well let me start from the beginning. the day was May 04 2001. i get pulled over in my 54 Chevy on my way to work. the cop said the reason he pulled me over was cause he couldn't see my license plate. oh well, he goes on to say i don't have seat belts. time goes on and i go to court to try to fight the case. it being that the car never came equipped with seat belts. so the case should have be dismissed. well the judge didn't care and said i had to pay for the ticket. let's fast fwd 6 yrs. to last month 2006. i was walking out of 7/11 with a slurpee in hand. i saw a cop car parked in the lot and didn't think anything about it. i place my slurpee in the front seat of my 58 F100 and go back in cause i forgot something inside. on the way out the cop is across the street now. as i reach for the door handle and open it. the cop pulls up right behind me and asked my name. i gave it to him and asked if i ever lived in Monterey Park. mean while he had his hand on his gun. not drawn it was still in his holster. i told him i used to. then he walks over and says i have a warrant for my arrest and place my hands behind my back. cuffs me and places me in the back seat of the cop car. so I'm in the back seat and start asking what's all this about. he says that i have an outstanding bench warrant from 2001 for a seat belt ticket. i explained my story and he was super cool about the whole thing and he let me go with a ticket to a appear in court for it. well i went today to fight the ticket again. i pleaded not guilty which the judge gave me a court date for Dec. she did say that was a good idea due to the fact that the case was so old that the cop might not come in for it. so this is where i need help. i need to have some proof to present to the court that DMV says that if a car does not come equipped with seat belts then they don't need to be installed. i think seat belts be came optional in mid 60's. does that sound about right? does anybody know where i kind find DMV codes? before anyone starts to get all bent out of shape about not having seat belts they have been installed a couple of days after getting the ticket in 2001.
One of the guy's in our club got pulled over a coupla months ago in his '27 T and the young cop begins the conversation with "okay, where do i begin?.....No seatbelts, turn signals,catylictic converter "{square business, he's running lake headers}etc........Thankfully and older cop pulls up and sends him on his way.....I think some of these guys are in their early to mid twenties, relatively new on the job and a little over zealous to do their job Also, just recently a girl my wife works with was given a ticket for not having a front plate on her late model 'vette while it was parked at work on private property....The cop had just been on the job a few months.....A call to the precinct got it taken care of before it went even further
I went to court for no seatbelts added to a speeding ticket... Judge took one look at the ticket and threw out the no seatbelts without me saying a word... You got a ****ty judge....
I would say get as much info as possible from the DMV and AAA Motors too. I do believe you can win this one Dante! KNUX!
i got pulled over by some hot shot new 20 year old cop in my 1960 caddy. for "speeding"... he didnt bother to tell me how "fast" i was going... then he proceded to complain about my dice hanging from my mirror and that i had no seatbelts. so hes going on and on about the seat belts, and i say "this car didnt coem with seatbelts" and he goes "well you shoulda got a letter from the car dealership" and i said "i didnt live in the 60s!" and he said, "well, you should have had them put in, im taking your license in lue of bail, heres your ticket for no seatbelts" so i drive home pissed off, i walk in the house and my dad(whos a retired cop) asks me why im pissed and i told him. he walked over and got his IL TRAFFIC LAW book. and it stated thus: Any car or truck previous to 1963 is not required by law to have a seat belt. so he calls the police station, asks for the policeman(from his number) told him to look up such and **** section of **** and such IL traffic law...... the dude instantly felt like a complete ***, and when all the rest of the older cops found out they all made fun of him and laffed at him i could hear the other cops laffing at him from the phone. so anyway, i drove there and picked up my license, and he ripped up the ticket.
