Blue Lights

[chefonahonda]

Yesterday morning at 5:45 AM I found that Blue Trim Lights that I bought at BikeFest in March are not legal in Florida. I was pulled over on on my way to work, detained for 25 minutes, late for work while the officer who stopped me passed his duty on to the 2 officers just coming on. Fine is $113. What galls me is that I have passed, been passed by, ridden next to numerous state, sheriff and local LEO's who have not pulled me over. I do not have these lights on for any other purpose than to be seen, I don't care about looking cool.
So the lesson is, check your state motorcycle laws as a bored LEO may get you for just such a violation.
Now I need to go get some white or green lights.

[Bosby]

Yeah, off all the colors, blue is the one they will crack down on as it is technically a LE color.

[wutzcrack3n]

they have the discretion to pull you over, maybe they were focused on more important matters but you happen to get the one who didnt have much to do or was specifically running traffic enforcement. sucks... maybe you can have it dropped or reduced.

[chefonahonda]

Going to write a letter to the court.

[Dodsfall]

Originally Posted by chefonahonda

Going to write a letter to the court.

I've never tried that before. Let us know what they say.

The DA might go ahead and drop it, as long as you let them know you have now removed the blue lights.

Years ago, I lost the muffler off an old junker car and threw it in the trunk to drive home. I was pulled over and issued a ticket (instead of a warning) and the DA simply dropped the charge when I told him it was fixed. I didn't even have to go into the courtroom.

[wutzcrack3n]

ususally with little stuff, there not to harsh.. especially when you didnt know or correct it right away

[LWRider]

Dang, Chef, the guy could have given you a warning. Sorry.

[bagger]

Mr. police officer must have been having a bad day or he had a chip on his shoulder,and he was trying to prove something.Or maybe all of the above.

[distantThunder]

don't take it personally.
these days it's all about cash.
local gov'ts dont have any $$$ ... officers are told to write tickets for everything.

yeah, don't put blue or red lights as decoration on your bike.
these are LE colors.
"red" lights are OK if shown to the rear as brake lights.

LE may also be unhappy if your LED's a dazzling. So better to mount them so they shine inwards towards the hardware on the bike - illuminating the wheels and engine. it looks better, anyway.

good luck and don't take this stuff seriously.

dT

[Mason Hatcher]

Originally Posted by bagger

Mr. police officer must have been having a bad day or he had a chip on his shoulder,and he was trying to prove something.Or maybe all of the above.

Or none of the above. Perhaps you are having a bad day, or have a chip on your shoulder and are trying to prove something by cop bashing. Or maybe all of the above.

See how unfair that is?

[Mason Hatcher]

Originally Posted by distantThunder

don't take it personally.
these days it's all about cash.
local gov'ts dont have any $$$ ... officers are told to write tickets for everything.

yeah, don't put blue or red lights as decoration on your bike.
these are LE colors.
"red" lights are OK if shown to the rear as brake lights.

LE may also be unhappy if your LED's a dazzling. So better to mount them so they shine inwards towards the hardware on the bike - illuminating the wheels and engine. it looks better, anyway.

good luck and don't take this stuff seriously.

dT

As someone who has studied the budgets of many municipalities, I can tell you with confidence that traffic ticket generation does not pay for the cost of enforcement.

If you have a problem with the laws contact your legislators.

Complaining it does may make you feel better and justify your bad feelings of being "caught", but it is not fact.

[Klrlindy63]

Originally Posted by Mason Hatcher

As someone who has studied the budgets of many municipalities, I can tell you with confidence that traffic ticket generation does not pay for the cost of enforcement.

If you have a problem with the laws contact your legislators.

Complaining it does may make you feel better and justify your bad feelings of being "caught", but it is not fact.

I simply just do not believe that!!! In NJ there are sections of Highways by specific towns that have officers almost permanently stationed there.
Recently my kids went on a field trip to the local police department, the officer told the kids that when they stop an 18 wheeler they almost always right tickets to the tune of $2,000.00 the officer then finished the comment on that is how the police save the taxpayers money. (My brother who is an over the road trucker confirmed this.) Now what this very short sited Leo did not realize is that those fines are passed onto you and me when we purchase the items they are trucking! It's not about enforcement, it's a tax.

[ralphlong]

Originally Posted by Mason Hatcher

As someone who has studied the budgets of many municipalities, I can tell you with confidence that traffic ticket generation does not pay for the cost of enforcement.

If you have a problem with the laws contact your legislators.

