First ticket since I started driving when I was 16. That's five years next week!

I left my house and turned right without really stopping to a complete stop and a cop pulled me over. The city has been receiving complaints about people not stopping so he had to stake it out.

And to add to it he gave me a fix it ticket for my Apex N1 exhaust. I was going 20 MPH, he gave it to me because it "looks loud."

Anyway, I want to fight it. The CVC says that 80dB is the loudest. I called the CHP office and they told me to bring the car down and they can sign it off if they think its not that loud.

I was wondering if I put my silencer on do you think the CHP will sign it off? Do you think the APEX N1 catback is louder than 80dB with the silencer on? What are the chances of the CHP officers signing it off my ear, should I go get the db documented at a shop to show the officers?

Anyway, so I have a court date. Does the officer have to show up on that date? With a fix-it ticket I know I have to go to court to show them, but regarding the stop sign violation, I just get a fine in the mail and pay that off right?

Please answer as many questions as possible, I've never done this before.

Anyway, skafia got owned today!

 

It's loud, I got a ticket with my old Apex N1 also.

So I sold that and got a louder exhaust.

 

I had a Apexi N1 on my ITR, but then again I didnt think it was that loud

You should put your silencer on and go the CHP station and have them sign it off, Tell them that you had it on when you got pulled over. Any documentation showing that your exhaust is under the legal limit will help, depending on the officer that will sign off your ticket.

As for fighting it, even if you win you will still have to pay court fees. So you should have an officer sign off your ticket and pay the fees. In either case, you will have to pay court fees. If you cant find an officer to sign off your ticket, let me know and I will sign it off for you


R.I.P. 98 CW #829

 

Did the cop actually say he gave you a ticket because it "looks loud"??? I would have told him to **** up a rope and not sign the ticket, ******* cops trying to jerk people around

 

if it's your first ticket...got the traffic school. you can even do it online...so you'll still have a "clean" record.

Good luck with everything.

 

Wonder what you would have said to the cop that gave me my ticket.

I was pulling away from a stop sign. And going less than 5mph when he pulled me over for my "loud exhaust".

 

i woulda told him he should hear it when i hit vtec

sorry to hear that man, that sucks, i think you should fight it in all seriousness

 

Wait until you get your first real ticket!

I would put on the silencer, but the N1 is a pretty loud exhaust... so I don't know.

 

I got pulled over once for no reason other than heel-toe downshifting next to him, and the cop was like"well were going to search your car" and i was like **** if you are!! He was like excuse me sir you are required, and i was like NO, you cant search my car without my concent or probablt cause and you don't have either. So he kept me there for like 45 minutes and couldnt get me on ****. So hes standing outside my car saying i have drugs in the car and blah blah and thats why i wont let him search, and im like OK, this is harassment and im calling my attorney RIGHT NOW and i picked up my cell and start dialing m sis(family attorney) and he was like whoa whoa no need for that, have a nice night. ******* pigs. People take waaay too much **** from these power hungry ********(not saying all cops are, but the ones that pull over imports for no reason usually are!)

 

Where's the court fees? I've never heard that you have to pay fees just for a contested hearing..

 

py1019 - wow you are very helpful.

So anyway, how would I go about scheduling a traffic school date? It really doesn't say on the ticket.

This is what I'm thinking. I should have a CHP officer sign it off, if he doesn't then I'll get the DB rating tested. If it doesn't pass then I put stock muffler back on and show up to court.

If it does pass and officer still doesn't sign it off then I'll just bring it to court.

So they will let me know if I can go to traffic school or not when I show up to court right? And if the officer doesn't show up then is *everything* dropped?

 

Just put the stock muffler back on and do it, no point in testing it when you know it's not going to pass. Legal limit should be 95db from 3feet away @ ~3000 rpm's. Your car won't pass, i've been through this already.

Also, the traffic school schedule will be decided after your court date.

Most likely the officer will show up. You can try to postpone the court date, hopefully the cop will forget and it'll be dropped.


[Modified by yellow blur, 3:14 PM 2/6/2003]

 

Dayaam so you're telling us that where you live doesn't enforce aftermarket exhaust system as illegal? In the state of VA, anything that doesn't come with the car originally is ILLEGAL!!! Lucky you.

 

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d12/vc27206.htm - states that it is 80dB.

The Apex N1 with silencer doesn't really sound that much louder than stock. I believe it will pass @ 3000 RPM.

