Never been pulled over by the police?

Hey Ed, I have another Seattle tidbit for you. Cops are walking a beat centered on 3rd and Pine. Two young tough looking cops in reflector sunglasses marching side by side. I have been wondering if they might start, and I am quite glad to see it.
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Good. Now if they actually do something instead of standing there watching when someone gets mugged/killed.
 
hakuna matata said:
So you don't know the thrill of seeing those red lights in your mirror huh? I tell you that is one big adrenaline rush when those lights flash there.

Here is hoping you never do know that rush! :D I agree that is outstanding that you have never been pulled over in 20 years.
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When I am going a few miles over the speed limit (which I often do) and suddenly come across a cruiser neatly hidden behind a curve, a bridge or the tree line, I do get some good adrenaline rushes!
 
I've been driving for almost 35 years with about 300K miles under the belt. No accidents. No tickets of any kind (i.e., no moving violations or parking tickets). I've never been pulled over for a traffic issue.

I was pulled over once by the border patrol but that was because they thought I was smuggling people or contraband across the border. I was in graduate school and was collecting high precision GPS measurements at a survey monument a few meters from the border in Calexico, CA. I was driving an enclosed pickup truck and it was 2:00 AM. I was stopped by the local police a few years ago. The officer thought I had a piece of metal sticking out of the bumper of my car but it was just a piece of plastic paper.

So I've never been stopped for cause. Interestingly enough, the only time I've ever shown my drivers license to a police officer was last night when I went through a sobriety checkpoint / drivers license check.
 
I also have never been pulled over.
 
In my 46 years of driving, I've been stopped thrice. Once at the age of 16, speeding while "dong the loop" in my local town. A ticket, some points, and quickly forgotten.

Next time was in Phila, when I was entering I-76 (an interstate) which had a 55 mph zone while in the city, and 65 mph zone when outside the city limits. What was I going? (clue: same as the route number). Some more points and a 3-months driver's suspension. My DW was really "pis***" since she had to drive me to/from work for three months (and I worked the 3-11pm shift ...)

Last time was a few years ago. DW/me were driving in the Grand Tetons (you know what that term means, don't you?) after dark in a rental car. The headlights were kind of dim, but I didn't think much of it. I thought they would come on as normal, as my wife's Impala (the rental was a Subaru). Well guess what, they didn't. They were still on the "daylight mode" when the park police stopped me and cited me for being a "dumb old codger" (well, that's what I interpreted it as). No fine, but he did say "look out for the moose" on the road (no comment )...

These days, I drive less (some may be thankful)...
 
Ed_The_Gypsy said:
That is very interesting Ha, considering you don't have a car. :angel: Walking too fast in Seattle, eh, Mr. Natural?:D

When I was first at the U of W, there was a kid who got a speeding ticket on his ten-speed. Going down one of Seattle's hills.:eek:
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My husband was ticketed for speeding on a three-speed in Eugene while attending the U of Oregon. He is 71 yo now and still gloats about that!
 
I was doing 70 MPH in a 35 in my brand new '73 VW super beetle. A local cop pulled me over and asked why the Hell I was going so fast. I truthfully answered that if I didn't make it home to my parent's house by 5:30 pm exactly I would miss dinner as my father had a rule about that with no exceptions. I failed to notice that the cop was really fat. He explained that I had a mighty good reason for speeding but then gave me a lecture on how many young teens he had scraped up off the pavement. He let me go without a ticket! I have slowed down since then.

Mike D.
 
hakuna matata said:
.... So is there one lucky soul out there who has never had that heart racing excitement of seeing those flashing lights in your mirror? I mean you haven't lived until then right? :cool:
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Not me.... I've been pulled over 3 times and each one was weird and wrong and still makes me snarl a little....

1. Pulled over in rural NC in the 70's, driving a beetle with a bumpersticker that said "question authority". The Sheriff who pulled me over said "You had a question for me missy? I am the authority". No ticket.

2. Pulled over at 1 am in WV (80's) driving a u-haul truck (towing afore mentioned VW). The officer who pulled me over asked if I was lost. I was not but when I rolled my window down the smell of bourbon soaked fruitcake wafted out (fully wrapped, homemade, soaked for a long time, not yet eaten, sitting near heater vent in truck) and I had to get out and take a sobriety test. I had not been drinking or eating the cake, or weaving or speeding or anything else, but I guess that dang bumper sticker just attracts trouble. No ticket.

3. Pulled over recently in WA for seatbelt violation (which I was wearing). My passenger was a local judge (also wearing seatbelt). The state patrol officer wrote a citation and I spent an entire day sitting in traffic court waiting for hearing. My friend the local judge popped over when my number came up to stand as witness. Case dismissed and officer apologized to judge (passenger) but not to me. On the way home I stopped at local book shop and bought a new Question Authority bumpersticker. They still make them after all these years and I guess there's still a need.
 
