canucklehead604
one of the few 6MTs...
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2018
- Messages
- 1,363
- Reaction score
- 1,123
- Points
- 113
- Location
- West Coast Canada
- Genesis Model Type
- Genesis G70
here's a friday story for y'all:
so i was driving to work the other day into downtown Vancity. while turning right (on a green light) i noticed a cop stopped at the same intersection i was turning at - he had the red. i briefly saw him, we made brief eye contact. no big deal, except for some reason he did seem to be looking my way a bit more intently than typical. i thought nothing much of it and carried on my way. i was not doing anything out of the ordinary.
not even a block later i see cop lights in my rearview. thinking they were enroute to a call i pulled aside expecting the car to pass. he didn't, and it was clear i was being pulled over. it was the same cop i'd just seen. he comes up and says he's pulling me over for front (side) window tint. in BC we are not allowed front tint on the driver and front passenger windows.
did i get tint added to the front? yes. is my car murdered out? far from it. i cannot recall the exact front tint, but it is very mild - maybe ~70% VLT. the rears are 40-50% i believe, also quite mild. to be honest, after i got the front tint i wondered what the point was - it is virtually impossible to tell the difference from stock. but knowing that it was technically illegal in BC, i just wanted something very subtle to soften the transition from rear tint forward (even the the rear is also quite mild).
the cop agreed that the tint was hardly different than stock and he had no problem seeing me, but he handed me a ticket anyhow. not a warning - an actual citation with a fine.
did i play dumb? of course. was i able to talk myself out of the ticket using well considered and intelligible argument? you bet. at first he was being a hard ass, but i softened him up and he waived the ticket and told me to get it removed. which i will.
i have no problem with being cited with a warning. that is fair, and it was the gamble i took when i got the tint. my problem was with the fine given the lack of any other violation. hey, COVID has hit my pocketbook just like it has many others and $169 is less palatable than it was before.
my 3 takeaways:
1. being in the G70 both helped and hurt me. this cop was a car guy as he confessed. i figure he took an extra long look at my car perhaps wondering what it was, especially since i had just detailed it and i was driving though a rough neighbourhood on my way to work (which is unavoidable) so i really stood out. (there are still very few G70's in my area, especially in Mallorca Blue which was popping in the morning lighting). while staring at my car, he obviously picked up on the very slight tint. he's clearly got a particularly keen interest for tint.
2. i fudged the truth a bit while playing dumb, saying the tint must have been installed by Genesis (which it was). he said take it back and have them pay the ticket. then i explained the atypical Genesis dealer model to him where i didn't have the normal access to a bespoke Genesis dealership since they don't exist. once i explained this he took the ticket back and waived it.
3. fair warning to our G70 group if you have front tint which is illegal - i have never heard of a tint infraction of being the only reason to be pulled over. i thought this was usually an add-on to a real offence like speeding, running a red, etc, or if you're being a dick to the cop. being pulled over solely for a very mild front tint is beyond what i expected. so clearly this is possible since it happened to me. not trying to start a racial/profiling discussion - i am a white, 40-something family guy with booster seats in the back seat.
a side note: driving in today, i saw the same cop had pulled over a Chrysler 300. obviously i have no idea why, but i saw the cop pointing at the windows and doing the same 'tint test' he did with me...
so i was driving to work the other day into downtown Vancity. while turning right (on a green light) i noticed a cop stopped at the same intersection i was turning at - he had the red. i briefly saw him, we made brief eye contact. no big deal, except for some reason he did seem to be looking my way a bit more intently than typical. i thought nothing much of it and carried on my way. i was not doing anything out of the ordinary.
not even a block later i see cop lights in my rearview. thinking they were enroute to a call i pulled aside expecting the car to pass. he didn't, and it was clear i was being pulled over. it was the same cop i'd just seen. he comes up and says he's pulling me over for front (side) window tint. in BC we are not allowed front tint on the driver and front passenger windows.
did i get tint added to the front? yes. is my car murdered out? far from it. i cannot recall the exact front tint, but it is very mild - maybe ~70% VLT. the rears are 40-50% i believe, also quite mild. to be honest, after i got the front tint i wondered what the point was - it is virtually impossible to tell the difference from stock. but knowing that it was technically illegal in BC, i just wanted something very subtle to soften the transition from rear tint forward (even the the rear is also quite mild).
the cop agreed that the tint was hardly different than stock and he had no problem seeing me, but he handed me a ticket anyhow. not a warning - an actual citation with a fine.
did i play dumb? of course. was i able to talk myself out of the ticket using well considered and intelligible argument? you bet. at first he was being a hard ass, but i softened him up and he waived the ticket and told me to get it removed. which i will.
i have no problem with being cited with a warning. that is fair, and it was the gamble i took when i got the tint. my problem was with the fine given the lack of any other violation. hey, COVID has hit my pocketbook just like it has many others and $169 is less palatable than it was before.
my 3 takeaways:
1. being in the G70 both helped and hurt me. this cop was a car guy as he confessed. i figure he took an extra long look at my car perhaps wondering what it was, especially since i had just detailed it and i was driving though a rough neighbourhood on my way to work (which is unavoidable) so i really stood out. (there are still very few G70's in my area, especially in Mallorca Blue which was popping in the morning lighting). while staring at my car, he obviously picked up on the very slight tint. he's clearly got a particularly keen interest for tint.
2. i fudged the truth a bit while playing dumb, saying the tint must have been installed by Genesis (which it was). he said take it back and have them pay the ticket. then i explained the atypical Genesis dealer model to him where i didn't have the normal access to a bespoke Genesis dealership since they don't exist. once i explained this he took the ticket back and waived it.
3. fair warning to our G70 group if you have front tint which is illegal - i have never heard of a tint infraction of being the only reason to be pulled over. i thought this was usually an add-on to a real offence like speeding, running a red, etc, or if you're being a dick to the cop. being pulled over solely for a very mild front tint is beyond what i expected. so clearly this is possible since it happened to me. not trying to start a racial/profiling discussion - i am a white, 40-something family guy with booster seats in the back seat.
a side note: driving in today, i saw the same cop had pulled over a Chrysler 300. obviously i have no idea why, but i saw the cop pointing at the windows and doing the same 'tint test' he did with me...
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