Top 5 Reasons Why The Police Will Pull You Over

top-5-reasons-the-police-will-pull-you-over

Ever get pulled over by the police? Most of us have at one time or another. What was the reason? Was it one of these?

Avoid these top 5 things and you will greatly lessen your chances of getting pulled over by the police! Who wants to get a ticket, right?

 

SPEEDING

Yes, there’s a “buffer,” perhaps 5-7 mph, but the decision to cut a speeder some slack is up to the officer’s discretion. Not only are you vulnerable on the freeway, but pay attention to speed limit changes while on secondary roads, which sometimes change unexpectedly and often.

DISTRACTED DRIVING

Texting.
Talking on a mobile phone.
Stop sign violation.
Stoplight violation.
Illegal U-turns.
Failures to yield.

EQUIPMENT VIOLATIONS

Heavily tinted windows.
Burned-out headlights.
Broken windshields.
Expired tags.
The lack of a front license plate (in some states).
Loud exhaust modifications.

TAILGATING

Driving too close.

IMPROPER LANE CHANGES

An improper lane change means cutting someone off or changing lanes without looking first. Failure to signal can also be added to this ticket, but it usually doesn’t initiate the traffic stop — partly because the failure to signal is so common.

 
Note: This list of reasons for getting pulled over by the police is a result of a study by edmunds.com with three different police agencies.

 
For those of you who’ve been pulled over, anything else to add to the list above?

I know we have a number of LEOs in the audience… do you agree with this list?
Anything to add from your perspective?

Will having the following decal on the back of your vehicle actually help?
Thin Blue Line American Flag

98 Comments

  1. Waking up a LEO that was sleeping in a School Parking lot at 2:am, pulled me over for going to fast over a speed bump in my neighborhood. Asked me where I was, told him “María Bonita Restaurante y Cantina in Tijuana” (lived in SD at the time) he had NO sense of humor at all.

  2. They will get you here for seat belts big time. Then comes the walk around the vehicle checking for other “equipment” violations.
    The other big one is driving with bright lights on in town. Doesn’t matter if you are the ONLY car out or not.
    Idiots who need to put neon lights on their car are also getting pulled over a lot.

  3. Driving into Texas many years ago they pulled me over for going 3 over the posted speed limit.
    He said they give us way too much leeway in Wisconsin..
    Then he proceeded to show me all the new gadgets in his cruiser.. show off.
    At the time his new radar could monitor 2 separate cars at the same time.

    Last 3 messages didn’t get posted to another article, waiting to see if this one actually works.

  4. In Socorro, NM they pull over out of towners for going 1 mph over the limit or if you speed up just before the speed limit increase sign, If you live there you can go 50 mph in the 35 zone and you are ok,
    Someone who lived there hit me and ran, I reported his license #, car type what he looked like to the police and they were too busy. They didn’t even write it down as they said they would remember it! I told the insurance company and they called him with in 5 minutes and told me had no insurance. When I go there in that car they follow me everywhere, Not happy with the police there, unfortunately it is our closest grocery and doctor.

    1. I was once pulled over by a city cop in Salina, KS, after going through a red light on my bicycle. It was at a crosswalk, not at an intersection. I didn’t have my drivers license but he issued me a ticket anyway. It cost me $50.

    2. I love NM! Never pulled over there either.

      Totally agree that being local often matters quite a bit, especially in many smaller towns. My town in NH is full of lapsed tags, vehicles with stickers that are obviously rotted out, speeding, failure to stop for pedestrians, etc. I rarely see ppl pulled over, unless they have MA or other out of state plates.

      I was pulled over in a PARKING lot once a few months ago. Both myself and officer had stopped, and he gestured to let me go. Or so I thought. Turned out he had mistaken me for someone else who drove a nearly identical beater car. He admitted as much when he walked over and said, “Oh…you’re not the one with all the damn Bernie stickers.” No, Sir. LOL! He totally ignored my stuck speedometer, showing 40mph while parked, which he had to have seen, and just told me to have a nice day.

      I’m a middle-aged woman, so that example aside, I think it had been about 20 years since last one.

  5. The “OVI” law — over the fog line wasn’t mentioned.

    The OVI violation is one of the nasty and nebulous laws that many drivers aren’t even aware of. OVI has been abused by police in a number of states as a means to both detain drivers and abuse a driver’s Fourth Amendment rights to do an illegal search and seizure.

