Honesty will most likely get you out of a ticket if you were borderline. I do not write a lot of tickets anyway unless they are doing something way out of line. Most traffic stops I make are primarily looking for an arrest, DUI, suspended DL etc.

quote:

Originally posted by KevinCW:
I was driving home one time and i had to take a wicked growler like you had never had before.

Before I read this post, I had never heard the term "wicked growler" used before, but instantly knew what you were talking about.

ROFLMAO!

quote:

Originally posted by Bovineguy:

quote:

Originally posted by KevinCW:
I was driving home one time and i had to take a wicked growler like you had never had before. Mexican food induced, it was not going to be pretty.

I was about two miles from home and driving fast as i was sweating and in pain.

I got pulled over and the officer walked up. I explained to him "Yes officer, i know i was speeding. I know you probably get this a lot, but i REALLY have to take a crap. If you are going to give me a ticket, please do it so i can hurry home, i live just down the road."

When the officer saw my sweaty face, he started to laugh and told me to go.

I took off obeying the speed limit, and he came after me down the road.

We got to a railroad crossing that the gates were down at and a train was on the tracks. I of course was not happy about this developement.

The officer walked up to my door as i was shifting into my "clench" posture with a grimace on my face and said "That's gotta suck huh?" while laughing at me.

Before i could come up with a clever retort the gates lifted and train was gone so i took off leaving him standing in the road.

I'm sure he got a kick out of it and i'm the butt of a few jokes at the sheriff's office.

Kevin

That's some funny shit right there....

No it ain't. BTDT.

I've gotten warnings for stuff I should've been ticketed for and ticketed for nothing.

I've probably had 8-9 tickets in my driving over the years, but 3 incidents stick out:

I once got stopped for allegedly blowing a stop sign, which didn't happen, when I was 16. I had just picked up my father, who was a cop, from his off-duty security job at 2:00 in the morning. They didn't notice who he was until he called the officer a lying POS and presented them his Sergeant's badge and ID.

Another time I was stopped one Friday night when I was 17 for a burned out headlight. I'd just picked up a new light at Wally world and was trying to get home with it before my Dad needed the car to go to work. The cop wanted me to park the car and walk even though I still had 1 good light. I told him that he couldn't do that and that Topeka PD policy was to cite me with a 10 day repair ticket.

That pissed him off. HE pulls his PR24 and breaks out the working headlight lens and bulb, then tell me I'm going to park it and walk, then writes me a ticket.

I demand he notify his supervisor and my parents of this incident immediately and he ends up handcuffing me and putting me in the back of his car. His backup shows up, sees me and asks what happened, he tells his backup what he did and his backup turns white as a sheet.

"That's Lester's kid and you just f***** up his headlight!"

They let me out, help me put the new headlight in and the guy's Sergeant follows me home to explain why I was late getting home with the car. Dad comes out, looks at the broken headlight, which still has slivers of black plastic of the guy's nightstick inside the lens.

Valentine's Day 2002. I'm doing 45 in a 50 because several oncoming vehicles have flashed me meaning there's a speedtrap ahead. I end up getting stopped by a KHP trooper for 65 in a 50 and he's all too eager for me to see his radar display. I go in to pay the ticket on the last day and the court clerk tells me something's wrong as every ticket that trooper issed that day was 65 in 50. After a phone call to the county attorney he offered to drop the charge in lieu of the court costs. Done.

ALF is on in 20 minutes does not work for the C.H.P.

I have found that the best way to not get a ticket is to . . . not get tickets. IOW, if you have a clean driving record (no ticket here since 1997), you tend to not get them. I have been pulled over probably half a dozen times since then and got a warning every time. I never did before that. I even got pulled over by Das Truppen (OSP) and got a warning even though he hassled me about my insurance card being out of date. They NEVER do that.

I always 'fess up. Works every time. Closest I came to a ticket was a young Arlington Heights cop who wrote me for no license rather than speed (no points) because I was cool to him. I told him me two best friends were LEOs and to be careful on 75. My buddies told me to be cool and honest, put your hands on the wheel and chances are you'll skate with a warning.

Show your boobs.

