# Annoying state laws??? (MARYLAND)



## MCHNHED (Dec 22, 2002)

I wasn't sure where to stick this thread, so i just chose "general". Well... I'm on a long-term search for a possible new state to live in, however, the state laws regarding vehicles are going to be a major factor in my decision. I'd like to start a thread where people from different states (or people that just know from experience) will share their stories/facts about ANNOYING state laws. Try to stick the states you are going to cover in the title section when you make a reply post as i did!! Thanks. 

Maryland...you are REQUIRED to have a front license plate. Although i think Maryland is generally a good state to live in that law has gotta be a pain in the ass when you have a body kit or ya just don't like that look.


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Just don't move to california.

Seth

P.S. The japanese seem to pull off kits with front plates ok.


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

ive been driving with no front plate for 3 months and not a single problem


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## andre (Apr 30, 2002)

i have a friend here in maryland who had a custom shifter with no numbers and they failed him because of that. i know for sure my car wont pass down here.


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

*WI and IL info.*

First off, good luck finding a state that doesn;t currently have or isn't working on passing a law requiring a front plate. 

WI is great actually, Insurance is not mandatory, certain counties have no emissions testing, registration is very reasonable.

IL is iffy. Registration is expensive, insurance is mandatory, almost all counties have emissions testing, toll roads will drain your pockets!


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

Is not having mandatory insurance a good thing?


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## RBI*04 (Sep 10, 2004)

NY is pretty ridiculous.


i just paid $166 to get my plate RENEWED (same plate ive always had, just the reg. expired) vanity plates suck


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## psuLemon (Apr 23, 2003)

PA blows nuts, Well at least eastern PA. We have to pass inspection and emissions every year. we have to renew our registration every year($36) which is suppose to be increases to $120 soon. We dont need the front liscnese plate just yet so its cool, but state cops come after anyone with mods or tint.


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

Zac said:


> Is not having mandatory insurance a good thing?


To some people it is. For instanceif you have a daily driver beater that isn't worth a crap you have a CHOICE as to weather or not you want to insure it.


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## psuLemon (Apr 23, 2003)

wes said:


> To some people it is. For instanceif you have a daily driver beater that isn't worth a crap you have a CHOICE as to weather or not you want to insure it.


wow, im actually glad PA isn't like that.. cuz if i got hit by their beater, i would be pissed, hell i got hit by a girl without insurance, she got sued by my insurance company. Pa requires insurances and hell it requires your seat belts to be buckles or you get like a 100+ fine nowadays


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## Marvin (Oct 16, 2002)

wes said:


> To some people it is. For instanceif you have a daily driver beater that isn't worth a crap you have a CHOICE as to weather or not you want to insure it.



You have to have liability to cover other people if you hit them, but not required to have comprehensive to have your own car fixed.

I assume.



And here in GA, no front plate needed. Just like WI, counties outside the metro Atlanta and Macon areas don't have emissions testing.


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

wes said:


> To some people it is. For instanceif you have a daily driver beater that isn't worth a crap you have a CHOICE as to weather or not you want to insure it.


As asked what happens when a person with an ineexpensive car and a lower income hits a high priced vehicle?


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

Mark said:


> You have to have liability to cover other people if you hit them, but not required to have comprehensive to have your own car fixed.
> 
> I assume.
> 
> ...


While I agree that would be the proper way to do it (most states require liability) AFAIK WI does not. 

As far as accidents. If the uninsured is at fault, most times the insured driver will claim it on their insurance and the person who was at fault is financially responsible, IE the insurance company sues them or you sue them.


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## Nuskool (Jan 5, 2004)

Thats suprising that they do it that way... 

Here in Florida you have to have at a minimum PIP but there very laid back about modifications and there are no emmisions checks or front lisence plates...


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## mjd4277 (Aug 18, 2005)

Zac said:


> Is not having mandatory insurance a good thing?


Granted, but the insurance industry especially in IL isn't exactly regulated so a lot of poor people can't afford it! Related to that, starting on Jan 1, 2006 in the State of Illinois in order to get your license plate stickers renewed whether at a currency exchange or the Secretary of State office you have to show proof of insurance!


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## mjd4277 (Aug 18, 2005)

State of Illinois requires emissions testing every 2 years for vehicles.


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## sentratuner (Aug 6, 2005)

move to kentucky man I'm moving back they don't care about anything there. Move to Louisville they have tracks there and in cincinatti I'm moving back after this semester of shcool. The people are so cool and the import scene is huge down there. As long as you stay away from the red-necks but honestly I miss those red necks now haha. I just moved to Colorado and I realized the differences in law. And yeah you don't need a front plate either. It's perfect I mean the kentucky derby is so much fun college sports are fun as hell to go too. I feel like a commercial but it's true I live in Colorado Springs right now and its bbbeeeuutiiifffuulll here but how much better must Louisville be that I'm moving back?


