DTN

I had problems when I origonally put in my HIDs. Noone around here had ever seen them before. I run 12,000K hids. They're quite blue. I did my research and found no laws in SC about blue HIDs.

Here's a picture of my car next to some slightly blue HIDs on a Mitsubishi Eclipse.




I knew full well that they were legal in the state of South Carolina, but I was still worried about what the cops might ticket me for. So right after I pulled into a little gas station on post and got out of my car, a MP stopped and turned on his disco lights. Then his backup showed up.

They started asking me questions about the HIDs and I explained how the HIDs work while we waited for the "traffic patrol" van to show up. I explained to him that it was not a tint over the front of the lens or a modification to the housing assembly. I explained how HIDs work; a ball of metal inside a quartz chamber turned into plasma which causes light unlike a standard incandescant tungsten filiment which works like a toaster inside a vacuum.

I asked them what the state regulation on color temperature of headlamps was, they couldn't answer.

Then the shift supervisors showed up in two cars and stood around looking at my car. They started commenting about how much work I'd put into my car so I showed them the nitrous oxide, TVs, LEDs, and the rest of the modifications.

Then some guy came out of the gas station and asked me "Damn man, is it that serious?". I looked around and noticed that there were 7 cop cars, 2 civilian cops and about 8 MPs all standing around waiting for the traffic patrol... I didn't even know we had that many MPs on Fort Jackson... I responded "I guess so...".

Then the traffic police showed up and we all stood around scratching our heads wondring how blue was too blue. One of them called the Leiutennant on his cell phone who said over speakerphone "Oh, yeah, I've seen before...". Then they said they were sorry to have bothered me, I wouldn't be pulled over again and they all jumped into their cars. Although they were trying to manuver around each other, they were gone much quicker then they came. I went into the store and got my soda after 45 minutes of hanging out with the MPs.

Next time I went in the gate the MP gate gaurd said, "Those headlights look good".
I said, "thanks?"
She said, "I heard about you on the radio earlier, blue headlights. They look good!".
At this point, I was pretty sure that everyone and their brother's dog had heard about it.

So about a month later I got pulled over by another MP. I tried to tell him there was nothing wrong with the headlights. I told him to contact his shift supervisor. A 2nd cop car pulls up and the MP talks to him for a minute, then he came back and said, "They don't know anything about it".
I was like WTF. I told him about the last incident, about how there were 10 MPs there and how the person at the gate had heard about me. He said, "You're getting a ticket".
I tried to show him the South Carolina state laws on headlights which I now kept in my glovebox for easy access. I said, "I've got the laws right here if you'd like to look at them, sergeant".
He didn't even want to look at them and he said, like a scratch on a record ,"You're getting a ticket."
I asked him who I had to talk with to get this ticket removed and he said I should talk to my CO.




So then I drove off in first gear, about 1/4 of a block up to the stop light, stopped, and turned left. I then stopped at another stop light and saw disco lights in my rear view mirror. I was thinking they were going to tear up the ticket they just issued me

The cop takes his time and then emerges from his vehicle. It's a different cop this time, the civilian who showed up at the last ticket site. He walks up to my car acting all scared like he's about to pull out his gun or something. He asks me for my information, I handed it to him and then he went back to his car. He came back with a ticket for wreckless driving and said I was "acellerating too fast". I was in shock. I didn't know what to do so I took it and left.







The douchebag just decided that since they couldn't ticket me for blue headlights, they'd ticket me for something else. The sate law basically says that you have to be endangering people or equipment, that's pretty tough to do with a concrete median in the center of a deserted 4 lane road going 30 miles per hour in the middle of the night in 2nd gear. Reckless driving is a "officer discression" ticket. It's at the discression of the officer who issues it. Usually it is given along with a speeding ticket, accident or moving violation of some kind. If there was any warrant to the ticket at all, it was that my car sounded like it was going fast at 4,000RPM, but it was not.

I went home and stewed for a while. I tried to sleep, I couldn't. I drove down to the MP station and explained the whole situation to the desk sergeant. He tore up the first ticket because it was a local ticket under his and said that the 2nd ticket was a federal ticket and he could do nothing about it. So i waited and checked back. They told me to talk to JAG.

I talked to the Judge Advocate and he said if it happend anything like what you said, then we are going to dismiss this without taking it to court. They also said I had to wait for the court summons and they needed to contact the police officer. I came back a few weeks later and asked if they had contacted the police officer, he had not called back, so they left another message.

I waited and came back 6 weeks later with the court summons and the MP still had not called back. They called him again and he did not respond. So JAG dismised the ticket because they would not have any grounds to stand on as there were no other tickets issued in conjunction with my "accellerating too fast" ticket. I didn't squeel my tires. I didn't hop a median. I wasn't racing, I wasn't even going 35MPH in a 35MPH zone. LOL.

I got to look at the ticket, and the cop put in the remarks section which was blacked out on my copy, that I was "drag racing", I "swerved into oncomming traffic"... Mind you, on a deserted 4 lane road with a concrete barrier median.

