After reading the post about getting a " no front license plate ticket" I'm wondering: Can a cop give a ticket for having tints that are too dark without a person to give the ticket to? Or do they need to measure the windows using their little tint-o-meter? How are cops around santa clara/san jose and berkeley/oakland?

 

I'm sure it's possible....the cops in Berkeley are EVIL!

 

I think you would be OK as long as the car is not moving, despite the EVIL cops.
Of course the cops could just wait for you down the street, or give you a ticket
for something else, like no front plate, expired tags, etc.

 

yes it is possible.

But very very unlikely. The cop would have to be a real dick. Kinda like the cop that did the lisense plate deal. Have to go out of their way.

I've had my windows tinted on the last two cars I've owned 35/20 since 99 and haven't had any problems. Kinda just luck.

But I figure if I get tagged once every 5 years it's worth it.

 

Citations cannot be issued to an inanimate object, e.g. a vehicle, they have to go to a person. When a 'fix-it' ticket is issued for a problem with a specific vehicle, the ticket actually goes to the registered owner of the vehicle, not necessarily the driver. So in the case of something like tinted windows or a missing license plate on a parked vehicle, the citation would be written out to the registered owner, regardless of who had been driving it. Most times, the registered owner is the driver anyways, so it really doesn't matter.

Can you get receive a 'fix-it' ticket while parked? Yep. It's not a moving violation, so the car doesn't need to be in motion for it to be valid.

Is it common for this to happen? Not as far as I know, but it DOES happen. As was mentioned above, the cop would have to have a rather large piece of lumber wedged in his rectum to go out of his way to cite you for something like this. Most fix-it tickets get issued when the cop already has you pulled over for a moving violation.

-Bis

 

they let me go 3 times so far ...:thumbup:

As far as the tint...all front tint is illegal and there is no limit for rear tint, so they dont need to measure anything to deem it illegal.

BUT..front tint is legal if you have a doctors note saying you are sensative to light, so the cop wont know this, so I dont think you can get a ticket while parked for front tint

 

I got a ticket for no front plate when i parked my car at SF japan town ...

 

Looking in CVC, I found

26708. (a) (1) No person shall drive any motor vehicle with any
object or material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or applied
upon the windshield or side or rear windows.
(2) No person shall drive any motor vehicle with any object or
material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or applied in or upon
the vehicle which obstructs or reduces the driver's clear view
through the windshield or side windows.

...
So, it says "drive any motor vehicle". You have to be driving to get
this kind of ticket.


Of interest.. section 10 as mentioned by ucbsti:

(10) Sun screening devices meeting the requirements of Section
26708.2 installed on the side windows on either side of the vehicle's
front seat, if the driver or a passenger in the front seat has in
his or her possession a letter or other document signed by a licensed
physician and surgeon certifying that the person must be shaded from
the sun due to a medical condition, or has in his or her possession
a letter or other document signed by a licensed optometrist
certifying that the person must be shaded from the sun due to a
visual condition. The devices authorized by this paragraph shall not
be used during darkness.

 

OK, so now I'm confused. In section 1 it states that "No person shall drive any motor vehicle with any object or material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or applied upon the windshield or side or rear windows" which sounds like it would make any tint illegal? Yet in the second section, it states only thos which obstruct a driver's view in front and side windows, which would mean windows on the back of the car would be ok. Well, which is it? It appears that these 2 sections contradict each other.

 

By themselves, they do contradict,

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d12/vc26708.htm

Read the whole section and it starts to make sense. It says in some
other section about the windows to the rear of the driver don't count.

 

for the rear windows...you can even paint them black if you wanted as long as you have 2 side mirrors. IE...some trucks/vans dont have a rear view window

 

actually, it's 2 REAR VIEW mirrors.

you can have one on driver's side. one inside and non on the pass side. but that's still legal.

only when you have like a panel van, where an inside mirror cant work, will you need 2 side mirrors...

my uncle has a bare-bones 1990 toyota pickup and it doesnt have a pass side mirror...

 

A few stories...

At De Anza College my ex-girlfriend got a "no front license plate" ticket while her car was parked in the parking lot. I thought it was a joke at first, but I looked at it and found it to be a real ticket. I think she put the plate on her car and paid the 10 dollar fine. Thought it was ridiculous, but there were a lot of cars with tickets on the windshield.

Also, in the same area except at Monta Vista High School a friend of mine said she got a ticket for parking too close to a curb? Never heard of that one before, but I looked at the ticket and it said that she was parked within a certain about of inches from the sidewalk. She was not parked on the corner or near a red zone. Weird? I do not know what happened, I will have to ask her if she fought it.

Finally, my friend and I were chilling in a park parking lot after sundown, enjoying a stoggie, and a sherriff came in and made sure we werent doing anything. Anyways, he looks at my car and says that i need to be careful with my exhaust because if I was on the street he would pull me over, but since I was parked and off the road he could not give me a ticket. So I thought that was pretty interesting.

 

it all depends on the cop if your getting a ticket for tinted side windows. and they can't just drive through parking lots and issue tint tickets to anyone cus if you don't sign the ticket then your not guilty of anything.
they can only get away with no signature tickets for parking.

 

For the most part, cops use tint and front plate violations as excuses to pull people over and have a loosie for more serious offenses.

Any cop that tickets parked cars for that or honestly pulls you over for that reason and is not looking for more has nothing better to do and should go work for K-Mart security.... or has a quota...

Jeremy