The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2

General Category => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: Bob_Roller on September 02, 2011, 07:39:06 PM

Title: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: Bob_Roller on September 02, 2011, 07:39:06 PM
On my way to work this morning, got pulled over by DPS (Department of Public Safety) known in other states as Highway Patrol, State Police .

The light illuminating my license plate was burned out .

Got a warning .

The local BMW dealer didn't have the lamp in stock .

Went to NAPA Auto Parts (also known as No Auto Parts Available, everything has to ordered!!!!), the lamp was in stock, $19US each !!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: marcmax on September 02, 2011, 08:16:19 PM
Had the same thing happen to me about a year ago. Only difference is my guy must have been running behind on his ticket quota. No warning for me. $75 to the state and $30 to the local chopper shop later I now have a license plate frame with a strip of 10 led's across the top. Even if one stops working there are enough to light the tag.
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: Bob_Roller on September 02, 2011, 08:19:49 PM
I check all the lights before I leave in the morning, except for the license plate light, obviously !!!!!
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: Justin B. on September 02, 2011, 08:31:37 PM
$19 for a light bulb!!??  That's robbery...
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: nhmaf on September 02, 2011, 08:36:32 PM
Glad that I got my Beacon tail light from Motorrad Elektrik on my R65 - eventually will get one for the R100, too..
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: Bob_Roller on September 02, 2011, 08:43:37 PM
I should have stated in the first post, I was on the oilhead today, the license plate lamp is a special application halogen lamp.  

It's an H6WU lamp.
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: Motu on September 02, 2011, 08:58:14 PM
Quote
I should have stated in the first post, I was on the oilhead today,


Yes,that's would've helped avoid confusion on a R65 forum. I was reading the thread wondering how on earth this could be a problem on an R65.
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: montmil on September 03, 2011, 05:25:26 AM
Quote
I should have stated in the first post, I was on the oilhead today, the license plate lamp is a special application halogen lamp.  

It's an H6WU lamp.

Yet another excellent reason to ride an Airhead! $19.00 bucks for a taillight bulb?  [smiley=ROTFLMAO.gif]
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: Barry on September 03, 2011, 06:56:24 AM
Have the Police got nothing better to do at 6am in the morning or if it was later do you need to display a light during daylight hours.

In the UK 6 am is often the shift changeover so there is not likely to be too many around.
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: Bob_Roller on September 03, 2011, 07:58:07 AM
I left for work a bit earlier than usual, 0330 so was still still dark outside, and still 96 F.
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: Barry on September 03, 2011, 11:43:44 AM
A man that goes to work in the middle of the night should be allowed to go unmolested.

96F !!!
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: Dave 2 on September 04, 2011, 09:51:03 AM
I'm glad you just got a warning. I think I'll check my License plate light, I never even though about it before.
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: montmil on September 04, 2011, 04:06:06 PM
Quote
A man that goes to work in the middle of the night should be allowed to go unmolested.

Unfortunately, from Brownsville, Texas to San Diego, California, many people going "to work in the middle of the night" are up to no good. Their "work" involves human smuggling, weapons, stolen vehicles, drugs, etc.

Drivers are occasionally warned about being out at night on certain highways in the southern portions of the above mentioned states.

The LEO that stopped Bob was doing his job. A non-functioning light is probable cause to initiate a traffic stop. When the officer determined Bob was a stand up guy, a simple warning was all that was involved. Not uncommon. A sad fact of today's reality.
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: Bob_Roller on September 04, 2011, 04:19:32 PM
Usually they are checking for expired insurance, registration, a quick ticket and income for the law enforcement agency/municipality they work for .

In Aridzona, people are cautioned not to drive on Interstate 8, from Casa Grande, Arizona to Sandy Eggo, California due to the aforementioned illegal activities along the border with Mexico .
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: MrRiden on September 09, 2011, 07:46:14 PM
That's one expensive bulb! But it needed replacement. In Feenix a burnt bulb will get you pulled. Part of the immigration enforcement protocol.  Oddly when I'm down where the road signs are in KM not miles in Nogales they are a bit more laid back. Planning to ride down there for pleasure as soon as the temperatures are more mild. Patagonia is really nice.
Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: Altritter on September 11, 2011, 10:10:56 AM
I've been stopped numerous times at night. In most cases, I suspect it had to do more with the kind of car I drive (my Bug) than the purported reason for the stop. (We used to call an old car, a car with student stickers, or one with military stickers (in certain jurisdictions) a "probable-cause" car, i.e., a target for a pretextual stop.)

The majority of the stops had to do with the license plate light. In my Bug, I didn't have much of an excuse, but avoided a ticket anyway. But one license-light stop was suspicious; I was driving spouse's old Lexus ES300, which has two license lights, only one of which was out. (I don't think the cop could have had any trouble reading the plate number with the light from one bulb.)

On another occasion I was driving the Bug (broad daylight) on US 29 between Charlottesville, VA, and Washington. US 29 is four lanes, with a grass median that's generally 50 yards wide (often wider), and I was stopped by a state trooper. Trooper claimed that he had been going the opposite direction and thought he saw an expired state inspection sticker on my windshield by reading a two-inch number from a distance >50 yards slant-range, deflection angle increasing, all at a converging speed of ~120mph! If he did see it, his eyesight would have been better than that of legendary baseball player Ted Williams, who allegedly could see the threads of a rotating baseball traveling at 90+ mph.

Another likely pretextual stop: I'm in my Bug on a blustery night, same road, and I'm stopped by a county police. I furnish license and registration, and he says that I was weaving. I ask him if he'd ever driven a Bug in a gusting crosswind, and he goes back to his cruiser and drives away. There was serious wind that night, for my Bug has heavy front torsion bar, a steel-bar camber compensator bar on the rear, and gas-filled Bilstein shocks, and even it was twitchy. It's quite similar to my R65—not fast, light in a wind, unexceptional stopping ability, but able to run a twisty road faster than I want to drive it.

Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: Ed Miller on September 12, 2011, 11:22:33 AM
I used to get BS stops like that all of the time on my Triumph back in the 80s, but not since I moved back to Oregon in '91.  Most of the stops were in Oregon, before I moved to Washington, but some were in WA as well.

No tickets.

Title: Re: Got Stopped By Police Today
Post by: wa1udg on September 15, 2011, 11:30:10 AM
 Goin to work at "Oh dark thirty".   Bummer.