# How in earth was I not ticketed last night? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 3, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672 "2012-03-03T21:24:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/21 "2012-03-04T14:39:27Z")
> [@Mr.Slant](#): > > You mean: > **Never once have I been pulled over and _gotten off_ without a ticket.** > right? > ? Ha. Yes. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/22 "2012-03-04T17:56:21Z")
My vote is with Beowulff’s “are you cute” analysis, based on my daughter’s experience with traffic enforcement. She has been stopped at least four times, and only in only one case gotten a ticket, from a girl cop. Once she even ran a red light deliberately (at 4:30 AM), and explained to the officer that “… that light is just way too short, and they should change it!” The nice policeman answered that yes, it was a bit short, but would she please not do it again. And sent her on her way. I should explain that at the time she was a competition ice figure skater on the way to the ice rink, and was (and still is) extremely attractive. Works like a charm on guy cops. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/23 "2012-03-04T19:10:13Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Political troll is obvious troll. I have no idea if you posted in the wrong topic or what, **Candyman** , but I’m just reminding you that calling another poster a troll in this forum is against the rules. Don’t do this again. No warning issued. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/24 "2012-03-04T20:19:42Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > I was driving home around 11:30 last night. Speeding and tailgating (c’mon…dude was in the left lane going…the SPEED LIMIT.) I don’t understand how you could be tailgating somebody driving the speed limit and be speeding. It you are tailgating somebody then ipso facto you are driving at approximately the same speed. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/25 "2012-03-04T20:33:20Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I have no idea if you posted in the wrong topic or what, **Candyman** , but I’m just reminding you that calling another poster a troll in this forum is against the rules. Don’t do this again. > > No warning issued. New topic: “How on Earth was I not warned last night?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/26 "2012-03-04T23:00:47Z")
One time, I accidentally ran a red light, then looked over and saw a cop sitting in the intersection. Apparently he’d been paying even less attention than I had been because he didn’t pull me over or anything. I was much more careful of lights about to change after that, l tell you what. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/27 "2012-03-05T02:38:45Z")
Probably 1980, I’m driving in downtown Minneapolis, two (three?) lanes in each direction. The lights are synched, and I’m making it through the lights, first on green with time to spare, but I (and the car in front of me) are losing time, so now it’s usually green but sometimes yellow. Finally, I wasn’t paying enough attention, and ran a red. Which wouldn’t have been so bad, except for the officer in the patrol car behind me. He flipped his lights, I turned in to a side street. He basically called me an idiot (he’d been behind me for a while, so I guess he’d cut it close on at least one yellow), I agreed, he sent me on my way, after telling me to sin no more. ---
**Author:** ![TurningJapanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@TurningJapanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TurningJapanese)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/28 "2012-03-05T19:35:38Z")
I got pulled over several months ago, about 3 blocks from my house. I originally had to leave the house to bring something important to a friend for work and had to get back quickly because I had plans. I never saw the cop, so I didn’t know how long he had been behind me. He asked me if I knew why he pulled me over. I was already flustered and I actually almost tried to answer him. (You saw me speeding? Run the stop sign? No seat belt?) I quickly came to my senses and said “No” He asked for my insurance, of course, no current card in the car. (I was insured) Turns out, I had a headlight out. He was able to check my insurance status somehow, and told me he knew I was currently insured. It was a bad time for me to get pulled over, I broke all kinds of driving rules, but he let me go, telling me to fix my light. I drove off around the corner and into my driveway. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/29 "2012-03-06T15:35:57Z")
If you are respectful and polite and look suitably scared and have a clean record…they often will either give you a very light ticket, or as in your case, let you go entirely. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/30 "2012-03-06T16:23:15Z")
I recently got a ticket where my worst crime was probably driving a bright red truck. The officer tagged me for 75 in a 60 zone. If I was doing anything, it was driving 0.1 MPH faster than everyone else, but big and red = easy to watch. When court date came, calling the assembled citizenry a throng or a mob would be an understatement. The line snaked all around the lobby and there had to be at least 200 people in line ahead of me and another 50 and growing behind. Someone came out and essentially said “If you want to take a reduced plea, line up over there.” Five minutes later, I had negotiated to 5 over, which nets an annual savings of close to $1000, based on how badly my insurance would have gone up (45%!) if the 15 over was upheld. No license points and more importantly, no insurance points. If I wanted to wait to see the judge and ask for a PJC (which essentially voids the ticket entirely) I’d probably still be in that line. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/31 "2012-03-06T16:42:16Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > If you are respectful and polite and look suitably scared and have a clean record…they often will either give you a very light ticket, or as in your case, let you go entirely. Last week I got pulled over for running a red light on my bike. I know, cyclists running red lights pisses me off too, and I honestly hardly ever do it, but it was 11.30pm, it was a pedestrian crossing light with nobody around to cross and I was going to miss my train home. Unfortunately, I hadn’t spotted the police car 10 yards behind me when I did it. :smack: Two City of London coppers were in the car, asked me if I drove (Yes…), whether I sailed through red lights in my car too (No officer…), gave me a lecture about squished cyclists they had scraped up, etc. I told them I was running late for my train etc and one said "Well you’ll be even later now, won’t you, with all this paperwork I’ll have to write up? 😃 " Then asking where I worked and whether I was going to use up a day’s holiday to go to court and so on. However, I obviously looked suitably chastened as they sent me on my way after five minutes without even taking any details. I still missed my train, though. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/32 "2012-03-06T17:55:42Z")
