The I just got pulled over thread

I "just" (last weekend) got waived in for my second police check in the five years I've had my license. As I was a little lost, I asked the policeman for directions. He offered to trade directions for a breathalizer test which I agreed was a fair trade and I was then on my way to my destination. Yes, it's possibly the least exciting run-in with the law ever :lol:
 
I'm not doing it wrong, nor right thought. It's just that road police isn't that effective here in Portugal. I wish to have more cops like the ones from OP. Prevention > passing tickets.
 
Been pulled over twice.

First time I got the most BS ticket ever in the history of man. Was out canyon carving in the GTI in the hillcountry of central Texas. No need to speed as many of the roads are so tight that you dont need to. So I head around this bend pass a cop and keep going. Well he comes up behind me and pulls me over. I am confused, my radar detector has a GPS function that indicates your speed when you get hit. Said 55, limit was 60. So here I am very puzzled. (Detector has been taken off the window before he got close enough to see me well, may not be illegal but done to avoid problems)

So local sheriff pulls up and asks why he had pulled me over. I honestly replied that I had no idea as I was reasonable sure I was under the limit. He agreed confirming my 55 mph speed. So now I am really confused. He then tells me that I was cornering at an unsafe speed and that I will be getting a ticket. Confused I asked him politely what exactly that meant as I had stayed inside my lane. He said that vehicles should not take that bend at beyond 25 mph as that was the highway department recommended speed for that bend. Still confused I asked that if that was the speed for a very large SUV would not the speed at which my much smaller and stickier tired car could travel be higher. Especially since I was under the limit. He simply said have a nice day and handed me the ticket.

So the next day I called a local attorney in the city I had been pulled over. He told me that this was one of the local sheriff's favorite ways of getting people from out of town, especially the bikers. Apparently their county made a law saying that the Sheriff had the ability to deem any diving unsafe if it appeared so to him. This of course allowed him to write tickets whenever he wanted. And as such there was basically no way of fighting it and that I should just take defensive driving and be done with the whole deal with nothing on my record for $80 including the cost of my class. So I payed the damn "court fee's" and took defensive driving on the condition nothing was placed on my record/sent to insurance companies. Still have the ticket too, enjoy having one for cornering "too fast". Makes me feel like all these track days have payed off (with a negative effect on my bank account as usual) Off topic, online defensive driving is brilliant for any with half a brain. Played xbox the whole time with a timer set to go off whenever the quizes were due to start. Made a 95% only missing one question not about stories in the videos.




The second time was equally bs but ended better. Get pulled over on my way home from school late at night. Had picked the guy up on radar at least a mile away and was going the speed limit. Again the guy pulls up behind me and I am confused. Comes to my window and asks the same question about why did he pull me over. Again I dont know. So he looks around my car, checks my insurance, can tell that I have not been drinking and hands me a warning for a burned out license plate light. I find that odd and get out to check it, it is still on. Dick move to pull me over, but no harm no foul I guess. My parrents had the same thing happen for "dirty license plate" on their Infinity.
 
Last edited:
I just got a EUR 100 speeding ticket last weekend. I did a 116 kmh on a 90 kmh road, on a open and wide downhill section, weekend, no cars, the sun was shining.. there is a new law system in Slovakia apparently, every 10 kmh over the speed limit gets you an additional EUR 100 fine.

And two weeks ago, I was testing for alcohol with the breathalyzer for the first time. The oddest thing was that after a 400 km journey to my parents house, not seeing a single cop the whole way I get pulled over roughly 600m from my parents house. No explanation for stopping me, just to hand over the license and registration. Without finding any faults, the officer asks "any alcohol tonight?" I was so surprised by the question I actually started laughing and said no as I've already done a 400 km trip just now. Nevermind, they still made me to do the breath tests, telling me to blow hard for 10 secs until the thing beeps. Fair enough, 0.00 was the result and I was let go with a smile.
 
Last edited:
I honestly replied that I had no idea as I was reasonable sure I was under the limit. He agreed confirming my 55 mph speed. So now I am really confused. He then tells me that I was cornering at an unsafe speed and that I will be getting a ticket. Confused I asked him politely what exactly that meant as I had stayed inside my lane. He said that vehicles should not take that bend at beyond 25 mph as that was the highway department recommended speed for that bend.

that's proper BS, recommended speed for a bend, wtf?
 
Last edited:
Me and my friends have been busted for weed related things a couple of times over the years. Even having 6 grams and 8 grams in the car two different times never got me any charges. They were usually just trying to find out if I was selling. And I've never sold weed and I'm pretty sure the cops around here have that figured out.

Hm.. pretty lucky I would say. Normally it's a good idea to hide the weed at the bottom of a large packet of chips.
 
yup, I'm almost sure that police with unmarked vehicles cannot issue fines to motorists. Same with metro police deliberately setting up speed traps in an inconspicuous hiding spot.

Oh they do all the time here. About half of the pull overs are unmarked.
 
Some random old cop once stopped me for riding my bicycle with no helmet. While he told me it was against the law, some chav in a modded Civic raced off the lights with a lot of wheelspin, and the cop didn't notice :p

Funny you mention that. Any time between eight years and fifteen years old, I spent the vast majority of my outdoor time on a bicycle, usually riding around my tourist-happy town with friends. There is/was a helmet law for kids under sixteen.

