Jealous UHP trooper = ticket 4 me

[jeeponthebrain]

So......I was heading back from the West Bountiful City dump in my Jeep with a trailer load of shredded bark compost, when I saw the dreaded red and blue flashing lights in the rear view. My initial reaction was "Where the hell did he come from"? and why is the UHP pulling me over on a surface street? (For those of you unfamiliar with the area; I had crossed the interchange of the new Legacy highway (UHP territory), approx. Redwood road and 500 south, and was heading east in the city of Woods Cross/ Bountiful). I was driving my 91' Jeep YJ with 38s on beadlocks and a spring over, not speeding, but getting pulled over by UHP none the less...

I was expecting the usual "You need mudflaps" but I remembered I had them on, so I thought maybe "Your tires stick out too far" but he surprised me with "Your tailights are illegal" My response was "Which ones?" He said slightly in disgust "The ones on your Jeep" --Oh, my bad, I was pulling a trailer, so in my mind that was a valid question--

My response was "No they are not" Apparantly he mistook that comment for "Please inspect my Jeep and give me a ticket for every possible thing you can think of, even if you have to make up a few things". And here is where the fun began...

So my Jeep is really nothing extreme by todays standards, 91 YJ, spring over 1.5 inch springs, 38.5 swampers on 15x12 beadlocks, led tailights etc, but a few things seemed to bother Officer 337, namely 1. Faulty Equipment (Beadlocks) 41-6a-1601 2.Unapproved lights/improper aiming (tail lamps removed refelectors) 41-6a-1618 3. tire width violation (all 4) 41-6a-1631 (2) 4. Faulty equipment (tires contact suspension) 41-6a-1601 5. No proof of insurance 41-12a-303.2 and if he had more than 5 lines on the ticket he may have included vehicle height 24 1/2 frame to ground, and no light illumination on the licence plate.

Not to make a long story longer but to plead my case to the choir:

*Which is safer, a tire held on with air pressure alone? Or 32 grade eight bolts? Really...

* my new leds are brighter and safer than my old lights, they are also DOT approved. And for the record regarding reflectors, I have reflective tape on my rack if that will sufficice.

*Ok, my tires are a little wide, but I did have mud flaps and 7 inch Warn TJ Flares, neither of which he thanked me for.

*My tires only contact the suspension when I cross the crack.

*I had proof of insurance, just not with a current date. I have had insurance since day one...full coverage.

One question before I let you go:

Why could'nt he say thank you? For at least one of the things I was actually doing right?: I wasnt speeding or driving recklessly; I have a spotless driving record. I had my trailer chain hooked up and one light working. I had my 2 year old in the back seat, in his car seat, with his seatbelt on, protected by a full roll cage. I had my seat belt on. There are not any warrants out for my arrest. I have a valid drivers liscense. My registration was up to date. I had mud flaps on. Was he just jealous that I had a cool Jeep and he didnt?
I have been accused of looking at the world through rose colored glasses; I know a few of you have used beer goggles, Do cops look at the world through "Everyone is a criminal" glasses?

I plan to put my 35's on and see what the judge says. I can't remember how much my Jeep weighs but I think it is just over 4500 lbs so I should be ok up to 26 inches? What about the reflector law? What do I need to do to be legal? My date in court is not less than 5 or more than 14 days from July 29th. Any help on how to approach the judge:greg: would be appreciated.

Ok, I'm done now.

 

[pfinder]

wow

uhp sucks! my buddie got pulled over cause he had too much white light showing through the taillights. yet his taillights were dot approved! my buddie never got pulled over by orem city.. but when it comes to uhp and the sheriffs they like to pull ya over for stupid stuff.. for instance i got pulled over for taking a turn too wide!! it was on a road that curved at a 90 degree... that was his lame excuse for him running my plates and pulling me over to tell me that then say "oh by the way you have a warrant out for your arrest".
just go into court and tell the judge you put smaller tires on it and have a sheriff or deputy go look at your jeep, make sure your tail lights are dot approved. 9 times out of ten they will pass it off..

 

[Brian P]

oh boy...Here we go

 

[Hickey]

Quit whining. It's GVWR, not GVW. Buy a trailer.

