Moving violation?

 

I got pulled over for my exhaust a few days ago, I asked the cop about those motorcycles that drive by and shake my walls with how loud their exhaust is. He said that its a stock exhaust... I call BS and they are pulling us over due to the cars we drive. If it was a Harley he wouldnt have even thought about pulling me over.

 

Bikes are exempt from the law, as with cars 25 years or older.

and i dont believe it is a moving violation

 

One obscure law or interpretation of the law in Washington State is that the Exhaust must be of ORIGINAL configuration. THAT is the extremely vague description that most Cops use to skirt the issue that really boils down to profiling certain cars which are likely to carry punk kids doing punk things in their minds.

Bottom line is that there is a maximum decibel and there are emissions limits. Beyond that, I think that it would be very hard for a citation to stand up in court that meets both of those requirements.

I've been pulled over for this with my Rally Cars while transitting from here to there. They REALLY pulled me over for the stickers and racing stripes.... but they can't say that either. In any case, when I was actually cited for my exhaust, I listened very intently on the points the officer made to the Judge at my hearing. They were that the exhaust wasn't of the "original configuration" and exceeded the decibel limit. To which I showed the judge the before and after pictures of my exhaust system from under the car, which I had happen to take to document the build of the Rally Car and had nothing really to do with the Exhaust itself.

Oddly enough, the exhaust follows the exhaust tunnel the car was manufactured with, the CAT was in the same place, the muffler as well. The TIP was a bit larger than stock however.

I also argued that with a cat, the appropriate bends and the presence of a rather large muffler that met CALIFORNIA standards, there was little chance that the system was to loud. I was not guilty.

The judge agreed, asked me were I had the work done and suggested I return and have it looked at to ensure it was not indeed, to loud.

Sorry for the long winded explanation but the moral of this story is... I'm not young, I'm not a punk and I was certainly NOT doing anything stupid with the car but I still got pulled over. IMAGE is the culprit, the exhaust was the excuse and I think that excuse is given alot. The STOCK tip is freakin huge and the Police will use that as an excuse.

It's what they MIGHT find that gets them wound up. So keep your nose clean and keep your head about you. You'll be fine.

RallyDSM<

 

Actually, motorcycles are not always exempt. The exhaust on mine was put on before the law took affect so it was grandfathered in. However, new bikes can't have after market exhaust.

http://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/motomanual.pdf

 

I want to see a motorcycle mirror that works 200' behind you while riding...lolololololololololololol

 

If thats true then its some serious BS.

 

If the above post by Jr. is true, then I stand corrected. But I have talked to many cops (im in school to be a police officer) and they all tell me that they dont pull over loud bikes for two reasons, 1) They are made loud, so it doesnt really stand up in court that the bike was to loud. 2) They dont want to have a fleet that they know they cant catch (lol) I always laughed at that one.

 

The first place I would look is to the Washington state motorvehicle code for any regulations regarding exhaust rating/ noise/ emissions. The state vehicle code in which you reside in will take precedent for your case. In the CA vehicle code, i believe anything over 96 decibels is not good, but there is no way for any cops to check it as they don't carry decibel meters. Anyhow, an aftermarket exhaust here is fine as long it is C.A.R.B. legal. They are the agency which regulates such stuff in CA, not sure if WA has agency law which is similar.

Any arguments making the case that you have to use OEM exhausts is silly, because how would all those muffler shops stay in business??

 

Jake nailed it on the head on this topic.

In WA, if your non-OE exhaust is louder than stock, it's against the law.

 

We need to look into changing the law.

 

Ok, so bottom line is:

If you have an aftermarket exhaust, no matter if its silenced or discrete, there will always be the chance you will get a ticket. No matter how good an argument you make, there will always be a cop or judge that will give you the ticket anyway...


However, if it is silenced and matches the setup of the stock system, there is a good chance you can argue your position to either the cop or judge and get out of the ticket or at least lower it.

 

If your exhaust is quiter or as quite as stock, you have a good argument, but it all depends on the cop/judge. But yes, anything other than stock, its illegal.

 

Just another way to raise funds. Effing retarded..

 

who care... ill get ETS 3.5 and annoyed cops..