Hi all,

I got pulled over by a T1000 (aka Motorcycle Cop) a few minutes ago in Hollywood. I was driving on Santa Monica blvd westbound and he was making a right onto Santa Monica from a side street... he pulled up next to me and looked at my tinted windows (15% all around) and then pulled a little further and checked my front license plate (Euro plate). Then he dropped back and threw on the lights.

He gives me a fix-it ticket for the euro plate after I explained that the car didn't come with the front holder... he said a lot of cars don't come with one, foreign and domestic... and that I was just *waiting* for it to arrive... then he mentioned that the side driver/passenger windows can't be tinted and that usually people get away with it if it's light... but mine are dark... and it's likely that I'll be pulled over again for it.

He was gracious enough about everything and I certainly wasn't in the mood to fight with him.

My question to you all is, have you been pulled over for side window-tint and if so, did you have to get it taken off or is there an alternative? As for the euro plate, I'm just going to throw on the *legal* plate, get it inspected and then put the euro plate right back on... though I'll probably order a euro plate with matching DMV letters so *maybe* they can overlook it if I get pulled again.

 

I think dark windows are very often ignored, unless something else about your car catches his attention, i.e the Euro plate. Especially in CA, which is a front license plate state. You could even get a ticket for that while parked.

 

Been there. Done that. Once in Colorado ($20 for NFP) and again in California ($30 for NFP).

After the second time I purchased the bracket (threw my original one away ) and attached the plate.

_________________
:: David Bunting :: North American Motoring :: Send me a PM ::

 

Cops are like elephants: they never forget. And if you run into this guy again with similar issues, he'll remember you and will go out of his way to find 17 other things wrong with your car. A Cooper is a cop-magnet. It's one of the few things I hate about the car.

 

There is a fantastic way to get away with whatever window tint you want.

At least in my state, and I'm sure it works elsewhere, you can get an exemption if you have a doctor's note stating that you need the tinted windows because of an eye problem that you have.

If you have a doctor in the family or your doctor is friendly, just get the note, go through the red-tape paperwork and enjoy your limo tint!

Fight the power!

 

I used to have a Prelude and had 15% all around. One day on my way home from work, as I noticed a regular motorcycle tailgating me I also notice a motorcycle cop with his lights flashing. I thought he was pulling the bike over for tailgating but no, he wanted me. I pulled over, he tells me that I can't have tint on the driver and passenger windows. I had just gotten a ticket for that about two weeks prior, told him but since I didn't carry the ticket around with me, I was screwed. It's only ten bucks he tells me. Thanks. He mentions that tinting those windows is bad because you can't see motorcycles from those windows. What? Maybe he can't. I asked him about the motorcycle tailgating me and he says that yes he did see that, but he had already decided to pull me over and couldn't do anything about it.
Another story. I was with my friend in his corvette that has 15% tint all around. We were on our way to work when a motorcycle cop pulls up to the passenger side and signals me to roll my window down. When I do, he tells us to remove the side tint immediately, then drives off. The corvette still has 15% all around.

Cops are ordinary people, and some are just a**holes.

 

Hey Yucca that's an awesome idea about the doctor's note. What state are you in?? I do have a friend that's an eye doctor... I never thought of that as a possibility.

I wonder if it'd be a stretch to argue with the cop that because the Mini is so unique it's more helpful having mods like euro plates, bonnet stripes, etc because it makes us stand out from the crowd so much more... and basically makes it easier for the cops to identify us. I mean there's loads of cars out there with tinted windows and whatnot, but the mini is altogether different from just about everything else out there... if one of us mini drivers (no pun intended... apologies to Ms. Minnie Driver) decided to hold up a bank or something and were inclined to use the mini as the getaway car, it'd be to the cops advantage having exterior mods to the car...

...but then........hmmmmmmmm maybe not.

 

can't say anything about the euro plates.

far as the tint, 2 things come to mind.

I bought another set of windows, popped them into the car when I needed to show the fixit, then when i got home i popped them back in. popped means about 2 hours of work pulling the tinted ones out and the untinted in, and doing it again. I don't know if I would do that to the MINI

Before that, I had also gotten a judge to let it go because of security for the neighborhood I lived in. I said I lived in a bad neighborhood and the work place area was also crime ridden, so it was dismissed. I was pulled over with the windows DOWN the police office said to roll them up and I was then cited.

all of this happened while I lived in the San Fernando Valley.

good luck

 

i saw this rolling around once

http://www.imagestation.com/mypictur...p;from_album=1

and then i remembered someone saying that people have registered euro plates w/ the dmv (for a price of course... and i hear it's a doozy). anyways, this guy had them on front and back.

i'm planning on getting a euro plate w/ my dmv issued # (like the one in the pic)... and a custom one for meets and such. still haven't gotten caught with my naked front (knock on wood)

 

I got a ticket for my europlate, now the front of my mini looks naked.

_________________

 

why would you want to tint your windows? i've never understood this. is it a privacy thing, or is it just aesthetics?

 

>>Hi all,
>>
>>I got pulled over by a T1000 (aka Motorcycle Cop) a few minutes ago in Hollywood. I was driving on Santa Monica blvd westbound and he was making a right onto Santa Monica from a side street...

Sounds like the same cop that got me. I didn't have my MINI at the time--I was driving a black Acura Integra, and had gone front plateless for almost 10 years--until that day I decided to take a shortcut to a job site, through Hollywood. Same thing, got me for my plate, and my tinted windows. Had to remove the tint--was like $75 or something, but it was peeling anyways due to age! For the front plate, it was cheap, but I recall there was a processing fee that was tacked on. I had to get the car inspected as well. Just a big pain in the ****.

