Are police normally more lenient on trucks vs cars?

[emig5m]

My friend in his riced out Kia complete with rear wing used to get tickets left and right for his 5% tint. I got pulled over twice with him in two different store parking lots in two different towns in the same day about his tint!

All my vehicles have always had 5% tint (illegal for front side windows in NJ). Whenever I've been pulled over, the police have never said anything about my tint. Heck, my last two vehicles I've never even had a front license plate, been pulled over, and yet nothing is ever said. I've had Police checking out my Lightnings right at my home and commenting on it, plain as day I'm illegal with the 5% tint and no front license plate and they never have mentioned it to me but "nice truck".

Another example is two brothers that live near me one with a big 4x4 Ford F250 and one with a Volkswagen Jetta, both also with illegal 5% tint all the way around like me... Brother with the Jetta has had two tickets for the tint that I can personally recall and the other with the F250 has never been bothered. The father also with a Ford truck and the same illegal tint as all of us also has never been bothered by the police.

So is their a pattern here?

 

[Traveler]

Just a civilian opinion, but I think some cars just scream "inexperienced driver" and that would likely garner more attention. It used to be the Mustang GTs years ago. I drove the same kind of car from 16 to 18 (FWD sedate coupe) and within two weeks of buying a brand new 90 GT white with red stripe, I had a speeding ticket. Six months later, I had my second. As the imports became more popular, the Mustangs and Camaros took backseats as public enemy #1.
Cobras and Lightnings, while potent, are likely viewed generally speaking to be for the more mature enthusiasts. I think as long as they blend in with no outstanding attributes, most drivers are probably assumed to be safer and more capable. Just my .02.

 

[JohnnyBlaze]

Just a civilian opinion, but I think some cars just scream "inexperienced driver" and that would likely garner more attention. It used to be the Mustang GTs years ago. I drove the same kind of car from 16 to 18 (FWD sedate coupe) and within two weeks of buying a brand new 90 GT white with red stripe, I had a speeding ticket. Six months later, I had my second. As the imports became more popular, the Mustangs and Camaros took backseats as public enemy #1.
Cobras and Lightnings, while potent, are likely viewed generally speaking to be for the more mature enthusiasts. I think as long as they blend in with no outstanding attributes, most drivers are probably assumed to be safer and more capable. Just my .02.

I could definitely see this being the case.

 

[FordSVTFan]

Too many variables, but it often has to do more with your attitude than your car. I would bet the father of the two brothers just has a better attitude than his kids, rather than him driving a truck.

Also in NJ, any tint on the front passenger and driver side windows is illegal, let alone 5% (limo tint).

 

[03nightmare]

Sounds like you would be happier in New Mexico. cars don't rust. there are no emission laws no inspections and hell everyone here including the cops all have really dark tinted windows. No front license plates to deal with. the only thing you get pulled over for here is speeding. and that is if you are raceing or something. I think I am going to keep my cars registered here forever.

 

[motorider228]

sounds just like las vegas 03nightmare

 

[timpryor]

I've got 5% tint, O/R X-Pipe, and was doing 10 over, I was late to work that day, TX DPS let me go with a warning, I just try to be as kind and repectful to the officer as possible, while flatout admitting that i was in the wrong about me speeding. But thats just me

 

[emig5m]

Is there any specific reason tint is illegal? I was driving last night with all my windows open to air out my truck from picking up my drunk uncle, lol, and I could barely drive with all the headlights shining through my mirrors blinding my eyes! I really could never go back to no tint again!

 

[Ellik]

I agree, its more about your attitude than the car. My car was hit while parked on the street in front of my house (nothing big, the mirror hosing was shattered). When I went to the police department to file a report the officer came out and inspected the car. He asked me if I had been pulled over for my tint yet and pointed out that any tint is illegal in PA. Told him it was on the car when I bought it and nobody has bothered my about it. He finished his report, said goodbye and now waves to me when I pass him on the road (its a small town).

 

[T-Bolt]

I got a buddy with 5% all around on his Explorer, and he has gotten one tint ticket in the roughly 2-3 years he's had it on there. I was there the night he got pulled over for it, and the only reason they gave him the tint ticket we believe is because they had to hit their quota (when the cop pulled away he pulled over another car 300 feet down the road). On the other hand, I know people with Sentras and other sedans and they immediately get tint tickets. If I get a new car soon I'll probably do 20% or 30%, whatever's the darkest allowed in NY (I go to school in upstate NY, and none of them know NJ laws).

Edit: For LEOs, say I have a car registered in NY, and has NY-compliant tint on the front windows, and get pulled over in NJ, where no tint is allowed on the front windows. Can I be ticketed for it?

