Did the rules "relax" a bit?

[TurboChrisB]

I'm noticing more and more lately.....

Cars with forward facing red or blue lights (never used to see this....now I see it a couple times a week)

Tinted windshields (at least one a day and I'm not even looking for em)

Tinted rear license plate covers

Tinted brake lights

LOUD / straight piped cars (too many to count on a daily basis)

Etc etc.

Hell, back in the 80's, I'd been ticketed or pulled over for, too high, too low, driving with fog lights on, tinted windows, loud / modified exhaust, tires past the fenders / no flaps. Had a buddy about 15 years ago put one of those tinted rear plexi plate covers on and got written up for it in less than a week.

But I'm guessing it's just no where near as much a risk these day. Or I don't imagine I'd see it this much.

Is it me or has stuff become more lax in citing for these correctable violations?

I do remember my brother (ret. RSD) and i talking about 10 years ago about how loud harleys and tinted windows were becoming more "allowed". His theory was the more common stuff becomes, the more it's overlooked.

[702dog]

[SDDAVE56]

Some Cops don't want the hassle. Some Cops are too busy. Some Cops are too lazy. Some Cops don't give a crap.

[mej16489]

I miss the days when those things were heavily enforced. In my time they were the gateway to DUIs and Felony drug cases... For some reason the license plate covers are the ones that get on my nerves the most. I don't have a clue why...

The most likely answer is that in highly populated areas law enforcement is stretched thin enough that LEOs are shagging from call to call constantly. Designated traffic enforcement is likely thin as well and seems to only concentrate on speeding...

[Devilock04]

Some Cops don't want the hassle. Some Cops are too busy. Some Cops are too lazy. Some Cops don't give a crap.

Some departments are actively limiting stops for “minor infractions”, tying the officer’s hands…

https://www.foxnews.com/us/lapd-chief-new-policy-pretextual-traffic-stops

[SDDAVE56]

https://www.foxnews.com/us/lapd-chie...-traffic-stops

Yup.

[TurboChrisB]

Some Cops don't want the hassle. Some Cops are too busy. Some Cops are too lazy. Some Cops don't give a crap.

Well, that would be a "new breed" of cop then....

https://www.foxnews.com/us/lapd-chie...-traffic-stops

Not the case in OC, at least not that I've ever heard.

[p7m8jg]

Just don't drive through a small town with nothing better to do......

[TurboChrisB]

Just don't drive through a small town with nothing better to do......

Ha! As I mentioned earlier....my brother is RSD, Ret. About 5 or 6 years ago we drove up to an event in Portland. On the drive home we decided to drive PCH all the way as he'd never driven it up there. LOTS of small towns. It was getting late and we decided to drive until about midnight.

Between about 9 and 12 we got pulled over FOUR times. EVERY small town we drove through we got pulled over. It was funny at first. By the 4th time it wasn't as funny.

Being in a black, lowered 25 year old car probably didn't help. Looking for drunks I guess.

[stormvet]

You really haven’t been keeping up with current events, there are a multitude of reasons these type of infractions are not heavily enforced in many areas of the country anymore. The lack of officers patrolling the streets do to defunding and politics is just one of many. In many places like the Bay Area traffic rules of any sort are rarely followed. Say your Oakland PD you see hundreds of cars with tinted windows and other infractions, you know if you pull one over for it chances are it’s gonna go sideways. Your gonna most likely have to call for back up, pulling more officers from an already extremely short on staff watch. And then after it goes sideways and use of force is used, you will be Monday morning quarterbackied to death over the reason you pulled the car over and the resulting use of force.Places like the Bay Area need to triple their police force just to stand a chance, as it is now it’s all about reacting to major problems and just trying to keep your head above water.

[mej16489]

I've never seen anyone with forward facing red or blue lights...until last night. Forward facing reds.

[SharedShots]

It's more about policies than anything else. Say you live on a street that's used as the local drag in the middle of the night. That can go on for years until some resident makes a call and suddenly there are a few enforcement events targeting that concern. Also, a properly worded complain does a lot more than just a general one. I'm not saying to do this but: say you want to complain about forward facing red and blue lights. Just complaining about it won't get much traction. Say you saw the lights and in heavy fast-moving traffic had to move over onto the shoulder (not lie but if it really happened) as did a few other cars and that's a little more focused. Say there was a limited shoulder, dirt and dust got spewed up and could easily confuse or cause others behind you not to see and more focus.

Take just about any job, doesn't matter what it is, some things just aren't a priority until the boss or company policy makes it a priority. I'm sure some people think it's just the LE deciding not to pay attention to something and for some instances that's true but mostly, it's policy or politically driven right down to what some council member or even some prominent resident wants.

If it bothers you when someone runs around with those blue and red forward-facing light, make a complaint. If you have a license plate, all the better. That doesn't mean after that there will be some enforcement but as with lots of things, when the threshold for complaint tolerance is reached, someone says "Okay, let's be aware of these things (insert list) and apply some focus here".

This works for almost everything. Complain about your coffee not being hot enough and the next time be careful before chugging.






.

[PartyBarge]

https://www.foxnews.com/us/lapd-chie...-traffic-stops

This

[BufrdTJstc]

Traffic stops are generally frowned upon these days... and Its not worth the hassle, you get a complaint and then you have to answer for it administratively. Its the politics of the day...

[sfpcservice]

I see this with some frequency also and had the same question. Back in high school kids would get instantly pulled over for ground effect lights. Now we have guys with red and blue forward facing flashing lights they got off Facebook marketplace.

Also notice an increase in blatant stop sign running and red light running, particularly with cars in the left turn lane.