 

[chadschoon]

once again here we go

 

[benjy]

My response was "No they are not"

are you serious? how did you expect him to react?

So my Jeep is really nothing extreme... 38.5 swampers on 15x12 beadlocks

, led tailights etc, but a few things seemed to bother Officer 337, namely 1. Faulty Equipment (Beadlocks) 41-6a-1601 2.Unapproved lights/improper aiming (tail lamps removed refelectors) 41-6a-1618 3. tire width violation (all 4) 41-6a-1631 (2) 4. Faulty equipment (tires contact suspension) 41-6a-1601 5. No proof of insurance 41-12a-303.2 and if he had more than 5 lines on the ticket he may have included vehicle height 24 1/2 frame to ground, and no light illumination on the licence plate.

Any help on how to approach the judge:greg: would be appreciated.

Sounds to me like everything on the ticket was justified...? My advice for the judge would be to treat him exactly opposite of how you treated UHP

 

[Cody]

ya, jealousy. Thats it.

I recomend playing that card in court.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Do your tailights have a DOT/SAE stamp and certification number on them? If so I would fight it, if not your SOL, laws are laws and the lights have to meet a federal spec,yours don't sound like they do, your beef should be with the company that sold them to you. Even if they do have a DOT/SAE stamp, they might not be approved to function in the place you have them, which is combo park/tail/stop & reflector.

I would argure the beadlock ticket to the judge, its been a long standing debate and truthfully yours is the first case I've heard of first person that has received a ticket. What brand of beadlocks? DIY?

Tire width/track width. Your guilty as charged, if they stick out, your in the wrong as per the law. No battle there. It doesn't say you have to try your best, it says you have to comply, no ambiguity there.

No proof of insurance. No brainer, the law states you must carry a current insurance card, call your agent and complain to them if they didn't send you one. If they did, blame yourself for not putting it in the glove box


There is a reason UHP officers are more likely to pull people over for vehicle infractions, they are trained in them, in fact they literally write the book on them City and county officers likely have training, but not to the degree a Highway Patrol officer does, they have specific "Vehicle Enforcement" officers that will literally dawn a pair of coveralls and climb all over your Jeep or more often a big rig. Safety on highways (not just interstates) is their job and mission.

(knocking on wood)

 

[Milner]

Thats the chance you take....Your not going to find sympathy here....You knew what was illegal before he pulled you over....Suck it up and deal with it. Taillights are questionable, as are the bead locks. There is nowhere in the code that says either are illegal....Just a bunch of BS left to officer discretion.

As stated the frame height is per mfg gvwr, nobody cares if you put 1k lb of lead in the back....A lot of people here worked VERY hard to get that law change to what it is now! Respect it, it is very liberal by most standards!

Thank you for what you did right....Are you serious?? That is NOT his job. You want a gold star for you forehead....Maybe he should give you a sticker so all the other kids know you did good, and you can show mommy when you get home. Here I am arresting you for armed robbery but I am proud of you for leaving the safety on and wearing a mask with eye holes so you could see well. :-\

I disagree with some of the BS we get pulled over for too, but I know it is going to happen, and I deal with it when it does!
If you disagree with the law, DON't B!tch about it. DO something about.
Just like the kids I deal with everyday...."but Pot should be legal" ITS NOT, you KNOW that, deal with it!!

 

[Milner]

that was his lame excuse for him running my plates and pulling me over to tell me that then say "oh by the way you have a warrant out for your arrest".

He doesn't need ANY excuse to run your plate....You have plates so he CAN. Often if there is a cop behind you at a light, he will run your plate. Thats one reason they have laptops....Guess what I am glad he did. If you had a warrant, you obviously had not taken care of something you should have....Yep, just doing the job WE pay him to do!

 

[Gravy]

I would argure the beadlock ticket to the judge, its been a long standing debate and truthfully yours is the first case I've heard of first person that has received a ticket. What brand of beadlocks? DIY?

agreed here, but that's about all you got.

Respect for officers will get you further than sarcasm... but you know that now

I doubt you are over on frame height with 1.5 lift spring over... but I dunno with 38" swampers

just curious what is your wms to wms and how wide of swampers?
I'm at 77" total width in the rear w/ 12.5" wide mtrs and even with 6.5" bushwackers I'm maybe 1" wider than the flare per side.
I would think that with 7" flares you'd cover your tires... unless you have a full width rear and running like a 15.50" wide boggers.

good luck!