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## sentratuner (Aug 6, 2005)

oh yeah and the girls are freaks and there hot too lol. There's parties all the time no crime. It's the 16th largest city in the U.S. The cop to car ratio is really good... if your a tuner lol not a cop. Street racing is huge there but I mean I don't know if your into that or not but I'v been with about 200 cars its huge. I'm not personally into it but all the tracks have amateure night I think like twice a week


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## MCHNHED (Dec 22, 2002)

lol... good information guys. keep it up!


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## mjd4277 (Aug 18, 2005)

Another law passed by IL State Legislature a few months ago. As of June of this year, neon lights have been BANNED EVERYWHERE in the Land of Lincoln!
Don't bother going to Pep Boys or Autozone, they can no longer sell them, they had to pull them off the shelves!


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## Acceler8ter (Feb 5, 2005)

*Utah*

There's some stuff about living in Utah that pisses me off. Like you can only tint your windows 45% and even if your legal you might still get harrassed by the police. Also, Friday and Saturday nights it seems that every police department DEVOTES every car to pulling over cars that are either lowered, tinted, kitted, cruising, listening to loud music (Gotta love Noise Ordance, I hate Ogden!), or just hanging out with friends in a parking lot. 

Ogden City police is the worst about this. Friday and Saturday they have at least 5 cars (Sometimes as much as 10 including highway patrol/state troopers) sitting on the boulevard. If you sit in a parking lot they will come over and kick you out. If you don't leave they'll threaten to arrest you or tow your shit. They're all bastards.

I've never been up on State Street in Salt Lake City but from what I've heard they are even worse. If they see your car twice in less then an hour going the same way you can get pulled over.

Also, underglow kits are illegal to have on the street. If you have yours on and pull out of the parking lot onto the street your not likely to make it 50 feet without getting pulled over and fined.

I don't have any problems with registration or licensing or anything. It cost me $200 to register and license my Sentra when I first got it. It only costs me $33 to renew my '69 Mercury Cougar Eliminator. :thumbup: 

Also, car theft isn't really a problem here. I personally don't know anyone that has had their shit stolen.


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## MCHNHED (Dec 22, 2002)

*PENNSYLVANIA*



Acceler8ter said:


> There's some stuff about living in Utah that pisses me off. Like you can only tint your windows 45% and even if your legal you might still get harrassed by the police. Also, Friday and Saturday nights it seems that every police department DEVOTES every car to pulling over cars that are either lowered, tinted, kitted, cruising, listening to loud music (Gotta love Noise Ordance, I hate Ogden!), or just hanging out with friends in a parking lot.
> 
> Ogden City police is the worst about this. Friday and Saturday they have at least 5 cars (Sometimes as much as 10 including highway patrol/state troopers) sitting on the boulevard. If you sit in a parking lot they will come over and kick you out. If you don't leave they'll threaten to arrest you or tow your shit. They're all bastards.
> 
> ...


Good stuff man. You're 1 of 2 (other was Wes) who actually put the state(s) in the title of your post! :cheers: 

It only costs me $36 to renew my registration here in PA. I'm not 100% positive on this one, but i've heard that "any aftermarket tint is illegal", which baffles me, since some cars come stock with 40%+ tint on the rear windows, but the police will pull you over for having only 20% tint aftermarket!! WTF. Neons are illegal to have driving on the street (that's a given in nearly all states)... as well as those little windshield washer LEDs and license plate LEDs (pretty much ANY ornamental lighting!)


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## SuperStock (Dec 31, 2003)

WA requires frnt plate, insurance and seatbelts.

if u are in seattle or any highly populated area, u r required to go thru emissions every other year. registration depends on the county. rural registrations r really cheap, with no emissions.

state patrol will get u for no seatbelts, which is fine by me... and they r pretty good at nabbing drunks. these days its best to drink at home, cuz the cops r out in full force during traditional drinking holidays.


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## xbrandonx (Mar 27, 2004)

*KY*

You cannont walk down the street with ice cream in your back pocket. True law. Annoying maybe not. Pertaining to cars, deffiantlly not, however you didn't specify that you wanted annoying Traffic laws.

anyways thats a law because people would do that to "steal" horses. They'd walk past a horse and the horse would follow b/c of the ice cream. SO the person would be like "why is this horse following me, oh well, he's on my property now so he's mine"


**I shit you not**


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## Acceler8ter (Feb 5, 2005)

xbrandonx said:


> You cannont walk down the street with ice cream in your back pocket. True law. Annoying maybe not. Pertaining to cars, deffiantlly not, however you didn't specify that you wanted annoying Traffic laws.
> 
> anyways thats a law because people would do that to "steal" horses. They'd walk past a horse and the horse would follow b/c of the ice cream. SO the person would be like "why is this horse following me, oh well, he's on my property now so he's mine"
> 
> ...


