Probably more than one. And I totally deserved them. Driving to work, doing 65 in a 55 and I forgot my wallet and so had no license with me. Cop pulls me over and starts the spiel, asks for anything with my name on it so I hand him my work ID badge. As he’s getting my personal data all of the stress I’ve been under recently just burst through and I started hyperventilating and tears started down my face. He apparently is not used to this sort of behaviour because he got this really odd look on his face and put his ticket pad away. He warned me about speeding, also about having my headlights on and wearing my seat belt, and sat in his car behind me for a couple of minutes to make sure I was pulled together enough to drive.
I wasn’t looking to get out of the ticket by turning on the waterworks but hey, if I’m going to burst into tears in front of a complete stranger, at least I’m glad to be getting some benefit out of it.
Crying once possibly saved my life during an incident with some ruffians that I totally deserved. It’s a long story that can be found under “Autolycus” and “Japan” in the search-words, (once search is back!).
Cool. But do you feel better about it now? Sometimes, you know, a cathartic response is your head’s way of telling you that you’ve got around a corner. Cleansing.
Wait a minute…you got warned for having your headlights on? Are we talking hi-beams here or something? In these parts driving with headlights on is encouraged, and actually any remotely recent car has full-time driving lights.
No, I got warned for not having them on. The cop said that it wasn’t light enough for my car to be properly visible to others so not having them on was unsafe.
The one time I got pulled over for speeding I left ticket-less because it was three days before my birthday. And it was my first time getting caught.
One of the wisest bits of advice I got when I was learning to drive was from my speed demon Older Sister. “You can go 5 miles over the limit and nobody cares,” she said. “Ten miles over is as far as you should push it.” I got pulled going eleven over the limit. Always listen to your elders, especially the ones who learned about speeding tickets the hard way.
HAH! Ditto, I sat and Bullshitted with this guy for about ten minutes (we were in a parking lot)
We were laughing it up and having a good ol’ time. I just KNEW I was going to get out of this ticket. So you can imagine my surprize when he gave me one anyway!!
I paid a lawyer to get me out of it, but still.
I “cried” my way out of a reckless ticket; sort of. It was 7 years ago, and I was on my way to work a 12 hour shift (ended up being a 17 hour shift, but at 2x pay, it was well worth it) on Black Friday at 3 in the morning. With no traffic on the interstate, I didn’t really notice that I was going 93 in a 65. The cop gave me a ticket, but in traffic court, I broke down and started crying. The judge felt bad for me, apparently – she dismissed it.
Not that I’d advocate using tears to beat a ticket, but it worked, and has been my only traffic infraction to date.
I don’t know how you guys managed to cry your way out of a ticket. Many years ago and on my birthday, I was having an awful day. Just awful. For whatever reason, I was bawling my eyes out as I was driving home. Full on heaving, snotty crying. Of course, I wasn’t paying attention and ended up getting pulled over for speeding. During the course of asking for my ID/insurance, and telling me what I was pulled over for, the cop never acknowledged my emotional state. He did quietly hand me a ticket, get into his car and drive off as I sat there on the side of the road staring a ticket in my lap, tears pouring out of my eyes, thinking what a heartless bastard he was. At that point, even a little concern would have been nice (regardless of whether I got the ticket I deserved), but he simply couldn’t have cared less. That sure made me feel ten times worse.
Believe me, no one is as surprised by this as I am. I’m a middle-aged overweight guy dealing with a male cop. Maybe he’s into bawling fatties, I dunno, I’m not gonna argue.
A few years ago, I was driving down the I15 heading home and in a very rare moment, there was no traffic so I was sailing along at about 75 or so in a 60mph section of the freeway.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, I look in my rear view mirror and see a huge ass black car about four inches behind me! I hit the gas and probably zoomed up to 90 in seconds. Then the lights went on and I realized it was a state trouper - although I am still not sure where in the hell he came from - maybe from one of those secret side roads or something.
Anyway, I pull over and he comes up to me and says, “do you know how fast you were going?”
“Sorry officer, but I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a car pull up behind me out of nowhere and it scared the shit out of me and I sped up to make sure I wasn’t going to be hit from behind!”
I could tell he was sort of mulling that over, and thinking how that would play in court…and he didn’t even write me a warning ticket, but told me to slow down and then he took off.
It is the only time in my life I have ever talked my way out of a ticket.
The last time I was pulled over (5 years ago) I didn’t get a ticket. I just simply maintained a calm demeanor. The main reason he pulled me over in the first place was to let me know that I had a burned-out tailight; the speeding (43/30, accelerating to a 45 zone) was secondary. No need to turn on the waterworks, but then he seemed like a pretty nice guy who felt I didn’t deserve the ticket.
On the other hand, some cops are just dicks from the word go and will give you a ticket no matter how calm or respectful you are to them, and if you’re an ass back to them this will just give them more reasons to find other shit to cite you for.
That’s harsh, man. I’ve NEVER been pulled over for speeding in florida and I regularly do 12 mph over on the highway, although admittedly in a 55 I do around 61.
Heck, highway patrol people pass me on the highway going 85 in a 70 in the dead of night when I’m doing 82. Freakiest thing.
'Course, this means I’ll be stopped for speeding within year’s end
Are we talking hi-beams here or something? In these parts driving with headlights on is encouraged, and actually any remotely recent car has full-time driving lights.