Moving violations

Gameboy, the cops down there wil yank your license for 75 MPH? Up here, they don't even look up. Many's the time I have been doing 85 MPH (roughly 135 KPH) in a 70 MPH zone and been passed like I was standing still by SUVs full of kids and stuff.

^^ That happened to me, too. It was an additional ticket on top of one for speeding.

We just heard of this "signed registration card" thing. I was registering my new (soon to be) Harbor Freight bike trailer (fer pullin' behind) and geting tags for a couple of other vehicles and the clerk told us to be sure to sign the registrations because they were writing tickets for it. She told us of the little bumfuq town of under 2K on the other side of town that had regular traffic check points and they were writting tickets for this when they couldn't find anything else. I went through all my registration cards and signed them all.

The last time I had a ticket, fortunately a while ago (knock on wood), as I sat in court there were multiple people in for 26 in a 25. I know right where they got hit too. Man, this is getting bad all across the U.S. Not signed registration card. What's next? You know, they keep this up and the under class of our society will start thinking about Big Box Store Poofs as an acceptable applicaton of street law for more than just unwarranted lawsuits.

You're supposed to sign your registration?

I got one for driving a vehicle with an Open Title. This one was priceless in a way you can't believe.

I got stopped for an "unsafe lane change" which basically meant, that if i wanted to signal the proper distance away, i would have had to signal RIGHT before i turned LEFT on to the street that i turned RIGHT into Arby's on. Following me yet?

Gets better. He asks for my liscence and registration. I give him my liscence. Ahhhhhh CRAP. Registration is at home, haven't driven this car for awhile.

"Do you have anything that proves that you own this car?"

Why... yes!!! My title! So i gave him my title.

"This title isn't dated, it's an open title, you can't legally register this vehicle, so you're driving a vehicle illegally."

"Uhmmm.... officer.... i bought this car 4/18/08, it says so right on the title."

"I don't see it."

"So if this is illegal, officer, and i can't register an open title vehicle, then why did the BMV issue me plates and a registration?"

"I don't know, but your'e getting a ticket for it."

"Fine."

He goes and runs my liscence. Comes back.

"Your liscence is suspended prior to this county."

"Excuse me?"

"You never paid blah blah blah speeding ticket."

Apparently what happened was.... i paid my ticket 2 YEARS AGO. Maybe days late. They suspended my liscence, i got no notification, and NOTHING saying that i had to go to the reinstatement branch to reinstate my liscence. Awesome.

So far.... i have a Warning for unsafe lane change, a ticket for "Falsification of Plates," and Driving suspended prior.

Great.

Cop decides to go for a hat trick.

"Do you smoke marijuana?" At this point, i'm royally pissed off. And i HAD been keeping my hands on the wheel looking straight ahead. I whip my head around and stare at him.

"Excuse me?!?!?"

"I asked you a question. Do you smoke marijuana."

"No."

"Does the person you bought the car from smoke marijuana?"

"How would i know that officer, i met him once."

"Well, i smell marijuana, can you tell me where this is coming from?"

"No..... but i did just have a cigarette."

"Don't mock me, i know what the difference is. So you're telling me that if i search this car, i will find no residue, no piece, and no weed?"

"Uhmmm... feel free officer, it won't take you long." My car is completely gutted and stripped. Not even a glove box.

So he gives up.

I actually JUST had court over this this past monday. After fighting all the BS, and explaining my situation, EVEN THOUGH my liscence had been suspended for almost 2 years at this point....

I walked away paying $116.50 for both tickets, and i have a grand total of 4 points on my liscence from the original speeding ticket. No new points accrued from these.

The cops around here are ridiculous, and the court system knows it.

Thanks for reading.

