If you live in CA beware
 

I recently got a ticket for no front plate,tinted windows and smoked lights.Yesterday, I received my notice from the court.The ticket was $471.Each violation was $102,in addition to other fees totaling $165.I guess this is how CA plans on getting out of debt!I was never given the option to fix the items because CHP marked the items non correctable on the ticket.

I know lots of people all around California and they have all said that the number of police patrolling for speeders, etc. has seemingly gone up 100 fold in the past few months. I think you are right, hello revenue.

I thought all those would be a fix-it ticket. ($10 and then go fix it and have a CHP/LEO sign the ticket that has been fixed.)

I would take this to court if I were you.

I plan on contesting in court;pleading not guilty since I was never given a chance to fix the items.

In Fountain Valley area, my 2 colleagues got a high speed 45 in a 35 zone and did not stop completely at stop sign tickets.

My friend is a CHP, and yes, they need the money due to budget cuts and tax revenue shortfalls. Watch out and don't speed is my best advice for everyone.

wow. $102 for front license plate.

I got about 6-8 tickets in the past for front license plate and the white signal bulbs when I lived in CA. but those were just fix-it tickets and the fine was like $10 something.

well atleast its summer so my windows will be down, and just got my windows tinted yesterday haha thatll suck but i have out of state plates

dont for get to make complete stops, no "california rolls" haha

They gotta have their doughnuts

Under a little-noted law that took effect Jan. 1, the cost of a California fix-it ticket and other types of citations will now cost you a lot more.

Beginning in 2009, the cost of a California fix-it ticket - a citation for a mechanical violation on your vehicle - increased from $10 to $25. What’s even worse is that while in the past one $10 fine covered all of the fix-it violations, now you can be assessed $25 for each mechanical violation. With the various fees that can be tacked on, the cost of a California fix-it ticket can now exceed $100 or more.

The same bill increased the surcharge on moving violations by $35, parking citations by $3 and the court costs of attending traffic school by $25.

Although that burnt-out tail light can now cost you significantly more money, it can also give police probable cause to pull you over, which can lead to serious criminal charges such as DUI.

For anyone with out of state plates....
If your car is new to California you must register and pay the fees within 20 days of entry or residency. If you don't your plates can be confiscated with additional fines and penalties.

Get that temporary bracket that a lot of Mini owners seem to use and install it for the fix. It is relatively easy to remove later.

That won't save the $100.00 it's gonna cost when you get stopped.

It seems to me that if a person gets 6-8 tickets for the same offence, that the resulting fine is not having the desired effect (that of changing the behaviour). If it was common to pay $10 and change it back later, it would seem only logical for the state to increase the fine to the point where people notice, whether or not the state needs the revenue (which I am sure they do, but which seems immaterial here)

I am not too bothered by a lack of front plates, but I think that any significant window tint ahead of the B pillar is a safety issue, and should be ticketed. If you can not make eye contact with the other driver, how do you know that he can see you?

The part that most people don't understand is for the most part
the CHP will not concern themselves with your vehicle unless
something attracts their attention. A Burned out light attracts
attention for sure. Tinted windows is another one.

Once stopped the officer begins a walk around and the violations
start adding up. The one that gets a lot of people is windshield
obstructions You know things hanging from the rear view mirror,
portable Navi units installed improperly and rear passengers
not wearing seatbelts.

I wonder how comes no one is - an atterny at low...can we hire one for x5 members for fun..?!?!?!?!

dont see how this will help, the law is the law, as stupid, absurd. unfair, outrageous the fine is.....


do you guys think there are enough mod-ers in cali to make a change against these modification law fines they just increase changed, make them legal

because this puts a lot of them, us, in a hard place, all they have to do is go to the local In N Out, or a random GTG, to strike the jackpot

Just as a note... they're concentrating on these "fix-it" violations but they still don't enforce the cell phone law effectively.

Definitely go to court, but I would not recommend pleading not guilty - the judge is not going to look favorably upon you for that. Essentially the judge will turn around and ask you if your front plate was missing, if your windows were tinted, etc. Whether or not you were given a chance to fix the items is irrelevant to determining "guilt" in this case. My recommendation would be to go to court plead guilty and ask to have the items changed to correctable offenses. The judge will be much more accomodating if he/she believes you are willing to take responsibility for your actions and are just looking for a reduced judgement.

NOPE, not a chance...

Recently got a front license plate ticket in Berkeley, CA. - $25, issued by the local parking enforcement. It is not a "fix-it" ticket. This is now a source of revenue for some.

Decided to attach the plate permanently because the parking scooter person drives by everyday.

You mean Bazerkeley police???

Cell phone use in California now requires hands free, right? So if I don't have a fancy star trek-ish bluetooth piece, can I use one earbud or is that some other violation? I know you should use two earbuds while driving, but I can't see how one would be any different than a wireless headpiece.

Now, if this new to me X5 has bluetooth installed, then I'm golden and have no worries...

Bad timing for a quick run from Santa Clara to Vegas tomorrow.

Are you serious?

Absolutely serious. But then, I also work for a company that bans all portable communication device use when driving, whether or not the device is hands free. Statistics show that hands free isn't safer than hand held, both are contributors to driver distraction. Driving should be about driving, not entertainment, and those that don't get that should lose the privilege of driving.

I absolutely agree with you but am a hypocrite because I tint my front side windows due to the extreme heat we get where I live. BUT, I do not and never have done "limo tint" and always keep my front side window tint to a transparency that allows other drivers to still see me.

While I think dark tint all around looks good, it is a safety issue to other drivers and police who stop vehicles they can't see into.

I think you can use a hand free device and drive safe, you just need to make driving the first priority.

