OT Should I tell the police?

[ChairMan]

just tryin to keep business in the great state of Tejas

[clare]

And red reflective tape on the front of a car is ILLEGAL.

I generally don't have a problem - my vehicles are usually rather UNIQUE. But I get out of the vehicle, imprint on my brain exactly where it is - like the row that lines up with the L on Big Lots, or whatever If I KNOW where I parked it, I can always find it quickly. If I just park and run it can take a little longer to figure it out. Nothing like walking into the mall, walking around for a while, shopping for this and that, and forgetting not only where you left the car, but what entrance you came in- - - -. Or like my wife, forgetting which vehicle she was driving - walking past the car looking for the OTHER one!!

[Ed Pawlowski]

Good. I don't like the idea of using bait cars, bikes, etc. It may catch a thief, but it may tempt an otherwise non=thief to make a dumb decision. If I was a judge, I'd toss most of those cases.

[Nick R.]

I know the car you speak of. Go by it today, there's an odor coming from the trunk.

[J Burns]

Where is it illegal?

My bike has a fairing 33" wide. It was black when I bought it in 1972. From the front view, most of it was the windshield, which sometimes broke when I hit potholes.

The more massive I looked from the front, the less I had to leave the road because a driver looked right at me and violated my right of way. To look more massive and make the windshield smaller and less prone to breakage, I used fiberglass to extend the fairing up to 52". I painted the whole fairing yellow. Above it, across the base of the windshield, I put a piece of red reflective tape, 2" wide and 20" long. It's at the height of the top of a car windshield. I didn't care if it was reflective. I wanted it bright and permanent.

I've ridden that way in 49 states and 6 provinces. No one has ever told me it was illegal or even shown disapproval.

I haven't done it to a car, but in some circumstances I've thought a bright color just above the windshield would have made a car easier to spot, like my bike.

[clare]

Everywhere - red reflectors and lights are illegal to be shown on the front of ANY vehicle except an emergency vehicle.

[micky]

I've lost my car t twice. Once was at Coney Island, when I thought I'd parked on the street 2 blocks from the amusement parks, but it was really 3.

But the first time, I was on a first date with a girl and we went to the ball game at Shea Stadium. So busy thinking about her, maybe, that I didn't pay attention. We had to wait until all the other cars had left to find mine.

Later, she told me she was older than I thought, so I added one year to my age, said I was 27, thinking that would solve the problem. Still later, I found out she was 14 years older than I. I was amazed.

I haven't been in NYC for a few years and I looked her up online. She still in the same n'hood, maybe the same apartment. Hard to believe she's 81 years old now. But I bet she still looks good.

[N8N]

Of course people mistrust the police that much... it's sad but true. Yeah, you have to know people, and I think Micky did the right thing by not giving them the location without some assurances.

nate

[N8N]

I would assume verywhere in the US. Red is reserved for the rear, amber or white only on the front. That is definitely true for lights; I would assu me the same would be true for retroreflective sheeting. If nothing else, i t's a spectacularly bad idea, as it gives a conflicting message to other ro ad users - red indicates the rear of a vehicle, therefore it ought to be mo ving away from the viewer, but in reality it's the front and it's not.

Other colors (blue, green, etc.) are illegal as well; blue because it is re served for emergency vehicles and other colors simply because they have no function assigned.

If you wish to research this in more depth, start with FMVSS 108, that is t he basic document that lays out requirements for lighting and conspicuity d evices for road vehicles.

nate

[N8N]

or white only on the front. That is definitely true for lights; I would as sume the same would be true for retroreflective sheeting. If nothing else, it's a spectacularly bad idea, as it gives a conflicting message to other road users - red indicates the rear of a vehicle, therefore it ought to be moving away from the viewer, but in reality it's the front and it's not.

reserved for emergency vehicles and other colors simply because they have n o function assigned.

the basic document that lays out requirements for lighting and conspicuity devices for road vehicles.

To add; I've used 3M retroreflective tape on both bicycles and cars; I've d one "DIY wheel reflectors" with it on some racey type wheels (Velocity Deep V's) looks Fredly but better Fred than dead. I also added a red/white str ipe on the latch area of the doors just in case I miss a car approaching fr om the rear when parallel parking and I throw the driver's door open (my ca r is a coupe with long doors, and there aren't any factory supplied lights or reflectors on the doors other than "puddle lights" - an oversight IMHO o n the part of the usually thorough and rigorous Krauts.)

I would actually call your plan a good idea assuming you don't mind the loo k - as long as you change the red tape above the windshield to white or amb er.

nate

[Ed Pawlowski]

Except for the amber rear turn signals.

I would assume the same would be true for retroreflective sheeting. If nothing else, it's a spectacularly bad idea, as it gives a conflicting message to other road users - red indicates the rear of a vehicle, therefore it ought to be moving away from the viewer, but in reality it's the front and it's not.

