I have a motion to suppress next Monday where a defendant is challenging his motor vehicle stop because he claims his 1999 S70 volvo has automatic headlights so there was NO WAY he was driving without his headlights on at 1:30 am. Can anyone give me any information about his claim? Thanks and remember to have a designated driver!
Automatic headlights can be overridden in a variety of ways depending on the vehicle. If the defendent has the owners manual, it will indicate there how it’s done, if it can be done.
You need to examine the Owner’s Manual for that model to determine if there is more than one setting for the headlights. Every car with “automatic headlights” (of which I am aware) allows you to defeat the automatic setting, if desired, by moving the headlight switch one notch.
If this car does indeed have a way of defeating the automatic headlight feature, then a defense of, “there was no way he was driving w/o headlights”, is mere conjecture, and is not anything that is provable. And, of course, if somebody is under the influence of an intoxicant, it is very possible for him/her to place a switch in the wrong position.
On the other hand, if there really is no way to defeat that feature on this model, then your evidence should include the Owner’s Manual, showing that the automatic headlights cannot be defeated.
The headlight switch has an “OFF” position. If the headlight switch is left in the on position the lights will turn off when the ignition switch is turned off, not a true auto headlight system.
If the owner is accustom to leaving the headlight switch on at all times but someone else last drove the car (valet) the switch may have been turned off when it was parked.
You can view the Volvo owners manual on the Volvo site, http://www.volvocars.com/us/top/yourvolvo/volvo-vehicle-information-library/Pages/default.aspx
My car has automatic headlights. That’s just one of several positions, mine somehow got switched to the ‘off’ position, so I quickly learned that they had to be switched back to ‘auto’. I bet Volvo’s are the same, as others have mentioned.
Motion denied!
Edit - here’s the owner’s manual for that period Volvo, see page 53 or so. It makes no mention about ‘automatic’ operation, but the headlights, if turned on, come on automatically when the key is in the ‘on’ position. However, there is an ‘off’ position for the headlights, as discussed above.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/120303769/VOLVO-V70-User-Manual
Here’s a picture of the headlight switch set to the ‘off’ position:
Invesigate ;
1 ) his car…
.as stated above both owner’s manual and physical switch in the car. Most automatic systems do in fact have a regular off position and any other driver in his car could have switched it off…then his habit of expecting it to be on left him without checking to be sure.
2 ) his terminology of ‘‘automatic headlights’’.
If he actually has ‘‘daytime running lights’’, ( D.R.L. )…they’re NOT the same. Ergo, the cop’s first clue could have been no tail lights and cued the stop. Some D.R.L. are very dim in comparison to head lights and that too would have been a noticing factor.
3 ) A car that age,
may have a malfunction by now, burned out bulbs, fuse, or switch. Bulb life on automatic lamps is less due to them being on more often.
( when I bring my 08 Expedition in the shop for service, even just an oil change, the techs have a habbit of turning off my automatic setting. I have been surprised by that in the past. )
Interesting - there is a recall on exactly that model headlight switch. Is this car part of the recall?
"Recall Date:
OCT 21, 2004
Model Affected:
1999 Volvo S70
Summary:
ON CERTAIN PASSENGER AND SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES, OVER AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME, THE HEADLIGHT SWITCH MAY CEASE TO FUNCTION.
Consequences:
THE HEAD LIGHTS MAY NOT OPERATE PROPERLY WHICH COULD RESULT IN INTERMITTENT OR NO HEADLIGHT FUNCTION. THIS COULD IMPAIR A DRIVER’S VISIBILITY, INCREASING THE RISK OF A CRASH.
Remedy:
ON VEHICLES WITH AN ORIGINAL OEM SWITCH, DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE HEADLIGHT SWITCH. ALL OTHER VEHICLES WILL BE INSPECTED TO DETERMINE IF THE SWITCH HAS EEN DAMAGED AND REPLACE ONLY IF NECESSARY. THE RECALL BEGAN ON JANUARY 24, 2005. OWNERS SHOULD CONTACT VOLVO AT 1-800-458-1552.
Potential Units Affected: 97000
Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/cars/1999/volvo/s70/recalls/#ixzz2W8N6rNw3
Sounds like the guy is just grasping at straws. But no one at this point could prove they were switched on and working at that time.
As far as I know, cars with autolamp features have a way of disabling that feature. The autolamp on my Lincoln can be cancelled by rotating the time delay shutoff thumbwheel to the bottom until it clicks. At that point the lamps will not come on until done so manually with the main headlight switch.
