Forum member "jackalope" at G8Board.com was ticketed by a Maryland officer who claimed he was sporting illegal tail lights. After amassing a healthy amount of evidence proving he hadn't modified his car and it was approved for sale by the Department of Transportation, he went to court confident the ticket would be dismissed, only to find the contrary. We'll let him tell you how it all went down:

Geez! I leave for a day and this BLEW up! Ok to set the record straight no my tail lights are no longer tinted, they haven't been for about a week or 2. Thats #1, #2 would be that I took my car to visit the officers Lt. so he could see it in person, he said he took no exception to them and could see the reflectors in the bumper and that the GM lettering is in fact visible on the tail lights. The officer that wrote me the ticket for some reason believes that the whole lower portion of the GT and GXP tails is suppossed to be a reflector, but I showed his Lt. that portion is where our turn signal and back up lamps are. I also showed him my documentaion from Adams Pontiac, Wilkins Pontiac, and Win Kelly all showing the same lights as well as a BUNCH of printed out pics from on line. He kept some print outs to pass around during briefings as to avoid this mistake in the future.

I also went to the MD state polices vehicle inspection division at the main MVA and they looked at them, again they took no exception to them or how I have them done (pics to follow tomorrow when its light out) They also pointed outt he GM # and said thats all I needed to prove they are legal lights.

And again, for the record, my tail lights are no longer tinted as they were in the pics I posted here a few weeks back. I had undertaken a new tail light project and was waiting to be able to detail the whole car BEFORE I showed them off. But a description of them is as follows. I took 2 sets of tail lights completely apart, 1 set I had to destroy the back portion while the 2nd set I had to destroy the lens. I then was able to paint the chrome ring in them black! And they look good! I then left the factory red lens in there and installed the LED lamps behind them giving them a 100% factory apperance. I then masked off and painted some raised portions on the inside of the lens but only where they are black from the factory as some was damaged during disassembly. I then put them back together and masked off the upper most portion of the lens and painted it along with a frame of black around the entire outer edge of the lights. The effect darkens them but without covering the actual parts where any of the lights are. Again, I'll ppost pics tomorrow. But again none of the 3 state troopers in the inspection divsion took exception, none of the AA Co police I've talked with since have either (7) nor the Lt. of the officer that wrote me the ticket.

Sorry for the book but I needed to clear things up. Any questions feel free to ask. And ease up on the cop hating or I'lljust get Rich to lock it up again.

The article I was sited for has ZERO to do with any tinting or painting or altering of the lights. The article of the Maryland Vehicle Law 22-209 given to me by an AA co police Cpl. reads as follows.....

22-210 (b) Rear Lamps. - Rear clearance lamps, identifaction lamps, and reflectors mounted on the rear or sides near the rear of a vehicle shall display or reflect a red color.

Period, thats it, says nothing about altering or painting or tinting. In fact when I talked to the MD state police vehicle inspection division they said that under the article I was sited that YES I could have tint on them so long as red light is visible when I hit the brakes simply because the reflectors are in the bumper and not part of the light. They went on to say that side reflectors are not mandantory in MD so it wouldn't matter if the car had none.

Tha cop screwed the pooch, thats all. Nothing I did or have done to my cars tail lights is illegal according to MD law.