A Michigan state Senate committee voted unanimously to advance legislation that would legalize the hanging of fuzzy dice and air fresheners from rearview mirrors. State Senator Ron Jelinek (R-Three Oaks) introduced Senate Bill 276 to repeal the statute that allows police to pull over motorists using objects dangling from a mirror as a pretext. Existing law makes driving with a “dangling ornament” punishable by a $100 fine and up to ninety days imprisonment.
The law became controversial after the January 13, 2006 arrest of Lonnie Ray Davis outside Detroit. Westland Police Officer Pat Griffin pulled over Davis for the crime of driving with a “Tweety Bird” air-freshener hanging from his rearview mirror. Griffin testified that he had no other justification for the traffic stop. After searching Davis’s vehicle, Griffin found drugs, a gun and a bottle of Hennessy cognac. Davis appealed his conviction before a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that in December found the Michigan law unconstitutionally vague because it did not define what kind of dangling objects might “obscure” a driver’s vision.
“Many vehicles on the road today have something hanging from the rearview mirror, whether it be an air freshener, a parking pass, fuzzy dice, or a rosary,” Judge Boyce F. Martin, Jr. wrote. “And many organizations, both public and private, either encourage or require their use. Because of this, many vehicles on the road may violate the obstruction law, but the statute itself provides no guidance either to motorists or police as to which ones do. It is simply up to the officer on the street to decide. We believe that the Constitution requires more of Michigan’s legislature.”
Although the court did not let Davis off the hook for cocaine possession, it withdrew its decision two weeks later. In April, the same three-judge panel issued a new decision that no longer mentioned the unconstitutional vagueness of the statute.
“We cannot accept Davis’s argument that police lacked probable cause to stop him based upon the Tweety Bird,” Martin wrote in the revised opinion. “The law’s language is unqualified: an obstruction of any size for any amount of time falls within it. Consequently, the mere sight of the dangling Tweety Bird supplied the ‘quantum of individualized suspicion’ sufficient to establish probable cause to believe that Davis was violating [the law].”
Under the amended text of SB 276, it would only be a crime to drive with obstructed vision and the reference to dangling ornaments would be deleted. The measure now moves to the full Senate for consideration. A copy of the revised Sixth Circuit opinion is available in a 50k PDF file at the source link below.
Source: 
US v. Davis (US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 4/30/2009)
[courtesy thenewspaper.com]
I always thought anything hanging from the mirror is not the smartest thing to do, some people hanging so many things that they cover about 30% of the view.
I also think that stickers on the windshield like the registration and inspection should be on the passenger side, I really don’t understand why it is mandatory in NY to place them on the driver side, specially with today’s steep windshields you find many motorists place the stickers way to high that it blocks some of the view.
you have got to be kidding me…
I like Ron. I used to live in his district. But Michigan has many more important things to work on right now.
there some stupid rapper wannabees who hang CDs from the mirror… anyone with a brain would realise this is a danger.
However it seems the police want a reason to pull people up on a fishing expedition for more serious alleged crimes… anything that limits their ability to randomly pull over people is welcome.
“…anyone with a brain would realize this is a danger.”
That’s why laws are a requirement.
On the whole, in my opinion, the majority, though not all, if humanity is imbecilic and so self-centered and so emotion-laden reveling in their irrationality that laws are a must.
Not enough predators roaming the landscape to cull the herd of the most ignorant among us.
Isn’t living in MI punishment enough?
“Isn’t living in MI is punishment enough?”
Yep.
Interesting case. While I am personally opposed to dangling stuff from the mirror, I also support deregulating this area. Most motorists who do this probably soon get used to the blind spot and compensate for it, just as they do in the fixed blind spots elsewhere in the vehicle.
Oh, and that’s a Pontiac Catalina….
Oh, and that’s a Pontiac Catalina….
Yup, a 69. Why can’t the curbside classics hints be so easy?
I would be curious to see the statistics on the total number of stops and/or tickets written due to handicapped tags hanging on the rear view mirror.
I specifically purchased Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 from Circuit City to get a pair of rainbow 6 Vegas 2 FUZZY DICE.
I actually hng those huge mofo’s in my car and realized how silly it was and then took em off.
With some spirited cornering, fuzzy dice make excellent windshield dusters.
I found this article because earlier today I was pulled over in Eastpointe after I got out of class. The officer’s reason was I had my parking pass hanging from my mirror. WTF it’s like 3×4 inches!! I didn’t get a ticket but did crap my pants. I hope the law is overturned just so I can proudly display my pass to the Eastpointe police!
If this is not reason enough for people to start standing up for themselves, it sure is a warning of what more is to come. Why don’t we just start civil war right now and get this over with. A Spiritual civil war. Bring back (or for the first time) love, tolerance, understanding, and sharing.
You’d think the government would have something better to do with their time. On all levels, city, state, and federal.
Re:DearS
“Bring back (or for the first time) love, tolerance, understanding, and sharing.”
You forgot cocaine and guns, per the slight infraction this unfortunate motorist was convicted. Hanging fuzzy dice without being pulled over is nice, catching criminals packing cocaine and guns seems like a little better idea.
To the B&B: How do we maintain privacy while still allowing police all the tools they need to catch the actual criminals in our society?
“How do we maintain privacy while still allowing police all the tools they need to catch the actual criminals in our society?”
Not, I would think, by making laws based on the theory that the cops are as stupid as the criminals. There is overwhelming evidence [insert favorite stupid-criminal story here] that most people who try to get by with criminal activity are doing it out of stupidity, and if they would put that much effort into legal ways of making a living they could do okay.
Re stickers on the bottom corners of the windshield blocking vision, maybe it’s just because I’m tall, but all I can see out of that part of the windshield is the hood anyway.
Meh, it’s Michigan. What do you expect?
Now, if the Bundestag passes this law, Judgment Day is near.
I would rather move to the 4th ring of Hell than live in Michigan. Mainly because it’s warmer. But also because it’s not a failed state. And MI surely is. Hell knows how to run itself better than MI.
A shame too. Lots of nice, smart, good people live there but their leaders have destroyed the state, along with self centered organizations and myopic corporations.
Name another state where the flagship city has 33% unemployment.
As for objects from the rear view, who cares. People have GPS boxes up there already.
@GS650G “As for objects from the rear view, who cares. People have GPS boxes up there already.”
In California (and some other state, I forgot) these are illegal with good reason – usually when I point this out, people say “I know, but where else can I put it?”
But it’s still fun when people complain that they never knew about it. I ask to see the GPS manual (many people have it in their glovebox), and point out the big red box with the exclamation point on the first page that explicitly states (usually in bold font) that in California it is illegal to affix the unit to the windshield.
By the way, most GPS makers sell weighted mounts that are designed to be put on the dashboard or somewhere else, which are not illegal.