# Police Pulling Over Cars With Families In Them **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 15, 2023, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-pulling-over-cars-with-families-in-them/984080 "2023-05-15T14:00:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-pulling-over-cars-with-families-in-them/984080/81 "2023-06-02T13:08:36Z")
Agree completely. On controlled access roads with frequent on/off ramps the rightmost lane ought to be viewed as just for transitioning, and the other lanes are the cruising lanes. With enough cruising lanes to carry the traffic and accommodate a range of speeds and with the drivers sorting themselves right to left by increasing speed in a disciplined (Haah!) fashion. For lesser streets where left turns are an issue too, both the far left and far right lanes become transitional lanes and the cruising lane(s) are those in between. A very common surface street pattern here is 45mph arterials with 3 lanes each way with a wide center island that gives way to left turn bays for major cross streets and many minor cross streets. Only the centermost of the three lanes is good for cruising. The inner & outer lanes are a mess, with folks slowing early or driving 20 looking for their desired driveway while angry passers are using the middle lane at 65-70mph. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-pulling-over-cars-with-families-in-them/984080/82 "2023-06-03T05:12:59Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Yes, but that’s not really any different from tickets in the same state - it depends on how far away from home you got the ticket, not whether you got the ticket on the other side of a state border. I live in NYC - it’s easier for me to fight a ticket in Jersey City ( about an hour’s drive) than it is to fight one in Buffalo (about 7 hours) But try being someone from Seattle that got a ticket in Miami. A lot longer than 7 hour drive and too expense to fly for multiple hearings. So the person pays the fine but thanks to the compact now they have a ding on their record that can raise their insurance rates for over 5 years. One issue with my state not being in the compact is that if we cite a driver from a state that does not border Wisconsin we are suppose to take that person into custody and they have to post bond. If they cannot post within 2 hours they end up going to the county jail and this takes an officer off the road for up to 4 hours while that violator gets processed. So many times out of state drivers just get a ticket, which, of course, they don’t pay. Then the state issues them a Wisconsin license on paper and automatically revokes it. Then the next time that driver gets stopped in Wisconsin not only can there be a warrant for them for not paying the last ticket, now they have a driving after revocation charge which is fairly serious. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-pulling-over-cars-with-families-in-them/984080/83 "2023-06-03T13:43:47Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > But try being someone from Seattle that got a ticket in Miami. A lot longer than 7 hour drive and too expense to fly for multiple hearings. So the person pays the fine but thanks to the compact now they have a ding on their record that can raise their insurance rates for over 5 years. I didn’t say one could always fight an out-of-state ticket, just that it’s the distance that matters, not the state border. And the insurance ding may or may not matter - it depends on what the ticket is for and the state. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-pulling-over-cars-with-families-in-them/984080/84 "2023-06-03T18:44:04Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Wow! It’s nothing but wide open desert, isn’t it? Wasn’t there a time when many of those miles were “cruise at your own leisure”? _Lots_ of little towns along those dusty roads with their one cop with nothing much to do but pull over drivers going one mph over the speed limit. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-pulling-over-cars-with-families-in-them/984080/85 "2023-06-03T20:35:48Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > But try being someone from Seattle that got a ticket in Miami. A lot longer than 7 hour drive and too expense to fly for multiple hearings. So the person pays the fine but thanks to the compact now they have a ding on their record that can raise their insurance rates for over 5 years. And of course, the ticket may be a mistake. You were never in Miami. > [@doreen](#): > > I didn’t say one could always fight an out-of-state ticket, just that it’s the distance that matters, not the state border Not entirely. Some states make it harder or easier to fight a ticket. Hell in CA some counties make it harder or easier. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-pulling-over-cars-with-families-in-them/984080/86 "2023-06-03T21:07:37Z")
My experience with citations, whether in- or out-of-state is that you Google up a “ticket fixer” lawyer in that jurisdiction, pay them some money, then the moving violation transmutes into a parking ticket and your insurer is never the wiser. The money they charge plus the court fees you’re hit with is carefully calibrated to be just about what paying the fine for the moving violation would be, plus the exorbitant court fees attached to a moving violation. The whole thing is a cynical government exercise in tax collecting, a cynical lawyerly exercise in government gaming, served with a small side dish of legitimate traffic calming done one-by-one by the long-suffering LEOs out on the roads. I’ve never been cited undeservedly, and the least deserved of those pales next to something I did unnoticed the day prior or the day after. I can hardly complain about my experiences in this area. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-pulling-over-cars-with-families-in-them/984080.md?page=4)