Is It Illegal to Have Those Car Rims That Stick Out?

How wide is too wide when it comes to the car rims that can poke out as far as six inches from the wheel? One caller on today's Ask the Trooper program asked if the rims (which, according to this article, are sometimes known as "swangers, elbows and pokes") are illegal.

They aren't. And as far as Trooper Stephen Hammons knows, there's no reason to make them illegal, at least yet. "I’m sure there have been crashes that occur with those kind of rims, but I can’t say I have ever been told of a crash that occurred with those," he told Nathan and Bernie this morning. "They could have happened, but I’m not aware of any."

The reason our caller was asking, however, is because when he's riding his bicycle, he worries that the rims are going to hit him.

"You do still need to give three feet of space to a bicycle rider,” Hammons said. If the rims are in violation of that law, then the driver can be cited, even f the rims themselves are not illegal.