Yes, that is a commonly held belief. Do you have any statistics to support your opinion that it is safe? There are lots of statistics available to show that it isn't. Perhaps if accidents caused by cellphone-related inattention were treated the same as DUI, we would start to see a shift in thinking.

I just look forward to the day when this is debated on the Chevy Impala or Toyota Corolla forums, not on a BMW forum. We are driving what is supposed to be the Ultimate Driving Machine, not the Ultimate Mobile Phonebooth. I fully realize that attitude change may take a long time.

We multitask all the time, normally you don't change the station on the radio or adjusted the HVAC when in a heavy traffic condition, the same goes for a phone or talking to a passenger.

It all requires common scene, not saying that a phone is not a distraction but its not the same DWI.

Oh I'm not sure I agree with you one this one. If I'm going to make the
5 hour drive to LA in my ride aint no way I'm gonna travel without my tunes
and a way to communicate with family on the way down. I can understand it if
a person can't drive and chew gum at the same time, however a reasonable,
prudent, logical driver ought to know how to handle oneself behind the wheel.

Although we might want to, we just can't punish everyone by taking away their
privilege of driving based on the inability of others who don't know what their doing on the road.

:iagree:

Slightly OT...
The prob with driving while using gizmos, imo, is that one person's skill level
is maybe "better" by a factor of 10 compared to many out there on the highways.

I am not a long distance trucker, but the majority of our annual ~30,000+
miles in cars & m'cycles is on joy rides and trips. It is no surprise that the
skill level of many of the drivers is suspect; add in the current craze of
continuous cell phone use and texting, TV watching, etc., and most of those
"geniuses" don't know if there fanny is bored or punched, let alone what
the hell is going on around them at nearly 100 feet per second.

Rant over...
GL,mD

[email protected]

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to make the schlep home from Santa Clara to LV w/o tunes and phone. I enjoy driving and will take the infamous Dinan test road (CA25) and then the 198 to hook up with the California autobahn (the I-5). Looking forward to Tehachapi pass too. That's a fun stretch. However, on the 5 and the 15 the tunes will be rockin' as those are some boring ass stretches of nothingness. Ooooh, look, creosote bush. Oooooh. Meh.

I have no problem with vehicle sound systems, my point was that picking songs off an iPod with a click wheel can be dangerous. I have an iPod in my vehicle, but it is integrated into the vehicle, and I control it without navigating a click wheel. I think a phone in a car is a valuable safety device. I keep mine in my trunk in case I get stranded.

It is all about degrees; I think that TV in motion in the front seat is absurd. I have no problem with a DVD for the kids in the back seat. I think texting should be banned at all times. I am sure some feel that their texting is safe.

I was almost hit on a bicycle last weekend. Driver pulled up to a four way stop, on my right. He had the right of way, being on the right. He paused, and I assumed he was letting me go (I was climbing up a hill on the bike, and it is a common courtesty). He waited until I was one third of the way through the intersection, and then gunned it in front of me. Then I saw that he was almost entirely focused on his cell phone glued to his ear, he had never seen me. I was still covering my brakes, because I didn't trust him and I value my life, so I was fine. The entire incident was due to a cell phone distraction. If we had collided, he could have been assessed blame due to a distraction, but it would have been small solace (having been in bike accidents before).

what?

Once you make the decision not to use a cell phone while a vehicle is in motion, the trunk (or glovebox) becomes a good place to keep a phone. If I put it on the seat next to me, I find that it is a distraction.

Guess you guys have never had to convince a dealer not to order the bluetooth module either.

I find that the NAV system is more of a distraction.

Maybe NAV should be tied to the parking brake so that it can't be used while the vehicle is in motion.

I don't set it up when moving, but just following along can be a distraction.

I believe in civil rights, and don't like the Government controlling me.
I think that seat belt laws are bad even thought I wear mine all the time.

That's pretty impressive discipline. Do you go through this routine everytime you enter/exit the car?

Some companies do this, Nissan/Infinity comes to mind.

If I have a computer laptop bag, it goes in the trunk and the cell goes in the bag in the trunk. If nothing is going in the trunk I find that the glovebox is more convenient.

Sometimes I put it in the tray under the HVAC controls, but I normally keep the ringer off, and the BB is programmed to turn itself off outside of work hours, so that helps as well. I have it for work reasons, mainly for travel, but I don't want to be contacted outside work hours, and I don't own a personal cell phone.

I liked MD's link; how did we all survive before cell phones were invented?

Phone in the trunk/back/glove box?? No problem. In the X5 Bluetooth works from there so
I don't need to hold or see the phone at any time. In the e60, same thing only better.
I can control the whole show from the steering wheel; Phone calls and tunes.
And if I'm looking for a how to get there, the wife dials it up on the navi without my assistance.

As far as how did we all survive before cell phones were invented?
The same way we did before the car, the dishwasher,the washing machine,
the television, the telephone, the airplane and a host of other essentials we
take for granted and are not about to give up......:rofl::rofl:

Unfortunately, most California courts will not grant a reduction in penalties. The state needs money and they'll do whatever they legally can to get it. They wont just give you fix it tickets anymore.

For those who dont like the look of your front plates on the bumper, you can always purchase a clear smoked plate cover to place over it. There's no law stating its illegal since you can see through it.

That's the problem. EVERYBODY thinks they have "common scene"...

It's a fact, look on the freeways. Whomever it is yapping on the phone is the one driving slow, swerving around, forcing others to switch lanes prematurely, etc.

It's not just cell phones either. I saw a teenager eating cup-o-noodles while driving. Maybe she had enough "common scene"?

I'm with JCL on this one. US drivers simply do not have enough discipline, etiquette, courtesy, etc -- "not that there's anything WRONG with that." :rofl: