(not my image. I just find these comical and incredibly dangerous)
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They aren’t. There might be places with shitty cops that tolerate them. (Quick search shows this is mostly a Texas thing)
They aren’t.
Confidently incorrect. Maybe they’re illegal some places, but definitely not most places. In Texas, they’re not illegal, but it can be illegal if they make your vehicle more than 8 feet wide. Since they’re usually on sedans, they usually don’t hit 8 feet.
Also they’re more specifically a thing in Black culture in Houston. I see them pretty rarely in other Texas cities
what? they are a pedestrian hazard, how would these not be illegal in every state?
Simple, make your city unwalkable. Pedestrians are no longer a concern. Anyone dumb enough to be a pedestrian deserves it.
Obvious /s is obviousI see you have been to many Alberta towns
AKA Notth Texas.
i mean actual policy
bet money it is illegal and just not enforced
pretty sure the tire, including rim must be in the tire well (in Texas it’s to the length of the mirror specifically even)
apparently this is a moron red state kinda thing where because it is not specifically called out cops cant be assed to enforce laws for general vehicular safety
Well that’s definitely commonplace with pickups having low offset wheels. I’d be curious if there is policy to support that though!
Considered unsafe/sharp protrusion that would endanger a pedestrian, but cops would have to enforce that subsecrion…which probably doesn’t happen in texas
5 foot tall hoods are also a pedestrian hazard, but fashion trumps safety.
again that just sounds like lazy cops
Worse. Lazy rules.
Americans proving their inability to understand their country isn’t the world just never stops.
You’d ever only see these in the US, it doesn’t matter if they’re specifically illegal elsewhere because it just doesn’t happen (on normal roads, outside very rare shows etc.).
It’s so fucking tiring not being able to get away from 'Muricans like you who are so deep into their own shit that you’re unable to even start to understand anything else.Welcome to a post about the US on an US-based instance. Feel free to continue acting like a total asshole
What’s US-based about fuckcars? Most posts here are not about or from the US.
It’s a troll account
Texas is just a fictional place. Doesn’t really exist. (/j)
If only
They are not legal in the civilised world.
It’s pretty common to see these on the road in Houston, Texas.
Oh wait, you said “civilized world”, my bad.
Surprisingly, even Brazil is more civilized in that regard. Tires and rims may not extend laterally farther than front or rear bumpers.
The downside is that people weaponize the sound system, so they don’t even need to be driving to be hostile to everyone within 300 meters.
Cars with these rims usually have outdoor external speakers on the bottom. So they weaponized the wheels and sound.
It’s illegal here in the US too people just don’t care.
In the US, what is street legal depends on the locality, most of which is decided by the different states. I heard that in one state, the rule was that tires and rims couldn’t extend farther than the side mirrors, and so these people made their side mirrors stick out a lot farther too.
See also
- Scythed chariot – An ancient, military counterpart
Thanks.
Swangas (also spelled swangaz, and colloquially known as elbows (or elbos), 83s, or 84s (or simply 4s)) are custom extended wire-spoke wheel rims associated with slab car culture of Houston, Texas
Slab (sometimes in all capital letters) is an acronym for “slow, loud, and bangin’” that describes a custom car, music and surrounding culture that’s associated with African American hip-hop culture that emerged in the Houston area.
TIL. I always wondered what they were about.
Even more surprising is that Houston has any sort of culture.
Oh that’s easy! They’re not :)
Cite the law
I am guessing most states have a law about “unroadworthy vehicles” that pose a hazard
Sure, but they they also define “unroadworthy,” and this isn’t it. To be clear I think these are awful and would prefer they were illegal, it’s just that they genuinely aren’t a lot of the time
In South Carolina the law text is broad.
It shall be unlawful for any person to drive or move or for the owner to cause or knowingly permit to be driven or moved on any highway any vehicle or combination of vehicles which is in such an unsafe condition as to endanger any person or property
And yet I still see Carolina squats on bigass trucks. Their front blind spot has to be hundreds of feet at least.
I see squats riding around, too, and there is another explicitly written law against that. My impression is that SC cops don’t enforce traffic/vehicle laws at all unless you are doing something especially egregious.
something especially egregious
Like driving while black?
common sense?
But seriously, nothing can stick out beyond the body of the car (expect mirrors), not even wheels.
Edit: After checking the laws says the fender has to cover the tire to prevent splashing so it may not apply to rims like that. So back to common sense
Common sense is not a law…
Also the laws are different in different jurisdictions
Not a law.
I am not a lawyer but EU Regulation No 1009/2010 on type approval requirements for wheel guards states:
2.1.1. In the part formed by radial planes at an angle of 30° towards the front and 50° towards the rear of the centre of the wheels (see Figure 1), the overall width (q) of the wheel guard shall be at least sufficient to cover the total tyre width (b) taking into account the tyre envelope as well as the extremes of the tyre/wheel combination(s) as specified by the manufacturer. In the case of twin wheels, the tyre envelopes and total width over the two tyres (t) shall be taken into account.
