What should one say to a cop if pulled over to avoid getting a ticket? Also, what are some of your pulled-over stories?
The same thing you should after posting in the wrong forum, “I’m so sorry, Sir, this won’t happen again”.
There is no sure-fire way to do this. If the cop wants to give you a ticket then you’re going to get one. That said there are some things you can do to improve your chances:
[ul]
[li] BE POLITE!! I can’t stress that enough. Give the cop crap or argue with them and you can forget any chances of getting out of the ticket and may get some extra ones to boot. This has worked for me many times.[/li][li] If you a female, young and pretty try crying. Doesn’t work too well on female officers though.[/li][li] Bribe the cop. Don’t laugh…it’s worked for me before. However, realize that bribing an officer is a crime in itself and MUCH worse than the speeding ticket you are getting (you can go to jail for real). You also need a fair amount of cash handy. However, I consider anything up to the price of the ticket as money well spent since I would have paid it anyway and this way I don’t get a ding on my driving record.[/li][li] Have a pregnant woman on hand who is in labor. This works every time but is unfortunately hard to come by on a moments notice as you’re getting pulled over.[/li][/ul]
We’re not going to help you break the law. I’ll assume that you want to take a poll of people who have been pulled over for speeding. That would be a poll. General Questions is for questions with factual answers. IMHO is for polls.
Off to IMHO.
DrMatrix - General Questions Moderator
I guess I should retract the bit about bribing the cop as I suppose it advocates illegal behavior which is a no-no around here.
Let me re-iterate. Bribing the police is majorly illegal! I don’t know for certain but I’d wager it is a felony offense. Additionally, most cops will not accept a bribe and many may bust you for the attempt.
Stick with being polite and crying (actually, now I think about it, I bet a man crying might rattle a cop worse than seeing a woman crying so you might give crying a try anyway even if you’re a guy).
Is the OP really asking how to break the law? My ill-advised advice aside isn’t talking your way out of a ticket perfectly legal?
I have a super-neat way of not getting a speeding ticket: DON’T SPEED.
Pfft. It’s pretty much entirely in the cop’s hands whether or not you’ll get a ticket, and being creative or funny or crying or flashing cleavage will not necessarily get you out of the ticket.
The best thing you can do is be polite and be boring. By that I mean, don’ t volunteer more information, answer only the questions you’re asked, and be generally unremarkable. When time comes to challenge your ticket in court, the less he remembers you, the better.
I’ve been pulled over three times - never ticketed. Once it was for speeding.
When asked, “Do you have any reason to be speeding?”
I stuttered and said “No.[sup]*[/sup]”.
Honesty. He let me go.
Another stop was a 2am stop when I drove through a red-blinking light. I pulled over, turned off the radio, rolled down the window, turned on the interior & hazard lights, and left my hands in clear view on the steering wheel. He let me go.
[sup]*[/sup]Saying “no” sounded better than explaining that I was driving too fast because I was angry that my (recently separated) wife was sleeping with a friend of mine. Irrelavant, too.
…I’d give you advice, but I’ve tried a couple of routes. . .both the crying route (my first time–and I wasn’t trying to manipulate him…) and the polite route. Didn’t work. I would advise that you pull over right away though–I’ve seen it work for some people. It’s never worked for me.
As a result, I’ve decided that the best way of not having to suffer a ticket is to not get pulled over in the first place. I try to speed as little as possible, and I’ve invested in a radar detector (these, according to my father, are perfectly legal in the state of Illinois, but since it varies by state, don’t get one until you’ve checked it out). Also, if you’re going to speed, keep within 10 mph of the actual limit–most policemen won’t bother pulling you over for that unless you’re in a construction or school zone, in which case you shouldn’t be speeding at all, ever.
Just to give ya’ll a little useful info, I happen to know that radar detectors are illegal in Virgina but legal in Maryland.
Also, a question: I’ve never tried this, but does a little bit of flirting with the officer and “accidently” revealing some cleavage help? If it does, then this just goes to show the decline in morals…incidently, however, it would most certainly be helpful to me.
the key to making the crying thing work is this: you have to look like you’re trying not to cry. my mom has been pulled over for speeding with me in the car before, and every time she is, she starts crying right away. it’s not that she’s like, “heh heh, maybe this will get me out of a ticket” - and because she’s not like that and the tears are genuine, it always has gotten her out of a ticket.
