A lawyer friend once advised me to respond to these questions with “I would like you to tell me please, officer”
I’ve only ever had the opportunity to do that once, and it sort of worked (I don’t actually think I was breaking any law). I had pulled out of a gravel car park onto a road that had a quite steep upward gradient; my front wheels had spun just a tiny bit on the gravel that had spread out from the car park and onto the road, and, because I was pulling away uphill, I remained in a lower gear for longer, with higher revs.
I think the police officer interpreted these two things as some sort of reckless behavious and he waved me down. He asked “Do you know how fast you were going back there?” I just said “I would like you to tell me, officer”. He clearly hadn’t measured my speed (which I don’t believe had exceeded the posted limit anyway) and told me to be on my way.
I had a cop pull me over after coming out of a little business cul-de-sac that, in addition to the restaurant i had just eaten in, had several low-budget motels that were well-known for prostitution and drugs.
Upon coming up to my window, he asked the question, “do you know why i pulled you over?” I said no. Because i honestly had no clue. Well the long and short of it was he claimed that my license plate light was out. However ihe didnt write me a ticket. When i got home, guess what? That damn light was working just fine.
FWIW, and I don’t that he would have in your case, but cops (at least in my area) been known to give out tickets for ‘failure to maintain control of your car’ or something along the lines of exhibition of speed/display of power/aggressive acceleration if you spin your wheels. Granted, this is usually for peeling out or doing donuts or even if you slide across a slick surface by accident and hit another car and they have to give you a ticket for something, but it’s still available to them.
And getting back to the thread, again, if the cop is going to give you a ticket for something he saw you do, it has nothing to do with your admission. What you need to avoid is admitting to something he didn’t see but you just assume he did.
Probably unrelated but…many, many years ago I was driving in a snowstorm. I got pulled over, officer asked why he pulled me over, I said I don’t know (of course I did) and he told me I ran the red light. I explained to him that I was driving a big (empty) cargo van and when the light turned red I attempted to slow down but could feel the rear end starting to lose traction. There were no cars anywhere around me so I thought it was safer to run the light than to attempt to stop and risk spinning out. He agreed, gave me a ticket for not wearing my seatbelt (non-moving violation, $10) and sent me on my way.
I often think that if I had my seatbelt on, I would have gotten a ticket for running the light instead.
Yeah, asking that question is just an easy way to fish for more evidence. Sure, the cop pulled you over for an (alleged) burned out license plate light. But ask you why you think he pulled you over and you say “Because the weed smoke was clearly billowing out of my sunroof officer”, then bam! That (alleged) license plate light citation turns into a full fledged arrest.
I assume that “because you’re a fucking asshole?” is not the best response.
If you were speeding, I think the best approach is to apologize for it, give an explanation however lame (like this car drives so smooth it doesn’t feel like you’re going that fast) and put yourself at his mercy.
I haven’t had a moving violation since 1996, and I totally earned that one.
But I have been pulled over since then. The last time was about 7 years ago - hubby forgot his wallet, and needed me to bring it to him. I had just left the city limits of a notorious speed trap on my route, and pushed the pedal to the floor. Bam. Oncoming state trooper hit his lights. Pulled over immediately, because he was obviously coming for me. Got out my license, registration, and insurance card while waiting for him to turn around, and put my hands back on
“Do you know why I pulled you over?”
“I was probably going over the speed limit.”
Yeppers. I’ve noticed that I’ve been much more likely to get a warning when pulled over in my 50s and 60s than I was in my 20s and 30s. The ‘older’ part definitely helps, at least in conjunction with the ‘white’ part.
I haven’t been pulled over since 1981, even though I speed all the time, and even though cops have seen me do it. My prevailing theory is I drive the most boring looking cars in the world, and when they glance away they forget I exist.
The last time I got a warning, the conversation went something like this:
Officer: Ma’am, do you know what the speed limit on this road is?
Me: Hello, sir. I had thought it was 45, but apparently I was wrong.
Officer: It used to be 55, but they changed it to 45.
Me: In that case, I apologize - I thought I was going within a safe range.
Officer: Alright, ma’am, I’ll give you a warning this time, but please drive more safely.
Me: Thank you, sir.
I was in my mid- to late-30s at the time; not sure if that plus being female had something to do with it, or just being polite and admitting to a mistake, but I was definitely lucky they’d only changed the speed limit that week. I imagine he caught quite a few people that day.
Drew Carey had a bit during a stand-up routine in which he said that he sometimes deliberately committed traffic infractions during shitty weather, just to make a cop get out of his squad car and stand outside Carey’s car in that shitty weather.
“Do you know why I pulled you over?”
“Yep. Do you know why I blew through that stop sign?”
