http://www.chp.ca.gov/community/streetlegal.html

Street Legal



Cover of brochureFor those who love cars, customizing and racing are a way of life. Some dedicated performance enthusiasts, however, are putting their cars, their buddies and their lives on the line by street racing.

Street racing is illegal. The CHP won't hesitate to take street racers to court.

A first conviction on a street racing violation means:

* Minimum county jail sentence of 24 hours and maximum of 90 days.
* Vehicle probably impounded for at least 30 days.
* Owner responsible for vehicle's towing and storage charges ($1,000 or more).
* If owner fails to pay, vehicle could be sold at a lien sale.
* Anyone who aids or abets a street race also faces a maximum 90-day jail sentence.

Instead, take your car to a National Hot Rod Association-sanctioned track or drag strip, where you can race safely under optimum conditions.


"Nots" for the Hots

Illegal equipment most often cited by the CHP:
Photo of large auto speakers
Loud car stereo.
Illegal if heard more than 50 feet from the vehicle
(27007 VC). Photo of European style license plate
Lack of front and rear DMV-issued license plates
(5200 VC).
Photo of radar jammer Radar jammers. Radar detectors are legal, but jammers, or any device which interferes with radar signals, are illegal (28150 VC).


Illegal...

* Lowered frame (or any other part) that is lower than the lowest point of the wheel rim (24008 VC).
* Air and hydraulic suspension systems that are operated unsafely or with the vehicle lower than allowed (24002, 24008 VC).
* Tinting the front side windows and the windshield (except for a narrow band at the top of the windshield). Windows behind the driver's head may be tinted. If rear window is tinted, right-side mirror is required (26708 VC).
* Lack of white rear license plate light (24601 VC). It must illuminate the license plate, not project light behind the vehicle.
* Missing front and/or rear bumpers (28071 VC).

Photo of modified engine

* Illegal engine modifications. Most are illegal due to smog (27156 VC). See Air Resources Board web site for more info and list of parts that are legal.

Photo of a multicolored headlight

* Blue and yellow headlights. Headlights must be white - blue and yellow are illegal (24011 VC). Look for the DOT symbol on the bulb and package.
* Headlights brighter or higher wattage than those from the factory. You may be able to see better, but the lights are illegal (24011 VC).
* Tail lights other than red (24600 VC).
* Illegal brake lights. Brake lights on vehicles newer than 1979 must be red (24603 VC). (Vehicles older than 1979 may be red or yellow.)
* Lack of rear reflectors. Two red reflectors are required on the rear of cars and trucks (24607 VC).
* Incorrect color of turn signal. It must be white or yellow to the front, red or yellow to the rear (24953 VC).
* Red lights to the front. They are illegal except on emergency vehicles (24003 VC).
* Tail lights that incorporate a bulb with a red tint or coating. In general, custom tail lights that incorporate a clear outer shell and red inner lens are legal (24011 VC). If they don't incorporate reflectors, they must be added to the vehicle (24607 VC).
* Tail lights that are too dim, washed out or show yellow, white or other colors (24600 VC).
* Illegal color of side marker lights. If present, must be yellow in the front and red in the rear (25106, 24003 VC).
* Driving with just parking lights on (24800 VC). Vehicles that have factory-installed automatic daytime running lights must meet federal requirements and are legal.
* Illegal decorative lights (24003 VC). All flashing decorative lights are illegal (25250 VC).
* Illegal windshield washer nozzle lights. Only white or yellow are allowed. (25106 VC, 24003 VC).

Photo of windshield washer decorative light

* Lights attached to tire valves (24003, 25250 VC).
* Lighted license plate frames (unless red) (24003 VC).
* Illegal lights, whether or not they are operating. It is illegal just to have them on the vehicle (24003 VC).

Photo of light attached to tire valve

* Excessively noisy exhaust systems and mufflers (27150, 27151 VC). Many aftermarket exhaust systems and parts are illegal. Look for parts that meet California law. If it doesn't say it meets the law, it probably doesn't.

Photo of exhaust pipes

* Exhaust systems which meet smog requirements but are still too loud. Exhaust equipment that states it is, "Legal in all 50 states," refers to smog, not noise.
* Note: New law (27150.2 VC) does not require law enforcement to use sound level meters to test for excessive noise. Citation is based on officer's judgment. Cited violators may have testing done at smog referee stations or may be directed by the court to have testing done. Vehicles in violation must be brought into compliance. A fine may also be imposed.


California Highway Patrol

Office of Public Affairs

This pamphlet is intended as a guide only. Contact your nearest CHP office for any questions or interpretations.

More detailed information is also available in CHP publications CHP 885 (Passenger Car Equipment), CHP 888 (Motorcycle Equipment) and CHP 892 (Special Construction Vehicles).

They may be obtained from your local CHP office.

Remember - FTBC (failure to be cool) is not a crime!


