sad night for mr2 - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

mr2_dori · 10-26-2006, 12:15 PM

well i was driving to bj's for dinner with some fiends of mine and we drov past a car meet in san bernardno. there were en bike cops chillin in the parking lot. so when i drove past them with my friend are bov's went off but not to loud. the cops followed us in the parking lot of the restrant and asked to pop my hood. the cop i had said that my turbo timer and bov is illegal. witch we all no is not. so he wrote me a ticket for both of those saying that it was emmisions. so after he writed the ticket, he said i have to take the car to a state refree certification center. which now im not going to pass because i have a 3rd gen 3sgte. and a downpipe he did not no about. what can i do or what are my options to keeping the car?

HL2k · 10-26-2006, 12:36 PM

Could fight it saying that the officier ticketed you for something that he wasn't ticketing you for

ask him to first explain his side of the story so that you can then show what was on the ticket

or lift the block and try something

Zz_005_zZ · 10-26-2006, 06:56 PM

man I dunno.... I mean that cop must have bored or something. I must say that this is one that must go down as insufficient data on the police officers books. I would fight this, and go to the court date set. I would argue your plee, and tell the judge that the two things that u have on the car are to keep the turbo living it's longest, and this is information that u can find all over the internet...... I would print as much crap, even though some of it is not true. Bring it in, and see wgat happens... if the police officer doesn't even show up, the case is dismissed, and all charges are dropped. And u get a clean slate.chances are that this cop was having a bad day... some ricer youngin' pissed him off, or the fact that in these caer shows that u are speaking of..... usually that represents alot of dumb young people who wabnt to do nithing more than to show off, do burnouts, and show off again... and he was pissed to get the underprivelaged right to watch over this area because of recent calls of activity in the area.... he might not even show up to the courtroom.
The reason why I say all of this is because I we3nt through the crap with my 1993 rx-7.
Good luck man:Brian

mr2_dori · 10-26-2006, 07:01 PM

thanks for the info ill try and do my best and ill keep you guys updated on the situation. the cop i think was a rookie because he said he was just trained on this stuff last night and he had never seen a car like mine. so he did not no what he was looking at. those were his words.

Zz_005_zZ · 10-26-2006, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr2_dori

thanks for the info ill try and do my best and ill keep you guys updated on the situation. the cop i think was a rookie because he said he was just trained on this stuff last night and he had never seen a car like mine. so he did not no what he was looking at. those were his words.

Wow... must be a rookie if he said something so stupid... more reason to go to court...definately will be a no show

mr2_dori · 10-26-2006, 08:24 PM

i was just told by someone who just had some experiance with this first hand. he had a 3rd gen with a garage fukui exhaust. he called the court house and asked what are his opions on the ticket. he had to pay $400 and did not have to take the car to a fer. i hope that will happen with me

mr2_dori · 10-27-2006, 10:42 AM

bump?

clem · 10-27-2006, 02:46 PM

dude thats sad getting pulled over for a blow off valve damn, down here in the bahamas the cops would probably ask u how can i get my car to sound like that! If i was in your situation i probably wouldve torn up the ticket and tell the cop to kiss his own ass but then you probably wouldve got locked up.............Move to the bahamas and you wouldnt have to worry about anything!

mr2_dori · 10-27-2006, 03:11 PM

lol, thanks clem. well so far most people i have been talking to say that if i call the courthouse i can pay the fine on the ticket. its like $400 or more

te51levin · 10-28-2006, 08:03 PM

I would first talk to a lawyer. If the lawyer can help, do what he says, but if he says it's up to you to fight it, I would fight it. Here's your key: "the cop said he was just trained on this stuff last night and he had never seen a car like mine. so he did not know what he was looking at. those were his words." If you use evidence to show the judge that the cop was out of his depths and was writing tickets simply because he had the book in his hand, you may walk away from it.