I have seen a few threads on this topic and usually the LEOs come in to say something like this:
Some have gone so far as to say that LEOs don’t ask this, but as the OP testifies, some do. I have been pulled over only three time in the last 20 years and they never asked if I knew why. They opened by *telling me why. I only got a ticket one of those times.
*Once was for crossing a zebra-striped section between two lanes. I passed right by a county cop doing it so I think he felt obligated. I was taking my 5-year-old to a medical appointment during rush hour. He let me off with a warning. Another time was for speeding on I-95 (73 in a 55). I was in front of a state trooper so again I think he felt obligated. It was 2:30 AM, no traffic, other than the speed I was driving safely, I had a clean record, so he let me off with a warning. Then a few months ago on the Dulles Toll Road, a Dulles Airport cop shooting LADAR pulled me over for 77 in a 55. (My speedo never even hit 75.) If he had written the ticket for that it would have been reckless driving. I had a clean record so he wrote it for disregarding traffic signal (i.e., the speed limit sign). I no longer have a clean record.
Yeah, I’d probably say as little as possible while being polite and cooperating.
Glad I wasn’t asked that question one time I was stopped driving home from college in the early 80s. 3 of us brought a 12-pack and considerable weed for the 2.5 hr trip. I had one headlight out, an expired registration, and was speeding when stopped by a state trooper in a very rural conservative area. He had been going the other direction, and pulled a U-ey across the median to stop us.
To give an idea of our state of mind, when he turned on his lights, the 2 of us in front were yelling at the guy in back to stash the beers somewhere. When he finally responded he said, “I’m talking to my beer.” :rolleyes: Cop asks me out of the car. Asks me if I know my registration if expired. I show him the receipt showing I had paid for it to be renewed, but had not received the sticker. Cop opens the back door, and a paper sack of empties falls out on the road. :smack:
Cop had me sit in the patrol car, and I KNOW we’re going to jail. He spends some more time eyeballing the vehicle before coming back, getting into the car and telling me, “I’m going to have to write you up a warning.” :eek:
I couldn’t believe it. I hung onto that warning for the longest time. It was ridiculous, the number of violations written on it. To this day I have NO IDEA why he let us go.
But, if he had asked if I knew why he pulled us over, I woulda had a hard time picking 1 or even 2 reasons…
Yes that’s an excellent way to do it. I know I’ve asked a few times in the past “Do you know why I pulled you over?” It was just a lazy way of starting the conversation. I certainly don’t do that any more. I have no interest in hearing a confession about the traffic violation. I just saw it with my own eyes. Intent is not necessary. In 22 years what the driver has said to me has had no bearing on the outcome of any traffic case other than DWIs. And even with DWIs it was never about the violation or operation of the vehicle.
I knew a guy who claimed the best answer is along these lines:
“Do you know why I pulled you over?”
“Officer, my answer would be no better than an uninformed guess. And I’ve been advised that offering an uninformed guess to a knowledgeable person is disrespectful, which I certainly don’t wish to be.”
Not me. When I was an attractive woman in my early twenties, I got a LOT of warnings and very few tickets. Didn’t help that I drove a sporty red car. REALLY didn’t help that I had what my Dad referred to as a “lead foot”. It did help that I was pretty.
I’ve only been pulled a couple of times as an older person, and I got ticketed every time. Last one (about 10 years ago), was a cellphone ticket. I was in a resort town, driving through an area that’s notorious for getting backed up. I was at a dead stop and decided to make a quick call. It’s wasnt quick enough, traffic started moving and I was caught with the phone in my hand, I saw the cop, made eye contact, and she hit the siren once I and I pulled over. We both knew what had happened and neither one of us had to say anything.
For safety, be an older white guy driving a clean RV with VETERAN and FARM BUREAU bumper stickers. If registered in Arizona and some other states, get free VETERAN license plates too. I’ve only had the RV stopped at a border check where they confiscated Canadian bologna from the fridge.
That’s another point of interaction with law enforcement - roadblocks. We survived many Mexican internal military checks where they only “asked” to search our old SUV for weapons. Stateside, ICE checkpoints up to 100 miles from any border or coast can be entertaining. Just don’t joke, No hay mojados aqui (no wetbacks here).
Oops. I mentioned upthread of only being stopped stateside 4 times in many decades. I forgot the stops in Mexico, one bogus for speeding (we weren’t), one real for an illegal turn (I did). A 200 peso note (then about US$16) smoothed-over each case.
Note that Mexican and US traffic enforcement differ. Auto wrecks and deaths in the US are somebody’s fault; in Mexico, they’re God’s will. Caught speeding in the US gains you a ticket, and court, and a big fine to pay for cops, courts, clerks, etc. In Mexico the middlemen are skipped; just pay the cop directly. Much more efficient.