Wow! I guess your past experience with cops would have shaped your opinion accordingly.

In my case, I have been stopped about 6 or 7 times in my life. All but one time have been my faults, such as speeding, not making a complete stop at a stop sign, etc... By not acting belligerently, I was twice let off with a mere warning. Perhaps I have been fortunate to not run into a bad cop, but all the ones I encountered were acting professionally.
 
Janet H said:
On the way home I stopped at local book shop and bought a new Question Authority bumpersticker. They still make them after all these years and I guess there's still a need.
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Great story, Janet.

My DD probably deserves the booby prize in this thread, for spoiling her "never been pulled over" record in the quickest time. Just after turning 16, she got her driver license one day after school.

She was pulled over just after sundown that same day by a small town cop, for a burned-out light over the rear license plate. No ticket, though.
 
NW-Bound said:
Wow! I guess your past experience with cops would have shaped your opinion accordingly.
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I just attribute this to some sort of karmic justice. There have been plenty of times that I should have been pulled over for speeding or having studs on past the appointed date or storing my new license tabs above my visor rather then actually ON the plate. I have good friends in law enforcement and am generally glad to have some regular visible police presence on the highways. There are bullies in every walk of life I guess.
 
I ran a stop sign on a motorcycle when I was 17. At the time there were three options:

1. Plead guilty and pay a fine by mail.

2. Contest it in court.

3. Go to a "Driver remediation class", stay out of trouble for one year, and have it expunged. I took that option. What was especially galling to a 17-year-old was the letter DMV sent to my parents that made mention of the fact that "your child" received a ticket. Grrrr!

A perspective from the other side of the windshield:

Fresh out of the police academy for about two weeks, my training officer finally decided that I probably wouldn't kill us both if I drove. We get a call for a burglary in progress at a residence. Responding red lights & siren (shut of the siren when close to hopefully not scare off the bad guy) I come upon a 4-way stop sign with another cruiser about 10 feet off my rear bumper. Intending to not stop at the stop sign, but seeing the flashing red lights in the mirror, out of ingrained habit I almost stomped on the brakes then had to remind myself "Oh, wait. I am the police!"

Had I stopped at that stop sign I would have certainly been rear-ended and been the butt of jokes for years even though technically it would have been the rear-ender's fault.
 
I was pulled over once for speeding in a little Texas town on the way to the Interstate--although I was more than guilty with my out of town plates, too, the officer let me go when a call came in for him that a woman had just been thrown from a car. Several times I have been zipping down the Interstate, seen the flashing lights coming after me, and watched the police go right past me to the car in front of me.

DH says his speeding tickets are all my fault anyway.
 
I have never been pulled over for anything. As far as I know, DW has not either. This is in spite of speeding fairly regularly when it is a justifiable risk.

You have to have rules, you know. Like Dexter, I have a code I follow when driving and speeding. Don't be unsafe. If you are doing 90-100, pay close attention. If there is a pack of cars going 90 in the fast lane, you can do 80-85 and be relatively safe. Don't be the lead car in a pack of cars that are speeding. Don't speed more than 5 mph in school zones. On freeways, speed like hell if you can see you have a clear road (ie no overpasses, entrance ramps, broken down cars etc that cops can hide behind). If you are speeding and see a cop, slow down. I spend a lot of time while driving on a freeway and speeding watching for tell tale signs of cops or potential cops. Cars breaking a quarter mile in front of me, or objects behind which cops can hide. I don't own a radar detector, just use street smarts.

This post will probably cause me to get a speeding ticket on the way home.
 
FUEGO said:
If you are speeding and see a cop, slow down.
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The one speeding ticket I got over 20 years ago bears this out. I didn't even realize it, but I was doing 75 in a 55 zone (this was when 55 was the de facto federal speed limit) in the fast lane of a freeway with fairly light traffic. I eventually saw the CHP vehicle behind me with its lights on and I pulled over.

The officer told me that he was tracking me doing 75 for a full mile or more and that I was getting a ticket as much for not realizing that and slowing down -- IOW, not demonstrating situational awareness -- than for the speed itself. The implication was that if I had immediately slowed down when he appeared in my rear view mirror, he likely would have given me a pass.

In any event, he was "nice" enough to write that I was doing 70 on the ticket instead of 75, presumably because I was apologetic and cooperative and there were significantly enhanced penalties for speeding of 20+ over the limit.
 
ziggy29 said:
...fast lane of a freeway with fairly light traffic.
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I also travel mostly in the slower lanes when possible. And I try not to speed too much if the traffic is light (like late at night or Sunday mornings).
 
My husband once got a speeding ticket as a result of his being the LAST car in a string of speeders. He asked him "why me?", the answer was that he was the easiest to catch.