If the cop showes up, you have an opportunity to ask him what violations he felt you had commited. Ask him exactly what equipment was illegal and why. Ask him to explain how that part works, and what it does, and how he knows it is unlawful. Ask him to point out the law that makes it unlawful to use that part on your car. If he is as clueless as you say, he may simply admit that he does not know. Ask him if he normally writes citations just in case a law may have been broken. Ask the judge if this is what police officers are trained to do, and whether it is lawful to cite a citizen without reasonable evidence that any crime has been commited. Ask the officer if police policy is the write citations for made-up offenses any time an officer gets into a situation where he admittedly does not know what he is looking at and does not know what is illegal and what is not. This is costing you hundreds of dollars in time and/or cash - unfortunately, it may simply be a way of generating revenue to operate the police force. If you can get that statement out of the judge or officer, ask whether it is lawful for an invalid citation to be issued simply as a means of generating revenue for the department, even when no law has been broken, simply because the average citizen does not know enough about his rights or does not have the time to fight the citation.

The officer admitted up front that he had never seen a car like yours. That indicates that he has absolutely no knowledge of your type of vehicle. You will want to point out the the judge that your car is very different than most because it is mid-engined, turbocharged sports car (explain what mid-engined and turbocharged mean). Bring evidence that proves how few MR2s were sold in your model year, and how few of them were Turbo models. Remind the judge that your car is also 15 or however many years old, and not built with the same systems as current model cars. Stress the fact that he admitted that he did not know what he was looking at. Also stress the fact that the officer was only trained on the subject the day before he issued you the citation. If you can, find out what that training consists of and make sure thatt they are not being trained simply to issue tickets for anything shiny or new in the engine bay or cockpit. If they are, ask to see the vehicle code that prohibits polished components or Essentially, the officer wrote you a ticket for a violation that he was not even sure existed, on a vehicle that he knows absolutely nothing about. You definately want to talk to a lawyer about that!

if you're going to do this, you NEED to be prepared to prove to the judge that the equipment you were cited for is lawfully installed and used. You need to have supporting documents that identify the parts in question and that they are legal to install and use on public roads. You should also study the applicable vehicle code to learn what is legal and what is not. in other words, don't take a knife to a gunfight.

In the future, any officer wanting to see an engine bay can be answered by "I don't consent to any searches, officer." Then if they choose to conduct a legal search, you did not stop them. If they choose to conduct an illegal search, their findings cannot be used against you. If they choose to walk away without looking at the engine, you're all done. Once you tell the officer that you do not give him permission to search the car, it is up to him whether to search it anyway, to look for other violations he can write you for (since you're already wasting his time), or to find something better to do and leave you alone.

Of course, this assumes a certain degree of common sense on your part. If you drive legally and your car does not look/sound like it is a rolling museum of traffic code violations, you will have less trouble. If you dress, speak, and act like a person who more typically does illegal things, you will be a target for more police interest. You have the right to dress and speak and appear any way you want, but you will have far less hassle if you do not stick out in a crowd. Your choice.

Good luck -

HL2k · 10-28-2006, 10:54 PM

I think levin's onto something

I see a columbo!

mr2_dori · 10-29-2006, 08:08 AM

wow, thanks te51levin. that was awsome what you just said and im going to do what you said there. yah this cop had no idea what he was talking about. so ill do more research and find info on the car and the parts i have on there. thanks alot

Piddy · 10-29-2006, 06:07 PM

If you do get sent to the ref... you are screwed. BOV's are illegal. The ref would notice the exhaust, missing egr... etc. Plus the VIN on your motor isn't going to match the VIN on your car.... could get messy. I would see if you could pay that fine like your friend did... I pray every damn day that this doesn't happen to me.... thats why I plan on keeping my WRX legal... I don't want to have to deal with this kind of shit.

clem · 10-30-2006, 07:48 AM

am glad that we dont have emissions down here,if we did alot of people down here would have to ride public transportation! I have friends who have full race cars that are liscense and insured for the road the only problem is they loud as hell,dude i hope that everything works out for you!

HL2k · 10-30-2006, 08:31 AM

yeah but since you DON'T have emissions testing, you have pollution, both air AND noise

As I've heard and repeated in the past: if we take the warning labels off, the problems will fix themselves