It was when I was eight years old that I had three middle-aged guys in a Massachusetts-tagged Cadillac Escalade (Actually, may have been nine - Escalade production started in the '98/'99 model year) drove by and shouted at me, an obviously young boy, "Nice helmet, fa****!"

I shrugged, went home, put my helmet on the shelf and never put it on again. I figured a police officer lecture and small fine was better than being called derogatory terms and possibly getting my ass kicked by middle aged men. Funny, I had one cop question me but never got a fine. :rolleyes:
 
that's proper BS, recommended speed for a bend, wtf?

Welcome to America! :)

I have been pulled over twice in Bulgaria. So far I haven't been pulled over in the States (fingers-crossed).

Both times I was pulled over was at speed traps, and both times were WTF moments.
First time was in town, heavy traffic, I'm going with the flow basically and the cop pulls me over. The limit is 50km/h and I was doing 58km/h. Silly. At least the ticket was no biggie and they didn't take any points of my license.
Second time was in a rural area. I was driving at 101km/h, speed limit is 90km/h. The bastard tried to argue with me that a few hundred yards there was a sign saying 70km/h, but I was pretty sure there wasn't. He was "mercyful" and wrote the ticket as if I were goign 101 in a 90. What a jerk! I drove back later that day through the same place and sure enough, there was no 70 sign!
 
Only time I've gotten pulled over was when I was on my permit with my mom in the car. I was going down a hill at the speed limit, 40mph, and the light at the bottom of the hill turned yellow. I figured I had enough time so I just kept going at 40mph and the light turned red just before I went under. Turns out the yellow as only 2s long and a cop was sitting there just waiting for someone to run the red. I pulled over and was polite, admitted I had run the light. Didn't get a ticket and I didn't expect to. A cop would have to be a real jackass to give a ticket to someone on their permit, especially for such minor mistake.

I am still convinced that the yellow was not long enough for me to actually have stopped in time but I knew better than to try to argue that point.
 
I got pulled over on a cold night doing 53mph in a 35mph I was honestly just trying to get my heater going and had no idea how fast I was going. When the cop relayed this info to me my only reaction was "Wow". I don't know if the cop was looking for more serious crimes, was cold himself, or was just happy with my pulling over well in advance of him catching up to me, but he just gave me a warning.
 
. A cop would have to be a real jackass to give a ticket to someone on their permit, especially for such minor mistake.

I am still convinced that the yellow was not long enough for me to actually have stopped in time but I knew better than to try to argue that point.

Running a red light is a minor mistake??? Since when? You could have killed somebody.

All young drivers think that they can pass on a yellow light. The rule is that it's only okay to do it if you are right at the lights. I would say your stopping distance from 40mph is around 60 feet, if not even less.
 
I honestly replied that I had no idea as I was reasonable sure I was under the limit. He agreed confirming my 55 mph speed. So now I am really confused. He then tells me that I was cornering at an unsafe speed and that I will be getting a ticket. Confused I asked him politely what exactly that meant as I had stayed inside my lane. He said that vehicles should not take that bend at beyond 25 mph as that was the highway department recommended speed for that bend.
It's one thing to make a law about speed limits, but quite another to enforce them WHEN THEY'RE NOT POSTED! That is entrapment and selective enforcement, and that's illegal.

He offered to trade directions for a breathalizer test which I agreed was a fair trade and I was then on my way to my destination.
What?? That is abuse of power, plain and simple. I would never trade a violation or my rights for directions ... of course, I always have a map in my car as well.

Running a red light is a minor mistake??? Since when? You could have killed somebody.
In his case it was. If it's too late to stop, you're better off running the light than trying to stop and ending up stuck in the middle of the intersection.

I am still convinced that the yellow was not long enough for me to actually have stopped in time but I knew better than to try to argue that point.
You did the right thing. There's always a 2-3 second gap between one light turning red and the light in the perpendicular intersection turning green, for exactly this reason. If you had stopped, you'd have caused an accident for sure.
 
Last edited:
that's proper BS, recommended speed for a bend, wtf?

Well in here there are recommended speed limits for "tight" corners (as in 100kmh limit in the road but a bend is recommended 80kmh).. This is just a recommendation and will not get you fined if done with 100kmh on the clock... Usually seeing it makes me speed up a bit..
 
Running a red light is a minor mistake??? Since when? You could have killed somebody.

All young drivers think that they can pass on a yellow light. The rule is that it's only okay to do it if you are right at the lights. I would say your stopping distance from 40mph is around 60 feet, if not even less.

It turned red as I was crossing into the intersection. The light had not even yet turned green for the other direction. There are plenty of intersections at that speed where the yellow is 3s or longer. Yes, I think that is minor.

I believe you are underestimating the stopping distance from 40mph, these people say 120ft. According to the officer the light was 2s long, which some others argue is far too short.Keeping in mind I was going down a hill which will increase that distance and following the posted speed limit.

I did learn my lesson from the incident though. Now I tend to assume yellow lights are going to be short. I also pay attention to the crosswalk signs intended for pedestrians to get an idea if a light is about to turn yellow.
 
I've got my license for almost 10 years now and never been pulled over before.
Same here. Can't be because of my driving style and general cruising speeds tho, since i get too many (at least, according to my wife) speedcam fines on the doormat. Guess i've been lucky never getting pulled over.
 
Top