The Man wins I lose :( (Civic VX ordered off the road by police for aero mods)

[Xist]

My platoon leader is in law enforcement and he told us last drill that he teaches new officers the correct way to work according to procedure, but to do whatever works best for them, although if they get in trouble, he will say he taught them properly and they did not follow his instructions.

[aerohead]

Welcome to the 'rule of law.'
Nothing I can say will change what is.
Here in Texas the government is immune from the rape and sodomy laws.
Fail an emissions test and you're looking at up to a $600 garage bill to get a waiver,if $600 worth of repairs doesn't do it.
One year I had to drop $700 on a cat converter for my CRX because I refused to put a $150 aftermarket piece -o-___t on the car.A 60 mpg car.
And any 8-mpg vehicle over 6,000 GVW was exempt from the inspection.
Yep.Bend over!

[jcp123]

Thanks gub'ment!

[mikeyjd]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2eh6f5Go0

[Fat Charlie]

The cop isn't against aeromods.

On the other hand, roadworthiness inspections have some validity. The OP's car needs brakes, has a bulb out, doesn't have working DRLs, needs a windshield, has loose struts, badly aimed headlights and is leaking fluids. And it has aeromods. Sadly, higher mpg and lack of income don't outweigh the You need brakes, lights, shocks and a windshield. I work at a shop and I see it all the time. Nobody here likes it, but we don't have income based specs on things like tire tread depth; that would be ridiculous.

The aeromods aren't what are killing this car. The aeromods and missing lights caught the cop's eye, and he pulled WD40 over and said Sir, your car is way out of compliance and you need to get it fixed- but I'm not going to do anything about it today. A few weeks later the same cop saw the same car with the same visible problems... so he stopped him and cited him for the most minor and most easily fixed problem, the "cover" over the lights. That passes the problem to a garage, where a tech has to look it over and is going to say "I can't put my signature on a roadworthiness sticker on this car" and deadlines the vehicle. That's not a power mad cop, it's an honest wrench.

If you're going to attract cops' attention, make sure you're otherwise in compliance with local laws. It's easy to make a case that a clear light cover with an aero benefit is worth a pass if that's the only thing that's "wrong" with the car.

[jcp123]

The one thing that California DIDN'T regulate...was this stuff. Sorta. I mean, they didn't have inspections. You'd get pulled over for a light out, but otherwise you're on your own. That's much better to me far fewer opportunities for folks to get bilked on a "safety" inspection and get sold stuff they don't need when they can't afford it, and take what could otherwise be productively spent on satisfying the gub'ment.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Iexpedite

Cops work with a high level of autonomy. They make the decisions as to when, where, and why they write tickets. He didn't pull this man over and was then forced to give him a citation. In this instance he did it because he wanted to. We aren't talking about some kid out there trying to be Fast and Furious. We are talking about an adult driving his car for maximum fuel economy, what's the harm in that.

That's precisely what I said above. I don't think the officer cited the vehicle because he enjoys harassing people; rather, he has a problem with the vehicle and thinks it would be safer if it were brought up to code or removed from the road.

I don't feel that "victim" is an appropriate description of the OP. It implies the cop was intending malice with the motivation to inflict harm rather than do good. While it's possible the officer is just a bad cop and was on a power trip, I believe it more likely that he exercised his discretion and judgement on what codes to enforce to serve the interest of the community.

I once got pulled over and cited for doing 45 mph in a 30, when in fact I had never exceeded 30 mph. I was rolling along timing traffic lights which change to green just in time if you are going 30 mph. I lost the case twice in court even with witnesses, and was extremely angry at the officer. Still- I don't believe I was a "victim". More likely the officer saw someone else, lost sight of them for a moment, and then believed it was me that had been speeding. This is a more likely explanation than he profiled me because I'm a white male driving a stock Hyundai Accent and he wanted to harm me.

Perhaps the ecomodded vehicle is safe to drive, but the officer is human and has his own interpretation of what safe means. The cop can be considered good even if he sometimes makes bad decisions. Heck, I make the wrong diagnosis at work all the time. Most people say I'm among the best at what I do. Error is what humans do.

Originally Posted by Xist

My platoon leader is in law enforcement and he told us last drill that he teaches new officers the correct way to work according to procedure, but to do whatever works best for them, although if they get in trouble, he will say he taught them properly and they did not follow his instructions.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. It's a tough philosophical question to be sure. If we follow rule and authority 100%, then we can't be held accountable for our actions. However, if we are not supposed to follow rule and authority 100% of the time, then how do we determine when to obey, and when to disobey?

The brilliance of "A Few Good Men" is the exploration of this philosophical dilemma. We are to follow the orders of those with authority, but sometimes those in authority give very bad orders.

[oil pan 4]

Just remember cops are stupid and they look for things that don't fit neatly into their box of preconceived notions of the way things should be. Anything outside the box draw their attention, you don't want to draw their attention.
Any one owning a vehicle means you have money, there for you are an automatic target as a source of revenue.
So when driving a vehicle you doubly do not want their attention.
Just think of how many people have been saved or helped by the police versus how many people are minding their own business abiding by the law the best they can and get screwed over by the police (like you).

Isn't Canada in the tank for man made globull warming?
You might be able to play that card in court and get off.

And get a radar detector (not a jammer). I know tons of people who have gotten speeding tickets. I know some people with radar detectors and they have gotten neither speeding tickets or tickets for having a radar detector.
Not legal where you are? Who cares. What the police are doing should be illegal. Chances are the cop is setting in a speed trap to "get" people who are from out of town, they usually hide some where that you are not likely to notice the posted speed limit change. Do you really think you should have to pay the state and the insurance company more for momentary oversight?
If they really didn't want people to speed then they should put up signs with flashing LEDs like they do at dangerous intersections. Or put up speed cameras. They don't want you to die in a dangerous intersection because that's too much paper work for them.
They would rather be working from their favorite speed trap handing out tickets.

[j12piprius]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

The cop isn't against aeromods.

If you're going to attract cops' attention, make sure you're otherwise in compliance with local laws. It's easy to make a case that a clear light cover with an aero benefit is worth a pass if that's the only thing that's "wrong" with the car.

Yes, that is true to a point, and I agree in that case. If a cop pulled me over for a cover on a light, then I'd make very sure that it didn't happen again! Plus, hindsight is 20/20. Now, if only foresight was as good, which I'm still working on.

[Sven7]

Sorry to hear, but the best course of action now is probably to fix as many of the issues as possible IMMEDIATELY before it gets inspected. Install that water pump and those brakes, and fix whatever else. With some luck it'll be alright.

If you get the car back with a clean title and want to add the kammback again, I'd be willing to donate the LED trailer lights I used on the Anal Probe's boat tail. That way you could mount them far enough out to avoid future issues.

Good luck, and get wrenchin'!