    1. That’s the truth! Especially if you have out of state tags and going through Kansas on I-70. The KSP are notorious for this. Was a total waste of my time—and his. When I got back home, I had to go to the dealership so they could repair the interior damage that was done during the search of my vehicle.

    2. The OVI Law is Operating Vehicle Impaired. Weaving out of a marked lane by crossing over the fog line may be the reasonable suspicion of impaired driving for the traffic stop. If stopped for this, and this only, the LEO would have to develop other probable cause before searching vehicle without a warrant (other than a visual search readily visible from outside). He could do this by arrest for Impaired Driving after administering a field sobriety test followed by an inventory search prior to impounding the vehicle or consent. Any monetary damage to the vehicle caused by a (fruitless) search without a warrant is the responsibility of the agency involved. Get a lawyer.

  6. And, (you girls will relate) if you are young, cute or look good driving a cool car they will pull you over! Oh Well, it has been a long time since that happened!!!!! LOL

  7. Tis interesting here in my local area we actual have 5 different LEO agencies (not including the; Navajo, Hopi, Apache, and Ute tribal police, AND the NM-DOT police) 3 small cities, the County Sheriffs and the State HP.
    One of the little cities has a very bad habit of ‘enjoying’ pulling the Sheriffs and the State guys over for doing “Equipment Violation Checks”. Tis fun to see 10-12 Aztec Cars surrounding 3 or 4 Sheriff’s Cars and a few State boys filming the entire thing…..
    I figure Aztec is a GREAT place to actually behave myself…..

  8. In my neck of the woods, the most expensive tickets (other than something like reckless driving) are related to car-pool (HOV) lanes, or crossing solid lines getting into and out of those lanes. Although quite a few people break these rules (I see them all the time) if you do get caught, the ticket is hundreds of dollars.

    Seat belt tickets are big here. In some communities they are also starting to crack down on motorcyclists with the modified (super loud) exhaust as Ken mentioned in his list.

    One thing that is legal inCA (but I wish would stop) is motorcycle lane splitting. Every single day, without fail, I hear more than one accident reported with “motorcyclist down”, usually between the HOV (carpool) lane and the regular fast lane. I understand this is not allowed in other states. So, if you are driving in CA, watch out for motorcycles when you make lane changes, because they may be coming up on you between lanes.

  9. Swerving and erratic driving. Like faster than normal acceleration, braking for no obvious reason.
    Mainly just sticking out from the crowd. Or any signs of impaired driving.
    Or having a vehicle that draws attention, gansta cars, after market lighting, over lifted trucks, loud exhaust, loose body parts like bumper covers.
    The best strategy is just be normal, nothing to see here.

  10. Many years ago, my BIL was working for a company where everyone wore bandanas over their nose and face because of the dust and dirt made it hard to breathe. Then they would pull it down to their neck when smoking or just want to gulp fresh air. Well on the way home from work, he was in the back seat and two of his buddy’s were in the front seat talking. My BIL saw a cop car ahead, so he pulled his bandana up into his mouth to look like a gag and he stared out the window as they passed the cop. Well the cop immediately pulled in behind them, after a short time others showed up. Then the cop pulled them over. The two in the front seat had no idea what was going on or why they were pulled over. My BIL had by this time pulled his bandana back down to his neck. The cops all approached the car with guns drawn. Of course after noticing them all wearing the same bandana’s all the cop said was “Son of a bitch”. Of course they all laughed about it later, but things could have turned out very different.

  11. Had one pull me over in Clayton GA. and was a little disappointed I didn’t have illegals in the truck. When they see a big contractors rig they figure you hired undocumented works. Gave him license,registration, insurance card and my CCL from the state of Georgia. Now comes the classic line from the cop. Do you have any weapons in the truck at this time? Yes officer, a 9mm on my strong side, a full size 9mm between the seats, a stubby in the glove box a tactical 12ga back seat and a M-4. Are any of them loaded the officer asked? Yes all are fully loaded with a round in the tube. Wait for it! What are you ready for a war asked the officer? Told him once I get my snipers rifle in the truck why yes. He told me to be careful pulling back into traffic as he handed me back my paper work.

