[djmcmath]

You're not actually allowed to open the hood at a routine traffic stop. The officer is allowed to search areas accessible to the driver for weapons as a safety measure. However, the trunk, which is not accessible to the driver, cannot be searched without probably cause. The engine bay, similarly, is not accessible to the driver while operating the vehicle, so searching it is not legal.

Moreover, "probable cause" requires that there be a reasonable suspicion that a CRIME has been committed -- using blue headlights is not a crime, but rather an infraction. Same with modifying your car -- traffic infraction, not crime. So even if your son had blatently illegal (traffic infraction) headlights, unless the officer could somehow claim that he believed there was drugs or a dead body under the hood, his search would be illegal.

But back to the other side -- rules of evidence don't particularly apply in traffic court, like most of our constitutional rights, so for traffic infractions, officers are pretty much allowed to do whatever they want with absolute impunity.

So if stopped for a routine violation, and the officer asks you to open your hood, what should you do? Makes no difference. Explain that you do not agree or consent to the search, but that you recognize he will use force if you don't, then open the hood -- anything they find cannot be used because they used coercion to get the hood open. Or don't open the hood, and make him go through the hassle of obtaining a warrant, which he almost certainly won't get.

How's that? (Oh btw, nothing here is legal advice, I'm not really a lawyer, I just read too much.)

Dan