Temporary mirrors
 

I'm in the midst of planning two road trips next year that will take me through several states in the South and Southwest. In preparation, I've been acquainting myself with the relevant mirror laws, since my car has both exterior mirrors removed. The laws fall into three categories:

1) Interior mirror only required: Illinois, and many other states, use wording that only "a mirror" is required, without further specification, and some states I'll be going through, like Missouri and Arizona, could be interpreted as not requiring a mirror at all.

2) Left-side exterior mirror required on cars registered in the state: Texas, for instance (one of the states I'll be driving through), uses the wording of 1) but goes on to incorporate into the law inspection procedures that require an exterior mirror. Louisiana requires an exterior mirror, but the language in their statute limits its application to "vehicles subject to registration in this state."

3) Left-side exterior mirror required on all cars operated in the state: Kentucky, another state I'm planning on driving through (I want to go to the Corvette museum!) states that "every motor vehicle shall be equipped with the following mirrors...One (1) mounted on the left side of the vehicle...." The next subsection goes on to say, "No person shall...operate a motor vehicle upon the highways without the equipment required in subsection (1)."

So, my conundrum is this: do I reinstall my driver's side mirror (easy enough to do--I purposely made this mod reversible just in case) and live with the knowledge that I'm needlessly wasting precious ounces of fuel? Or, come up with some sort of temporary mirror I could put on when driving through an unfriendly state and remove otherwise, maybe a setup that clips to the window? Or, leave them off and risk the chance of being ticketed?

In particular, if anyone lives in the following states, I am curious to know what your experiences are with this:

Oklahoma
Texas
Louisiana
Kentucky

What say ye, People of Ecomodder?

I would say don't worry about it at all. If you did get pulled over, what are the chances of being hassled for it? (Maybe I'm just too optimistic?)

I'd either install the original mirror (maybe only in states that require it), or just leave it off. But take it with you incase you get stopped for it. I should have a driver's side mirror in NY, but I don't. I'm such a rebel! :D

You know you are an ecomodder if...

Seriously though, in California I only got pulled over once for driving too slow (DWL), I explained to the cop that it's for gas mileage and that I get 50mpg. I didn't have my mirrors installed at the time, He let me go and said "okay, you at least need one driver side mirror."

So I doubt you'll get pulled over for the sole reason of missing mirrors. At least if you have the mirrors on you, hopefully the cop will let you go with a warning.

It can happen!
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...mod-26922.html

The wording in the laws doesn't seem to require a "specific" or "stock" or "factory installed" mirror other than possibly the interior rear view mirror. Maybe you could install one of the small (1"x3") mirrors from AutoZone on the left side. Not seeing your vehicle maybe that's not an option? Take the stock one along and if you get hassled say something like "Yeah it fell apart, but not wanting to be in violation I grabbed this little one to get me home until I can make repairs."

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I guess I'll take the stock mirror along with and, even though it's not a legitimate excuse, feign ignorance if I get pulled over.