Complaining it does may make you feel better and justify your bad feelings of being "caught", but it is not fact.

You are right that traffic tickets do not pay the cost of enforcement, but it IS a form of revenue. And municipalities are looking for all the revenue they can get.

[chefonahonda]

Well I wrote the letter and then ended up paying the fine. Thinking about White or Green Lights on the bike now. You know I really can't remember seeing a rider pulled over, maybe once or twice.

[Mason Hatcher]

Originally Posted by ralphlong

You are right that traffic tickets do not pay the cost of enforcement, but it IS a form of revenue. And municipalities are looking for all the revenue they can get.

It is negative revenue. A loss. Good grief.

[Mason Hatcher]

Originally Posted by Klrlindy63

I simply just do not believe that!!! In NJ there are sections of Highways by specific towns that have officers almost permanently stationed there.
Recently my kids went on a field trip to the local police department, the officer told the kids that when they stop an 18 wheeler they almost always right tickets to the tune of $2,000.00 the officer then finished the comment on that is how the police save the taxpayers money. (My brother who is an over the road trucker confirmed this.) Now what this very short sited Leo did not realize is that those fines are passed onto you and me when we purchase the items they are trucking! It's not about enforcement, it's a tax.

You are just wrong. I have done the research and math.

It is juvenile to try to justify legal violations by claiming it is about revenue.

But I will tell you a trick to avoid the tax. This is an inside trick. This is good. Ready?

Follow the law. Skip the so called tax.

[Klrlindy63]

Originally Posted by Mason Hatcher

You are just wrong. I have done the research and math.

It is juvenile to try to justify legal violations by claiming it is about revenue.

But I will tell you a trick to avoid the tax. This is an inside trick. This is good. Ready?

Follow the law. Skip the so called tax.

I was a contractor for 22 years, if you got pulled over by the Bergen County cops, no matter how hard you would try they would ticket you for something!
There was a town in Passaic County that assigned one officer to just pull over commercial vehicles, he pulled me over 2x, found nothing each time, I told him if he continues to pull me over I would add $25 to each customers bill and itemize it as a surcharge to work in their town for dealing with over zealous cops. I commuted through that town each morning and I let the local deli know that I would no longer be stopping there each morning because of the constant harassment from their local law enforcement. I shared my comments with several other contractors
at the local hardware store as well. It stopped.
There is a need for enforcement, but when the LEO's pull you over for a "spot" check, that is harassment, kept our trucks clean and very well maintained, lights were constantly checked as was the entire vehicle, but that would not stop them from pulling you over and keeping you on the side of the road until they were done being silly. I once got a ticket for having a 300' roll of one inch plastic well pipe laying in the bed of my pickup behind the cab with several buckets filled with brass fittings up against the closed tail gate (probably close to 100lbs each), my offense? Unsecured load!! I politely asked the officer to explain, he told me the load was at risk of blowing out of my truck!! I asked him to pick up one of the unsecured items. He refused telling me not to be a wise@ss as he handed me the ticket.
We stopped using pickups, switched our guys over to box trucks so those pricks couldn't see inside.
WE DID FOLLOW THE LAW! It is a Hassle tax! If they just focused on the unsafe vehicles they wouldn't make enough revenue.
We never had a truck redlined, never failed an inspection.
When I had a diesel pickup truck in Jersey I was pulled over for not having a valid inspection sticker, I explained to the officer that I was exempt because I was driving a diesel, he wrote me a ticket telling me I was wrong that brakes and lights still needed to be inspected. Following his instruction I drove directly over to the NJ inspection station, waited in line to be asked to leave because I was exempt, I explained what had happened to me, they gave me a letter explaining the law, I promptly brought it to that police station.
Mind you this did not all happen in one year, that was 22 years of trying to operate commercial trucks in NJ, ranging from chevy s10's to diesel 3500's.
It is nearly impossible to avoid "legal violations". I would take every ticket to court and fight, because most often you would get several tickets for your so called legal violations and on several occasions I had them thrown out. But that took up valuable time.
It is about revenue, and they pick on commercial vehicles because it an easy mark, most guys just pay and consider it the cost of doing business in NJ. That drives up the cost of everything that travels or is serviced by a commercial vehicle.
It may not offset the cost of law enforcement, but it goes a long way on the doughnut fund!
No doubt there are guys running very dangerous trucks (cars and bikes too), most often you can easily spot them, without hassling the legitimate guys.
He should have just warned him for the lights, petty offense, small minded cop.