Christos Adam wrote:Marcus sand Mike:
If I print (or legally get) the CARB sticker would be only in case a police officer pulls me over to prove in his untrained eyes that it's carb legal.
I'm not planning to "trick" a referee or anything like that...
Marcus
So what should I answer in the question if I have any modifications on the car?
It seems that I'll end up putting everything to stock and putting everything back together but the point is what should I do to avoid doing that every time I get pulled over for the most ridiculous/or even made up reason
I still think the sticker is a bad strategy because it's very easily converted to evidence against you. The truly smart cops will inspect your car just to record the number down so they can verify them later (because this car is still on the street and obviously not compliant and this guy just keeps driving it) - that's where it becomes a legal nightmare. A onetime offender that was not aware of the law or his transgressions would not have counterfeit CARB stickers on his components; therefore you must be something much, much worse.
The correct answer to that question is to ask another question: "why have I been stopped?" which should be followed by "what does [officer's reason for the stop] have to do with questioning me about modifications to my car? That should pretty much stop him in his tracks, but this is a rather aggressive tactic and you risk escalating the situation so you need to deliver the line in a firm, yet respectful manner. Since we have laws on the books in this state that allow cops to stop cars that they suspect to be modified...they have a bit of latitude to ask these kinds of questions and if you've been stopped strictly because they think your car is modified you will then have to answer the question.
The answer to the modification question is "no, I haven't made any modifications" or "I have modified the lock on the glove box". I would either blatantly lie or redirect the question to something arcane and irrelevant so that the officer attempts another strategy (but you are tap dancing at this point). The issue here is what the term "modification" means and you have to use semantics to defend yourself. Technically anything that didn't come out of the factory is a modification in California, but exchanging a stock fuel rail for an aftermarket one isn't really a "modification" (but according to how the law is written it
could be considered a modification). It's a loaded question that is designed to either self-incriminate or to get the less-than-astute to grant a search. What you know and what you can prove are two very different things, so there's no real fear in telling this...uh, embellishment. Since they don't have probable cause to conduct a search there is no way to verify that you just lied.
A majority of the violations are related to 27151
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d12/vc27151.htm which is illegal modification of an exhaust to make it louder and many of these tickets were challenged and beat because no sound testing was done during the stop. But be advised there is a new law on the books 27150.2 VC which does not require sound testing to be done and relies on the officers discretion and forces the cited individual to go to a smog referee or a court directed testing station to see what the sound level really is. I think this VC is beatable because section D. of this code states:
(d) The station shall charge a fee for the exhaust system certificate of compliance issued pursuant to subdivision (a). The fee charged shall be calculated to recover the costs incurred by the Department of Consumer Affairs to implement this section. The fees charged by the station shall be deposited in the Vehicle Inspection and Repair Fund established by Section 44062 of the Health and Safety Code.
...this is a money grab. Officers cannot arbitrarily cite and refer private citizens to testing stations for compliance and charge a fee for this "service". Pointing out this blatant fleecing of California residents (and the fact that sportscars are being unfairly targeted) should be enough to get this dismissed.
The best way to avoid this situation is to have all your documents ready when he approaches your vehicle and not to fight the ticket that he's trying to give you. Fight the ticket in court, the more time he spends near your vehicle the greater the chance he'll try to conduct a search. Having your documents ready and refusing to answer the questions forces him to just write the ticket. You cannot be detained indefinitely, and the officer cannot change his reason for the traffic stop. Listen to exactly what he says and how he says it. You can rebut an accusation without arguing the point. It indicates that you know your rights and that this stop is going to result in a lot of paperwork. It also helps greatly to have a clean driving record because we mammals tend to be creatures of habit and no officer is really trying to go to court with trumped up charges against a citizen who knows his rights and has a clean driving record.
here is a link to the laws that govern your traffic stop
http://www.teamsheriffracing.com/index. ... Itemid=117
Steve - thanks for the props man, you made my day
