Why did I issue this man a traffic citation? See inside...

NO.

But then yes imo, for his safety and other’s safety sometime later when he for some reason needed to drive at night. It was a lame excuse anyway.

In my opinion, no it was not justified.

The requirement of headlights to me is contingent upon them being required. During the day they are not needed. Its the same reason I don’t turn my headlights on during the day. For that matter how would you know that my headlights, which aren’t on during the day, are operational?

Were he driving at night with no headlights on (be they working or not) then the citation is justifiable. But during the day…. that’s idiotic.

I would say yes. You as the officer have no real way of knowing wither or not he drives that vehicle at night, he could have just been lying to try and get out of a ticket.

That is such a strange situation. Here in Norway, he would not get a certificate that would allow him to register his vehicle. They aren’t going to believe someone when they say…‘I only drive this during the day.’

I have no idea what the US rules for this are. You are the policeman, so I am hoping you would know.

I would have just reminded him that they need to be on.

You should be ashamed of yourself. SHAME!

I agree with a “yes” answer.

No head lights renders the vehicle unsafe, and just because he claims he never drives it at night does not change the fact it is not roadworthy.

He should have functioning lights for rain and foggy conditions in the daytime too, or if he needed to alert someone to a possible hazard by flashing his lights.

It is a law in CA. that one must have on their head lights in rainy weather, not just their DTRL’s.

Well you can’t take his word for it obviously. Also, he may face an emergency or some unforeseen event where he might need to drive it at night.

Yes. Headlights are often needed during the day and night for safety.

Besides, Tennessee Law Requires One Working Headlight on each side of the vehicle.

Is this the same friend who has a car with the body of the car on the chasis backwards? Or no front end on the car?

In CA, the driver of a motor vehicle without headlights who was otherwise not committing any driving violations, would usually get a mechanical violation citation (AKA a fix-it ticket), and not a citation for a moving violation.

I guess the reasoning in CA is that a distinction is made between unsafe operation of a vehicle, such as speeding or running a red light, and operating a vehicle that doesn’t have fully-functional equipment that’s needed for safe driving.

I was given a fix-it ticket for having a burnt-out headlight on one stop, and another one for having a non-working third brake light on another stop.

If the laws in your city require a vehicle to have all its basic functions properly working, whether they’re currently being used or not, then yes.

The driver broke the law, so yes a ticket was justified. To say that it was unjustified is to say that the officer is meant to disregard the law and judge the driver according to his own moral standards in the moment. If you think the law is unjust, then work to get the law changed so that the standard for roadworthiness applies only under specific circumstances.

See above. What does the law say in your state?

Would you have given the ticket if he’d said he was on the way to purchase headlights for his truck before sunset?

I don’t think you gave him a ticket because of his attitude. I received a lot of similar tickets because of my big mouth [I didn’t mind because I declined to pay most of them because I wasn’t the only one using a foul mouth; the officers were cursing too] but it’s not the case here.

I don’t really know what the laws are there but in most countries here in Europe you have to keep the lights on even in the day time [you get tickets if you drive without them]. So I don’t really know what to reply.

How can the car have passed inspection without headlights? Like were there literally NO headlights? Obviously you wouldn’t have knowing if they were non functioning headlights during the day, unless they were driving through a dark tunnel I guess. In that case was this person driving a car that had not passed inspection?

I thought I was justified in issuing him a citation for this reason: some answers were correct on believing him, that he did not drive the truck at night. One answer was right on the money. A rainy condition can occur at any time. Not having operational headlights would be a traffic hazard to other motorists in downpour. He also did not have windshield wipers that worked.

He came to court to show the headlights had been installed on his truck, but the judge fined him $25 dollars, based on his past heavy traffic violation record.

I felt good about the citation and the judges decision.

Good call John!

@john65pennington Thanks for providing us the answer. Keep these questions coming! They make for a good mind exercise.

@Coloma Congratulations for noting the potential weather conditions during the day being a factor.

@cazzie and @abysmalbeauty Some places in the US do not require a regular vehicle inspection. Even here in Tennessee, when I lived within the city limits, an annual inspection was required. When I moved outside of the city limits, yet still in the same county, it isn’t required.

To all that say ‘no’ and that it seems a bit harsh: law enforcement is around to do just that…enforce the law. Let the one breaking the law show that they have righted the error of their ways when it could be something as potentially dangerous as this.

Cruiser, no, this was an entirely different incident as I was working radar and he came along.

Just funnin with ya @john65pennington…I still LMAO over your account of your friend driving his 180 car front/backwards! XD

Cruiser, I rarely look the other way in any incident. I guess I thought I was dreaming(no, I was not asleep). It was a shock and it took my brain a few seconds to comprehend exactly what I was watching. You don’t exactly see a car going backwards, at 40 mph, every day out on the open highway.