    1. &Peanut Gallery, Your posts were automatically sent to the moderation folder because it caught the word, “bitch”. I have since released it…

      I suppose I could relax the automatic rule on that one in the firewall…

      1. Lol, okay ken. Thought I was being bad and therefore banned. I will watch my language a bit closer.

        1. Peanut Gallery

          NOOOOOOOOO!!! do NOT change your adorable self for our sake… HAHAHA

    2. Yeah, I know the feeling. I posted about getting a ticket under unusual circumstances and was not posted.

  12. Speeding is my vice… I just love to go fast! My last ticket (almost 3 years ago) was doing 80MPH in a 65 zone, but honestly folks I really was keeping up with traffic! ;)

    I have gotten better in my “advanced maturity” but I remember the month from H3LL almost 20 years ago, when I had 3 speeding tickets in 1 month! 2 for 65 in a 55 and one for 42 in a 35. Traffic school removed one, but my CA insurance spiked incredibly! UGH

    I will say tho, I have the utmost respect for LEO’s and treat them with respect when I do get pulled over. I was taught at an early age to respect authority and that attitude has allowed me to have much fewer tickets than I have had I’m sure. I understand there are bad apples everywhere, including the military, government (more than normal) and LEA’s, but by and large, LEO’s are the first line of defense for civilized folks when society and “Social Justice Warriors” get out of control.

    Great article Ken, as usual!

  13. Never been pulled over – what am I missing? The law of averages I guess since I only out on 50k miles in 8 years. Have no derogatory bumper stickers. Heavy work truck with extra fuel tank for equipment – just another working stiff.

  14. Driving the truck away from the high school with your stepdaughter & her friend, and have the cop mistake you for a teenager(nice complement). Pull you over for NO reason other than he figured easy ticket when I did not violate the speed limit. Boy was he surprised, when an adult questioned him as to why and he had no answer.

    OH, it could have been that dh belonged to the E Vitus Clampus and the sticker on the back of the truck. They(Paradise Police) disliked that organization as most of them(Clamperts) like to imbibe….easy ticket for them along with kudo points from the higher ups.

    Watch what emblems you place on your vehicles, they are a red flag.

    1. Does that mean I should rip off my “Love my Quarterhorses”, “Easy Rider”, and “Real Girls Ride Horses”?
      Can I at least keep my “What Would Daryl Do?” window sticker? rofl

      1. MT
        That is hilarious……..rolwl

        Yes, those are keepers…dh as one that states “I am the MAN your mother warned you about”. Thank fully it has his military logo with it.☺

        1. The Lefties now have a bumper sticker that says, ‘I’m a precious, unique snowflake.” The stickers melt when a full-size truck pulls up next to it with a bumper sticker saying, “Flamethrower” and a “MAGA” window sticker.

        2. MT
          I can’t resist. You know that the snowflakes can now drive to their designated safe spaces to get away from red neck truck threats – Target parking lots.

  15. I have a suggestion for the LEOs who read this bog in states where marijuana has been legalized. Please pull those idiots over who are tearing down the highway at 40 mph in the 55 zone. Most of us would appreciate it. DUI is not restricted to alcohol.

  16. I have been stopped several times since I relocated up therefrom California. 2 of 3 times were for sobriety checks during Holiday Season. (I am not sure if I believe their probable cause statement.). Part of the joy of working on a holiday.

    Anyway, I am not in a position to comment on this topic being the resident Asian Driver on this site.

    DWO: Driving While Oriental. ( Kind of like Mr Magoo school of defensive driving.)

  17. I once got pulled over for driving too slow on the freeway. Not illegal on that road. She said she just wanted to make sure I wasn’t drinking. I said I was driving slowly because is was dark. She let me go.

    Many years ago I was on vacation with friends. We were the only car on the highway. We got to a passing lane and my friend kept in the passing lane. We were pulled over for not moving to the slow lane even though were at the speed limit. She probably would have avoided a ticket but she couldn’t find her insurance card. The one she had with her had expired and she left the new one at home. One of the passengers thought that we got pulled over because we were 4 ladies in a convertible.