_________________
Octane Guy

c3:Lets Motor for a Worthy Cause :::
Or Find a MINI Motorer near you!

 

Those of us who are "desert dwellers" use window tint to keep the inside temps down during the summer, and make things a little easier on the A/C. It also reduces the sun damage to the inside of the car. I'm just outside of Las Vegas and my MCS is black..................mgg

 

>>why would you want to tint your windows? i've never understood this. is it a privacy thing, or is it just aesthetics?

It also looks pretty damn good.

 

you could always just look in the mirrors for the cops and roll the windows down if they pull up. Also check the state law, if you are allowed to tint a little bit you can always argue that you tinted at the limit, afterall there are probably very few people that could give you the % of the tint just by looking at it.

 

Luckily I live in a no front plate state. Not allowed to have any tint at all on the driver side windows though. My car stands out, even for a MINI, with the bumper to bumper racing stripes but I have yet to be pulled over in it for any reason. This is after driving in about half the US states, 42k miles and 2 years. Is the MINI really a cop magnet and I've just been lucky? Or is it MINI + agressive driving that draws the fuzz?

 

IMO, there's no doubt that the MINI is a cop magnet. I've been pulled over more often in this car than any other car I've ever owned...and this is generally in around town, side street, situations (not on the highway where I might be justly accused of going a bit faster than in previous cars). Most of the time, I get "official warnings" and not actual tickets. I rest my case....i.e., there's no good reason for stopping me, I just happened to catch their attention. If I had tints or no front plate (it's required in my state), I'm sure I'd be ticketed for those.

Let's face it, a cop is a human being and is subconsciously "looking" for things that attract his/her attention. Speeders do that, but also unusual looking cars. The MINI's size, its bright as heck Xenons (I get nailed a lot a night), colors (I have Indy Blue), and sheer unusualness tend to do it. I back this up by the comments I've heard from cops as they chat me up during the stop...e.g., "I could see you a mile away with those lights" and "You looked like a bat out of hell" (this said apparently about my pulling out from an intersection).

I agree with the earlier poster who said that this is the one thing he hates about owning a MINI. Amen to that.

 

Mass.is really screwed up with these issues."Older" green plated cars only need 1 plate,but the newer red ones need 2 (the main reason I didn't get a vanity plate!)Re tint issues,our finast occifers must use some kind of device which is placed on both sides of the glass and measures the percentage of tint ,in order to give you a citation, not just some guys "opinion" that the tint is too much.Our local police dept. in Newburyport ,recently got themselves in a world of hurt by issuing 300 citations to motorcyclists for loud pipes,without having a decibel meter.One of the groups they pulled over was a club consisting of Doctors,lawyers,and police officers!All citations were thrown out of court

 

MI Law - Next, we'll see tickets for "dangling objects"
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Michigan statute 257.709 is the statute that covers this question:

257.709. Windshields; windows; wipers; obstruction of view

Sec. 709. (1) A person shall not drive a motor vehicle with any of the following:

(a) A sign, poster, nontransparent material, window application, reflective film, or nonreflective film upon or in the front windshield, the side windows immediately adjacent to the driver or front passenger, or the sidewings adjacent to and forward of the driver or front passenger, except that a tinted film may be used along the top edge of the windshield and the side windows or sidewings immediately adjacent to the driver or front passenger if the material does not extend more than 4 inches from the top of the windshield, or lower than the shade band, whichever is closer to the top of the windshield.

(b) A rear window or side window to the rear of the driver composed of, covered by, or treated with a material that creates a total solar reflectance of 35% or more in the visible light range, including a silver or gold reflective film.

(c) A dangling ornament or other suspended object except as authorized by law which obstructs the vision of the driver of the vehicle.

(2) A person shall not drive a motor vehicle if driver visibility through the rear window is obstructed, unless the vehicle is equipped with 2 rearview mirrors, 1 on each side, adjusted so that the operator has a clear view of the highway behind the vehicle.

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(3) This section shall not apply to:

(a) The use of draperies, louvers, or other special window treatments, except those specifically designated in this section, on the rear window, or a side window to the rear of the driver if the vehicle is equipped with 2 outside rearview mirrors, 1 on each side, adjusted so that the driver has a clear view of the highway behind the vehicle.

(b) The use of a nonreflective, smoked or tinted glass, nonreflective film, perforated window screen, or other decorative window application on the rear window or a side window to the rear of the driver.

(c) The placement of a necessary certificate or sticker that does not obstruct the driver's clear view of the roadway or an intersecting roadway.

(d) A vehicle registered in another state, territory, commonwealth of the United States, or another country or province.

(e) A special window treatment or application determined necessary by a physician or optometrist, for the protection of a person who is light or photosensitive, if the owner or operator of a motor vehicle has in possession a letter signed by a physician or optometrist, indicating the need for the special window treatment or application as a medical necessity. However, the special window treatment or application shall not interfere with or obstruct the driver's clear vision of the highway or an intersecting highway.

(a) "Physician" means a person licensed by the state to engage in the practice of medicine or the practice of osteopathic medicine and surgery under article 15 of the public health code, Act No. 368 of the Public Acts of 1978, being sections 333.16101 to 333.18838 of the Michigan Compiled Laws.

(b) "Optometrist" means a person licensed by the state to engage in the practice of optometry under article 15 of the public health code, Act No. 368 of the Public Acts of 1978.