Around the first week of November. I was driving my sister and brother, going down Michigan Avenue to drop my brother off at his apartment. We had just returned from visiting my dying grandma; I knew it was the last time I would see her alive so I was a bit on edge.
I misjudged the timing on a yellow light and basically went right through a red one. I remember thinking “Crap, I totally went through a red light just now.” and was immediately pulled over by a cop.
Awesome way to end an awesome day.
Luckily, this was my first time being pulled over and after explaining where I was coming from to the police officer (and refraining from following my brother’s advice to “Go for his gun!” :rolleyes:) He let me off with a $25 ticket of failing to produce proof of insurance. I just couldn’t find it right away because I was so shaken up. But I’ll take a $25 fine over a $125 any day.
Yeah, 20 over going over a bridge which for about a mile is limited access (45 zone-most highway engineers would flag it as 55), he was nice, wrote me up for 10 (this was at a nearby municipality which was notorious for speed traps). Paid the fine and got an Escort ASAP-typically I have this “sixth sense” which has often saved me in the past, but from then on I wasn’t taking any chances. Oddly I haven’t noticed any speed traps there in about a year.
It all really depends on the LEO’s personality; one cop who hangs out at a driving forum I frequent said he’ll let people off who make him laugh, but some are all too serious about it and won’t even think about giving you a break (recipe for a ulcer or coronary if you ask me). Same thing if he is pulling you over because he thinks you might be a menace (or a crook), or if he is looking for revenue; the former might let you off once he decides if you aren’t, the latter won’t even if hell freezes over.
Sounds like entrapment to me (tho IANAL). What if the driver behind you is a psycho and wants to run you off the road, or start blasting a shotgun at you? I’d try to pull away from him too.
Something that f***ing gecko never seems to mention in those ads, eh?
About 8 months ago, a few months after I bought a new car and transferred the plate. A cop behind me at a light ran the plate and it came back that the insurance was canceled. I adamantly explained that it had to be an error and that I do have insurance, I swear! but I’m sure he hears that all day long. It ended up being that the MVD had mixed up the cancellation of the insurance of my old car with my new car’s insurance status. Mailed in a statement from my insurance company, never heard about it again.
The only time I’ve been pulled over was a few years ago, early enough that it was basically just me on the road with a few cops waiting around for speeders. I was really upset that morning and my speed kept creeping up to around 20 over.
The cop that pulled me over was nice about it and only wrote the ticket for 10 over, which apparently is a huge difference fine-wise. I was a mess that morning and absolutely deserved to be pulled over.
I was driving in my suburban development (we like to call it Dumbfuck Heights) and eventually noticed a police car, flashing lights, right behind me. I didn’t stop and pull over for quite a while because I couldn’t believe he was after me. (mistake #1). Having gained my attention, he informed me I rolled through a stop sign (mistake #2). I pawed sweatily through my glove compartment for an inordinately long time looking for registration (mistake #3). After pissing him off with the above-mentioned, and not being young n’ cute enough (mistake #4), I received a ticket. I paid a fine of $150 for not coming to a complete stop, yes, I was guilty as hell…As it was the end of the month and he apparently hadn’t reached his quota, I assume he was patrolling the suburbs looking for victims to boost his numbers. I saw the asshole on a country road a couple of days later, he had pulled over another suburban mom and was busily writing up her a ticket. Oh, and he pulled over my neighbor’s ancient mother who was going 37 mph in a 35 mph zone - but maybe he took one look and was worried she had cataracts or dementia or something, the woman is about 90 years old!
More or less arrested. They thought I’d killed someone, and took me downtown. I wasn’t booked, but for about three hours I was in handcuffs and put in an observation tank, where detectives eyed me through a glass pane.
I’ve only ever gotten one ticket, but I totally deserved it.
It was five years ago, about 9:00 pm, on route 460 toward Blacksburg. I was headed to see a couple of friends at Virginia Tech (about a 50-minute drive), and was about five minutes out when I got a call from one of them asking me where I was. I replied that I was at such-and-such mile on 460, and would be there shortly.