  18. Calirefugee, when I was a young rookie patrol officer in SoCal, we couldn’t do a DWA or DWO anywhere in the San Gabriel Valley of L.A. County, far too many ,
    My personal car stop thing, when I actually did them, were idiots running red lights or stop signs. I showed zero mercy. Had to respond to far too many elementary school kids getting center punched in the crosswalks by idiots late for work.
    Since we left California after retirement, the state we moved to, seems to have an inordinate number of jackasses that intentionally run redlights and stop signs. Unbelievable.
    For the record, most drivers commit two or more moving violations per mile driven, not infractions, so doing traffic stops is easy.

  19. How about the folks that really should be pulled over?
    Folks shopping at Home Depot are hilarious!
    They Load Some Of The Craziest Stuff On Their cars.
    The latest I saw was a metal job box (they are a little heavy) placed on a roof of a small car on a piece of cardboard. Btw took 4 guys to get it up there. The car owner then gets their free white twine and ties it to the car..badly.
    I bet the first bump he hit was an eye opener!
    That dent on the roof was a beauty too!LOL!
    My favorite was the guy who rolled down the back windows of his car and stuffed 12 foot 2×4’s sideways through the car. Had at least 3 feet plus sticking out past the car on each side. Like a giant wing.
    He did put the plastic red flags on each end which instantly made it safe to traverse the open road.
    You can’t fix stupid but you can pull them over and give them a ticket…LOL!!

    1. The ones I hate are the crappy homemade trailers being pulled at highway speed without a safety chain. I know of one case where the trailer came off, went across the median, hit a car head on and killed the driver. Since the trailer had no sticker or plate the ahole was never found.

    2. I followed a guy out of there the other day, he put 8 sheets of sheetrock on the roof of his honda accord, got up to 40 heading into 35mph trade winds and low and behold he instantly had 8 halfish sheets of sheetrock, the idiot didnt even know they were breaking off and flying away,,,
      I just watched in awe from about 100m behind him, some girl was following right on his azz and took most of the pieces in her windshield, im pretty sure they were both your typical california transplants, the honda still had Ca plates and the girls mini had SanDiego plate holder,,,,

    3. BJHorse,
      Unfortunate.y, being STOOPID (worse than stupid), isn’t a citable offense. Most of the time, as a now retired LEO, we let the “Law of Natural Selection”, run it’s full course. Far less paperwork….

      1. TPSnodgrass,
        I bet you have seen your share of Darwin award winners in your career…

  20. If there are any LEOs reading this, I want you to know one thing:
    You’re as guilty as anyone. We see you speeding and breaking other laws while you aren’t on any emergency call.
    One day you’ll have to answer for your own hypocrisies. If I were you I’d be very polite and understanding when you pull someone over, and while you’re at it, lose the “cop attitude” too.
    And by the way, I own two businesses, many of my customers are federal/state/county/city governments. If I get a ticket from the state, I raise my prices to the state by the amount of the fine. Same for county, etc, so I pay ZERO in traffic fines. Then when I do that govt’s job next time, my profit increases by the amount of the fine.
    So in reality when you give me a ticket, YOU’RE paying ME.
    Deal with it.

        1. Because it is quiet where I live, just people being productive and positive.

    1. Stupid comment that really had nothing to do with the article. Get over yourself.

  21. Loud car stereos. We have an “audible beyond 50 feet ” law in my town now. And I love it.

  22. One speeding ticket and I was almost at the end of a string of cars and once many many years ago in Cali on the freeway where a trooper ‘pointed’ several of us over. No ticket but a warning for traveling in a pack.

  23. In my youth I found in the late 90’s you can get pulled over driving a jacked-up 76 Ford Fairmont metallic green w/ pinstripes small block 302 burning tires at 2:00 AM. LOL! :)…
    Showed my Military ID and was given a professional courtesy.
    AND NO i was not drunk… just blowing off a little steam. ;)

  24. Here is one for ya, got pulled over in FMN for a “California Stop”, after being told there in such thing I said, “Sorry, failure to make a complete stop at a stop sign”. Borrowing my License, Proof of Insurance, and Registration, he shortly returned and said “Please no more California Stops, just a warning because you are the first person I have pulled over in the last 6 hours that actually had all the ‘Paper’ correct and legal….. Three days later I bought him and 3 other officers lunch at a local dinner, anonymously so I though, was again pulled over about a mile away, same guy, Shook my hand and thanked me for the Lunch…..
    A LOT of good Officers out there…. Just be nice, they have a really shitty job.

