German Police Are Repeatedly Fining American Soldiers Over Their 'Extreme' Muscle Cars
German police are clamping down on American soldiers driving modified muscle and pony cars around the town of Kaiserslautern.
Incredibly strict German rules on what is and isn’t legal when it comes to modifications are at odds with the freedom of expression brought in by the army men at Ramstein Air Base, whose cars have reportedly been targeted by the police and clubbed with fines for a huge variety of what we’d call petty offences.
Jalopnik reports that the chief of the town’s police department had said the Americans’ cars were more heavily modified and “extreme” than German cars, even going as far as to say that the big V8s in the resident muscle cars weren’t especially welcome. That guy sounds like he’d be a riot at parties.
Other infractions that have been reported include yellow fog lights, window tinting and loud exhausts, with one soldier apparently being repeatedly stopped over the cooling vents in his bonnet, which are a standard feature on the unnamed model.
The full post makes interesting reading, essentially boiling down to a cultural difference between the Germans’ naturally controlling nature based on strictly-enforced laws, and the ingrained creative freedom enjoyed by Americans, especially when it comes to modifying their cars.
Modified German cars have to have every change noted down in a registration booklet, and if it makes the booklet then it’s passed the infamous TUV test and it’s legal. American cars’ log books don’t have anything like that, which is apparently causing the police some difficulties in determining what is legal and what isn’t.
We’d like to ask the opinions of our German CTzens, or anyone from the other side of the French border who knows the system in Kaiserslautern. Are the police being too heavy-handed or are the Americans taking liberties? Is it a bit of both?
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And i’m just here wishing we had German TUV cause they’re so much more modifying-friendly than here in Belgium… best stay out of here, you change a light and a shift knob and all of a sudden your car is “modified” according to inspection :s
For the people who don’t know our system, we have something called GOCA, which is a stricter version of TUV, not in line with EU regulations for car safety and inspections, but a privately owned firm cause our government doesn’t know how to handle things :) So if you think you’re screwed in Germany, come see in Belgium and all of a sudden Germany will seem like car-mods-heaven :)
Alright, so I’ll be going into how Germany justifies its modding laws - whether you agree or not, that’s up to you.
First up, the yellow fog lights - the least “harmful” thing.
Generally speaking, in Germany, you’re only allowed to have white(-ish) lights, because only those light up the road in the best possible way, since white light is multi-colored, however, tones of white are allowed, even tones which one would consider yellow. However darker tones are a no-no.
However, as per German StVO, you are allowed to have yellow fog lights, as long as they are allowed in the country the car originated from and/or is legally bound to.
Number two, the exhausts ( & V8),
New cars are to abide a limit of around 68 dB, but it has to do with the power output of the car, the stronger it is, the louder it can be, however, there’s a limit of 100 dB - To keep general noise levels down, especially in cities.
Number three, window tinting, is allowed, however only to a degree that doesn’t impact the vision of the driver too much, that goes for all windows, specifically the front and side ones (blindspots etc.)
Lastly, hood vents; To put it simply - Hood vents are not allowed if they in ANY way could harm pedestrians. If an impact with a pedestrian ever should occur, the vents must not be in the way or provide any source of harm.
Hope I was able to answer your questions. Personally, while I am bummed out about not being able to modify cars to my wishes, I do see the point and entirely agree with the laws. But that’s just my 5 cents on it.
While it sounds like the police are being petty and nitpicky, these cars are in their country and are subject to their laws. What is it rednecks say? Come to America and bring your customs with us? No, that sounds wrong…
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The Americans here in Germany should have the exakt same regulations as every other German too! There is no reasons for these wankers to have extra rules.
Norway is even worse, up here you can’t do anything without risking your car to lose the “EU approval”
As always, truth is somewhere in the middle. Regulators are over zealous (and police even more so) and US army people should consider twice about their rights and obligations. If I went to the US and not respected local law, most “citizens” would demand I cool off in jail, yet they think their rowdy redneck mobiles are just the thing EU roads need.
Thank god i live in Malta! no hassle at all! :D
It’s just common sense that a car taken to another country to drive on that country’s roads should conform to that country’s laws and regulations.
However, that’s ignoring the bigger problem… the U.S. military’s presence in Germany is simply expanding U.S. imperialism. Nothing against the individuals, but the system itself is broken.
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