Pregnant pause. “Um…you’re not going to Tech, are you?”
Yes, turns out they’d come back into town for the weekend, and didn’t consider this fact worth mentioning when they invited me over. So, not only had I wasted time and gas driving to and from Blacksburg for no reason, but by the time I got back, it’d be too late to do much of anything with them anyway. The contemplation of this began to piss me off, and with no one visible on the road for miles, I started driving like, well, a pissed off 20-year-old. I got up to about 70 (speed limit: 55 [though it has since been changed to 65, but that’s a separate rant]) when I saw my car’s interior suddenly become lit in resplendent red and blue. Though now even more pissed, I wisely kept my mouth shut and politely accepted the ticket.
Now, if the question was about the time I should’ve gotten pulled over but didn’t, I’d have another story to share…
The last time I was pulled over was for speeding, and was the first time I was ever given a warning, though it was the worst crime I’ve ever committed while driving. <15 miles over the limit on a highway> In past years I’d been pulled over multiple times for no reason and then some reason was found. <usually no insurance; I was a bad, bad girl! And broke. Even broker after paying no-insurance fines but thems the breaks>
That happened to me and the HATT. Sitting, sitting, sitting (HATT was driving and had a habit of accumulating tickets and such so I was nervous) and then “computer’s down - gotta let you go.”
PHEW.
Sadly enough, the last time I got stopped was to write a revenue ticket. It was bogus from start to finish. I went to court and got it dismissed because the officer didn’t show up. He was obviously writing tickets because most folks will either just pay them or do defensive driving and pay the court costs.
That was just wrong. I asked the judge to please take judicial notice of it and dismiss all of his tickets en masse. I doubt she did, but at least I asked.
I answered this thinking of the last time I was actually ticketed. About ten years ago, my BFF and I had gone flea marketing to a suburb of Nashville. We took my old, beat up, Greatful Dead stickered pick up truck, as she was looking for a chest of drawers to buy.
On the way home, we encountered backed up traffic on I-24 and decided to exit onto a surface street. I was no sooner on the exit ramp when I saw the blue lights behind me. It seems that I went a bit into the “V” when leaving the interstate.
The officer seemed to be in a foul mood (even though we were polite and respectful) and wouldn’t even tell me what I was stopped for until I asked the third time. I recieved a lane violation ticket that I paid rather than taking off work to appear in court.
The last time that I was stopped was three years ago.
I was returning from target shooting with a friend in a town just north of where I live. It was about dusk when I made a left turn at a traffic light. As soon as the turn was made, a town officer pulled me over. She was nice and asked for the usual documentation. When I handed her my driver’s license and insurance card, I also handed her my carry permit and told her that the registration was in the glove box along with my (unloaded) handgun.
At that point, she asked me to step out of my vehicle. After a pat down, she requested permission to reach into the glove box for the registration herself. I gave it, having nothing illegal to hide.
As soon as she saw that everything was in order, she gave me a fix ticket for a headlight that was out and wished me a safe Memorial Day weekend. I wished her one in return and fixed the headlight the following day.
A couple of months back. 79 in a 65. Texas.
The first thing the officer did after walking up was to ask if I had a medical emergency or other reason to be speeding. I admitted that there was no good reason and that I just wasn’t paying attention.
Hand over the usual documents. License, insurance, CCW permit. The next question is expected, am I carrying and where. I advise him that I am and where it is. The next question isn’t expected. Where did I buy my gun? Huh? 
He clarfies, did I buy it at a store or from an individual. I tell him that I bought it at a store, he thanks me and goes to his vehicle to do the paperwork.
I wonder what would have been different if I had gotten it from an individual and it was therefore likely unregistered. And before anyone asks, there is no requirement that weapons be registered in a private sale or to be carried.
Driving home from the girlfriends house, still in her neighborhood, I got hit with the flashers. Just driving along, not speeding, lights on, signaling turns, the like.