    1. Yup, they have to deal with the worst elements of our society and the ultimate stupid

  25. To TPSnodgrass:

    I believe the location where you were a rookie traffic cop was the spearhead for the Asian Invasion of which I am a part. And the scary part is: We are breeding too.

    Coming soon to Broadway near you. Watch out Middle America!

    1. Hey CaliRefugee, welcome to Idaho anytime. I love Asian dishes. We can share minority slurs and have a good laugh over a brew. I’m that white male guy that the new majority are now complaining about.

    2. CRsir,
      I make my wife drive whenever we visit S.F’s Chinatown. For her being a very nice now a grandma, she’s got some extremely profane invectives in her, she actually voices at the other “drivers” there. I must confess to being embarrassed, and hoping we don’t BOTH get pulled out of the vehicle….(I try to remind her to squint a lot…) she’s tells me to…well you know.

    3. I might be misinformed but I tend to think of Asians as being a bit more intelligent than average. By all means, keep breeding and do your part to slow the dumbing down of America.

  26. Never been pulled over. So I don’t have much input.
    But love to hear everyone else’s stories

  27. I got pulled over one time for driving an orange car. Someone had thrown a beer bottle out the window and knocked a guy off of a motorcycle and messed him up really bad. The cops were pulling over every orange car in the county to find the sob. I hope they put him away for a long time.

  28. I got pulled over one time for slowing down. I was coming into a small town, the speed limit dropped from 55 to 45. I took my foot off the gas and began coasting to slow down. Went around a curve and the speed limit dropped to 35 so I got a ticket for 48 in a 35.

    1. I know a guy that got the opposite – a ticket for speeding up as he approached a sign showing a higher speed limit. He was only 200 yds from the sign.

      1. I got pulled over for that too but didn’t get a ticket. South Alabama.

    2. I once got one of those tickets for slowing down, Except it was a stop sign, even though I got my car stopped on the other side of the intersection. Who would think they want you do this stuff where they put the sign. Pretty unreasonable if you ask me.

  29. One time I got a ticket for looking at a policeman. I was driving north into Nashville and a motorcycle ahead was driving very slowly in the left lane so I passed him on the right. As I went by I gave him a disgusted look, just in time to see that he was a City of Nashville cop. He pulled me over and told me that he was giving me a ticket because I had looked at him “like that”. I was going maybe 10-12 mph over the speed limit. I got mad and told him “You just took it personally”, he said, “That’s right” and rode away.

  30. I got a speeding ticket one time for 50 in a 35, which is pretty common.
    I had left Atlanta very early that morning headed for Mobile. On the way down I had two work stops to make, then when I got to Mobile I had a third job. As I was leaving that third job, I got the ticket. I was driving fast because I had to get all the way to the other side of the state so I could be there in the morning. When I got pulled over, I told all this to the cop and asked him to please be understanding. He refused to show understanding and mercy to a hard-working citizen who had worked hard all day, driven over 350 miles and had another 175 miles to go.

  31. Once I got a ticket for doing absolutely nothing. I was driving on a two-lane state highway. I was fourth or fifth in line behind a slow logging truck. The truck was going 45-50 in a 55. There was absolutely no chance to pass him so I settled in for a slow ride. We had been driving like this for probably more than five minutes when I got blue lights in the mirror. A State Trooper pulled me over and said, “I clocked you at 68 as you were catching up to the truck.” That was a damn lie because in a 55-mph zone I don’t drive faster than about 63. I just assumed he was trying to make his quota.
    This stop was when I got the idea to start raising my prices to pay for tickets.

    1. Hmmm so three times you admit your were speeding ( breaking the law ) and you are mad at the LEO for doing their job. I guess if someone was stealing from your business but had an excuse that they worked hard all day you would agree that it was ok for them to steal right?

