More CA laws... gonna be a disaster.

CA has a newish vehicle inspection law. Section 2 of the attached pdf addresses accessory lighting, no more than 4 forward facing lights, at least that is how I read it.

 

You just can’t have more than four facing lights on/projecting at one time. Which is good. We have idiots driving on the roads here with light bars on for no other reason than the “look at me” factor.

From the PDF:
“No more than four lights of the type listed below may project from the front of the vehicle in any combination at one time.”

 

Gonna kill the aftermarket accessory light business. In San Diego where I live almost every TRD off road has Cube lights or an LED bar. I wonder if this is going to be enforced by traffic cops or?

 

You can still put as many aux lights on your truck as you’d like.

You just can’t have more than four front facing ones on at the same time. Which is great.

This obviously applies to on road only. Off road you can shine like the sun if you want.

 

I live in Pennsylvania, but my truck has “illegally wired” foglights because they are aftermarket, thus allowing the foglights and high-beams to be turned on at the same time. I don’t think CA has safety inspections, but PA does. My mechanic installed the foglights, so he just slaps an inspection sticker on it; I also live by the following the philosophy…

“It’s MY truck, and I’ll do whatever the fuck I want to MY truck!”

It’s insured and registered, and I am also incredibly OCD about maintenance, and that should be good enough for the government.

I decorate my truck for Christmas (lights front to back and top to bottom, powered by combination of AA batteries and an adapter plugged into the cigarette lighter. I put the lights on truck the weekend before Thanksgiving and take them off in early January; I’ve been doing this on and off since 2011, and every year since 2019.

I got pulled over for the first and so far only time, in Souderton on Thanksgiving Eve in 2023. The cop was actually pretty cool and I did not get a ticket.

Showing a little Christmas spirit is not harming anybody, and once again, nobody tells me what I can and can’t do to my truck. This is of course within reason, and I think that putting Christmas lights on one’s vehicle during the holidays is reasonable.

Don’t even get me started on shit like window tint!

 

On another note, my foglights are very bright and people sometimes think my high-beams are on; I have autism, and I have sensory results as a result of having autism. One time in the last two years or so, someone in a Range Rover kept flashing their brights at me because they thought mine were on; I got angry and stuck my middle finger out the window as we drove past each other.

 

I understand the “I do what I want” creed but there are safety laws for a reason.

Running Christmas lights during the holidays? Obviously no harm or cause for safety.

Driving at night with an oncoming Jeep that has shitty LED headlights scattering all over the place, ditch lights on, two LED light bars (one in the bumper, one on a roof rack) and another set of aux driving lights…? Please pull this douchenozzle over and citation the F out of him.

Also - you’re not allowed to run blue or red lights on your vehicle as those are reserved for first responders/emergency vehicles only. And I respect that.

So don’t get me started on the ricers running blue headlights (which are also installed in shitty housings)

 

Your attitude is exactly why we live in an overly regulated world.

 

Your fog lights being bright shouldn’t be an issue. Are you sure they’re aimed properly or are in a suitable housing with a proper cut off?

 

If you're out in the middle of nowhere with no other drivers around you can do whatever you want.

If you're sharing the road (or any space) with other people you can't just do whatever you want.

Tired of motherfuckers blinding the shit out of everyone with their stupid light bars and LED headlights that point straight up into the sky. Aim your headlights properly, figure your shit out and stop being an idiot.

 

Read the pdf. It's not difficult to understand EXACTLY what is prohibited:


Frankly, this seems ENTIRELY reasonable.
People just want to be upset about something. Anything.

 

BUT MY FREEDOM UNITS ARE PROPORTIONAL TO THE LUMENS I PROJECT INTO YOUR FACE.

 

Thank you

 

I can post a picture later; all I know is that high-beams were not on, and my autism-related sensory issues caused me to be triggered by someone flashing their high-beams at me…

 

I follow traffic laws and have a clean driving record, nor have I ever been in trouble with the law for any reason. How do I have a bad attitude? My truck is registered and insured, and I get it inspected every year as per PA law. It failed a safety inspection one time, in 2023 if I remember correctly, due to a sway bar link being rotted through. It has never failed an emissions test.

Show me proof that having Christmas lights on my truck is harmful to the motoring public, and I won’t do it anymore.

As for window tint, don’t give me the “it’s for the safety of law enforcement” bullshit. I don’t own a firearm, and I don’t have anything to hide in my truck. My windows have aftermarket tint, and I’ve never had a problems with the police.

Also, I have autism. I support the police 100%, but I will freely admit that I have a problem with authority. I’ve been pulled over by the police a few times and am always compliant and respectful, but back in March 2013, somebody called the cops on me for taking pictures of their house from a public sidewalk; 4 fucking cops showed up for a report of a guy with a camera and interrogated by the side of the road for like 20 minutes.

In 8th grade, I got suspended from school for two days for “assaulting” a kid who bullied me nonstop; I finally lost my temper and slammed my desk into the back of his chair.

So yeah, I’m a functioning member of civilized society, but I really don’t like it when people (including various authority figures) involve themselves in my business over petty bullshit. I have absolutely no problem with you; I am just being honest.

 

Can’t help you there.

But if your fog lights aren’t aimed properly I can see why someone would flash you. They’re being blinded.

 

Curious about the citation piece as well. Or if that will be misinterpreted by officers as well..

 

The way that I read the law is that you can not have any more than 4 forward facing lights, it says nothing about them be on or off. I am thinking that you take your vehicle in for a smog and saftey inspection and the kid with the clipboard has a financial interest in finding points of failure that you HAVE to fix, maybe by them, maybe not, the point being is that now you are in the system and there is only one way out.

 

While I dislike that as well, it's a dumb law. Typical government overreach that shouldn't be praised.

 

Or when some idiot with a Carolina squat and a Harbor Freight light bar lit up like a stadium on a cloudless night with a full moon, jeez. My bad, did I say that out loud.