Slow crime night in Boerne.

[Cedar Park Dad]

If I have a tail light or more importantly a break light out, I definitely want them to pull me over and tell me. Pretext or not, that could save lives (especially the break light).

[mojo84]

If I have a tail light or more importantly a break light out, I definitely want them to pull me over and tell me. Pretext or not, that could save lives (especially the break light).

It wasn't a brake light in my case. It was one of two license plate lights. Not sure how a missing tag light could cost a life.

Not that I am complaining about getting a warning but I didn't think it was necessary to give me a written warning but either the officer or his department did.

[Cedar Park Dad]

If I have a tail light or more importantly a break light out, I definitely want them to pull me over and tell me. Pretext or not, that could save lives (especially the break light).

It wasn't a break light in my case. It was one of two license plate lights. Not sure how a missing tag light could cost a life.

Not that I am complaining about getting a warning but I didn't think it was necessary to give me a written warning but either the officer or his department did.

Not disagreeing on that.

[texanjoker]

Leaving my daughter's school this evening, my wife and I pass a cop sitting in a parking lot at the corner of the intersection. He jumped in behind me and followed for three blocks including one left hand turn. He finally lights me up. He approached the car and I was prepared with DL and CHL in hand. He advised me he stopped me because my license plate light is not working. He went and ran his checks. When he came back he acknowledged my fairly recent attendance at the Sheriff's Citizens Academy. Returned my license and chl along with a written warning. Very pleasant guy and never mentioned my weapons, which I had two with me. It was obvious he was just looking for a reason to stop me and see if there might be something up. I got home and checked my license plate lights and yep, one of the two is burned out.

No harm no foul.

I've made many felony arrests over simple traffic stops....knowing the vehicle code is key to being a good street cop. If nothing there you move on, if something there you take a bad guy to jail

[tomtexan]

Only one license lamp is required. To make a traffic stop for one of the two lamps not working is a fishing expedition.

[texanjoker]

Only one license lamp is required. To make a traffic stop for one of the two lamps not working is a fishing expedition.

If it was only 1 light working that is bogus...the light needs to be completely out........................ cops that make arrests for bogus PC find themselves in court and cases being tossed

[tomtexan]

Only one license lamp is required. To make a traffic stop for one of the two lamps not working is a fishing expedition.

If it was only 1 light working that is bogus...the light needs to be completely out........................ cops that make arrests for bogus PC find themselves in court and cases being tossed

Leaving my daughter's school this evening, my wife and I pass a cop sitting in a parking lot at the corner of the intersection. He jumped in behind me and followed for three blocks including one left hand turn. He finally lights me up. He approached the car and I was prepared with DL and CHL in hand. He advised me he stopped me because my license plate light is not working. He went and ran his checks. When he came back he acknowledged my fairly recent attendance at the Sheriff's Citizens Academy. Returned my license and chl along with a written warning. Very pleasant guy and never mentioned my weapons, which I had two with me. It was obvious he was just looking for a reason to stop me and see if there might be something up. I got home and checked my license plate lights and yep, one of the two is burned out.

No harm no foul.

It was a foul on the officer's behalf.

[mojo84]

It's a Chevy Tahoe and has one on each side of the license plate.

[tomtexan]

It's a Chevy Tahoe and has one on each side of the license plate.

My GMC is the same, and both work!

[mojo84]

It's a Chevy Tahoe and has one on each side of the license plate.

My GMC is the same, and both work!

Now you are fighting dirty.

[Oldgringo]

If I have a tail light or more importantly a break light out, I definitely want them to pull me over and tell me. Pretext or not, that could save lives (especially the break light).

DANG! I hate it when a break light goes out.

[gregthehand]

I'm really not trying to add any fuel to the fire, I just want to point this out. It's not the number of license plate lights or just that there is a light. It's that whatever or however many lights that shine on the license plate must illuminate it so that it is visible from fifty feet and they must be white.