  32. Ha!, Here in the State of NY I was pulled over, and as usual the cop as for “license and registration. (He already ran my plate) . . . Then asked (as they always do here) “Do you know why I stopped you sir?”. Well my speedometer was broke at the time so I replied, “I might have been a bit over the speed limit”.
    His reply, Yea 48 in a 40, but that’s not why, may I look at your gas cap?”. Dismayed at this, I said sure!.
    So the officer promptly went and flipped my plate down (where the cap was on that model) , then quickly returned to inform me he was looking for a car like mine which had drove off from a near by gas station without paying . . . lol . . . He stated that vehicle had a LOCKING GAS CAP. then let me go!
    Now I always wonder, what would happen had I had one!!!!
    . . . But, now I have so many LEO neighbors and friends I could throw a party . . . LOL

  33. My problem with traffic cops is that I feel like they give you absolutely no credit for trying hard to be a good driver, then when you make one tiny error they suddenly jump all over you. For example, one time I was driving southbound on an interstate in the right lane. I was probably going about 73 or 74 which is typical for me. I came up behind a slow moving semi and I knew I would either have to pass him or hit the brakes. I checked my drivers side mirror and saw faster cars coming but I knew that if I hit the gas I had plenty of room to get around the truck without creating any kind of problem. So I hit the gas, passed the truck and got back in the right lane. Before I knew it there were blue lights in the mirror and he got me for 88 in a 70. I tried to explain that I had been driving very safely and slowly and that I had only temporarily exceeded the speed limit to get around the truck. Of course he didn’t care one bit about that.

    1. Sorta like telling the cop “I passed up four banks before I robbed this one, can’t you let this one slide?”

      1. No it’s nothing at all like that. A bank robber has bad intentions. I had nothing but good intentions; in fact I was trying to obey the law and the spirit of the law. A reasonable, honest person would see that, but a blind, ignorant bureaucrat would not.

        1. If you were trying to obey the law you wouldn’t have been speeding

  34. Once a friend of mine was pulled over for honking at a policeman. The policeman had pulled out in front of him and my friend blew his horn. The cop didn’t like it and pulled him over and said, “You don’t honk at me!”

    1. There ya go. You finally posted one in which the cop was in the wrong

  35. I tried to do as FEW traffic stops as I could get away with. Back in the day, we never had a quota, but we had to maintain “statistics” to show you were “productive”. I don’t like walking up on the unknown in any vehicle, so, I avoided them like the plague, and concentrated on actual crime crushing. My arrests were always good, but I did a lot of back ups with officers who loved doing stops., so the bosses, ignored my incredibly low stop rates. I did write citations for truly stupid stuff I witnessed that were so egregious I couldn’t not write them, like the morons running stop signs and redlights. I detest that activity.
    There is no shortage of badge heavy weenies making car stops, which is why we have cameras in our POVs now as well. Why not? They do!

  36. Years ago, if you lived in Dallas you knew that Melissa, just north of McKinney was a speed trap. Driving up hwy 75 one day, approaching Melissa’s city limits I punch in the cruise control to 55 mph. Sure enough, here come the lights. A short, baby fat cop with bad acne said I was doing 62 mph, and wouldn’t back off even after I told him everyone knew Melissa was a speed trap, so I’d set the cruise control.
    As he handed me the ticket and my license he said, Mr xxxxxxxx let me give you some advice, and I’m thinking “oh, this is going to be sage”, he said “slow it down.” When I had my license back I said “now let me give you some advice, cut out the chocolate bars and coca colas, and your face will clear up.”

  37. Forgetting you left your M60 mounted to your homemade gun turret will also get you pulled over. Lol

    Adapt and Overcome

  38. No doubt there are instances where cops are overzealous in traffic enforcement. No doubt there are towns that are dependent on heavy handed enforcement for revenue. But to be fair, the average American is 2 1/2 times more likely to die in a traffic “accident” in any given day than they are from a homicide of any type. The average citizen is more than seventy times more likely to die from an automobile “accident” than an “accidental” discharge of a gun. Studies have shown that jurisdictions that strictly enforce traffic laws have significant reductions in traffic deaths. When they back off, the deaths increase. Cause and effect. Maybe if folks were as careful with how they handle their driving as they are handling their guns, those numbers would come down.
    Let the attacks begin.

