTF!

Here is a picture of them. They are not as blue as they look in the picture:
http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/1271/tiebar017.jpg

These are also an option. These are supposed to be for the tag lights but I used them as back up lights. They are the white LED bulbs from LEDMOD:
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/5024/ledbackuplights008.jpg

[kaminaricelica7]

no mine are SUPER bright. you can see the blue light casting on the side of the road. but from head on, they are not visible cause of the rest of the light emmitted overpowers the blue, only until your beside me can u see them. thats why he pulled me over after I passed him and didnt turn his lights on prior to that.

[kaminaricelica7]

okay...just got back from the district office. the judge was super nice and understanding, he dismissed the entire ticket.

The officer was still pretty lame.

CASE CLOSED :)

[johnnyGTA]

nice

[miswhite]

any blue or red lights on a car or truck is against the law. they represent emergency rides.

[vtjkychan]

^ yup, we are only to use white and amber for the front and red/amber/white for the back... no exception =/

[Illusive]

any blue or red lights on a car or truck is against the law. they represent emergency rides.

which is rather ironc because the human eye is most sensative to blue light.

in otherwords headlamps illuminated by blue light appear to be brighter and provide better visibility over amber or white simply because our eye can detect it better.

[Bitter]

which is rather ironc because the human eye is most sensative to blue light.

in otherwords headlamps illuminated by blue light appear to be brighter and provide better visibility over amber or white simply because our eye can detect it better.

which is why they're reserved for emergency vehicles, so its not 'ironic' one bit.

[Illusive]

which is why they're reserved for emergency vehicles, so its not 'ironic' one bit.

the ironic part, which I dont think you realize, is that there are far more civilian non emergency vehicles on the road, and they would benefit more from increased night vision.

The flashing of the lights and loud sirens are enough to take notice of said emergency vehicles. They could flash yellow and red and people would still take note of it.

Irony comes in many forms. :wiggle:

[hapa77]

got a pic of them on KAminari.?

[Klint]

congradulations!

[ShadowLink13]

I always thought as long as they were white when looking straight at the lights they were legal.. here in florida ive seen yellow blue pink purple.. and mine were green

[Iwritetickets]

I know this is old but I thought I'd shed some light on this.

quote=kaminaricelica7;4735926]"(2) Operate, or cause or permit another person to
operate, on any highway in this Commonwealth any vehicle or
combination which is not equipped as required under this part
or under department regulations or when the driver is in
violation of department regulations or the vehicle or
combination is otherwise in an unsafe condition or in
violation of department regulations.[/quote]

They went near the end of the vehicle to charge that.
This right here is bull****. Yea they are illegal but he could've let that go with a warning.

He walks away, I swear like 35-40 minutes go past, cause I counted. He finally came back. In the mean time, another cop car wheels in behind him and he hops in the same car to most likely help him find a law I might actually be breaking...that took them 40 minutes with two cops, pretty sad. What they came up with is this:

SHould've bought the shortguide or made a violation cheatsheet. Also I read something where someone used the term procedure. There is no procedure for ticketing someone, its at our discretion.

[Sty09]

Was it a PA state trooper? They are gigantic *******s who love to ticket people for victimless crimes.

[Iwritetickets]

He said Pittsburgh PD. State Troopers in PA have all of the highways so they are gonna ticket you. Thats how they get their stats unless they are in a Troop that actually have a patrol area which most don't.

[Zero]

I know this is a year old thread, but how did you NOT know blue lights were illegal, Johnny? A common reply to anything concerning blue or red lights in the front of a vehicle (blue for the rear) would be legality.

Is there any state that allows the impersonation of an emergency vehicle, i.e. blue or red lights?

[ateens4]

the only blue lights i knew that were illegal were neon lights. I didnt think parking lights would be a problem.

[Zero]

I didnt think parking lights would be a problem. ANY Blue or red lights (red lights in the front are illegal) are considered illegal and only emergency vehicles are permitted to have them. Have these colored lights on is impersonating an emergency vehicle.

I think they added green to the list too. What for, the border patrol?

[Iwritetickets]

For nothing. DOT standards say that light should ONLY be red, white and amber. Blue and Red lights are for emergency vehicles only and thats on a light other than the headlights, parking lights taillights. They are their own separate light. You tell me where u seen an emergency vehicle with blue and red headlights and he's in violation too.

[Iwritetickets]

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