'unlawful display of blue lights on vehicle'

[89si]

well last night i got a $105 ticket for those blue corner light bulbs that i love so much, so today i went and changed them to clear LED's, which will be more bright and therefore more dangerous in my opinion, however, they will be legal... lets just say i was.. rather upset about the ticket. looks like i'll be heading to traffic court to get out of this one. im thinking of asking to pay half the fine, while still pleading guilty, and saying something like "i was unaware the lights were illegal and i paid more to have them changed to be legal at my first opportunity, which was during my shool's lunch period." then go on to say that, while it was wrong, i was not aware, however it should not go unpunished and i feel that half of the original fine would be a fair charge for the offence.

time for work though, i'll tell you more later. court date is something like June 17th..

[4-Door Flunky]

I would simply plead "Not guilty."
After all, once you do that, the judge has to schedule some time on the docket for a trial. If the officer doesn't show up (50/50 chance), then you're off the hook.
What kind of evidence will the cop have even if he does show up? None. What kind of evidence will you have? The car, sitting outside, completely legal. You'll have physical evidence vs. the officer's word.
Stick with "Not Guilty."
If you in any way plead guilt, they're going to try to stick you with the ticket just to make some money. That's what keeps your city and county government on their feet.
Don't believe that "Play it straight with the man and he'll play straight with you."
Besides, in my state, there are about $60 of court costs added onto every ticket. Even if the judge suspends the fine, the court costs alone might be $60 or $70. You could even get stuck with the full amount ($105) PLUS court costs...
Not guilty, man, not guilty!
Flunky
PS-I beat my last three speeding tickets. Twice the officer didn't show and once I got a 90-day deferment; which means that if you don't get another ticket for 90 days, that one gets dismissed.

[Scott82]

i agree w/ him, if you plead guilty then you will have to pay something, and if you plead not guilty the worst that could happen is you get stuck w/ the fine, or on the brighter side the judge just shakes his head and says case closed and you walk w/ out even paying court cost. Can't go wrong w/ not guiltyCop did'nt take pics did he. so just say he misinterpreted the color or some big word like that and they can't say a thing. If you have the box the lights came in see if the is a sticker that says street legal on it and let them deal w/ it.

[CivicSpoon]

Never plead guilty to anything; deny, deny, deny.
It's strange that clear bulbs (or LEDs) are legal. Here in NY you have to have yellow or orange bulbs; or clear bulbs with yellow or orange lenses.

[Onimacus]

If the cop pulled you over, he started his car video, which records everything that goes on. I dunno if you can see the blue lights from the video on the cop car or not... but just be careful

[89si]

^ exactly, i dont know if im gonna go for not guilty, i could insist that the charge is ridiculous, cuz it really is. honestly, any reasonable person knows that 105 for having blue lights is just craziness. when he was done he goes "drive safe".. then i rolled up my window and yelled "FUUUUUUUUUCK!!" as loud as i could.. so i dont know if he heard it lol.. but yea, i wasnt too impressed.

i got out of my $50 parking ticket before, and i've gotten a written warning for rolling a stop sign... thats my history of 'vehicular violations.' if you wanna call it that. but yea, i dunno, i think asking for a lower fine is reasonable cuz i even appologized to the cop and said i'd change them and everything, i wish the fuckin prick would have just given me a warning like any other respectable human being would.

make my life hell just cuz i take pride in my car.. thanks.

man, i've gone speeding past cops at night a few times with my blue's in the corners and they didnt do shit. that cop probly just isnt getting any action from the wifey... or perhaps... yeeeeeeaaaaahhh..... maybe he swings the other way.

[CivicSpoon]

I bet if you bring in the receipt saying you bought the new bulbs, they will let you off. Just like a muffler or light out, you can usually go in and say you changed it and that's it.

[89si]

hey, i never thought of the reciept, thats really smart, cuz it will have the date and likely the time of the purchase on it, so it will prove that i fixed the problem really quickly, and that it cost me money just to do that, making the fine even more ridiculous. thanks for the tip man.

[Hybrid1990crx]

the reason you cant have blue bulbs is because they are "emergency" colors. i think your staight up fucked on this one. turn signals are suppose to be amber or yellow.

[rowitha]

Originally Posted by 89si

im thinking of asking to pay half the fine, while still pleading guilty, and saying something like "i was unaware the lights were illegal and i paid more to have them changed to be legal at my first opportunity, which was during my shool's lunch period." then go on to say that, while it was wrong, i was not aware, however it should not go unpunished and i feel that half of the original fine would be a fair charge for the offence.

time for work though, i'll tell you more later. court date is something like June 17th..

pleading ignorance is no excuse to any law enforcement

[SiZ]

HAHA.. I thought this thread was titled "aweful display of blue lights on vehicle". It should be.

Just have legal lights for crying out loud.

[89si]

i already said i changed to legal ones at my first opportunity.

[crxlvr]

oooh ive gotten that ticket before, 3 seperate times actually.

although they were wrote up as
1) impersonating an officer - blue
2) impersonating VFF - red
3) impersonating VEMT - green

i dont learn

[turtlecrxsi]

I've been using blue bulbs but they shine white so that's probably why I've never had a problem... LOL... sux for you though... hope you get it straightened out.