    1. Absolutely correct, but why should those who don’t drive impaired, don’t text-and-drive, who try to drive safely, whose insurance, emissions inspection, tags and mechanical equipment are in good order, be fined hundreds of dollars for minor/insignificant infractions?
      I drive thousands of miles more per year than the average citizen. But it’s impossible for me to drive perfectly. I feel like every time I get in the car, a horde of LEOs is inspecting my behavior and just waiting for me to make one wrong move: forget the fact that I’m trying my best to obey the law, they’re going to nitpick my every action and extract Big Money from me for ridiculously minor infractions.
      All this while they themselves do the very things for which I am arrested and fined (and yes, being pulled over is a form of arrest).
      I’m not attacking you. I believe in traffic law enforcement. But in my opinion the wrong people are being “enforced”.

      1. Beats me why they seem to single you out. I commuted 123 miles round trip daily to work for 34 years, 80% Interstate Highway, including two known “speed traps” along the route. Averaged 70,000 miles a year on my pick-ups, commuting and pleasure. Got stopped once in 34 years, driving a little S-10 Blazer I had bought at an auction for my youngest son. The license late light was burnt out (5am) and the new (to me) vehicle had heavy tinted windows, translated, looked like a drug running gang banger’s vehicle. When the trooper saw I was a decent looking mature adult, he didn’t even ask for paperwork, just told me about the defective light and returned to his car. I fixed the light and removed the tint from the windows before turning it over to my son. Haven’t been stopped in my 12 years of retirement either. Just luck?

        1. When the troopers see I’m a decent-looking mature adult, they couldn’t care less, they just ticket me and drive off. And that’s with fully-functioning license plate lights and legal window tint.
          I don’t know. Maybe it’s my face. Maybe they think a middle-aged white dude in a Honda Odyssey is “trouble”. Maybe they think a middle-aged white dude with out-of-state tags is easy money.
          Truly, I don’t care why I get tickets. After all, I can afford it, and as I said above, when I get a ticket I actually charge them.
          So “why” doesn’t matter. What matters is that they’re unable to see the truth of the situation: I’m actually a good, safe driver and I’m a solid citizen/taxpayer. While they have me pulled over and they’re extracting their $150 from me, how many drunk, high, distracted, unlicensed and uninsured drivers pass by?
          And like I said before, the LEOs who pride themselves on “keeping the roads safe” speed, drive distracted and recklessly themselves. I see it ALL the time.

        2. I agree. I travel about 100 miles a day round trip and have been pulled over 1 time in the last 15 or so years and you know what? I was speeding.

  39. Had one pull me over for “rolling through a stop sign” at 4 AM in the morning on the way to fishing. Before I even got to the the stop sign, I saw the cop down the road sitting under a street lamp that just lit him up. So what am I thinking? Turn on your signal, come to a complete stop, look both ways twice, proceed if safe. I proceed with my left, go 2 block to make my right. The light is red, so I do everything lawful, make a right… and bam, he lights me up. I pull over, he asks for the usual, goes to his cruiser, comes back and asks me if I knew why he pulled me over.

    I don’t have a clue.

    You did a rolling stop at that stop sign down there.

    Your full of shit.

    Pardon me?

    You’re lying. I saw you before I came to that stop sign. I said to myself, turn on blinker, come to a complete stop, look both ways twice, proceed when safe. And that is exactly what I did.

    His face turned purple, the veins in his neck and forehead bulged, and I’m think he is going to pull me out of the car and beat the hell out of me, or shoot me.

    Silence. Purple face. Veins bulging. Rests hand on weapon.

    Suddenly, he throws my papers in my face and tells to “get the f##k out of here”.

    I started my car, turned on my blinker, and when it was safe, I pulled out, and went fishing.

  40. – Some years ago, I got a ticket from an M.P. in a military housing area for doing 21 in a 20-mph zone. When I tried to explain to him I hadn’t been paying close attention to my speedometer because I was looking for an address, and watching for kids, I was told that I needed to pay closer attention to my driving and not as close attention to where I was going (?). When I found my address, I apologized for being half an hour late and explained what I just repeated. The person I was intending to see, said, “Say that again?” I repeated my story and was told to hand over the ticket, and not to worry about it. That was the last I ever heard of it. I was visiting (at his invitation, to coordinate doing him a favor) that M.P.’s boss, the Command Sergeant Major. I don’t think it was any good for either individual’s blood pressure, but I really hadn’t even realized the relationship when I was apologizing to either one. (I was a young medic at that time.)
    – Papa S.
    – P.S. Ken, I don’t know if your Contact Us at the bottom of the page is working correctly. I’ve sent a couple of E-mails that have just seemingly vanished.
    – Papa

    1. @Papa Smurf, Yes I have received your guest-article emails, I’ve just been insanely busy with responsibilities and haven’t put together your post yet…

  41. To hermit. us:

    Thank you for the invite. I have not been to Idaho in over a decade when I was wearing nomax garments and fighting fire in the panhandle region. It looks like it can be a pretty state when it is not on fire.