 

[lilphillysvt]

i use to drive a 89 iroc z, zz4 crate motor with straight exhaust, no tint on the windows, got pulled over a few times, never got any tickets, police said they just wanted to check out who was in the car. sold that about a year ago, now drive a 02 blazer lowered, rims and a system, completely tinted out. police around my area hit everyone up for tint, been drivin it ever since i sold my camaro had plenty of cops lookin at me but yet never been pulled over. around my area i gotta say i have seen a lot of cars being pulled over, but it seems like they really don't bother anyone driving trucks

 

[jimljr145]

In NJ, you are not even permitted to put clear film on your front drivers / passengers side doors windows. No tint whatsoever, unless it is factory. There is a provision for medical neccessity, but I personally have never seen someone with a permit for legal window tint.

In regards to why it's not legal, I have never read any case law on it, but it definately presents a serious safety issue with us when pulling over a vehicle that you can't see into.

As far as pulling over trucks or cars, there is no real answer for that. I would say that most trucks don't stand out as much as hopped up cars, especially ricer cars with those ridiculous exhaust systems. Now lifted trucks in NJ need to have stability tests and the proper documentation to prove it from the inspection station.

I personally was issued a ticket for having tinted windows (on a lifted truck) back in my younger days, long before I was a Police Officer.

 

[CobraRyan]

I have double 5% tint on my L and i see cops everyday and i have never been stopped

 

[EvanStang]

Police are more lenient on people who carry guns in their glove compartments and have a license to carry..... Seriously, when you get pulled over and they ask for your registration, tell them that you want to clearly inform them that there is a licensed gun in the glove compartment.... it works everytime! but of course you actually have to have a licensed gun in the glove compartment.

 

[FordSVTFan]

Police are more lenient on people who carry guns in their glove compartments and have a license to carry..... Seriously, when you get pulled over and they ask for your registration, tell them that you want to clearly inform them that there is a licensed gun in the glove compartment.... it works everytime! but of course you actually have to have a licensed gun in the glove compartment.

That is not a general rule and if that has been your experience, you are just lucky.

 

[1FastZ06]

I know in my old truck I would always pass cops for some reason when I would do something stupid and I never got pulled over, It was a Z-71 on 38's I passed 3 cops on the way to oklahoma one time doing 90 and didnt get a second look from them. The truck had double layered 5% tint all around and a 10 inch strip on the front with a visor thing on the bottom I drove it for a year never 1 time did I ever get stopped.

I remember mud riding on the pipe line one time pulling out onto the highway a cop passed and didnt stop.

Now in my old vette I got stopped everyday, doing absolutly nothing. I was leaving work one day and got stopped and ticketed for " smoking my tires" I thought it was funny because I didn't even spin them over, there were no marks, and everyone from work saw. I got it thrown out in court though.

I say yes.

 

[lightning_2000]

nice rides

 

[EvilT.C.]

I agree. When i had my 88 bronco, on 38's, I NEVER got stopped. I'd go up on the curb, and into ditches to get around cars, id never get stopped. In the cobra, if i so much as switch lanes, cops follow me for MILES, just waiting for me to do something as little as not signaling.

 

[GT_Jim]

I agree. When i had my 88 bronco, on 38's, I NEVER got stopped. I'd go up on the curb, and into ditches to get around cars, id never get stopped. In the cobra, if i so much as switch lanes, cops follow me for MILES, just waiting for me to do something as little as not signaling.

This is so true. Around here Mustangs are profiled like crazy. When I had my truck, I was never bothered except at night a couple times and then it would just be warnings. In the car however, LEO's always try to put a least 2 charges on the ticket. If they get me for speeding then they always try to put that I was "holding the left lane" or "careless driving" and one officer actually had the nerve to write me up for "racing" and "wreckless driving" when neither of these things happened and surprisingly enough he did not put any details of the race (ie. the other vehicles description or where he witnessed the race take place) down so the prosecuter dropped those charges anyway. I'm not sure of his motivation but its not a very nice thing to do to someone no matter what. It just kills me that officers around here do these things to people and then tell us we have to respect them! haha I only respect people that deserve the respect to begin with. As we put it in the Army, respect the rank not the person. All I know is that when I had my truck my driving record was a lot better than it is now, and I did waaay crazier things with it than in my car. I even had a cops g/f in my truck and pulled a u-turn over the curb and through a yard (I freaked out the old lady on her porch swing but I didn't want to make 3 point turn around in the street) and the cop that was following me happened to be her b/f and I STILL didn't get pulled over! How nuts is that? I have all kinds of stories like this with the truck and yet I get pulled over in my car for 10 over on the highway with the cruise set and useing signals for lane changes and all the good stuff...go figure!