Got the dent
slightly less dented the other day, but I likely won't be able to do much with it until Thanksgiving break when I return home.
On the other hand, had my first "run in with the law" from my car modifications. Over this past week one of the university officers put a note of "warning" on my car for having "illegal mirrors", or specifically "Missing passenger side mirror, and non-Virginia DOT approved driver's side mirror."
According to the law, this is complete BS:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Virginia Law: § 46.2-1082. Mirrors.:
No person shall drive a motor vehicle on a highway in the Commonwealth if the vehicle is not equipped with a mirror which reflects to the driver a view of the highway for a distance of not less than 200 feet to the rear of such vehicle.
No motor vehicle registered in the Commonwealth, designed and licensed primarily for passenger vehicular transportation on the public highways and manufactured after 1968 shall be driven on the highways in the Commonwealth unless equipped with at least one outside and at least one inside rear view mirror meeting the requirements of this section.
Notwithstanding the other provisions of this section, no motor vehicle which either has no rear window, or which has a rear window so obstructed as to prevent rearward vision by means of an inside rear view mirror, shall be required to be equipped with an inside rear view mirror if such motor vehicle has horizontally and vertically adjustable outside rear view mirrors installed on both sides of such motor vehicle in such a manner as to provide the driver of such motor vehicle a rearward view along both sides of such motor vehicle for at least 200 feet.
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Emphasis mine. My Insight has a deleted passenger mirror and a smaller, custom driver's side mirror that easily allows visibility for more than 200 ft.
So I went over to the police department on campus to get this resolved, but they are closed on the weekend. However, I was able to talk with a sheriff who happened to be passing by. After respectfully explaining the situation I was in, his statement was that all cars "have to be equipped with the original equipment that came with the car". Which really is more BS; if that were the case, then in all technicality replacing your tires with a non-OEM tire is illegal, or repainting your car in a non-OEM color is illegal! But I didn't go into that. After showing him the above statute, he agreed with me that I was in the right. He promised to call the officer who wrote me the warning and inform him of his mistake, and instructed me to return on Monday when they were open with the warning to get it erased from the record.