# Can you be ticketed for driving a really smoky car? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-ticketed-for-driving-a-really-smoky-car/243656 "2004-05-05T16:02:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-ticketed-for-driving-a-really-smoky-car/243656/1 "2004-05-05T16:02:12Z")
(This was touched on in [this old thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=197086), but I think I’m asking a different question.) I was driving home yesterday and noticed a car driving in the opposite lanes of the freeway that was belching a lot of smoke. Either this guy was testing a James Bond-style smokescreen or he likes to buy 10W-30 by the barrel. I got to wondering if his toxic emissions could get him pulled over. I’m in Seattle, and we require emissions testing every couple of years. But is it possible to be pulled over, ticketed or fined for driving a vehicle that’s emitting visible smoke from the tailpipe? Is it likely? This being the US, I’m sure the law varies from place to place, but I want to know how common the ability to pull people over for visibly polluting is, and how often police actually do it. Any data? ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-ticketed-for-driving-a-really-smoky-car/243656/2 "2004-05-05T16:25:21Z")
Well, I know that you can be ticketed for driving an “unsafe” vehicle, and a car belching smoke could probably be considered “unsafe” so I imagine you could get a ticket that way. I’m not sure about polution though. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-ticketed-for-driving-a-really-smoky-car/243656/3 "2004-05-05T16:34:10Z")
I don’t know about actual tickets, but I know in California, you get a “nasty-gram” from the Air Resource Board (or something like that) if someone reports your smokey car. I would imagine a CHP could ticket you for a belcher if he wanted to. Funny story: A photographer needed a _yellow_ car to shoot for a billboard ad for the “Rat out the evil polluters” campaign. I ponyed up mine for a small few :D, and got to see my ride, belching smoke on billboards around LA. It didn’t really smoke too much at the time, but I abused it by pulling a trailer with my race bike all over hell, and it got pretty worn out. When I moved, I sold this car. The bozo I sold it to never regesterd it in his name and I periodicly got these “nasty-grams” forwarded to me in Nevada! I actually miss that car. ☹ * * * Fagjunk theology: Not just for Sodomite Propagandists anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-ticketed-for-driving-a-really-smoky-car/243656/4 "2004-05-05T17:34:48Z")
My sister used to get those nasty letters about her van when she lived in Houston. Citizens would report her, with license plate, and the city would send her a letter instructing her to get it fixed. Of course, the letter did not come with the funds to fix it, so the letters were ignored. Shortly after they moved to Austin, her van was stolen. Now it’s in a junkyard. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-ticketed-for-driving-a-really-smoky-car/243656/5 "2004-05-05T20:38:00Z")
Looks like it’s illegal to drive a smokemobile in Washington. From the [Revised Code of Washington](http://www.leg.wa.gov/RCW/index.cfm?section=46.37.390&fuseaction=section): > [@](#): > > (2)(a) No motor vehicle first sold and registered as a new motor vehicle on or after January 1, 1971, shall discharge into the atmosphere at elevations of less than three thousand feet any air contaminant for a period of more than ten seconds which is: > > (i) As dark as or darker than the shade designated as No. 1 on the Ringelmann chart, as published by the United States bureau of mines; or > > (ii) Of such opacity as to obscure an observer’s view to a degree equal to or greater than does smoke described in subsection (a)(i) above. > > (b) No motor vehicle first sold and registered prior to January 1, 1971, shall discharge into the atmosphere at elevations of less than three thousand feet any air contaminant for a period of more than ten seconds which is: > > (i) As dark as or darker than the shade designated as No. 2 on the Ringelmann chart, as published by the United States bureau of mines; or > > (ii) Of such opacity as to obscure an observer’s view to a degree equal to or greater than does smoke described in subsection (b)(i) above. I don’t know what the penalty is, but I assume you can get pulled over. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-ticketed-for-driving-a-really-smoky-car/243656/6 "2004-05-06T00:19:54Z")
I seem to remember a scene like this in a Cheech and Chong movie . . . :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-ticketed-for-driving-a-really-smoky-car/243656/7 "2004-05-06T02:19:04Z")
In some expecially polluted places, you can get a ticket. Dallas, I think, has cameras on onramps that result in mailing you a warning or ticket if you car is making too much smoke. (no cite; it’s one of those things on the back of the registration renewal card that I never pay attention to because I live in a county out in the middle of nowhere) ---
**Author:** ![Badge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Badge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badge)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-ticketed-for-driving-a-really-smoky-car/243656/8 "2004-05-06T06:26:16Z")
> [@Interrobang!?](#): > > I don’t know what the penalty is, but I assume you can get pulled over. Yup, it’s illegal. The fines are $112 for the first offense in one year, $153 for the second offense, $194 for the third and subsequent offenses. My department recently had training on how to use the Ringelmann chart for these offenses. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-be-ticketed-for-driving-a-really-smoky-car/243656/9 "2004-05-06T16:56:53Z")
> [@Badge](#): > > The fines are $112 for the first offense in one year, $153 for the second offense, $194 for the third and subsequent offenses. I knew I should’ve just [asked the cop](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=147494). Is there any program in WA for calling in vehicles that are smokin’ up the joint, like the HERO program for carpool violations?