 

[Cody]

Sometimes I wish the cops or UHP would pull me over and thank me for any number of things I'm not doing wrong at the time.

"officer, I know I was going 85 in a school zone, but I WAS staying in my lane so I think a little thank you is in order"

 

[SAMI]

Sometimes I wish the cops or UHP would pull me over and thank me for any number of things I'm not doing wrong at the time.

"officer, I know I was going 85 in a school zone, but I WAS staying in my lane so I think a little thank you is in order"

 

[Tacoma]

Wow.

You are destined to FAIL in court. Enjoy.

 

[MR.CJ-7]

That laundry list of stuff really sucks. Probably won't get much sympathy here. There are a lot of Johnny law boys on the board.

This is probably late in coming, but the side of the road isn't a courtroom. Cops have egos to protect. You would have been better to say nothing to the tail light ticket, sign it, drive off, finish your landscaping. Then fight it in court and maybe even win. Assuming you didn't have a tarp over your trailer, I guess your lucky he didn't write you for "uncovered load".

I have a similar story a few years ago flat towing my CJ. I was early to meet the group in the Nebo area, I was rolling along I-15 at 60 in a 65 in the right lane. Pig on a bike lights me up. I believe the UHP originally thought since I didn't have the magnetic towing lights on my CJ that I didn't have any tow lights, but I had CJ's harness wired with a plug to my tow vehicle so all was fine there. After he pulled me over he said he needed to inspect my vehicle. No mention of why he stopped me, but of course he had to find something, so we played the games; lift, insurance, tires (on both the tow vehicle and CJ), hitch ball rating (yep uncoupled it to check the stamp on the ball itself), etc... All was legit and legal. Truck had a level kit on and OEM tires, CJ had a 2.5" lift and 33x9.50's with TJ flares, so they were WAY inside, finally he wrote me for faulty safety chain--winch cable on a 9K winch isn't good enough. I didn't push it, sure there were things he could have found if he'd kept digging(no brakes on towed vehicle, etc...). I just paid it, it was a non-moving violation and the ticket price wasn't worth the day of vacation leave or the drive to the courthouse, plus I'm pretty sure a winch cable isn't DOT approved as a tow chain, so I probably would have lost anyway. Although it probably would work better than the 5000# DOT approved saftey chain I bought at wal-mart.

Fight what you can, pay the rest.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Brett]

Sometimes I wish the cops or UHP would pull me over and thank me for any number of things I'm not doing wrong at the time.

"officer, I know I was going 85 in a school zone, but I WAS staying in my lane so I think a little thank you is in order"

I'm still waiting for them to get your for mudflaps. Course, they seem to prefer pulling me over for that.......:brett:

 

[SAMI]

Overly shiney wheels attract attention.. Once you blind the cop with your rainbow wheels, they then notice you have no mudflaps.. So they set you up with a ticket as payback for burning their retnas.

 

[Herzog]

Because it's easier to go on a power trip and write petty fix it tickets to somebody in a purpose built vehicle than it is to pull over drug runners in lowered dodge neons with tinted windows and little tiny tires that stick out from the body over 3 inches.

But then again, nothing is fair.

 

[Cody]

I'm still waiting for them to get your for mudflaps. Course, they seem to prefer pulling me over for that.......:brett:

It's funny. When I was 20 I would have been pulled over every 20 minutes driving my jeep.

Granted I don't drive it very often, but I've put 6000 miles on it since November and I've only been pulled over once, in Wellington (big surprise) for mud flap violation. He let me go with a warning. I was super respectful and admitted from the beginning that I was wrong and planned on addressing the problem.

If you're a douche to a cop, you'll lose. Ask how I know.


Also, there is a difference between a ZJ with 35's and 6" of lift (and full width I guess), vs. a YJ with like 8" of lift, 39" swampers and beadlocks. one draws a little more attention than the other.

 

[Thursty]

Probably won't get much sympathy here. There are a lot of Johnny law boys on the board.

He's not going to get much sympathy from many people on here regardless of their occupation. :-\