Let's see, if memory serves me correctly in the fifty or so years I've been driving (started when I was 13) I've been pulled over some thirty odd times for speeding. I've paid exactly 3 tickets and all of those reduced charges. I took the attitude years ago that it was really a game one played with the speed enforcement officials. Sometimes you win by getting by when you should have been stopped and other times you lose by getting stopped. It's nothing personal the guy stopping you is just doing his job. Be nice, have your paperwork available, be honest and follow instructions. Take your lead from the officer. If he is going to be a hard ass there is nothing you can do so be nice. If he is nice don't try to take advantage of him but be nice and cooperate. Once I actually had a Highway Patrolman follow me to my car and apologise for having to give me a ticket. (He could not believe how nice I was and how I didn't try to get out of it.) The same officer ended up reducing the ticket charges from 85 in a 55 which carried a reckless driving charge to a 60 in a 55 which at the time of federal mandated 55 speedlimits only carried a $20 fine and no points. So be nice and answer everything with honesty. It's worked for me.

A few years ago, an older fella was doin' about 85 MPH down I-75 in Florida. A Florida Highway Patrol car starts to give chase with lights and siren. The old guy speeds up to 95. The trooper gets up to his rear bumper and the old dude gooses his Grand Marqui and hits 105 MPH. Finally he gives it up and the trooper pulls him to the side of the Interstate and asks the old guy what he h#ll he thought he was doin.
"Well officer," said the older gentleman, "about 20 years ago my wife ran off with a Florida trooper and I was afraid you was bringing her back."
As the story goes, the old guy was let off for the best excuse of the trooper's career.

quote:

Originally posted by Lt CHEG:

quote:

Originally posted by modiecast:

quote:

just told the truth

I find that's the best policy. I've been stopped twice in the last three years and each time I got off with a warning. I was polite, owned up to my mistake and got a break. Being a clean cut, middle age guy with a clean driving record probably doesn't hurt either.

I would flat out tell people, honesty is the best policy. 99 times out of 100 if you honestly told me what you did wrong, when I asked, "Do you know why I stopped you?" then you would get off with a verbal warning. I didn't get a commission for the tickets I wrote, so I tried to focus my efforts on assholes. If you told me the truth about your mistake, then you probably weren't an asshole and didn't need to be hassled. I prefered to use traffic enforcement as a vehicle which would lead to larger violations.

I got a ticket a while back where the cop did me a real favor.

I rolled a stop sign and he pull me. I wasnt wearing my belt at the time and I put it on real quick. Cop got up to my car and said...

cop: do you know why I pulled you over?
me: yes sir because I rolled the stop sign.
cop: we both know you didnt have your belt on either
me: no sir I did not have my belt on.

Long story short because I was honest he wrote me for the seatbelt and not the stop sign. If I got the ticket for the stop sign it would have been 3 points and about 50 bucks more.

moral of the story is tell the truth!

I didn't know I was speeding....... because, I'm drunk?

220ST IS STILL DANCIN'!

quote:

Originally posted by SmokeJumper:
I didn't know I was speeding....... because, I'm drunk?

220ST IS STILL DANCIN'!

Well officer. I WAS speeding. But that's only because i'm wasted. I just thought, i shouldn't be driving so i should get home and off the road as fast as i can.

I have to admit, for 20 over there's probably not much that could be said to talk your way out. That said, personally I appreciate people who are honest and just admit that they spaced out, weren't paying attention, etc, instead of insinuating I'm making it up or that my radar must be off, etc.

At 20 over though your're probly looking at a ticket...JMHO.

I've always been left in awe with the tricky way cops would speak. Once I was told, "Sit right here, I'm going to search your truck alright?" Which I took to mean that this was happening, do you understand what I'm telling you. I wasn't happy when I got the citation and it said I gave him permission to search my truck.

Anyhow, last time I got pulled over I was doing like 80 in a 70. Cop just asked if I knew how fast I was going, told him that I wasn't paying enough attention. He let me go, and if he didn't I hadn't supplied him with anything really damning.