I had the JAG officer write a note in the remarks box on my court summons.




The legal system is a screwey system. I learned alot about how things work in the legal system and how they don't work too. Just remember, if you're right, you're right. The laws for your state can be found online. The cops don't make the laws, they enforce them.

HyundaiKitCoupe

he silliest thing ive heard in a long time. Most cops and troopers are douches.

DTN

^^word.gif

Socks and I were talking in the shoutbox. the first ticket is written in military time, 0003. The 2nd ticket is written in civilian time, 12:06AM. It was 3 minutes between the tickets but about 5 minutes between when I received them.

UrS0NvS

this is funny that this come up. there is a lady in town that owns a newer nissan sentra. the headlights are blue as hell when you are coming up to them and she was pulled over at the local gas station. i happened to walk in the same time she was explaining to "new cop with a hollier than thou attitude" that this was the way the car was when she bought it. He tried to tell he that her headlights were illegal and that is when i came up there and asked him to show it in the regs. of course, he couldn't as he didn't have a regulations book in his car so i immediately dialed the local police department and told them to get the duty sargeant down there cause their "new boy" was trying to be pig headed.

what you know, just as the sargeant was driving up another same year sentra, drove into the gas station to fill up and i showed him the bluish tint their headlights had was the same as hers. the sargeant apologized to the lady and brought "new cop on the block" around the corner for a good toungue thrashing".

bad thing is, coming into town from KC tonight, new cop followed me the minute he saw me (in fact he turned around and gave chase) all the way to my driveway. when i pulled in he stopped and watched me until i got out of my car and and yelled"is there a problem?" then he drove away, grrrr.

REDZMAN

Remember DTN, laws for the state are one thing, but county, city, and FEDERAL laws can be completely different.

Doing a bit of research...

http://www.scstatehouse.net/code/t56c005.htm

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>SECTION 56-5-4650. Lamps on other vehicles and equipment.

<span style="color:#FF0000">All vehicles</span>, including animal-drawn vehicles and implements of husbandry, road machinery or farm tractors and other vehicles not otherwise specifically required to be equipped with lamps, shall at the times specified in Section 56-5-4450 <span style="color:#FF0000">be equipped with at least one lighted lamp or lantern exhibiting a white light visible from a distance of five hundred feet to the front of such vehicle and with a lamp or lantern or reflector exhibiting a red light visible from a distance of five hundred feet to the rear.</span></div>

They could get you on that one, as it does say ANY vehicles.

But, for sure, you are f***ed with this one.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>SECTION 56-5-4700. Audible signal devices and signal lamps for authorized emergency vehicles, school buses and police vehicles; restrictions on use; effect of use.

(A) Every authorized emergency vehicle shall, in addition to any other equipment and distinctive markings required by this chapter, be equipped with a siren, exhaust whistle, or bell capable of giving an audible signal.

(B) Every school bus and every authorized emergency vehicle, in addition to any other equipment and distinctive markings required by this chapter, must be equipped with signal lamps mounted as high and as widely spaced laterally as practicable, which must be capable of displaying to the front two alternately flashing red lights located at the same level and to the rear two alternately flashing red lights located at the same level, and these lights must have sufficient intensity to be visible at five hundred feet in normal sunlight. However, vehicles of a fire department or funeral home when equipped with a mounted, oscillating, rotating, or flashing red light, visible in all directions for a distance of five hundred feet in normal sunlight, are not required to have additional signal lamps.

© All police vehicles when used as authorized emergency vehicles must be equipped with oscillating, rotating, or flashing blue lights. In addition to the blue lights, the police vehicle may, but need not be equipped with alternately flashing red lights as herein specified, and may, but need not be equipped with oscillating, rotating, or flashing red lights, white lights, or both, in combination with the required blue lights. The authorized emergency police vehicle lights described herein must be visible for a distance of five hundred feet in all directions in normal sunlight. <span style="color:#FF0000">It shall be unlawful for any person to possess or display on any vehicle any blue light that is visible from outside the vehicle except one used primarily for law enforcement purposes.</span>

(D) The alternately flashing lighting described in subsection (B) of this section shall not be used on any vehicle other than an authorized emergency vehicle. Provided, that a school bus may use the alternately flashing red lighting described in subsection (B), or red flashing lights in the rear and amber flashing lights in the front.

(E) The use of the signal equipment described herein shall impose upon drivers of other vehicles the obligation to yield right-of-way and stop as prescribed in Sections 56-5-2360 and 56-5-2770.</div>

And that's just state law. I know on Fort Riley, folks were ALWAYS getting in trouble for the washer nozzle lights, but, could not get a ticket if they were amber or white. Any other color, TICKET.

That's federal installation rules.

Thre's also this one.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>SECTION 56-5-4830. <span style="color:#FF0000">Special restrictions on lamps</span>; degree of intensity; red, <span style="color:#FF0000">blue </span>and flashing lights.