§ 547.322. TAILLAMPS REQUIRED. (a) Except as provided by
Subsection (b), a motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole
trailer, or vehicle that is towed at the end of a combination of
vehicles shall be equipped with at least two taillamps.
(b) A passenger car or truck that was manufactured or
assembled before the model year 1960 shall be equipped with at least
one taillamp.
(c) Taillamps shall be mounted on the rear of the vehicle:
(1) at a height from 15 to 72 inches; and
(2) at the same level and spaced as widely apart as
practicable if a vehicle is equipped with more than one lamp.
(d) A taillamp shall emit a red light plainly visible at a
distance of 1,000 feet from the rear of the vehicle.
(e) If vehicles are traveling in combination, only the
taillamps on the rearmost vehicle are required to emit a light for
the distance specified in Subsection (d).
(f) A taillamp or a separate lamp shall be constructed and
mounted to emit a white light that:
(1) illuminates the rear license plate; and
(2) makes the plate clearly legible at a distance of 50
feet from the rear.
(g) A taillamp, including a separate lamp used to illuminate
a rear license plate, must emit a light when a headlamp or auxiliary
driving lamp is lighted.

Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.

I only post this because I'd hate for someone to read the posts and then possibly argue with a cop someday that they are legal because they've got one of the two lights working. The single light on your Tahoe may illuminate the plate enough but another make and model may not. Even a guest may read this post and act the fool, who knows. I figured it would be good to post the law.

[clarionite]

I only post this because I'd hate for someone to read the posts and then possibly argue with a cop someday that they are legal because they've got one of the two lights working. The single light on your Tahoe may illuminate the plate enough but another make and model may not. Even a guest may read this post and act the fool, who knows. I figured it would be good to post the law.

I would hope that people who frequent this forum have the sense to know that during a traffic stop, on the side of the road is not the time and place to argue the finer points of the law with a LEO. There is plenty of time for that in a court room with many more witnesses, and you can bring your own lawyer to argue the point for you. I'm pretty sure nobody ever argued their way out of a ticket, or had the LEO change his/her mind about issuing the citation due to the sarcastic comments made while they were performing the stop.

[JSThane]

Considering I've seen vehicles driving around with flashlights duct-taped to the rear bumper to light up the license plate...

Amusing story: A couple years ago, my wife and I were doing a "day trip joyride" around the area in my red Mustang. Because it IS a red Mustang, and is therefore a radar magnet, I normally drive as scrupulously as possible (gas for the car's expensive enough without tickets! ). However, after dark on the way back, we passed a local Sheriff's Office vehicle in the median of the highway, and I could "feel" him "looking" at me. Sure enough, he dove into the road behind me and immediately hit his overheads. A quick glance at the dash confirmed no, I was NOT speeding. Mildly perplexed, I pulled over, hit the dome light, and waited. Sure enough, here he came, looking ... excited and slightly nervous? And now that I'm looking at him, and he can see my face, thoroughly confused? I asked what the issue was, and he said I had a license plate light out (no, I did not, I checked with him there). Now I'm as confused as the cop, because he's not being pushy, in-my-face, or even confident; rather, he's acting and talking like HE wants to get away, and possibly out of embarrassment! He flipped his lights off, we both got back in our vehicles, and left, no papers issued one way or another to document it, and both the cop and I confused as to what had just happened.

I figured it out later. At my department's muster a week earlier, we'd been notified of a murder suspect possibly fleeing to Mexico in a new(er) model Mustang, color red. The officer (from a neighboring small and slow county) probably thought he had the catch of his life! Imagine his confusion when, instead of a 6-foot-plus dark-skinned guy, he got a 5 1/2 foot blonde guy and his wife! No wonder he was embarrassed...

I had a good laugh about it, but the license plate light thing is -definitely- fishing. I certainly know I don't need it to run tags at night; my headlights work just fine to illuminate the tag.

[gigag04]

I sure do wish I could get paid for fishing.

AMEN!!!!!

Go join up. Most pd's have regular testing events.

It's enough fun and a good way to give back, I do it for free now.