Lifted Chevy Silverado Busted for Clearing Traffic With Fake Police Lights
This is even worse than those off-road light bars.
Adding red and blue flashers is probably the worst of all the aftermarket mods you can make to your truck. They're even more annoying than train horns—sorry, it's true—and they're also illegal in most states. That didn't seem to stop the Chevy Silverado driver who flew past a California Highway Patrol lieutenant with their phony police lights on Tuesday morning.
Understandably, the CHP San Francisco lieutenant pulled over when they saw the black pickup in their mirror; the officer was actually on their way to work and not on duty yet. They thought it was odd for a lifted four-wheel-drive with big wheels and tires to sport these flashing lights, so they warned CHP Marin units who later pulled the truck over. That's when the driver received a ticket and a complaint was forwarded to the Marin County District Attorney's Office.
Some Facebook commenters mentioned that they had seen the Silverado around town and assumed it was a private security vehicle. CHP Marin clarified that if that were the case, it'd have yellow or white lights as blue and red are reserved explicitly for emergency responders.
"When looking at the level of 'impersonation,' moving vehicles out of your way doesn't quite rise to the level of driving around in a fake uniform, with a full gun belt, and a fake police car," CHP Marin explained in another comment. "With that in mind, the appropriate thing to do in this situation is issue the ticket that requires the owner to remove the lights and report back to our office for an inspection. The DA's office can decide if they think the crime meets the criteria for a misdemeanor charge."
While these lights are available for anyone to purchase through aftermarket companies, that doesn't necessarily make them legal for personal use. Each state has written laws pertaining to the use of emergency lights and more often than not, they rule out scenarios like this—even on cars and trucks that are mainly for show.
Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com