    On the way back to California, me and several hispanic fellows from our fire crew were not served in a diner. fact is, we were refused entry at the door. I changed my mind about trying to become a smoke jumper out of BIFC the next year and continued doing Initial Attack from my home base in California. I was young and in good shape then.

    Now I am old and fat. ( bald too!). They tell me things have changed in Idaho these days.

    1. Hey CaliRefugee
      They probably though you were felons conscripted from a prison to fight fires. Did you all have on those coveralls? But maybe they were just assholes and did not deserve your business.

  42. I’ve only gotten one ticket, and it was…educational. I noticed a police car three or four cars back in a pack. I didn’t think anything of it, but when he turned on his siren I obediently pulled over. Obviously he wasn’t clocking me, he was too far back, but I was the idiot who obeyed the law so I got the ticket. The cars between us just kept going.

    He said I was going 60 in a 40 zone, which was flatly impossible, but he wrote it down as 45 “so it wouldn’t affect my insurance.” Right. It DID affect my insurance, and I wasn’t going anywhere near 60 unless he was as well and had been for several minutes. Liar liar liar.

    I don’t pull over anymore unless the cop is right behind me or obviously headed to a call.

  43. To hermit us:

    The dirty nomax garments we wore were the yellow shirts with green pants and leather boots. That particular trip I had the pink stain of “Phoscheck” splashed across my shoulder and collar. (we were too close for comfort to an air drop phoscheck fire retardant.)

    I cannot blame the business owner too much as we must have smelled like goats at the time. Still, we had cold hard cash with us at the time and Northern Idaho did not look like it was flush with an abundance of cold hard cash.

  44. There used to be a thing called ‘ police discretion.’ Now i believe it is the top brass saying, “we have little or no grant money coming in. You pulled them over for some reason. Write them up for it.”
    It’s a business just like everything else.
    Go for the dollar and make the big wigs look good.

  45. I meant to say ‘ officer discretion.’
    In which I can say….
    Traveling on a highway at 68 in a 55. A state boy clocked me. I pulled over before he turned around.
    U know why i pulled u over?
    Yup. I was doing 67. I saw u and coming and i just had a brainfart. An older trooper. He let me go.
    A younger troop pulled me over for ‘loud exhaust and tinted windows. Same car as the prior stop.’
    Really i said. I heard a ford ranger with no muffler and five cars go by with tinted windows before u exited ur patrol car.
    I got a ticket for tinted windows. 😧
    Be nice. Don’t be a smarta$$. And that officer discretion might come thru for u.

  46. Have never in my life had a negative encounter with a LEO, and I’m nearing 70. One thing that does make me wonder, is watching the TV show, “Live PD” , I see what looks like a LOT of vehicle searches, without what seems like a reasonable cause.

  47. Wow! This sure turned into an anti-cop bitch fest quick.

    To those few that had positive comments, thank you.

    To the rest, the next time you have a problem you can’t solve or are scared by a noise in the middle of the night, don’t call us! You could have an unprofessional civil rights stomping bully show up.

    The vast majority of police officers are professional, polite, and genuinely care about you and yours. A modicum of respect would be appreciated.

  48. My elderly neighbor just told me u can be pulled over and chp will enforce you to take a vision test if they think you may be blind, this can’t be true is it?

  49. I have not always been one of the good guys. I was heavy into drugs, alcohol and other criminal activities. Cops were always after me. That was their job. I was a danger to any one close to me. I have been sober for 23 years. For the first year of sobriety the cops were still after me because I had a bad reputation. When they discovered that I was sober and behaving right they lost intrest in me. I have not been pulled over for several years. Most cops are good guys that have a very difficult job and do the best they can.

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