Dante, i would check with the local inspection stations. They *may* have a book or something from the state that should have safety requirements in regards to the years.. I know here in NY we have them. I have a book at the shop that states what safety device is mandatory per vehicle year. This book was issued by the state for inspection stations.. You guy's may not have something like that, but it's worth a shot.. Good luck bro. Tony
I may be mistaken but didn't the Tucker automobile have seat belts ??? Not required by law of course but they were optional in the early 50's. I had a buddy who had a 55 or 56 Ford that came that way ... from the factory. It was a loaded car. A Mordor too ... some little old lady ordered it new and checked off every available option at the time
Try an internet search for state motor vehicle codes, course Cali has some really strange ones, but did you pay the original ticket? If so a warrant shouldn't have been issued. Seems like that cop was looking for an excuse to bust you for something. Went through a lot of that **** back in the day when I was riding a chop, ticket after ticket for equipment violations. Thought most of that **** had gone away now that it's cool to ride a chopper Guess hot rods are still fair game in some peoples eyes.
If i read this right, it says you were told to pay anyway (6 yrs ago)and you did NOT? Why didn't you finish it, one way or another 6 years ago? Just curious. Why would you want the inconvenience (and EXPENSE) of an arrest?
Whoever did your inspection for you has to know those laws and keep a book handy that states them. Go get it. I know cause I have my inspection license for UT. Still have the book somewhere. cant remember the exact year but somewhere 63-65.
You need to check your state laws. Fed laws didn't require them until later, but state laws can do what they want retroactively. In my state, they are called WACs (WA Admin. Codes or something like that) and you can search them on line with a description like "seat belt."
i figured i took care of it cause i did give some cash to the courts. they gave me 2 months to pay the fine. but the ticket is still on file. from 2001 i have never been to jail and i never plan on it. but i should not have to pay for something that i don't have to. the cop that placed me in the back of the cop car recently. he showed me the computer screen and it showed a warrant for a seat belt. nothing more than that and he said he had more stuff to deal with. Tony.... i didn't think about going to an inspection center. i'll check into that at the CHP office.
i'm checking the DMV website now for the codes under seat belts. the oldest i found so far is. If the United States Secretary of Transportation fails to adopt safety standards for manual safety belt systems by September 1, 1989, no motor vehicle manufactured after that date for sale or sold in this state shall be registered unless it contains a manual safety belt system which meets the performance standards applicable to automatic crash protection devices adopted by the Secretary of Transportation pursuant to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208 (49 C.F.R. 571.208) as in effect on January 1, 1985. Notice: Safety Belts 27314.5. (a) (1) Subject to paragraph (3), no dealer shall sell or offer for sale any used p***enger vehicle of a model year of 1972 to 1990, inclusive, unless there is affixed to the window of the left front door or, if there is no window, to another suitable location so that it may be seen and read by a person standing outside the vehicle at that location, a notice, printed in 14-point type.
I think this one posted by Squirrel sums it up: 27314. (a) No dealer shall sell or offer for sale any used p***enger vehicle that was manufactured on or after January 1, 1962, other than a motorcycle, unless it is equipped with at least two seatbelts which are installed for the use of persons in the front seat of the vehicle. (b) No dealer shall sell or offer for sale any used p***enger vehicle manufactured on or after January 1, 1968, other than a motorcycle, unless it is equipped with seatbelts for each seating position. (c) Seatbelts required in subdivisions (a) and (b) shall comply with regulations established by the department. (d) The requirements of this section shall not apply to sales to dealers, automobile dismantlers, or junk dealers.
No doubt check with the older CHP guys..I got stopped outside shasta in my 32 by a county cop..major ***hole...anywaya chp car rolls up a guy about 50 walks up the county fills him in about every thing wrong with my 32 ...long story short the CHP was by the book and he knew it, so no one tailight ticket, no seatbelt ticket, no noise ticket ,just wrote me a fix it "no license plate light" ticket...good luck
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d12/vc27315.htm CAVC27315.(f) read subsection f (f) Every owner of a motor vehicle, including every owner or operator of a taxicab, as defined in Section 27908, or a limousine for hire, operated on a highway shall maintain safety belts in good working order for the use of occupants of the vehicle. The safety belts shall conform to motor vehicle safety standards established by the United States Department of Transportation. This subdivision does not, however, require installation or maintenance of safety belts where not required by the laws of the United States applicable to the vehicle at the time of its initial sale. print it out and take it with you.
dude, case closed! just print out the paperwork and dress nice.(im sure you already know that) but i dont see any reason you cant win this one. stick it to the man!