I was recently pulled over for driving 20 mph over the limit and changing lanes without signaling. Cop ran my license and asked when my last ticket was. I told him it had to be ten years or so ago. He said it must have been a long time ago because he had no record of me in the system and to be thankful he wasn’t going to ticket me now. I’ll say, to his credit, that it worked and I’ve been better behaved since then since I doubt the next cop will act the same way. Anyway, I guess it’s like people said – cops are human and not just automatic ticket machines. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/33 "2012-03-06T19:37:05Z")
Oftentimes as indicated they use minor violations as “excuses” to pull over people to look for contraband or other serious violations of the law. A lady pulled out of the turn lane yesterday to go straight, with a cop to her immediate right rear; as they went past me (I was going in the opposite direction), he was clearly eyeing her very intently-once he determined that she was harmless, he didn’t light her up. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/34 "2012-03-07T01:02:19Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > Also, the officer asked me if I had had anything to drink. I truthfully replied that I had a glass of wine at 8 o’clock. He said, “Hmmm…I’m smelling hard liquor in here.” I have no idea what he’s talking about, but he doesn’t press it. I’m surprised he didn’t breathalyse you if he believed you’d understated how much you’d had to drink. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/35 "2012-03-07T01:27:08Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > If you are respectful and polite and look suitably scared and have a clean record…they often will either give you a very light ticket, or as in your case, let you go entirely. Indeed, she most likely passed the attitude test, nothing really more complicated than that. And on the opposite note I imagine there’s quite a few people who end up with a ticket or summons by failing the attitude test when the officer merely had the initial intention of providing a stern warning or verbal caution. As someone above said, cops aren’t robots…well maybe Robocop…actually he was more of a cyborg 😃 btw this made me smile when I heard about it: > **[Police chief Matt Baggott nabs speeding driver](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10424074)** > > A motorist driving near Banbridge felt the full force of the law this week when he was stopped for speeding. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/36 "2012-03-07T02:32:04Z")
Are you active or retired military in a state where that status is put on your driver’s license? ---
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/37 "2012-03-07T03:02:38Z")
Cops want bigger cases, at least DUIs. Also, they don’t like to ticket people with money, because they may hire a lawyer to fight the ticket, which means he has to show up in court, waste a few hours, look like an idiot on the stand and all that. The fact that you had been to the symphony with Dad may make him think that Dad can easily afford to hire the lawyer for you. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/38 "2012-03-07T08:15:54Z")
I’ve been pulled over for turning into my driveway. O.o There’d been a cop behind me for a couple of blocks; when they saw me turn in, they assumed I was trying to ditch them, so they followed me in, made me go inside and prove I lived there, lol. I’m from a family of public servants, so I’ve never had a personal problem with cops, but these guys were freaking idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/39 "2012-03-07T13:29:33Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > I’ve been pulled over for turning into my driveway. O.o > > There’d been a cop behind me for a couple of blocks; when they saw me turn in, they assumed I was trying to ditch them, so they followed me in, made me go inside and prove I lived there, lol. > > I’m from a family of public servants, so I’ve never had a personal problem with cops, but these guys were freaking idiots. Well its not a stupid thing to do in itself, if you were up to no good and trying to lose the cops behind you casually pulling into someones driveway and looking like you belonged there would be a good way to do it. Of course it depends a lot on how they went about it but surely its a good thing that the police took their duties seriously enough to confirm that nothing untoward was going on? Though you have to ask yourself what pinged you on their radar to start with! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672/40 "2012-03-07T14:35:00Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > I’m surprised he didn’t breathalyse you if he believed you’d understated how much you’d had to drink. Field breath tests are not standard everywhere. Where I work breath tests come after the determination of impairment and after the arrest. No field breath tests. Sometimes in threads when people complain about cops and family members getting breaks I point out that I give warnings to well over 50% of those I have pulled over. I can’t always give breaks but most that I pull over would not like if my descretion was taken away. Impossible to know why the OP got a break. Could be any of many reasons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-earth-was-i-not-ticketed-last-night/614672.md?page=3)