PA Laws

Hey, im only 17 and i own a 95 caprice. Its the police package with the LT1 and all. The only mod that i know of is the camaro cluster wich is so much cooler than that gay digital shit. Brakes are good, engine is good, 124,000 miles, tranny is still in good shape. Theres a lil rattle or someshit in the front right wheel well, i have no clue what that is though.(BTW, anyone wanna trade a Mitsubishi 3000GT for my caprice, hey im there, i'll give you some cash too).....neway. Like i said im 17 and i like having fun. Sure getting up to 90-100 on the backroads is fun, but i have recently been wanting to make drivers shit their pants thinkin theres a cop behind them. Sometimes i sit on the side of the shoulder around curves on backroads waitin for them drive by and see their brakelights. Yea, i know im wierd! I was just wondering if it was legal in PA to have spotlights on my car? Or would that be impersonating a cop? Lemme know...thanks.

Originally posted by NewB1230
Hey, im only 17 and i own a 95 caprice. Its the police package with the LT1 and all. The only mod that i know of is the camaro cluster wich is so much cooler than that gay digital shit. Brakes are good, engine is good, 124,000 miles, tranny is still in good shape. Theres a lil rattle or someshit in the front right wheel well, i have no clue what that is though.(BTW, anyone wanna trade a Mitsubishi 3000GT for my caprice, hey im there, i'll give you some cash too).....neway. Like i said im 17 and i like having fun. Sure getting up to 90-100 on the backroads is fun, but i have recently been wanting to make drivers shit their pants thinkin theres a cop behind them. Sometimes i sit on the side of the shoulder around curves on backroads waitin for them drive by and see their brakelights. Yea, i know im wierd! I was just wondering if it was legal in PA to have spotlights on my car? Or would that be impersonating a cop? Lemme know...thanks.

I dont know the law's, but if you turn your lights on at people, yes that is illegal, it depends of what your doing with the spotlight.

One of these days it’s going to be a cop that comes around that corner and you’ll be the one shit’n in the pants. :banghead:

It is in fact illegal. You aren't even legally allowed to leave any of the taillight strobes or grille/trunk lights intact. They must be removed. For the most part when they go to civilian duty all of that stuff gets stripped; partly because its not legal for civilians to have it, and partly because some get recycled and used again. The only light that is legal for you to have is the A-pillar spot light since that is considered an off-road supplemental lighting. Its not legal for you to activate the light if it is more than 55w while you're on anything but a private road. This is a grey area, since most PA sportsmen use their high-watt spotlights looking for wildlife at night. Technically its illegal, but there are separate guidelines and laws for operation of handheld spotlights. The teardrop light is covered under different laws like a fog light or headlight.

If you are a civilian who is operating a duty-ready vehicle with all of the lights installed, legally you have to cover the light bar with an opaque cover. Sometimes you see them being delivered for service or detailing like this with a cloth sock over them.

But fear not. With a teardrop light and the obvious 9C1 stance and appearance, you will be mistaken plenty. No lights or strobes necessary there. The only problem you'll have is that Caprices haven't been used for law service since about 1999 or 2000. Many people don't know that, but if I see a 9C1, I just feed gas and blow on by in my 96 Impala SS and see if they can keep up. :iceslolan Even if you had the extra lights it would just be so dangerous to activate them for personal traffic use. If you caused a wreck while impersonating a police officer you would probably never drive again. :disappoin Not fun.

u r playing with fire
grow up

It is in fact illegal. You aren't even legally allowed to leave any of the taillight strobes or grille/trunk lights intact. They must be removed. For the most part when they go to civilian duty all of that stuff gets stripped; partly because its not legal for civilians to have it, and partly because some get recycled and used again. The only light that is legal for you to have is the A-pillar spot light since that is considered an off-road supplemental lighting. Its not legal for you to activate the light if it is more than 55w while you're on anything but a private road. This is a grey area, since most PA sportsmen use their high-watt spotlights looking for wildlife at night. Technically its illegal, but there are separate guidelines and laws for operation of handheld spotlights. The teardrop light is covered under different laws like a fog light or headlight.

If you are a civilian who is operating a duty-ready vehicle with all of the lights installed, legally you have to cover the light bar with an opaque cover. Sometimes you see them being delivered for service or detailing like this with a cloth sock over them.

But fear not. With a teardrop light and the obvious 9C1 stance and appearance, you will be mistaken plenty. No lights or strobes necessary there. The only problem you'll have is that Caprices haven't been used for law service since about 1999 or 2000. Many people don't know that, but if I see a 9C1, I just feed gas and blow on by in my 96 Impala SS and see if they can keep up. :iceslolan Even if you had the extra lights it would just be so dangerous to activate them for personal traffic use. If you caused a wreck while impersonating a police officer you would probably never drive again. :disappoin Not fun.

that would be a bummer, many locals and sherrifs use 9c1 caps and I have been fitting a lot of blowers onto them during the rebuild - they will catch you and you will have a 300lb cell mate calling you his prom date....

First off, why are you all doing complete Quotes? Thats just silly and for the most part completely unneeded to answer one simple question that was asked in the paragraph that was quoted.

Seconds off, yeah for the most part your not allowed to have curtain lighting mods done to your vehicle while its maintaining general road use.
However A. if you never use it on public roads around other vehicles, how are you going to get in trouble for it? B. The spot light again is not-illegal to own or have mounted, but cannot be used on city streets to flag other people down or to cause it difficult for on-comming traffic to see... ect.

Ironically enought i asked a cop about spot lights on civilian cars and thats what he told me. Legal to have... not really legal to use on city streets.

As a note: Most all performance and lighting mods done to a police car should have been removed during its 'transition' from police use to civilian use. So it would either stand that its NOT illegal to have those other lights (flashers) mounted on your car, or... it was not completed before auctioned off to a dealer or... whoever purchased it.


thats my :2cents:

My cousin is a officer, and considering i put the cop lights and pa in my car, i asked him about it. He said it is a felany, and that you should watch out on pulling people over, because the cops cracken down on impersinating a officer. Because there are becoming alot of "raps and killings" due to the rapist using police lights to pull them over. So if you got the lights , just make sure your in park, cause if your not, plan on never seeing or driving the car for a while.

I believe in NYS no state troopers are unmarked, to cut down on the old men with Crown Vic fantasies who pull over and assault unsuspecting motorists. I'd imagine that it's taken very seriously in any state.

The spot lights are legal. Any blue, red, white, strobe lights are not. You can have the spot light if you want, but you cant use it to impersonate an officer. Thats really the only catch.

Yo i had police lights on my caprice and every time i drove up behind someone they would move over not that i was acting like the police but i just bought the car as is like that.....i took the flashing lights off bcuz it became a annoying to be driving down the street like that....

spot lights are legal as long as u don't shine them on people in traffic, but you can't have red lights on the front grill of the caprice. thats illegal.

In pa it is legal for you to have a post spotlight on the car if it was equip. with it. you can not add one to a vehicle. title 67 sec. 175.66 subsec. H