CHP 933 (NEW 6/2003) OPI 013
Designed by Graphic Services Unit

 

that sucks... where the hell are you?

 

k....

 

this for kali and this mostly apply to chp
not sure if it applies to locals and other
jurisdiction of the lawlz

 

Cali...this is normal stuff in most states...

 

its not in my state.....and do you mean 'cali'? wtf is 'kali'?

 

He means California yes.

And that sucks about officer judgement on noise violations.

Saw a RSX type S at LGA when i was leaving NY, pretty sure it was straight pipes. Probably the loudest 4 cyl i'd ever heard, and that was just creeping along in stop n go traffic.

 

Sucks for you Cali people.....oh wait.

I'm proud to say my car doesn't break any of those rules

 

meh i got zoost ticket so im just letting ppl aware again =p
trial by declaration again.

 

Yea it is crap i had a ram air intake in my 03 chey trailblazer lt and it passed smog but CHP said NO....
got a fit it ticket and i showed them the smog paperwork and all that

 

doesnt matter cause they didnt pay the fee to CARB for it to be "complient" it could improve the emissions and its still illegal cause CARB didnt make any money off of it
i need an intake for my trailblazer i just have a drop in k&n

 

lmao sucks for cali thats why i still have my car register in chicago and living in AZ and i always get away with it this is my excuse to the officer ''sorry officer im not from this state im here on vacation with my family but thanks for letting me know bye sucker lmao

 

i drive a stock ss sc

 

i fail smog.

technically, your custom tune fails smog too, but they wont catch that at all.

oh, and no front license plate, and the rear plate's lights are out (short somewhere, too lazy to track it down)

 

kali laws are ghey

 

haha this is true but cali itself and the weather and the girls arent haha

 

yeah the noise, tinted windows, and front license plate are stupid and unnecessary. and smog should only be, if it blows clean it passes. no dyno, no visual. no ecu ****.

the noise one is retarded cuz there are so many harley's and diesel trucks are hella loud. and never get pulled over. but someone w/ a nice cammed v8 gets pulled over its gay.

 

some counties in cali you dont need to smog, like mariposa county where yosemite is at
or at redbluff. ^_^

 

hmm really thats crazy never knew that whys that?

 

And Laws like this are why i will never move back home to California .

 

we are still tuner capital of the world even with this kinda things.

 

they have to pay for the state going broke some how . your tuner $$$'s hard at work

 

it does mac. these r state laws and all law enforcement officials in cali r required on enforce it but ur local sherriffs and cops usually wont pull u for violations like tint and exhaust unless ur being a dick,etc. they have too much real police work to do as to where traffic law enforcement is chp's onlu job

yea cause ur tint,intercooler, and loud ass exhaust doesnt break those rules? oh and dnt forget the HIDs.lol. My only mod that violates there rules is my tinted windows

well the front license plate law is in such heavy enforcment now because CHP has switched to a ladar system which requires the reflectivness of the front plate in order to bounce the beam back. Now the tint law is understandable. Many officers have been attacked because they werent able to see the occupants of the vehicle and wat they were doing due to front tinted windows. Its an officer saftey issue. But i do believe they should be able to pull u for tint but as long as u dnt have a record and arent doing anything suspicious they should let u go. most cops already do that btw minus chp of course. and as for the noise bike never get pulled over because in cali the law says mortorcycles and vehicles with a grvw of 6000 pounds or more doesnt have to meet smog and noise laws. thats why ur 3500 chevys can be as loud as they want and blow as much smog as they want. i know sooo kame. Oh and idk where ur from but I never see the big v-8;s(camaros,mustangs,etc.) get pulled over. It's just the tuner style vehicles.lol. Time to go get me a camaro.lol

yes just like arizona but u still have to meet state laws such as having cats and b/s

this is true. the law enforcment used to be a lot more leniant on mods and stuff as long as u werent causing trouble but now that the state is sooo broke the last couple years they have really cracked down. especially now that they changed fix it tickets to 25 dollars a pop. It used to be 10 dollars for the whole ticket no matter how many mods they listed on the ticket but now its per violations so a ticket for illegal exhaust,illegal intake and tint will cost u 75 bucks plus the headache of putting it all back to stock to get it signed off. Also if they really wanna be dicks and i have seen chp do this. If they give u a fix it ticket it is now illegal to frive on the streets untill it is corrected. If u get pulled over a couple days later going to get ur tint pulled off or somtin and u havent gotten the fix it ticket fixed they can actually tow the car for a moving viloation now

 

Only thing I have got in trouble for here, is the sound system one.

 

haha why what do you have in it? and white people shouldnt rap eh?some of the best rappers that i like and know of are white mr small minded go look up everlast atmoshpere mac lethal lmno madchild from swollen members and everybody knows even eminem altho i dont like em and then tell me white people shouldnt rap