In short: Nothing is allowed to extend beyond the wheel guards. Now, look at the image above again.
Deviating materially from the type approval makes your car not street legal as far as I understand. But this is a matter for a lawyer. Surely there is a reason why these psychopathic car mods are impossible to find in all of the EU on public roads.
Well written! But it misses my point entirely.
Common sense is not a law.
I did not quote “common sense” I quoted relevant law. If you want a full legal analysis rather than seeing relevant law, you need to pay a lawyer.
Then you replied to the wrong person. I didn’t ask for a law citation :)
Why would you assume they’re legal?
They’re surprisingly common in the Houston area. If they’re illegal, you certainly wouldn’t assume they are based on how often you see them.
Consider, however, that cops are all lazy bastards.
True that.
Lol here (Estonia, not the US), they get a perverse pleasure out of giving people tickets, some of them anyway. If a cop saw those things, that car would rightfully get its annual inspection voided and potentially the driver would be forced to take it off the road immediately rather than being allowed to drive home or to a workshop to get it fixed.
A lot of the time I disagree with how ticket-happy they can be (it’s not always about safety critical things), but in this case I’d agree with them 100%.
Why would you assume they’re real?
They are, unfortunately, real.
They aren’t in any civilised countries, probably land you in prison when you are driving that on any public road in one of those.
I refuse to believe that america is a real place
America is fine, as long as you steer clear of the United States.
What do you have against South America?
America is a scary story the Brits made up to keep the other colonies behaving.
According to Alexander’s tactics in Gaugamela, you first have to wear them down with javelins, and then open ranks to create alleys for them to pass through your infantry, then finish them off with hypaspists. Afterwards, you can charge your cavalry straight to Darius himself and win the battle.
Piece of cake really.
Friggin bullies!
There’s zero chance these are legal. And even in places where enforcement of such things is lax, is be surprised if this lasted very long, simply because of how crazy dangerous it would be to pedestrians and cyclists.
Just cause they have them doesn’t make them legal. Cops probably don’t even know so they just let it go
Usually, US law enforcement errs on the side of illegal since they have the presumption of good faith (or at least did until ICE went gonzo about lies and cover-ups).
But anything that looks suspicious counts as probable cause meaning they can search you and relieve you of cash and valuables. Nowadays, they presume they can jusy rob you and it enhances the precinct budget for fun stuff.
We see this kind of overpolicing done more to minorities than whites, but so long as you don’t look super rich (enough to have a lawyer on your contacts list) then you’re fair game.
If this sort of thing is uncommon in their parts, it’s going to draw more attention than a red sports car.
I think this is uncommon in most areas. Seems way outside of what should be even manufactured
They make a lot of shit purely for show. As in put it on while the car is on display.
Aren‘t vehicles and/or custom parts checked for safety and roadworthiness in the US??? 😱
Not in Texas. I can basically guarantee that this is in houston, they are all over the place down there. They’re called elbows or swangas and are popular throughout the “slow loud and bangin”(slab) car culture native to the area.
In South Florida we have late model Chevy sedans jacked up 2 feet with 40+inch rims, candy paint jobs, and one time I saw a Caprice with “truck nuts” clearly custom made from soccer balls. I’ll take them any day over this.
Houston went through that phase a long time ago. Surprised it’s still around
Slabs are just lowriders whose owners don’t know how to shut the trunk.
Houston was my first thought too.
You can literally mount real bull horns to your hood over there
Depends on what state you live in if there are mandatory vehicle inspections (20 of 50 states do NOT have vehicle inspections). The state I live in does not have any mandatory vehicle inspections.
Actually, 38 of 50 states don’t have periodic vehicle inspections.
Most countries require annual safety inspections.
That is insane. So they drive their car into the dirt until it’s falling apart with no consideration of other roads users. Just insane
They do give tickets even in states with no inspections (fix-it tickets).
What magical place do you live where the police do their job?
no consideration of other roads users
that’s un-American
My state does have inspections but they are going away after the state admitted all they cared about was the fee. Personally, I don’t think they mattered with the number of vehicles I see on a regular basis with valid stickers and obvious safety issues.
This is crazy…
Some of them are surprisingly legal, depending on the width of the car. They’re popular in Houston, and so long as the total width of the vehicle doesn’t exceed 102 inches they may be legal in Texas. Lots of them do make the vehicle wider than 8 feet, but for probable cause it has to be glaringly obvious they’re over 102 inches, and that’s not always legally clear. They mostly get tickets for them if they get pulled over for something else and the cops measure them during the stop.
And Texas no longer requires inspections as of like 2 years ago. But they could just remove them before inspections before anyway.
i have never in my 24 years of owning and driving 13 cars while living in two US states experienced such a mandatory check.