Officer asked me for license and insurance. I gave him license and told him the story, then he let me go after 30 seconds. Were apparently looking for someone who had recently just done a hit and run.
Can’t call it “pulled over”, as it was three cruisers boxing me into the parking spot where I was fiddling around on the floorboards looking for a dropped lighter.
I had bought the car around a day or so before, almost a whole day after the previous owners had used it in the commission of a felony.
My buddy sat quietly in the passenger seat with his hands up, as we had two drawn pistols pointed at us.
Showed the officer the title, my license, handwritten bill of sale. We went home and cleaned out our shorts.
Two days later, detectives showed up at my house, they wanted to get a few pictures of the car.
This was in the 80’s so I didn’t have to show proof of insurance.
Ahh, I remember it clearly. On my way downtown to the gym, see motorcycle cop on the side of Morton’s. Make mental note of it. At the next light, I make the same left turn I’ve made for 8ish months, 4-5 days a week.
Sirens go off. For the first time in my life (I’ve probably been pulled over 8 times and I’m just 22 - almost all deserved). It’s the first time that I genuinely have no clue what I’ve done wrong (and say as much to the officer). He tells me only buses can make the left turn there. As in, it becomes a left-turn lane, and from an indeterminate point, and only after you’ve gotten in the lane for a time do you see the sign at the light that says “buses only” :rolleyes: . I ask him where said sign is, he waves in the direction of the whole intersection. I told him I’d clearly seen him on the side of the road, so obviously I hadn’t intentionally made the left turn knowing there was a sign. Why would I have done something to get pulled over when there was a cop RIGHT THERE.
He just walked away from me, shrugging.
Lost the protest when the judge cut me off from speaking, saying the place was clearly marked. Riiiiiight.
The funny thing about getting pulled over is that it’s sheer luck. My father gets pulled over ALL THE TIME, getting tickets for not doing a 3 second stop (it was complete, just not long enough) or for going less than 5 mph over the limit. Almost lost his license a few years ago.
OTOH, my mother drives like a bat out of hell (not poorly or dangerously, she has good reflexes and handling - but ALWAYS over the limit, blows through changing red lights, rolls through stop signs, etc) yet rarely gets pulled over and when she has, she’s talked her way out of at LEAST 4 tickets.
The most recent one was when she parked illegally at the airport so she didn’t have to pay for parking to pick me up. I got in the car, and then she was pulled over. The officer told her a) she knew what she was doing and b) that his OWN WIFE had gotten a ticket for the SAME THING last month. My mom was older than the officer, didn’t flirt, and had a very expensive car (always a strike against you). The officer yelled at her for 5 minutes straight AND DIDN’T GIVE HER A TICKET. Woman could sell ice to Eskimos.
The last time I actually received a ticket was also the first: 1995 or so, a co-worker and I were on our way to work one evening, and entered the interstate en route. As I merged onto I95, I ran up on another vehicle going about 50 mph, and signalled, moved to the left lane, passed (reaching a speed of about 62 mph,) signalled again, and moved back to the right lane. I didn’t cross any solid white lines, but nonetheless got pulled over by a local cop. I gave him my license and registration (properly, waiting until he got to the car, turning on my overhead dome light before reaching for my purse and glove box, etc.) He informed me that I was speeding in a construction zone with a speed limit of 55, thank you very much - even though this was a new zone, there were no workers out at that time of evening, and there were no speed limit signs posted between the on-ramp I’d used and the spot where I was pulled over… Normally, this section of highway was rated at 65 mph.
Okay, I really would have accepted that ticket as valid. Not fair, but valid. Except that the officer then asked “Can I search your car?” I told him that he could, but only after his backup arrived to serve as a witness, and only because my co-worker and I would be late for work if I said no and had to wait around for his warrant to be authorized or not. I understand that Interstate 95 is a major artery in the drug trade, but my passenger and I were hardly Public Enemy #1 material: two thirty-ish moms, in a Buick sedan (beige, for God’s sake,) with my kids’ car seats in the back, and a tag that indicated that my car was registered in the next county - not exactly a drug-running hotspot… Officers searched the car, found nothing (of course!) and sent me on my way with a speeding ticket.