Just because you did this I have to add a really stupid law in Utah, it however does not pertain to vehicles either.

In Utah, it is illegal to hunt whales. If you look it up in the Utah Law Book (Or whatever you wanna call it) it is really in there. I guess Shamu took a vacation and had a close call one year.  

There's a couple others. Like... After 7 PM a Woman must be wearing a shirt to enter a conveniance store and she is not allowed to swear.

Yeah, um, okay...


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## mjd4277 (Aug 18, 2005)

*Illinois*

Regular license plates: $78.00 (6 years ago it was only $45.00)

Vanity plates:$91.00 (6 years ago it was only $78.00)

Mandatory seat belt law (no thanks to all the jackoffs who thumbed their noses at the Illinois State Police, who lobbyed for the law). Used to be where the police had to pull you over for something else before they could write you up for not wearing a seat belt!


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## CALIGULA (Jun 12, 2005)

sethwas said:


> Just don't move to california.
> 
> Seth
> 
> P.S. The japanese seem to pull off kits with front plates ok.


Me and my lady were driving home from Vegas and we got a ticket becuse there is no backlight on her plate !! Now that is way fucked i know so many people without backplate lights on there classic cars.

I miss Florida so much. They got rid of there emissions and you only need a back plate. I lived in south Florida where the party is. NY is as bad as CA.


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## mjd4277 (Aug 18, 2005)

CALIGULA said:


> Me and my lady were driving home from Vegas and we got a ticket becuse there is no backlight on her plate !! Now that is way fucked i know so many people without backplate lights on there classic cars.
> 
> I miss Florida so much. They got rid of there emissions and you only need a back plate. I lived in south Florida where the party is. NY is as bad as CA.


Actually, just about every state requires the license plate light to be working (even the IL Secretary of State Police can pull you over for that one)!


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## MCHNHED (Dec 22, 2002)

It seems like Illinois is NOT the state to live in for traffic laws!

P.S. Any truly good driver with some common sense always wears their seatbelt.


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## mjd4277 (Aug 18, 2005)

MCHNHED said:


> It seems like Illinois is NOT the state to live in for traffic laws!
> 
> P.S. Any truly good driver with some common sense always wears their seatbelt.


One of the many reasons why I moved out of there! At least here in Indiana they (the police) actually something better to do! Gangbangers and drug pushers galore!


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## CALIGULA (Jun 12, 2005)

mjd4277 said:


> Actually, just about every state requires the license plate light to be working (even the IL Secretary of State Police can pull you over for that one)!


Thats news to me, I see a lot of cars with no backlight, i find it hard to belive every car must have one. I can imagine a lot of old school cars may not have them.


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## mjd4277 (Aug 18, 2005)

CALIGULA said:


> Thats news to me, I see a lot of cars with no backlight, i find it hard to belive every car must have one. I can imagine a lot of old school cars may not have them.


Sometimes it depends where you are. But a lot states enforce it with a vengence. You don't want give the police a reason to pull you over nowadays.


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## Sorority Demon (Jul 15, 2005)

Neons may now be illegal in IL, but you can still get them at some low end tuner shops. Those windshield washer lights should be legal, because they are not considered as headlights. Some states, I think IL is one of them, you can not have more than 2 sets of headlights. The police here are total jackasses, and will pull you over for anything they can; your headlights being too bright (even if its stock), having a loud exhaust, or just being a kid with a car. That and they always demand to search your car and ask for a damn breathalyzer test. Chicago is civic land, with dumbass spoilers and all-show-and-no-go. Some here even take kia sephias and try to show them off. Gas here is up to 10% ethanol, and some lawmakers are trying to get that increased to 20% because the politicians want to make more $$ for the farmers, and for their wallets. That and the cost of gas is an absolute rip off in Chicago, where some stations are at $3.50 a gallon for regular.

And remember, in Illinois, it is a felony to eavesdrop on your own conversation!


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## mjd4277 (Aug 18, 2005)

It's official. So far Illinois has some of the worst laws invented, next to California!


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## Will (Jan 2, 2004)

In Michigan=no emissions testing, no front plate,Minimum insurance required. What we call PL&PD. They'll go after you for tint once in a while. I don't know about neons. I wouldn't have those tacky things on any of my vehicles any way. Pretty lenient on any other mods.


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

*Florida*

I have only been down here a little over a year and I was from NY

I like using only one plate & there is no inspection. Plus no stickers in the window like NY.


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