I’ve very distant memories of emissions tests but that was strictly exhaust or OBDII checks specifically for emissions.
Never safety or roadworthiness.
There are no more standards in america if your liked.
I don’t know. Why are semi trucks allowed to have these?
I see them all the time even though they seem like a liability for a professional driver.
I’ve seen those sharp things on a pickup truck’s wheels
A few months ago a pickup truck cut me off and i crashed into its side and fell into the side of the wheel. If the truck i hit had these spikes, i’d be dead
The idea is the driver can see if a lug nut is missing. They are typically just plastic, but would still shred a pedestrian or cyclist, two members of the woke left.
You really don’t see them as much compared to when they were in their hay day, because they were/are a liability. But current ones are soft plastic with a thin metallic coating.
Fast rotating “soft plastic with thin metallic coating” will just as well mutilate or even kill pedestrians or cyclists in a collision. But then US Americans do not seem to care much about those.
Not disagreeing with you.
As God intended
Let’s be real, if you’re close enough that these are hitting you you’re getting hit by the multi ton truck as well. They’re a little silly, but not the huge hazard you’re making them out to be.
They make a wide vehicle even wider, for no good reason, your argument, can really only be made by an American who can not fathom that oversized roads are not only not the norm everywhere but are in themselves antipedestrian and get pedestrians and cyclists needlesly killed. There is also a good reason why tyre/axle parts extending beyond fenders are illegal in for example the EU. They are a risk to others in many ways, not only collission but also projecting stuff outwards. Last but not least, they make it harder for the driver to properly estimate the total width of the vehicle and invite driver error that can cost lives.
They are illegal in the EU and they are so for a reason.
_
They put them on to keep cars from crowding them, which they do have a legit problem with. I don’t really care as long as they stay in their lane it’s just psychological. The first time the wander a little into my line and tear up my car, i’m going to own their ass.
No, it is not just psychological, this stuff is real and absolutely mutilating towards any pedestrian or cyclist and also dangerous for other car drivers (doesn’t matter if they are just fake plastic or not). There is a reason this is not tolerated pretty much anywhere other than parts of the US.
It’s not illegal or unreasonable to use a bit of someone else’s lane when you can do so without getting unsafely close to them. For example, if you are in the right lane and there is someone changing a tire on the shoulder and you want to give them some space. These are not going to be easy to see from certain perspectives, and are kind of asking for someone to misjudge their car width.
The big trucks have 2 ft to play with. They max out at 9 ft wide in an 11ft lane. and if they wander into the next lane incorrectly, they’re responsible for 53 ft and are far more likely to kill someone.
Ode to local statutes, in most states (all the ones I checked) it is absolutely illegal to operate in other people’s lanes.
Statute: California Vehicle Code (CVC) § 21658(a)
Statute: Virginia Code § 46.2-804
Maryland Transportation Article § 21-309
Look, I don’t love the wheel grinders, but what you wrote is not factual
Up in Canada it’s similar across the board. Can we get someone to chime in from Mexico?
Ok you got me, I don’t know the vehicle codes of every state, nor am I an expert on them in any state. But I can tell you that people drifting into other lanes on occasion is a thing that happens, usually without it being a big deal. Sometimes by mistake though I gave you a scenario where it is arguably reasonable. I don’t dispute that it can also be dangerous, especially with big trucks.
While of course the lanes are there for a reason and should not be ignored, the relative positions of cars is the more important thing and our visual sense of where other vehicles is a thing we generally take in from the vehicle body and the expected consistent shape of them. And it is what we intuitively use when having to make sudden maneuver. Making your car have an unexpected shape and width below the body is asking for trouble.
illegal or unreasonable to use a bit of someone else’s lane
Yes it is? There are specific rules for passing cyclists and who has the right of way? If you are drifting out of your lane and/or without specific markings for a wide vehicle you are liable for collisions?
That looks like a really expensive accident waiting to happen.
Why would anyone put that on their car?
Idiots, they live among us.
Look, you spent all that money on your Cadillac, you can’t just look like everyone else. They gotta know it’s you! Swangas stand out from the crowd. Whistle tips on the exhaust (only in the mornings, when you supposed to be up making breakfast) let everyone know you’re coming. You don’t have to hide. You’re the king of the block, no, the city. No need for subtlety.
Put a cow catcher on the front of your truck and lift it three feet! Put underglow on your (Automatic) Honda and a JDM tow hook! Make it so your car sounds like gravel in a trash can at 60kph!
Basically, people like to customize their very expensive decisions. You don’t have to worry about accidents because they’re not going to happen to you.
Satire become reality if we don’t do something after learning about it: https://xkcd.com/3167/
Where did Randal get that comic about my wife???
From your mom!!!
Did I say that right?
Depends on your predilection for necrophilia or ability to hold seances :)