One of Oregon's speeding ticket legends is that an officer ticketed a car traveling on I-84 on the plateau well east of The Dalles. The officer wrote that traffic was "heavy". The driver went to court and challenged the officer's claim. The judge, a local, stated that there is no such thing as heavy traffic on that straight flat rural section of the interstate - ticket dismissed.
 
Signs of Spring...in the past week, I have been "painted" three times.
Cruise control set at the speed limit minus 2 mph is a wonderful thing. :LOL:
 
In my youth (16 - 20) I lived on a farm in a very low density area. Our farm was typical, 1.5 sq miles. There were a few towns (pop. ~200) every 10 miles or so. We considered something wrong if a weekend went by and the mounties hadn't pulled us over to see if we had contraband (beer or whatever). Seldom a ticket but they had to show the youth they were around. Today, this would be profiling and a no-no. Once they stopped me at 2:00 PM while I had my 90 year old GM with me. Problem? I was going 63 in a 60 zone. No, no ticket.

I've had two interesting encounters.

  • I was driving a small British car (with many internal engine upgrades). Went through radar. Cop told me he got me at 103mph (60 limit). I told him my car wouldn't go that fast (out of the factory it wouldn't). I lucked out and hit a mountie who had owned one. After looking under the hood to see if I had a V8 option, he said "well you weren't doing the speed limit, slow down".
  • It was seeding time and Saturday night. Shut down the tractor about 10 PM and went for a cool one at the local watering hole. After 1 or 2, the local closed at midnight. A few of us, aged 20 - 30, left to go about 30 miles to an open restaurant. Bought some beer 'just in case'. After eating, just got out of the big town (about 1200), pulled over by RCMP (traffic and local bylaw offences). If there are any Corner Gas fans here, picture a very young Davis stopping us. 25 year old cop get driver's licence etc. Says "you're the young Willerton crowd", reply "we're the old ones". Cop looks at licence and says "ya, I guess so, been drinking?". Reply "not yet". Now the cop shines his flashlight in the car, spots the beer and says "you weren't planning to drink that here were you", response "no, we were going to get across the bridge first". At this point I'm thinking the cop is about to call for backup and we are not going to work on Sunday. Next thing I hear is "Good, that's Dog River's territory, drive safe until you get there"
DD also gave me a lesson on handling the RCMP. When she was about 25 she worked as a special constable in a resort community. That meant she didn't carry a gun and wasn't sent to calls where she might need one but was under the command of the RCMP. She also liked to drive fast. One day she is about 100 miles from home and moving. Comes over a hill and there is the police car. Stands on the brakes and pulls over when the lights come on. A nice young mountie says "you have great brakes in that car", kid says "why?". Mountie says "I got you on laser 3 times, 160,140 and 110" (these are kph). What can a girl say? She pulls out her RCMP id, puts it back and says "you don't want to see that" and pulls out her drivers license. 20's cop says "what don't I want to see?'" DD says "that" and gives him her license. He says "I do want to see it" so she gives in. His next words were "Hi, I'm Brad and I'm stationed in Hooterville. If you are ever here and bored, I'll give you a tour". He didn't give her a ticket.
 
FUEGO said:
...If there is a pack of cars going 90 in the fast lane, you can do 80-85 and be relatively safe. Don't be the lead car in a pack of cars that are speeding...
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Brat said:
...My husband once got a speeding ticket as a result of his being the LAST car in a string of speeders. He asked him "why me?", the answer was that he was the easiest to catch...
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Some years ago, on I-10 going to LA, I was going perhaps 5mph over the speed limit (55 then?) when I was passed by a caravan of perhaps 4 cars traveling at maybe 20mph over the limit. Soon, I was passed by a patrol car zooming by even faster to catch up with that group. As I really had nothing to fear, I sat back to enjoy the show. As he caught up with the group, one by one, they realized they were in trouble, and decelerated to the speed limit. He proceeded to pass them all.

Then, when he was several hundred feet in front of the group, he stopped and got out of the patrol car, and stood by the road side. As the group approached and passed him, he pointed his finger to each of them and motioned for them to pull over. Now, it was my turn to get a bit anxious as I approached him. No, he did not motion for me to stop. :)

A few years later, I witnessed a similar situation on a section of freeway in-town. Two guys busy tailgating one another were stopped both by a patrolman. :D
 
just last Thursday i was pulled over on the edge of my neighborhood for going 42 in a 30. NO ONE goes just 30 on this particular 1/3 mile street but alas no excuse. it was a speed trap going into the sun at 5:30pm. the cop was 'nice' and gave me 40 in a 30mph zone.

the surreal / numbing issue was that i was coming home (alone) from the hospital after the birth of our first child 36 hrs before just to take a shower, grab a change of clothes, and head back. the cop never asked anything and i didn't have the energy to argue or ask questions. i knew i was technically busted but that it was a ridiculous waste of both our times and my money.

needless to say i respect the police officers in this town but they won't be getting a dime from us when the annual charity phone calls come in.
 
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