Any lighted lamp or illuminating device upon a motor vehicle, other than head lamps, spot lamps, auxiliary lamps, flashing turn signals, emergency vehicle warning lamps, and school bus warning lamps, which project a beam of light of an intensity greater than three hundred candlepower shall be so directed that no part of the high intensity portion of the beam will strike the level of the roadway on which the vehicle stands at a distance of more than seventy-five feet from the vehicle.

<span style="color:#FF0000">A person shall not drive, move, or park any vehicle or equipment upon a highway with a lamp or device on it displaying a red or blue light visible from directly in front of the center of it.</span> This section shall not apply to a vehicle upon which a red or blue light visible from the front is expressly authorized or required by this chapter.

Flashing lights are prohibited except on an authorized emergency vehicle, school bus, snow-removal equipment, or on any vehicle as a means of indicating a right or left turn or the presence of a vehicular traffic hazard requiring unusual care in approaching, overtaking, or passing.</div>

That should do it.

Bullfrog

Z man, I don't know if you would make a better attorney or a judge...

DTN - looking again at your picture, those are some very BLUE lights. Glad you got out of it though.


Judge Jimbo Brown Town- "SIT your ASS down M@#!#!@ F@#$@#"
(local radio morning show skit)

DTN

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Remember DTN, laws for the state are one thing, but county, city, and FEDERAL laws can be completely different.</div>
Fort Jackson, although a federal facility, is owned by the City of Columbia. It does not fall under federal law. it falls under Columbia, SC. laws. It's a different situation then most federal installations. The city actually owns it and I get mail to the city, not Fort Jackson.


You have to read the first paragraph or two in the code which explains things. The title of the law explains what it pertains to, and the subject of the law is defined in the paragraph.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>be equipped with at least one lighted lamp or lantern exhibiting a white light visible from a distance of five hundred feet to the front of such vehicle and with a lamp or lantern or reflector exhibiting a red light visible from a distance of five hundred feet to the rear.</div>
This statement referrs to carrages, not vehicles. Also, it does not referr to headlights.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>It shall be unlawful for any person to possess or display on any vehicle any blue light that is visible from outside the vehicle except one used primarily for law enforcement purposes.</div>

You'll notice that this is under the section labeled "Audible signal devices and signal lamps for authorized emergency vehicles, school buses and police vehicles; restrictions on use; effect of use." . The word "light" referrs to a marker, signal, or other form of "signal lamp". The word head lamp is a completely separate word all together. Although they both emit light, they're different entities as signal lamp is defined in this paragraph.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>A person shall not drive, move, or park any vehicle or equipment upon a highway with a lamp or device on it displaying a red or blue light visible from directly in front of the center of it.</div> This is 1 single lamp. It does not apply. I have 2 lights not centered. This referrs to a blue whoopie light.

The titles of the laws tell you what they refer to, the word headlamp or blue lamp would be in the title of laws referring to this. The laws are speciffic and constrained, not generalized. This way there is less confusion. If you want to know about headlamps, then you go to this law:



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>SECTION 56-5-4840. Selling or using devices or equipment to change design or performance of lamps or reflectors.

It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, offer for sale or use any device or equipment which tends to change the original design or performance of any head lamps or any other lamps or reflectors required by law to be attached to motor vehicles, trailers or semitrailers unless the equipment or device has been approved by the director of the Department of Public Safety.</div>This is the law affects me. But HID headlamp bulbs have been approved by the department of public safety. There's another one which covers modification to the headlamp assembly but that does not relate because it is not a modification to the assembly.



I looked up the laws, then I called the local law enforcement. They explained these to me.

This is a case of MPs being from another state all together and not being familiar with the laws. When I go downtown, the local law enforcement officers say "hey, nice headlights", or "there's not a tint over the front of those is there?". On post, before this incident was brought to light, I'd hear "aren't those illegal", or "the MPs will probly pull you over". Now, all the shift supervisors know for sure that they are legal and I will not be pulled over for them again.

tibbytib

UrS0NvS - Record EVERYTHING man! if he does this to you 1 or 2 more times, you can file harassment . Sucks that most cops have a chip on their shoulder.

majik

in Tennessee I believe the law states that HIDs are only legal if they are OEM for THAT vehicle.

My cousin doesn't have projector headlights, so his HIDs look like high beams at all times. He's been pulled over before for that reason. We both have 8,000k - I've never had a problem.

Tennessee law also states that "dazzling lights" are prohibited... so I guess it's officer's discretion as to what's considered "dazzling" (underbody neons, HIDs, etc.).

gamingdexter

gosh that that sucks big time. i would of been driven crazy by something that stupid by the first stunt and that 2nd ticket that you got is ridiculous. I can believe that cop wrote down that you were drag racing. I bet he had to give out tickets for his monthly due and just shot some stuff down on the ticket. That sucks real bad man.

If you ever go to DE never ever never go through Bridge Ville. I got a ticket for going 5 over which ended up being $93.75. My parents got ticketed through there before as well, it was nuts