Been pulled over 6 times, the first three I got tickets, second three I got warnings. My first three were pretty intense though, exhibition of acceleration, 87/70 (109 really, knew cop was there, said at least I had a good reason), third was 65/40. Second three were the 80/70, 73/65 (coming from a military base wearing an HPD Boxing shirt lol), and having a license plate light out (wasn't out, he was fishing for drunks).

I guess you should be respectful but don't kiss ass, offer some sort of semi-related fault you regret but don't admit guilt to whatever you're being accused of, and do all the normal things like lights/hands on wheel/etc.

The times I have gotten out of tickets was because I was honest, polite and respectful... and I've begged.

Interesting read...Way back when...For me it was always a really simple thing.
If I stopped you for; DUI you went to jail, for a warrant you went to jail, for suspended/revoked you went to jail. Just about any thing else, it was all how you treated me at first contact. I always made it a point to not take anything personal, I approached the the vehicle and always had a smile on my face and always was very professional and very respectful of the person I was talking to. If they tired to hand me a load of bull shit, they got a ticket, if they got defensive, they got a ticket, if the admitted they were speeding, ran/rolled the stop sign or anything else, they got a walk. You screwed up, I am only here to let you know you got caught.

quote:

Originally posted by Lt CHEG:
"Do you know why I stopped you?"

The last time I got pulled over (about 70 in a 60), I was just coming out of the only passing zone for miles. The vehicle I passed was going about 50, but ended up getting a little too much throttle to get by him before we hit the curves again.

The deputy asked me,"Do you know why I pulled you over?"

I said,"How 'bout you tell me."

He laughed and said,"Just slow it down a little."

Then we talked for a minute about my work and I did tell him I was just passing that car. He told me he pulls people over there all the time. I think he lives right by that property.

I went about twenty years without ever getting a warning for anything. Every time lights came on behind me, I got a ticket. Nothing really changed lately, but for some reason I've gotten a couple warnings in a row. Maybe it's because I'm a little older. I've always been polite and honest (without ever admitting fault). I know it's no use discussing it on the side of the road. The officer is just doing his job.

One time a woman ran me off the road in my Chevette. She turned left with a right blinker on and knocked me right in the ditch. A witness stopped and gave me her number because she saw the right blinker. Then the absent minded woman lied to the highway patrolman and said I "just came out of nowhere." She also kept stressing that she "works at the courthouse." He routinely asked her if she was wearing a seatbelt, and she said,"Hell no! I never wear those things. They'll get you killed!" I just leaned on my car (which was in the ditch) and didn't say a word. Then I told him she had her right blinker on and I had a witness.

He nearly cracked up laughing and told her he was checking on my story. If the witness agreed with me, he'd mail her a ticket for the illegal turn and the seatbelt.

My wife run off with a state trooper. I thought you were him trying to bring her back.........

I got a break awhile back. Saw I was getting pulled over. I got pulled over, shut it off, hands in plain sight. He asks if I know why I am being stopped, and I said I know EXACTLY...I was speeding. He said 60 in a 45, and I said sorry I did not realize it was that bad. I told I had a gun and it would show when I get my license out of my front pocket. He said that was fine. Gave him my license, he goes back to the car for a few, then comes back and says keep it down. I thanked him and peeled out leaving 60 foot of rubber. Just kidding on that last part. I do have a Sheriff Association sticker on my back glass and I think that helped , but don't really know.

I got stopped just yesterday in Hobbs, NM for not stopping at a stop sign.

Three way stop. I was behind a van that stopped well into the intersection, then turned left. I was stopped behind the van, almost to the limit line. The van turned left and I went straight. About four blocks down the street, I get lite up and stop. I have my license out when he comes to the door, asks for my registration and ins card. I told him there's a handgun in the glovebox - he says ok, no problem. I'm getting my ins card and he says he stopped me for failing to stop at the stop sign. I told him where I stopped behind the van and also noted that I saw him sitting behind the kiosk building and asked him if he thought it was possible that he was too far back to see where I stopped. He said that was certainly possible since he did see the van I mentioned. "What kind of hangun?"..... Sig P229. Great gun, what caliber? 357Sig. Sweet, wish I could carry one but we're stuck with these crappy Glocks...... Sorry to delay you - have a great day.