I received a ticket many years ago for 39 in a 35 zone. Two cars were passing me in the left lane, heading in the same direction (4 lane road) as we all came through the corner where the cop was hiding. He pulled me I guess because I was in the new, bright red, BMW. When he came up to the window though, he apologized continually for stopping me and told me he would recommend me for the traffic school thus avoiding any points or fines, other than the $50 or so cost for the 4-hour school. He was falling all over himself to tell me how sorry he was for having to give me a ticket. Must have been end of the month quota time.

While at the traffic school a few weeks later, everyone in the class had to stand up and profess their "crime". One lady had been given a ticket for 56 in a 55 zone. The cop leading the class told her she was an idiot for not fighting that one.

MGAMGB wrote: He pointed at my guitar case and shouted "Is that a gun!?" I said, "No, it's a guitar, but let me show you something."

We were four wheeling (Buddies 1978 Lifted Chevrolet Blazer 4x4 with the 1/2 top removed) and got caught by Cook County Police that stopped us on their horses.

They saw an old style cassette case and thought it was a gun case. It was joy to see my friend open it and show them his music collection. I think they were even madder that it was not a gun.

The only speeding ticket I ever got was at age 17 for going 55 in a 55 zone. The cop wrote it up as 55 in a 50 zone except that there were no signs anywhere that said 50. There were signs within a half mile of where I was supposedly speeding that said 55. I went to court with a map and photographs of the speed limit signs in the vacinity. The judge threw it out.

His stated reason was that the court would have to independently verify the evidence I was presenting and I was not being accused of a serious enough violation to justify the resources to do it. I would liked for him to directly call it bogus, but I wasn't going to complain when I just won.

My brother-in-law bought a new Dodge a few years back when Chrysler was using really crappy paint. After about two months, the trunk starts peeling badly. He manages to convince the dealer to replace the car with an identical one.

A few more months go by and he gets pulled over for 30 in a 25. The cop takes his registration and checks the VIN on the car. They don't match, as the dealer never transferred the registration when they processed the paperwork on the replacement car.

He gets handcuffed and hauled away for speeding, driving an unregistered vehicle, failure to carry proper insurance, and misuse of plates.

Years ago I almost got one of those bogus "crossing the center line" tickets.

I was giving a college classmate a ride home. He had recently gotten me to join a local sports car club. Everone who joined the club got a homemade club tag to run as a front plate on their car.

As we were going thru one of those very small towns along the Monongehela River in SW PA we came across a beer truck unloading at the local tavern. Since the road had no parking lane and no shoulder, the truck was parked in the traffic lane.

I slowed down, looked ahead and when it was clear went around the truck. A block down the road the town cop waved me over. Comes up to the car and says "I'm going to give you a ticket for crossing the center line.

Before I could say anything my friend says "That's E36 M3. Before you do something stupid you better go look at the front of this car." At this point I figure that now I am really in trouble. But the cop go to the front of the car and looks at it for a minute or so.

When he comes back he tells me "You should drive carefully and watch out for cars parked along the road. You can go now." I didn't say anything, just started the car and got out of there.

I asked my friend what that was all about and he explained it. I could imagine the cop's thinking. "Little red sports car, Black plastic plate with white letters on it. Where have I seen that before? Ah Yes, the mayors car!"

WOW some of you guys are as bad as me. My license jeopardy right now but that is all warranted and deserved so that is not my story.Years ago when I was nineteen I had drank quite a bit on a Saturday night breaking the law of course because in GA it is in fact illegal to drink at that age. Sunday morning at eleven A.M. or so me and some friends decide to cure said hangover with some greasy good waffle house food. I of course volunteer to drive since I had recently bought my hotrod 90 honda civic dx. I stop at four way stop sign in right before turning right into waffle house I suppose it was a california style stop so I am hit with blue lights in the waffle house parking lot. The officer asks if I have been drinking I reply honestly that while not that day I had tied one on the night before. Since in Ga it is zero tolerence for drinking underage I am charged with DUI and my BAC was .03. I made the mistake of showing up to court unrepresented and ended up with a three year license and countless fines and probation bullE36 M3. Maybe I deserved it for breaking the law but I can't help from being bitter as hell when I think about the whole situation.

