Doorless legalities in Georgia?

[fast64]

I'm cross posting this from the GA Trailriders forum to see if I can get any other thoughts/ideas/opinions.

Saturday morning:

.....for driving without doors. The cop didn't give me a ticket or a written warning, so I tried not to argue with him, but I still think its BS. I told him that a read all of Section 40 (GA vehicular code) and it never once mentioned doors and that I had my one required mirror that allowed me to see 200 feet behind me. I told him I never keep anything in the car that could easily turn into a projectile or anything that could fly out and litter the road. He told me that it may not be in GA code but its an equipment violation in Macon. He told me if I put a small ratchet strap across the door frame, he wouldn't have even thought about pulling me over since "a seatbelt will only help so much". If he was writing me a ticket, I would have kindly asked him to explain how a piece of 1" webbing designed to take a constant load of a few hundred pounds would have saved me if a piece of 3" webbing designed to take an instantaneous load of a few thousand pounds couldn't. I also kept my mouth shut about the probably one hundred cops that have seen me in every county from Milledgeville to Murphy, NC to Augusta in the past year, not to mention the three others I saw this morning that didn't stop me. So, anybody know where I should go about trying to find a copy of Macon's vehicular code? I'd like to read over it, and if it says nothing about doors, carry a copy in my glovebox with me. If it does say I need doors, any one want to bend up some t00b for me?

Monday afternoon:

After calling the Police, the Attorney's office, and the Mayor's office, I was finally directed to the city ordinances. They can be found here if you want to read over them and give me your opinions (I would especially appreciate it if b1pig or anyother law enforcement or attorney's on the site looked over the site): http://municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=10168&sid=10

I found this:

Sec. 21-28. Vehicle cover required.
No person shall operate or load any vehicle on the public streets and roads of this city unless the vehicle is constructed, loaded and securely covered so as to prevent any of its load from dropping, escaping or shifting in such a manner as to create a safety hazard or in such a manner so as to litter the streets and roads of the city.
(Code 1979, § 14-2003)

I take that as I could be ticketed for driving without doors if and only if I had papers that could/were flying out of the Jeep that were littering the road way or had large objects in the hatch or back seat that could turn into a projectile or fall out and create an obstacle in the road. So...I need to strap down anything in my hatch and not leave trash sitting in my floorboards, correct? I skimmed the state code, found here: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/hottopics/gacode/default.asp again and found nothing, again.

Any thoughts, or ideas? I guess it would be impossible to find out who the officer was unless I wait for him to pull me over again.

 

[mcraindog]

i say keep doing it...if a wrangler can, and xj sure as hell can

 

[Achmed]

It could also fall under an "OEM Equipment Violation" if a cop really wanted to press the issue. Since TJ's come OEM with removable doors, they are excused.

 

[shelbyluvv]

It is legal to do it in a TJ because they are designed to have the doors removed. Ever notice that a TJ has like a 8" lip from the door jam to the floor? That is to keep your feet in in the event of an accident.

GA law is not very clear on removing the doors. I just made some tubers and never got pulled over.

 

[iBarsky]

The guy who bought my doorless beater '88 S10 a few years back got pulled over by a state trooper and was told just to make sure that nothing fell out goinig down the road. A week later he got pulled over by a County Sheriff Deputy and got a ticket. He went to court and the Judge looks at the court officers and says and I quote " Are we seriously wasting my time with this, son just make sure that your not cooking meth in there and drive safely". No fine, just a pissed off cop.
The really funny part was that we were at Hooters about 3 weeks later and a classic Bronco pulled up as we were leaving. Lifted, no doors, a busted front window, and ...wait for it....... the same deputy sitting in the passenger seat.
An Al cop did stop me in the S10 one time, to return my friend's wallet that had fallen out.

 

[iBarsky]

[
GA law is not very clear on removing the doors. I just made some tubers and never got pulled over.[/quote]


My recent beater while I look for another XJ has been a '91 Explorer with a tube doors and no rear windows of any kind. It is slighly cut with 31s. You should have seen the look on the cop the other day when I went thru a dui check point.
Her: Sir, how many wheels and tires do you have crammed in there?
Me: Eight, I think.( I had just picked up a couple of sets of used mud tires w/ wheels.)
Her: Sir, what is in those cases in the back?
Me: Handguns and ammo, officer, I'm headed to the range.
Her: Where did you get those doors, my husband would love some of those, he has a
Jeep Cherokee thingy( I pointed them towards this site and a few others.)
Her: Well, have a nice weekend.