A witness doesn’t have the right not to testify, unlike a suspect. However an officer may be willing to take your contact info and tell you to sign a statement at the station. However, the prosecutor has a right to get a subpoena to compel you to testify in court.
Yeah, I wondered about this myself.
Take my wife….please.
You are not “testifying” until you are in court, and in minor traffic matters you have no obligation to provide a witness statement. In fact, if you don’t want to be slowed down, leave before the cops get there. It is conceivable that in the case of a crime (as opposed to a traffic accident), you might be considered a “material witness” and detained if you refuse to provide a statement. I believe this is very unusual, but it is possible.
And generally, yes, you can tell the cop that you will make a statement later and can leave. No doubt they will collect and probably verify your contact info before they will let you go.
It is conceivable that in the case of a crime, you might be considered a “material witness” and detained
Some states a person isn’t required to have their DL on them rather it must be presentable within 24 hours. Which means that if you don’t have it on you they can make you go to the police department to present it.
Driving for: 31 years
Pulled over 3-5 times per year for 31 years.
Either ask a cop for advice or take mine: Admit guilt, apologize, explain you were late and it’s getting worse and be as humble and remorseful as possible. Realize this is all against the advice any lawyer would give you and you probably have to get pulled over about 50 times before you actually run into a cop that will let you roll.
I was late for an appointment; I missed my exit on the NJ Tpike and banged a U-bolt… a U-turn (a massive no no and clearly posted as illegal/verboten). I made a u-turn because the next exit was 25 miles away. I was stopped, but I was driving to my appointment less than 90 seconds after being pulled over, because I said the right things, apologized and gambled that my admission of stupidity was enough, and I assured the officer I did not need to rush. I was on time, but not if I didn’t make the u-turn. I got no ticket, and he let me go with consideration that I was ok and not going to rush. He appreciated my candor.
I made the u-turn on a clear road, and he was convinced I wasn’t going to rush. He knew the pain of exits half an hour apart.
In all practicality, be polite, get your ticket and don’t whine to the officer. In an extremely unique setting, under just the right circumstances, you might have a chance.
That being said, with upwards of 100 encounters with being pulled over, I was on my way quickly just once, and it was just a unique set of circumstances. I was dressed professionally, on the way to a client, I was on time, but I missed an exit and it was going to cost me AN HOUR. I was safe, reasonable, and the officer clicked with me.
YMMV
What?
“I didn’t see a thing.”
And you can still be subpoenaed to say that in a deposition and/or in a courtroom, complete with cross-examination as to WHY you didn’t see a thing. At that point, you’ve got all the inconvenience that comes with being called as a witness, so why not tell the truth?
And if you do testify that you didn’t see anything, then slip up and admit to somebody that you did see it but just didn’t want to bother, and that somebody tells the wrong somebody else, you could be ‘inconvenienced’ with a perjury charge.
Either you’re less pleasant than me, or maybe we have more pleasant local cops. I have the same strategy as you, but I’ve gotten off with a number of warnings rather than tickets. OTOH, I don’t get pulled over nearly as often as you, and maybe that makes a difference. I’ve been pulled over maybe 15 times in 37 years of driving.
Because the defendant’s posse is sitting in the spectator gallery and they know where your family lives?
I had a situation years ago where I was driving home, it was very wet and dark. I went through an intersection with a yellow light and a cop pulled me over.
I’m always polite with cops (only an idiot wouldn’t be) and asked why I was pulled over. He said I went through the yellow light “late”. I clarified that he wasn’t accusing me of running a red light, and asked if I was speeding. He replied in the negative both times. He asked for license and registration which I had, and asked for proof of insurance. When I checked, it wasn’t in my wallet.
My insurance company at the time gave only a tiny slip of paper as documentation, nothing even close to a real card. So I reasoned that it had fallen out. I was literally on the street where I lived and could point to my house, and I asked the cop if I could grab the other copy I owned. He said no, that I could not leave in any way and wrote me a ticket.
A month later I had it cleared away in traffic court but it was a huge waste of my time (I had to take a vacation day from work) and all because I couldn’t walk 100 feet to my house to grab a slip of paper. After getting pulled over for what the cop admitted was nothing. Cops can use discretion I guess but sometimes they don’t use it very well.
Jersey vs. Wisconsin? Yes. Yes, one or more of these things is probably true.
A lot of states take insurance violations very seriously and don’t give the cops any discretion about those. That’s especially infuriating because some states (California and Florida, for example) require insurance companies to electronically transmit policy information, but they’ll still ding you for not having that little slip of paper even though they KNOW you have a valid policy.
Until the law changed earlier this year, in Illinois you had to post bond for all moving violations. Bond was either an Illinois drivers license, a bond card (a AAA membership card works, except California), or $75 cash, except for out-of-state drivers with a license from a Non-Resident Violators Compact state who could just sign the ticket and go. Many Wisconsin residents who didn’t have a bond card to give the officer were surprised when they had to go to the police station to post bond. But even though the law changed for most other offenses, you still have to post bond for not having a valid insurance card (as well as for driving 25 over or eluding a police officer).
He wasn’t being a dick. He just wanted to go home at the end of his shift. I wouldn’t let you go home, either.
I guess that explains it then. 
I now always keep a second copy of my insurance proof in my sun visor just in case.
Not a defense. The only way out is if you claim that you would be self incriminating by testifying in which case the prosecutor can give you immunity and force you to testify. Best you could hope for was jury nullification.
How do they give you a ticket for eluding a police officer? If you eluded them how do they find you to give you a ticket?
They write down your license number before you take off?
Anyway, I think I should have said “evading” instead of “eluding.” They both start with “e” ya know.
Not a defense. But the question was why wouldn’t you want to testify if you were already in court. Better a contempt citation than having your kid shot dead on the way to school.
If you’re going to be subpoenaed to court anyway, the defendant’s lawyer knows who you are, which means it is likely trivial for the defendant’s posse to find out who and where you are. If the defendant and/or his posse members are inclined that way, it would be in the defendant’s interest to shoot you, or your kid, BEFORE you got up on the stand, rather than risk you changing your mind or saying something in court. Once your testimony is on the record, killing you or your family isn’t going to do anything to help defendant’s legal situation.
In fact, if you know something incriminating, your continued existence would pose a ongoing danger to the defendant (even if he walks on this crime, evidence of patterns could convict on future crimes), so you could end up with a contempt citation AND a dead kid. Staying silent doesn’t keep you safe.