I think you got a case my man! 1968 first year required by U.S. govt. From Wikipedia: Seat belts were first invented by George Cayley in the 1800s. Seat belts were introduced in aircraft for the first time in 1913, by Adolphe Pegoud, who became the first man to fly a plane upside-down. However, seat belts did not become common on aircraft until the 1930s. The automotive seat belt was introduced into the United States by Kenneth Ligon and his brother, Bob Ligon, whose patented quick release seat belt. The AutoCrat Safety Belt, was the first (two point) seat belt installed as original equipment in the US by Ford in its 1956 model year. Robert McNamara was the man behind a whole set of safety measures introduced by Ford that year. The first seat belt to be included as standard was on the 1959 Volvo. Australia was the first country to make seat belts compulsory in vehicles. However, they were not required by law in the US on p***enger vehicles until the 1968 model year. Three point harnesses were first made readily available in m***-produced vehicles by Volvo. It was Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin who patented the modern three-point belt design and gave it to Volvo.
(h) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 42001, any violation of subdivision (d), (e), or (f) is an infraction punishable by a fine of not more than twenty dollars ($20) for a first offense, and a fine of not more than fifty dollars ($50) for each subsequent offense. In lieu of the fine and any penalty ***essment or court costs, the court, pursuant to Section 42005, may order that a person convicted of a first offense attend a school for traffic violators or any other court-approved program in which the proper use of safety belts is demonstrated. if you paid at least 20 bucks you should be off the hook right? its just a traffic ticket. sounds to me like something got crossed up. the problem is not the ticket, its the bench warrant.
"i figured i took care of it cause i did give some cash to the courts. they gave me 2 months to pay the fine. but the ticket is still on file. from 2001" that sentence is *** backwards.... they gave me 2 months to pay and i thought i paid. cause i gave the courts some cash. when i spoke to the judge today she didn't mention anything about it being an old case.
I have a buddy who is a retired Sherriff, he would know what to do. He served in Riverside County area...and retired from there too. Ill get back to you.
So are we asking the right question here? Why don't you have seatbelts? I'm not sure how many on here ride with belts, but I have 'em in my '61, and will have them on every car I build. I understand fighting the man, but let's be safe out there at the same time, eh?
I'm not sure anyone "plans" on going to jail. But it does happen. Sounds like you had a near miss with an unplanned trip to jail. Follow through this time no matter what. Seems once the factory seal is broken (1st trip to jail) the rest come a lot easier. TRUST me! If i had a nickel for every time i said, "i'm never going to jail again".............Either way, FINISH IT this time
Now that there's a FEDERAL law I'm not sure what the retroactive laws are any more. I have seat belts but no shoulder straps and that's all a cop can see as to whether you're wearing them or not so I'm waiting the day I get pulled over for no belt. I'm going to ask the cop to produce for me the DOT instructions for safely adding a three point belt shoulder strap specifically into a '39- 46 GM Truck If you didn't pay the whole fine, that's what you still owe. Yes, I think the judge you got was wrong at the time but that doesn't matter. He fined you and you didn't pay, and obviously don't have a reciept for it. If it's less than a $100 just pay it and call it history. If the surcharge it and add interest Blah blah blah fight it again.
The proper way that this would have been resolved would have brought proof that the car did not and was not factory built with seatbelts and you would have faced the judge with this and it would have been dismissed in court. I got pulled over for not wearing my seatbelt, told them it was broken, they gave me a fix it ticket with a period of time to fix it, showed up and showed them it was fixed, dismissed1 It was an easy way for me to get out of a ticket and I will never use that again for I wear my seatbelts all the time now1 KNUX!
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