[bajabill]

I don’t know whether technically it is legal or not but just like most gray areas when dealing with traffic cops in Mexico, a 20 dollar bill trumps the vehicle code on almost any day.

[blitzer]

That is probably the answer I hear most often, but I want to know what the vehicle code in Baja says about that.

[offroadrage]

Down here I learned it’s more important to know what they allow. I have seen them enforce things that I really don’t believe are written down anywhere and allow a lot of stuff that there are definitely laws for.

[mx-rider]

I don’t have a link but I have been told by enough municipal cops and federal police in Mexico to know fairly certain that they are not legal on city roads and federal highways. But their are so many “carros chocolates” circulating (unregistered) on those same city streets and highways it’s a target rich environment for cops in Baja. I have been stopped by was always let go with a warning. They’ve got bigger fish to fry these days I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.

[JuanSoler]

You summed it up just about right

[miraflores]

I really wish they would keep them off city streets and neighborhoods with family homes.

[sawdogger]

Look, I have a UTV and they are not all the same. Some nincompoops install very loud exhausts on their rigs and we have a neighbor that did just that on his recently, going out riding with his friends before coming back home late at night making all kinds of noise that woke everybody up within a mile. That lasted for a few weeks until his next door neighbor on the other side started shooting his shotgun off every morning around 4:00AM until he got the message and reinstalled the factory muffler. Sometimes that’s the only way to make these knuckle-draggers understand.

[bajajeepers]

We have a UTV too and why I hardly ride in groups anymore. Too many put those loud exhausts on and you can’t even talk on the radio anymore, it dominates the air space so.

[blitzer]

My rig has the stock muffler but I never run it in around neighborhoods, that’s just stupid and rude. Another reason why I want our place in Baja to be isolated.

[offroadrage]

I admit it. My exhaust make a lot of noise and I like it that way but I do drive very slowly in residential areas so as not to disturb the peace. Plus, when I am riding on smooth pavement I don’t want to spill my beer.

[miraflores]

Thank you for that.

[JuanSoler]

A lot of people have come to hate UTVs, or more specifically the people driving them, not so much the UTVs themselves.

[mx-rider]

I hate riding behind them

[offroadrage]

How did I miss this thread? Anybody who has driven south of the border for more than a day or two knows there is big difference between what the vehicle code says and what is allowed. I have driven my rig in downtown San Felipe right alongside the police with an open beer on board and not even got a second look.

[JuanSoler]

I agree with you (mostly) on the driving on city streets in most Baja towns and even short stretches of the highway but attitudes are slowly changing and you might want to at least make an attempt to hide your beer, especially if you’ve had more than a few.

[bajabill]

Absolutely, I really don’t want to test those waters, risking getting arrested over an open container.

[miraflores]

DUI in Mexico is still not so serious as in the USA as long as nobody seriously hurt. You may be arrested but go home in a couple hours and pay a small fine. Thats all.

[JuanSoler]

Especially if you offer the arresting officer a nice cash reward to make sure your car isn’t towed.

[screeski]

That sound more like what locals would expect to happen but not sure that pale faced tourists should expect to get the same deal.

[mx-rider]

A knucklehead in one of our riding groups a couple of years ago got into a jam in Ciudad Constitucion when he plowed his bike into the back of a car parked at a stop sign with a cop waiting on the same stop sign on the opposite side of the intersection. He wasn’t going that fast but he did manage to get propelled over the car and sustained a broken wrist and some scrapes and bruises. The front end his bike got messed up pretty good and lady he hit already had some rear damage which he made worse.

Bottom line, after we all paid his hospital bill to get his wrist xrayed and put into a cast, he was then “detained” as he was pretty s–t faced when it happened and was “asked” to stay at the police station until he sobered up, paid the fine and 400 dollars in damages to the lady he hit.

And that was it.

He was also worried it was somehow going to get reported and attached to his California driving record but as far as I know, nothing ever happened.

[bajabill]

Sounds like the turd was lucky. That lady could have probably fenagled a new car off him if she wanted to play hardball.

[mx-rider]

Believe me, we still remind him. 😆

[screeski]

😆😆😆😆😆😆

[offroadrage]

I have never found myself in a situation in Baja that a Ben Franklin or two couldn’t fix.

[guacamole]

I bet you feed the bears too when you go to a National Park.

[offroadrage]

Bears gotta eat too.

[BajaGringo]

😒😒😒