North Carolina Squat Banned by Governor

[f.f.jones]

 

 

Squatters and Poopers in NC - BEWARE.  SEMA missed this one!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/i-made-fun-of-the-carolina-squat-but-i-didn-t-want-it-to-be-made-illegal/ar-AAKQk20?ocid=mailsignout

Edited December 5, 2021 by f.f.jones (see edit history)

[MCHinson]

Just to be clear, it was not "Banned by Governor". A Governor does not have that power. The legislature passed a new law that was signed by the Governor. If he had vetoed the bill, the legislature would have likely overridden his veto since the bill was widely supported. The new bill closed a loophole in the existing law regarding height of vehicles. The previous law regarding this issue was only applicable to passenger cars and not to pickup trucks due to its wording and the definitions of various vehicle types in the NC General Statutes. 

[ted sweet]

ny has a law regarding bumper height

[Walt G]

Matt, thank you for the clarification - headlines have a way of stating inaccurate "history"  and can be picked up by the non car media as 'the truth and nothing but the truth' because it was found on a well known historical site ( of course everything in print has to be the truth) . Once repeated and repeated again "myth becomes fact" and is justified "because it is printed and says so right there ". The one reason that the AACA forums are so great is that we have a lot of people who are very worthy of sharing accurate information - if it is not, it doesn't take long for someone to politely ( most of the time, with the help of the moderators) to share the correct information. 🙃

[rocketraider]

It was a long time coming. 

 

I fully expect Virginia to follow suit and wish they would. 

 

Lotta teenage boys up here on the border are squalling, because they never thought to save the stock suspension parts. They can no longer use "it's legal where the truck lives" defense if a Virginia cop pulls them.

 

Saw one back in summer in a downpour, and the little peewee boy driving it had to hang out the window in pouring down rain to be able to see what was in front of him.

 

Strangely I haven't seen a squat truck up here in a couple months. Word about the new law must have got out quick.

 

I had two NCSHP officers tell me they would start writing citations 12:01AM Dec 1. They both know I'm a car guy and asked what I thought of the Squat. I told them. Stupid and dangerous.

[rocketraider]

Heh. Just read the Car and Driver blurb (I usually pass on C&D because I think their writers are pompous full-of-themselves asses, but they're good for sophomoric humor once in a great long while) and this Ezra bumpkin had the unmitigated gall to diss on vinegar-based barbecue sauce. That does it- he didn't have much cred to start, and he just lost all of that! I bet the boy wouldn't know a good plate of pig bobbacue if his Mama spoon fed it to him!😛

[DLynskey]

It's popular in South Carolina, too. I saw a Suburban yesterday riding so high in the front that I don't know how the driver can see over the hood.

 

The other fad among those trying to prove Darwin's principle is colored lights on the front -- the worst offender being red lights. Consider an old fart like me about dusk on a foggy evening trying to turn right onto a busy highway. I look right and see red lights - obviously the tail lights of a car going the other way. I look left and see more red lights -- presumably more tail lights.  Aha, coast is clear!! I pull out only to discover the second set of red lights was on the front of a lifted Jeep (somehow Jeeps seem to be the most numerous offenders) headed straight for me. 

 

I just have a low tolerance for stupidity.

 

Don

[rocketraider]

Don- how do these knuckleheads get away with steady red lights on the FRONT of a vehicle? Even emergency vehicles use mostly yellow on the front, and reds flash so you know it's an EV.

 

The safety aspect is what provoked the NC legislation. These squat trucks are so high in the front the (usually short) drivers could not see what was in front of them and ran right over top of things- like other cars, tractors and farm equipment, fences, you name it. 

 

I'm usually one who says your vehicle, your money, have at it and look stupid if that's your thing. When your idea of cool makes it hazardous for me to share the highways with you, you've crossed a line. 

 

Red lights on the front.🙄🤦‍♂️

[39BuickEight]

The complete lack of enforcement on the colored lights (and completely road illegal swapping/installation of older lights to LED’s) also exists in Kentucky.  Then again, nothing else is ever enforced here either.  
 

The trucks with this stance are incredibly dangerous, as the drivers can’t see cars in front of them.  Serious accidents have occurred.

 

The thing that I don’t understand is how modern headlights are approved by the NHTSA.  Semi trucks are among the worst.  They are all twice as bright and blinding on “dim” as a standard older vehicle was on “bright.” They “point” certain ways in an effort to seem ok, but unless you are on a perfectly flat road without bumps, it’s a constant bright unsafe flashing right in the face of oncoming traffic.  I’m not old enough to already hate driving at night.  

Edited December 9, 2021 by 39BuickEight (see edit history)

[rocketraider]

Here I thought I was the only one who noticed that...

 

"Modern" automatic headlight dimmers don't help. They don't work from diddly on four-lane divided highways because the windshield sensors don't "see" approaching traffic as well as old photocell dimmers like GM GuideMatics do.

 

Add in impossible to aim headlights like the squat trucks have...

 

I used to try to be a courteous nighttime driver, but anymore if an oncoming vehicle doesn't dim, I give them one warning flash. If they don't IMMEDIATELY dim, I give 'em the high beams. A-hole works two ways.

 

But I'd be the one to get the aggressive driving ticket. 🙄

[Larry Schramm]

I agree on these idiots driving around with their high beams on all of the time.  Even if you flash them, they do not lower their head lights. I know, I know, it is all about them and the rest of the world be d**ed.  Pompous little snow flakes. 

 

For vehicles that seem to have the worst headlight aiming, it is the Jeep Wranglers.  I sometimes believe those vehicles only have one headlight position and that is high.

 

Like 39Buickeight says it is getting more difficult to drive at night because of all of the discourteous drivers.

Edited December 9, 2021 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)

[DLynskey]

Be careful flashing your lights at offending drivers. I used to do that but don't anymore. I don't need some idiot making a U-turn and shooting at me as I've read about many times.

 

Don

[rocketraider]

On 12/8/2021 at 5:36 PM, rocketraider said:

Strangely I haven't seen a squat truck up here in a couple months.

Then danged if I didn't see two at Sheetz tonight... they had two gas pump islands blocked while the drivers sat there BS-ing. Both with NC plates.

 

Being as loss of driver's license is a consequence of getting three squat truck tickets, I think these boys are tempting fate.