Green is for emergency medical personnel, at least in CT

[N8N]

those are allowed (ought to be mandated) what I meant was that white and amber are the only colors allowed to be forward-facing.

I haven't seen that here (NoVA/DC area) but there's a good example of why just picking a color that isn't used in your area is a bad idea.

nate

[Guv Bob]

I don't know why you are so concerned about something that has nothing to do with you and you know nothing about. Jesus! Just call the cops and let them handle it. That's what they get paid to do. Let the man said, if there is nothing suspicious, they won't do anything.

stolen?**

[Guv Bob]

I haven't thought about a Simca in 40 years. We had one in the 60's. Great little car. Too small for busy roads though.

[Guv Bob]

PS -- No offense. I didn't mean to be rude.... It's great to be concerned, but you really should let the fuzz take care of these kind of things.

stolen?**

[Jack]

Put a big sign on the car that reads "FREE DONUTS".

Cops will be there in 3 minutes.

[Sky]

OH gosh - that got me totally ROTFLMO and then some! Thanks for the giggles :)

Sky

[J Burns]

Wow, 27,000 words. Apparently it's manufacturing specs. I read it and couldn't find what you were talking about. So I searched for "red," 44 times. It says what must be red. I searched for "not," 201 times. It doesn't prohibit red anywhere.

When "clare" said it was ILLEGAL, I googled. People have asked about putting reflective tape on cars and bikes. The only restrictions on reflective tape that people have found are state laws regarding trucks and trailers. I can see that. If I came over a rise and thought I saw the back of a truck, I'd hate to find out too late that it was the side of the truck crosswise on the road.

I didn't have reflectivity in mind when I applied the tape, but I was glad when I saw it. At night, I didn't want oncoming traffic to wonder if I was a one-eyed car. No car would have a reflective stripe the width of a man's shoulders, 16 inches above a headlight. It gives the immediate impression of a rider in a jacket with a reflective band.

Because it doesn't resemble the rear of a vehicle, it never occurred to me that the tape is a different color. I checked tonight. With the bike on its center stand, the stripe is visible above the roof of my car. Red goes from 620-750 nm. I'd say the car reflectors were around

725 - deep red. I'd say the tape was around 675 - red with an orange hue. By day or night, it has a day-glow effect, much brighter than the tape that marks the rear of a trailer. I've used that tape to mark tool handles I want to spot 100 yards away in brush, day or night.

There aren't many sidewalks around here. If I'm walking on the road, I watch and listen for cars and step off the road if there could be a problem. As a driver, I like to be aware of pedestrians well in advance; so at night I do drivers a favor by wearing light pants.

The road past my house has a 20 mph limit, although I think 35 would be perfectly safe. A neighbor would drive a lot faster, maybe 50 or 60. At that speed, he was betting the unexpected wouldn't happen. He regularly ran the blind stop sign by my house without even slowing much.

One night I wore dark pants because all my light ones were awaiting washing. I heard him about 400 yards behind me. As any vehicle was pretty much out of control with him at the wheel, I walked 6 feet from the pavement, on mowed grass. When he passed, a stop sign and street light were 5 yards ahead of me. He hardly slowed.

He parked in his driveway and rushed back to point out my fault: he hadn't seen me because I was wearing dark pants. I didn't point out that as long as he didn't veer 6 feet off the road, I'd been in no danger. I didn't point out that children and pets may be harder to see than a man under a street light at a stop sign. As a devout Christian, he lived in a special glow from which he perceived sin in others.

Neither he, nor any other Christian neighbor, friend, relative, or policeman, ever said there was anything confusing about the red tape at the base of my windshield. When I'd get inspected, mechanics would scratch their head and ask if it was an airplane. A relative once told me I'd embarrassed her when I rode behind her school bus; all the other kids said I looked like another school bus. Nobody has ever remarked on the red tape.

Go ahead, try it! Slap a stripe of red tape across your car, above the windshield and above the back window! When your insurance agent sees it, he'll give you a 90% reduction on liability, collision, and theft insurance! The next time you have to ask mall security where you left your car, they'll be able to tell you immediately!

[trader_4]

Fortunately you're not a judge, those cases have withstood legal challenges and they almost always result in a conviction. I see absolutely nothing wrong with a bait car, where they leave a rigged car in a high car theft area, leave it unlocked, keys in it. I'm amazed you'd think that's tempting a non-thief. If you go into a car you don't own and drive away, you are a thief, period. If they didn't take the bait car, it would be someone else's car and the perps would likely never be caught.

[trader_4]

Note that none of the above is consistent with letting the police do their job. Having folks waste police time, trying to get them to run license plates, when they refuse to do it, isn't productive. Police won't just run plates for you. I think they are probably rightly concerned that they might be running the plate for a stalker, pissed of husband, etc up to no good. If I was a cop, I'd wonder what the hell is wrong with someone that is so obsessed with a car that they want to come over and talk to me about it, badger me, when I offered to take care of the mystery car if they just tell me where it is. I'd might start to run a check on them.