I’m in agreement that the guy is probably grasping for straws but that switch recall could throw a monkey wrench into the prosecution. A quick phone call to any Volvo dealer should provide an answer very quickly as to whether the recall was done or not.
Assuming the person charged still has possession of the car, the point could be made that any autolamp feature that was disabled the night of the arrest may be set back to automatic now that the car owner sees thing have gotten legally dicy. That would then lead to how would one ever prove that it was disabled to begin with.
They want to supress the whole DUI based on the headlight defense ?
Were the headlights the ONLY factor in the assumption of DUI ? ( it’s often a first clue , but…)
Were there other DUI factors too like weaving, not in lane, changing speeds, too slow , too fast, slow speed ‘‘chase’’ ( not pulling over in a timely manner ) breathalyzer or detected odor, eye and speech evidence ???
No lights alone does not constitute DUI. Careless driving perhaps ( if he habitually expected them to be on yet another driver turned them off yesterday, then he began the trip in a well lit area and wouldn’t have noticed till in a darker area. It would have been the driver’s responsibility to check . )
If I were cited for assumption of DUI , and headlights were the only factor, I too would fight tooth and nail against a DUI.
I don’t drink and never have and would not even stand for such an accusition.
Even in my days of playing in the bars on weekends, I’d approach a traffic blockade ( strategically placed along common routes at closing time ) and when they asked where I was comming from, I would never say ''the bar ‘’ ! ( Though I reeked of the smokey bar ) I would always answer ‘‘I’m comming from work, just got off.’’ I would turn on the dome light so they could see the guitars and amps too.
–It always concerned me that, any time they felt like it, they could have railroaded a DUI on me and it would have been hell getting through the courts even as a non-drinker.
Not trying to play lawyer here at all, but no lights on at all should constitute a legal stop which could then lead to a DUI. I think what the OP is saying is that the defendant is claiming the lights were on (true or not) and the police had no probable cause for stopping them in the first place so lack of probable cause makes any DUI issue null and void.
With the widespread use of dash mounted video cams one would think that a car with non-working lighting would be a slam dunk.
This may not help the legal defense stated above, but even if the car is equipped with automatic headlights, a 14 year old Volvo is certainly a candidate for some strange or intermittent electrical failures.
Stated another way, there’s no way I’d wager anything on the reliability of an electrical system on a 14 year old Volvo.
Mine has auto headlights to but just going down for gas, couldn’t figure out why they didn’t go on in the garage. When they serviced the car the mechanic turned them to the off position. So he’ll have to demonstrate that he had them on the automatic setting and of course that they were working.
I have another point here. If you are too impaired as to not notice your headlights are not on or off…then you are too impaired to be operating a motor vehicle. If I was the judge…the defendant would get the book thrown at him. He has no case.
I think the claim is that with the auto headlights they MUST have been on, and the policeman was lying…good luck with that!
My 1998 Buick Regal did not have a disable selection on the light switch. You could turn then ob during the day, but not off at night. But as mentioned above, that may not be the case for this Volvo.
“and the policeman was lying”
Agreed. I have a friend that was stopped and cited for not wearing his seat belt. He said that he took it off to get at his wallet because he knew the officer would want to see it. The judge wan’t impressed.
A little trivia here, back in the 80’s (or late 70’s, can’t remember anymore), GM started using DLR’s that used the low beam lights on at their regular brightness. People in the military, or civilians working on a military base were not allowed through the gates because it is (was at that time anyway) a requirement to turn off your headlights when approaching the guard shack. GM came up with a work around for people in the military and installed them free of charge.
“People in the military, or civilians working on a military base were not allowed through the gates because it is (was at that time anyway) a requirement to turn off your headlights when approaching the guard shack.”
No one ever prevented me from getting on base, but I did feel bad about it.
Why is it drunk drivers ALWAYS look for an excuse as to why its not their fault, Why they shouldn’t have gotten pulled over, Why even though they were in a wreck and were drunk it would have happened anyway.
The person was drunk, didn’t have their lights on, got pulled over and got caught. This is the same person that if they would not have gotten stopped, they would have gone on to kill someone and found fifty reasons why it wasn’t because they were intoxicated.
Guess what, my mother got pulled over a few years ago after leaving burger king, she had turned her headlights to parking lights only in a parking lot as to not blind people inside. She forgot to turn them back on, and since the instrument cluster was lit up from parking lights she got on the road. She got pulled over 30 seconds later and got a warning… If the persons not intoxicated, they will not go to jail for not having headlights on…
When will we finally start punishing Dui drivers?