Thundercloud

Thats the thing State Troopers are nothing more than Tax Collectors for the State. They don't solve crimes. All they do is hassle anyone they can to meet their quota. I got pulled for window tint in one of my other cars, nothing else, just tint and the trooper told me if I brought a picture to court showing it had been removed the judge would dismiss it.

So I showed up in court with a picture of a car just like it without tint on my iPhone and the judge dismissed it. LMAO!!!!!
They are all A$$holes, but of course if I had to wear that stupid Smokey The Bear Hat I would be an A$$hole too!!!

jdmcbride

I think the officer is talking about the red reflectors that are present in OEM lights. There is a section within the tail light in an OEM housing that has a red reflector in it. When you purchase after-market lights that are tinted, the red reflectors are still there, but now they are behind the tinted lens - reducing the effect of the reflectors.

The 2013's get away with having dark-looking tinted tail lights because they have red reflectors mounted lower on the bumper. I believe the Lexus RX and Mazda Miata have similar reflectors on the rear somewhere too so they are legal.

BKamp613

MD 22-227
(f) All lighting devices and reflectors mounted on the rear of any vehicle shall display or reflect a red color, except the stoplight or other signal device, which may be red, amber, or yellow...(goes on to mention license plate bulb color).

The Raxioms display a red color lense...just a reduced amount. The above statute doesn't state the distance the red color should be visible from or the exact shade of red it needs to be, just that it should be red or reflect red. The Raxioms also comply with MD 22-204, MD 22-214, & MD 22-219 - Which state the lamps must display red light visible from 1,000ft at night or unfavorable atmospheric conditions, and 300ft in normal sunlight.

So if they display red lenses (although slightly smoked), reflect red (should he have shined a flashlight/headlights on them from the rear), and display red light @ 300ft (day) & 1,000ft (night/fog/etc...) they should be legal. He incorrectly stated the tails needed to have visibly red lenses (no lights on) from 1,000ft which is wrong on two counts. #1 being they are red (not black) and #2 there isn't a distance requirement for lense color (that I could find). Visibility distance only applies to when the lights are on.

Also, it was mentioned that a 2013 Stang in MD was pulled over and cited for this same reason. Although 2013's have red reflectors in the bumper. So it apparently doesn't matter to cops what you have and what the law is.

I have a print-out of the statutes, and I'll surely hand one to the next cop that gets bored in between donut runs.