Citation advice, can I fight this in court?

[TrustJDM]

Hello Primers,

I recently got cited in my daily within my own town. Problem is.. my daily was purchased by my father who pays both the insurance and registration. When the CHP officer cited me, he asked if I was the primary driver for this vehicle and I said yes. He indicated that the registration/title is under my fathers name and then cited me to change the title into my own name. He also said he could have cited me for my exhaust which is 50-state legal according to Greddy.

Now, he kept saying that because I am very cooperative, he will only cite me to change the title (5900 c vc) and not for my exhaust. I figured, okay.. i don't mind changing the title to my name so i thought everything was cool.

5 days later, i receive a ticket in the mail for my exhaust! WTF! What a lying POS officer. I looked at both tickets and he wrote the exhaust ticket right after based on the sequential ticket numbers and even changed the time to match the first citation. To fight the exhaust ticket, I have one slip of paper indicating that my exhaust is 50-state legal, and I also did contact the manufacturer for any documentation but they cannot provide me anything. According the Greddy sale rep., their exhaust sys. does not modify the emissions component in the vehicle, and keeps noise below 95 dbs so it should be legal.

I plan to fight both citations in court and see if the officer was just racially profiling me because there is no reason for him to tell me he won't cite me and then does through the mail. I want to argue that my father is a controlling person and this citation takes away his right as the owner of the vehicle. Does this go over an officers jurisdiction? Forcing someone to title a vehicle under their name just because they use it the most?

I have the greatest respect for the law, but I felt that this specific officer either didn't like me or was behind in the citation game and just wanted to get ahead and picked me as his victim.

My argument so far is that my daily is driven 6000 miles in 6yrs! Anyone in my household can drive the vehicle regularly and be called the "primary" driver simply based on numbers. The exhaust however will prob. require a trip to the state ref. but for him to tell me that I won't cite you only to drive back to the office and cite me is f*cked!

Therefore, my fellow primers.. what should i do and how should i fight this?

-JC

 

[naaman]

I'm not sure of the specific laws in CA, but in AMERICA you can do whatever you want with the vehicles you own. They are your property. If you want to let your son drive your car everyday, that's your right. If you're insured, no problem. Citing someone for not owning the car they are driving is ridiculous.

5900 C VC only deals with when the OWNER decides to sell or transfer all interest in the vehicle. He can lend it to whomever he wants for as long as he wants. This is as of March 1, 2011

Look here:

http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com/c...tion-5900-traffic-ticket-court-fine-cost.html

 

[Hapa88]

For the exhaust law in CA:

No person shall modify the exhaust system of a motor vehicle in a manner which will amplify or increase the noise emitted by the motor of the vehicle so that the vehicle is not in compliance with the provisions of Section 27150 or exceeds the noise limits established for the type of vehicle in Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 27200). No person shall operate a motor vehicle with an exhaust system so modified.

This level set is 95dB(A) from previous years (I doubt it has changed for 2011) & enforced by the California Highway Patrol.
http://www.apexi-usa.com/content/pdf6366.pdf

The dB(A) weighting is very important. Note the curve of the (A) weighting and how it greatly filters out low frequencies. If your exhaust is loud in the very low frequencies (i.e. is very "deep" sounding), it still may be legal do to the (A) weighting measurement.

If you have an iPhone you can purchase a $0.99 soundmeter app which is close enough to get the idea if you're illegal or not.
http://www.studiosixdigital.com/spl_meter.html

 

[Cairo94507]

I was paying attention until you mentioned "racially profiled" and then you just lost me. I suspect the same would be true in court. I don't care why you were stopped if the violations are evident then that is the way it goes.

I will say that as far as the registration goes I do not think it matters who the primary driver is. It is who owns the car. At least that was the state of the law at the time I cared about that stuff.

In regards to your exhaust if it is louder than stock you are likely out of luck. I see tons of cars with modified exhaust and what gets them in trouble is not having it but not being aware of where they are when they are being loud. So again, you are likely out of luck on that too.

How many times have I been sitting at a coffee shop and some asshat in a car with modified exhaust runs through first and second to redline in a 25 or 30 MPH area. Every cop within ear shot is looking for the asshat at that point and quite frankly they deserve the ticket.

I am not saying you were driving in that manner, but something caught their attention. If you toss the racial profiling phrase around, be prepared to lose IMHO. Good luck.