Anyway, thanks for all the info guys!

EDIT: I'm surprised he didn't give me a ticket for not having a front license plate frame or ask to look underneath my hood...


[Modified by skafia, 3:37 PM 2/6/2003]

 

Some Cops are real ******. He obviously knew that you live down the street and you have a CLEAN record, yet decides to give you a summons instead of a friendly warning..
I would think the N1 with butt plug should have no problem meeting those decibal limits @ 3k RPM. Good luck..

 

On regards to the exaust being too loud, just see if you can get it signed off if you can then do so, take it to a court clerk and they'll clear the ticket for you no need to actualyl go to court... there is a 10$ processing fee however associated with the fix it ticket you still have to pay that.

For the stop sign ticket with the ticket, should come info on how to attend traffic school if not jsut call the court once again, you will pay the fine plus the administrative fee and then I beleive you have to pay a bit more to the court to attend traffic school. then they will send you a packet with traffic school info, you call the traffic school, depending where you got the ticket, there are different types of traffic school (I've done a classroom one, and an online one, in some counties theres even a pizza traffic school). You pay a traffic school fee also to the traffic school itself and then you attend or do it online, I think even with the online one you have to take a teast at the end, and then traffic school sends the info to the court and the poitn is cleared.

 

 

I got pulled over for not completely stopping when turning right onto another street. No way of getting around that. He was staked there because of complaints from other people about people not stopping and of ricers racing by.

Anyway, with my ticket I have NOTHING that pertains to traffic school. It just says I need to attend the court date.

 

what is the vehicle code violation #? oh wait you jsut got this ticket right? well the back shoudl say something about traffic school like "you may be eligible" the court date is only applicable if you decide to fight it or don't deal with it by the court date. In about a week you should get a courtesy notice in the mail that has better info. unless he gave you some wierd VC violation .. but not stoppign completely shoudl be a regular violation.. liek speeding over 100 is a mandatory court appearence


[Modified by RiCE On IcE 2, 12:16 AM 2/7/2003]

 

Here's something ironic and some what related, the Spoon exhaust *looks* quiet but is one loud ****

 

Serious, I don't think I would have gotten a fix it ticket if I had a SPOOM exhaust.

 

you didn't read vc27200, which 27206 refers too. http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d12/vc27200.htm

read http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d12/vc27151.htm
which is under exhaust systems http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/tocd12c5a2.htm 95db

But if its your first ticket, pay the ticket and go to traffic school so you don't get a point.

 

You're probably right. I bet that cop instantly saw that giant, shiny "grapefruit launcher". I have the same exhaust, and fortunately, no problems yet..

 

lol I wouldn't call it "blowing" the stop sign. It was more of a California Stop.... but oh well, thanks bro, you've been too helpful!

 

The ticket is just a "notice to appear." You'll probably get a courtesy notice in the mail reminding you of the court date. There will probably be traffic school information on that. If you want to skip going to court, pay the fine (it will tell you how much on the traffic ticket) and there should be an option for traffic school on the notice, which you mail in. What you are essentially doing is pleading guilty by paying the fine, and getting it cleared by going to traffic school. Doing this is a waste however.

On your court date, go to court and tell them you want an extension. They will ask for money (the bail) and give you another date to come back. The longer you extend, the less your cop will remember when he comes in for trial. This is IF he comes. On the next date (your trial date), you will see the judge and he will call the trials. If your cop has told the court that he won't come, the judge will tell you and dismiss you. Then you're in the clear. If he does come, the judge will tell you that you don't get off this time. He will give you the option of pleading guilty and going to traffic school. He will probably give you some slack on the fines as well. If he doesn't ask, then tell him you want to go to traffic school.

If you go to trial, it's basically your word against the cops. First he will give his testimony and then you will have an opportunity to cross-examine him. If the judge thinks his facts were not straight, he will tell you that you won. If not, you are guilty and you get a point. The reason for extending the trial is so that the cop might forget the details of the incident. He will be less credible if he can't remember. However, cops take notes of what happened all the time.

I suggest going to trial and hoping that the cop won't show up. If he does, just go to traffic school. Oh and i believe the legal dB limit is 95 dB SPL. How do I know all this? I got 4 tickets in my first 3 years of driving. One more suggestion...go to the bookstore and read the books on getting out of tickets. Very interesting subject.