By the time I got to work, I was absolutely FURIOUS over that treatment: Basically, I had surrendered my civil rights (We don’t need no stinkin’ probable cause!) in order that my colleague and I not lose our jobs. Fortunately, a friend of mine - off-duty cop in the county where I worked - ran into me while I was angry, got the story out of me, demanded the ticket, and got it “fixed.”
I guess I built up some good karma, though, with that ordeal. A few months after that incident, I was waved through a traffic checkpoint in a nearby town that’s absolutely notorious for being a speed trap/traffic ticket hotspot. I was stopped during the checkpoint, couldn’t find my driver’s license. Officer asked me to pull to the shoulder. I was able to present him with my registration and proof of insurance, but figured I must’ve left my license in my jeans pocket the previous weekend when I moved. Fortunately, I also had a couple of documents in my purse showing that I’d just had my utilities transferred to my new address. The officer saw my two kids properly buckled in their carseats, me and my front seat passenger wearing our seatbelts, everything else in order, and just told me to be careful driving the rest of the way home and to have a nice day! Didn’t even ask for my license number, name, date of birth, etc. - just told me to drive safely. I’m still amazed by that one.
My occupation has me driving a lot. I am pulled over a few times a year. I always deserve it.
When I am pulled over I always acknowledge the officer as I am going and I look for the safest place to stop, even to the point of fully pulling off the shoulder.
When approached I am always friendly to the point of laughing - why not? I work in news so I interact with police on a daily basis, most are good folks and those that are not - what can I do.
I readily admit whatever I did wrong, might offer an explaination, and allways say “I sure would appreciate a break today!” before they walk back to their car with my info. When they get there they see I have a clean record, and invariably I am let off with a verbal warning.
Once many years ago I was pulled over and the officer told me he was obligated to ticket me since he was ticketing everyone else - but then he went to explain how I could get out of it when I went to court. I laughed and thanked him, and did what he said. It worked.
Got pulled over twice in three miles last winter - my tags were flagged for emissions failure (never could get that Volvo to run right.) The Trooper gave me a written warning to get it fixed (which I had planned to do the next day) and off I went. Three miles down the road a Sheriff lights me up and I pull over. As he is walking up I hold the trooper’s warning out the window and (laughing) say “B20 (the Trooper’s unit #) got me three miles back. I’m getting it fixed tomorrow!” Sheriff laughed, said good you do that, and walked right back to his car and left.
If you make it a point to be the bright part of their day it will invariably not be a bad part of yours.
I am amused/impressed that after nearly 200 voters, not a single person has had their car impounded. Y’all are good!
Well, *I *didn’t, but my HATT did.
That was scary, because we only had one car at the time. He had gotten several tickets he hadn’t told me about/taken care of - including an expired inspection sticker. So evidently the car registration had been suspended.
Along with impounding the car, they took him in to custody. Weird to see him come in to court in handcuffs chained to like 5 other guys. Of course, being the classy guy he was - he was wearing an oversized Tasmanian Devil t-shirt over torn sweat pants. A real winner. (Yes, I had lower standards back then, I thought I was old at 25 and he was my one shot at getting married. shudder)
My friend and I watched him get chewed out by the judge, and then he was released to us and we went to the impound. For the privilege of them towing and holding it for about 4 hours, I got to pay $190 - about all I had in my savings at the time (my HATT was of course, broke.)
As we were driving home, he reached under the seat to check and see if the baggie of dope he was ‘holding for a friend’ had been found or not. I went ballistic. Although he drove the car, it had been my grandmother’s and really belonged to me. His car had broken down, and I had agreed to share my car so we could save for our wedding.
Why, oh why, did I not run then? :smack::smack:
I had been hit from behind and my license was knocked off. The bumper wouldn’t even hold a license plate. I had a temp license plate in the car, but no way to make it stand out. The officer pulled me over, we talked and I showed him the plate. He looked at the bumper and then let me drive away.