First encounter with the CHP


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oyamyers

New Member
Thought I would share my first encounter with the CHP. I was headed home yesterday doing about 75 with the flow mind you, when traffic slowed to about 65, the speed limit. I spotted the CHP driving 2 lanes to my right and continued with the flow. Now, here is where I made my mistake because had I stayed behind him, I wouldn't have to post this. Wanting to get myself out of the crowd, I moved one lane to my right putting me next to the CHP and gave it a little throttle to get myself ahead of him so I wasn't in his blind spot. sure enough, he pulls right behind me and hits the siren and lights. I pull over and the officer comes sauntering up and has this look on his face like he's just going to be an ass. He asks for my DL and Reg. No problem, I'm legal. Then he asks if I bought the bike new? "yes sir". Then he asks if I still have the fender that came with the bike? "no sir, why"? He then goes into how my plate is not at the rear of the bike and that my turn signals need to be visible from 30 feet and that Yamaha would build my bike just like I have it if they were allowed to. So I'm thinking, crap, this guy is going to issue me a huge ticket. He goes back and calls in my DL, like I said, no problem. He comes back with his clipboard and hands it to me. Tells me he is issuing me an infraction and that I have 60 days to make corrections to the bike. He then asks me about lane splitting "rules". I was able to answer his questions to his satisfaction. I think he just wanted to make sure I understood the "rules" because when I moved over to get out of the crowd, he thought I was lane splitting at 65 mph, um, must admit, I was. So now I must change my custom plate set up and turn signals. I thought about going back to stock, but decided to order the FE kit and hope that makes the CHP happy. Oh, before I left, I said to him, now, I don't want to be an ass, but when I moved to Cali and had the bike inspected to get it registered, they didn't say anything about the plate location. He was cool and said the inspectors are clueless about the requirements and are only looking for salvaged titles.

All in all, I thought he was pretty cool and he said he wants us all to be safe, thats why he gave me the little quiz on lane splitting.
 
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BoneJj

Well-Known Member
Sounds like a cop that I can rather respect right there.
 
P

Perdurable

Teeker!!!
Elite Member
ya he sounded cool about it now i wonder how ur plate was you said not stock and not f/e

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MNGreg

waiting out winter
Elite Member
WOW.. Cali really that anal about Fenders? I have read elsewhere about problems doing many mods on bikes. How are you supposed to do a F/E on bike then if it is not at the "rear" of the bike, considering the tail light is at the rear?
 
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MichaelInVenice

Lot of Class, Mostly Low
Elite Member
MNGreg said:
WOW.. Cali really that anal about Fenders? I have read elsewhere about problems doing many mods on bikes. How are you supposed to do a F/E on bike then if it is not at the "rear" of the bike, considering the tail light is at the rear?
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In my experience, they mostly don't care. It's one of those things they can always throw at you if they stop you for something else and either:

- Decide they don't want to give you an actual moving violation that would hit your license.
- Decide you're being an asshole and want to tack something else on.

There are some places you'll always have to be careful. Beverly Hills, Newport Beach, even sections of Irvine are quite happy to find any excuse they can to ticket somebody they determine "does not belong."

In my experience, CHP are usually pretty cool about this kind of stuff.
 

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LS6TT

Member
here the same rule applies, the plate has to be at the rear most part of the vehicle, in our case, the rear tire is farther than the taillight, hence why the fender sticks out so far. Do most officers care, no and not one of my friends ive talked to about it.

they care when its tucked in or bent downwards like youre trying to hide it.
 
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