I’m a 40 yr. old male. And this has worked for me several times. Pull over properly. Be polite. Be honest, when he asks if you know why he is pulling you over, tell him what you did. “Yes sir, I was doing 54 in a 40 mph zone”. Then appologize. And here is the biggy, ask politely that he/she not write you a ticket. You have to ask before he/she goes back and writes it up. After that you can’t get out of it. This does work.
I did 90 in a 55 once (coming home from Pitfest, BTW) and got the ticket down to 84 in a 65 ($200 difference) because I didn’t give the officer any trouble whatsoever.
In the great land of southern politics, it just helps to know somebody. I am almost ashamed to admit it, but it’s true and the whole world knows it. I have only gotten 3 tickets in my life.
- Age 17, 59 in a 45.
- Age 22, 91 in a 70.
- Age 25, 39 in 25.
What did I do? Call Daddy of course. I am his only little girl and he did retire from the state police with 23 years of service. My ex-father-in-law retired from state police as well with over 20 years.
I didn’t deserve but one of the tickets, and I am normally a very overcautious driver.
Gosh…I just reread that and I sound like a spoiled brat. That is not the case, but the tone of my post makes it sound that way. Didn’t mean for it to sound like that.
how to get a ticket (you get to reverse-engineer the situation):
Draw attention to yourself:
a) drive way fast (limit + 10 is safe everywhere except the western half of the PA Turnpike and the entire state of GA)
b) honk horn, repeatedly. good one doofus!!!
c) weave in and out of traffic (hint: if everyone else is going 30, you are NOT going to go 70)
d) the most visible colors are red, yellow, and white. choose a car painted on of these colors.
Confirm cop’s suspicion:
a) as soon as you see the cop, hit the brakes (admission of guilt)
b) try to out-run the cop. brilliant move
OK, you’ve stopped, the cop is approaching. In case there are any lingering doubts as to whether or not you deserve a ticket:
a) refuse to speak, claiming 5th admenment. only morons do this.
b) compare the cop’s IQ to your golf score.
c) arque the law with the cop (especially if you are a lawyer)
d) explain how you “know how to drive” and are therefore exempt from the law.
e) issue any kind of a “dare” you can think of
f) insist on giving them the secret handshake
I’ve never been pulled over, ever.
Where’s my scepter?
I would agree that it helps to be polite and apologize, it has worked for me more than once. I also helps if you can tell the officer (honestly, because they can check) that you haven’t had a speeding ticket in years.
And Lyra is right, it helps to know somebody. It is unfair as all get out, but that’s the way it is. I don’t know about how it is in her state, but at least in my part of Ohio, there is such a thing as a courtesy card. It is given to you by a police officer that you know/are friends with, and is handed to the officer who stops you, along with your driver’s license. It usually only works once, because the officer who stops you retains it.
For members of the immediate family, there is such a thing as a courtesy badge. This is contained in a little folder and looks like a police badge (but has something different written on it, like “supporter”). You put your driver’s license in the other side of the folder and hand the whole thing to the officer who stops you. It is then given back to the person who presented it, and can be used over.
As far as I know, this is legal, however, the officer who stops you is under no legal obligation to honor it. He may not like the officer who gave you the card/badge. He may be from a different community that doesn’t follow this practice. He may just be in a bad mood and ignore it altogether, giving you a ticket regardless.
This is based on some personal experience, and I have a friend who has a courtesy badge.
I’ve gotten out of two speeding tickets.
One I didn’t have my “We support the local police” sticker, which has the year on it (paying 20 bucks back in 1978 won’t work). I was doing 70 in a well-lit, non-windy 45 at night with no cars around (save the state trooper) and got pulled over. The fear of explaining the ticket to my parents (I had my license for all of a month then), overwhelmed me and I was crying before the state trooper reached my car. He asked why I was crying and I gave him a long, made-up, rambling story about how my girlfriend dumped me, I felt like shit, blah blah blah, and now my parents were going to yell at me for getting a ticket. I probably came across as a little weenie, but he pitied me and he decided not to write me up.
I was pulled over 2 weeks ago for doing 85 in a 65, which was also a well-lit, straight stretch of highway without much traffic at night. I have my 2002 cop bribe sticker and I answered all the cop’s questions politely and without showing any emotion, and I got away with a “Don’t do it again, kid.”
My friend has a strategy that reportedly works. He’s a real fitness buff and always carries Dasani water with him. He was pulled over for doing 70 in a 30, the cop pulled him over, he spilled his water on his crotch and when the cop looked in he said, “I was trying to get home in time, but I couldn’t keep it in.” No ticket. Of course, this could be just a made-up story, but I think it would work.