Is Your Car Street Legal?
We ventured out to a few parking lots in the area to see if we could find some of the most common vehicle violations.
We looked through these cars in this parking lot outside of Target in Dublin to see if there were any violations.
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Lucky for several drivers out there, we're not cops.
A couple of Patch editors visited area parking lots to see if we could spot what the California Highway Patrol called the most common vehicle violations.
In the span of 20 minutes in the parking lot outside the Target in San Ramon, Patch spotted two.
One, a Mazda coupe, had 2010 tags. It's the new year, so hopefully the driver will bring that up to date.
The second would-be citation was for a hunter green Bimmer with tinted front-seat windows – a ticket-worthy violation, according to the state.
In less than 15 minutes in the parking lot outside the Target in Dublin, we found four cars with 2010 tags. Keep in mind that according to the DMV, California does not offer a grace period after a vehicle's registration expires. So, if your tags say 2010, it's time to welcome in the new year with new tags.
Some of the violations you can be ticketed for wouldn't be noticeable unless the cars were running, however. So who knows how many more cars we came across that didn't quite measure up?
Would your vehicle pass the test?
- Registration papers not available (4454a V.C.)
- Horn required (27000 V.C.)
- No mirror on left (26709a V.C.)
- Damaged or inoperative rear lighting (24252 V.C.)
- Tape on tail lamps (26101 V.C.)
- Fuel cap missing (27155 V.C.)
- Tinted forward windows (26708a V.C.)
- Red or amber bug screens or covered headlamps (26701 V.C.) CCR Title 13 Section 692 (24012 V.C.)
- No windshield wipers (26706a V.C.)
- Off highway lights - not covered or too many (24411 V.C.)
- Headlamps out (24400 V.C.)
- Fog lights - improper height / out of adjustment (24403 V.C.)
- No front plate (5200 V.C.)
- Expired registration (4000a V.C.)
- Aftermarket flashing brake lights (26100 V.C.)
- (Motorcycles) Modulating headlamps during hours of darkness (25251.2 V.C.)
- (Motorcycles) Passenger in front of driver (27800 V.C.)
- (Motorcycles) No footrests provided for passenger (27800 V.C.)
- (Motorcycles) Muffler exceeding noise limits (27202 V.C.)
BOTTOM LINE: Better you spot the problem before police do. You'll save cash, time and the nerve-wracking ordeal of getting pulled over in the first place.
Mbug
9:26 pm on Friday, April 8, 2011
I just got a ticket for this and had no idea that it was even illegal. I thought you just had to have it a certain amount of clearness, 5%, 20%, etc.. Frankly, I am not buying the whole pedestrian safety issue. And what does it mean when the exception is factory tinted? Even before my ticket, I have seen more cars than not with varying degrees of tint and I can't believe that is that hard for the cops to notice this "violation". The cop told me that when they spot these cars, they are pulling them over because this is such a safety issue with pedetrians not being able to see you, seeing them. Whatever, I have thoughts on this statement too, but won't go into it. I see plenty of cars that have their front windows blacked out or close, you can see me through mine. By the way, mine were the kind that just stick on, and I told him I had no idea it was no allowed and peeled one off right in front of him. Whenever I start to see this kind of stuff in town, I always think the city must need more money, otherwise, why not just tell warn people especially if it's soemthing they fix right in front of the cops. And also, I heard this is not a $25 fix-it ticket, but 3 or 4 times that amount and THE POLICE DEPT. NOW CHARGES TO GET A SIGNATURE. ARE YOU SERIOUS? This is not the Home Sweet Home I was raised in.