Hal wrote: Years ago I almost got one of those bogus "crossing the center line" tickets. I was giving a college classmate a ride home. He had recently gotten me to join a local sports car club. Everone who joined the club got a homemade club tag to run as a front plate on their car. As we were going thru one of those very small towns along the Monongehela River in SW PA we came across a beer truck unloading at the local tavern. Since the road had no parking lane and no shoulder, the truck was parked in the traffic lane. I slowed down, looked ahead and when it was clear went around the truck. A block down the road the town cop waved me over. Comes up to the car and says "I'm going to give you a ticket for crossing the center line. Before I could say anything my friend says "That's E36 M3. Before you do something stupid you better go look at the front of this car." At this point I figure that now I am really in trouble. But the cop go to the front of the car and looks at it for a minute or so. When he comes back he tells me "You should drive carefully and watch out for cars parked along the road. You can go now." I didn't say anything, just started the car and got out of there. I asked my friend what that was all about and he explained it. I could imagine the cop's thinking. "Little red sports car, Black plastic plate with white letters on it. Where have I seen that before? Ah Yes, the mayors car!"

Going to Cal U? I had run ins with cops down there back in the early 90s too when I was attending. What sports car club do you belong to?

I have been lucky to have never gotten a moving violation though I have deserved more than a few. I did get 11 equipment violations in one stop moving a tow truck from our yard to our spray booth. It had been striped to be painted and was missing lots of important pieces while I operated it on 35 feet of public road. They were thrown out and the judge went up one side of the cop and down the other. The judge was sure that as a maniac tow truck driver there were legitamate tickets I could get and this was a waste of time.

My cousin Aaron entered a car in the local demolition derby about 20 years ago. He didn't have a trailer to haul it to the event (and the car wasn't coming home), so he just drove it the five miles into town. He got pulled over with one mile to go, and the city police officer was nice enough to give him a warning, but Aaron was told he had to call a tow truck or get a trailer-the car wasn't supposed to drive another foot.

After sitting for about 30 minutes, and not having money for a tow, my cousin said "screw it". He got in the car and drove the final mile. He figured the cop was probably on the other side of town by now. At the entrance to the fairgrounds, there was a county sheriff directing traffic. He yelled at Aaron to pull over, and told him he'd be getting a ticket for driving the car on the road. Right then, a hay wagon turned the corner and dumped the entire load across the street. The cop yelled at Aaron to get off the street and into the fairgrounds.

Since in Ga it is zero tolerence for drinking underage I am charged with DUI and my BAC was .03.

Can we have your drinking and driving laws please?

You know, really, it is stories like this that virtually all of us have that makes us all hate cops. They have a sucky job, sure, but being the county armed tax collector instead of bad guy catcher instills in us all a deep hatred for cops and the legal system. This will greatly add to the downfall of our society. I'll remind you all that Uncle Bill added another hundred thousand of these armed bandits to our country. W gave us the Department of Homeland Security. Uncle O has been suggesting a new national police force as well funded as our military to keep us in line.

It has been my observation that three types of people become law enforcement officers: 1. Those that want to shoot someoene and get away with it. 2. Bullies. 3. People who really want to help their community, get bad guys off the street, etc. #3's usually burn out and become #2's or go into some other line of work like lawyering, bail bondsman, or anything else they can find.

Obstructed view for having a radar detector on my windshield. Was doing my good deed and designated driver-in my drunk ass friends home. Took a left at an intersection and got nailed with that. Was probably using that as a pretense to see if I was driving drunk (and it was the first week of the fall semester here in boston, soo...idiot students with mommy and daddy's food money burning a hole in their pockets) . Fought it on principle and reamed the officer a new one for 1. printing out the the massachusetts general law he quoted I violated and how that the radar detector tucked behind windshield wipers was not impeding the safe operations of my vehicle. Corrected the officer for what he actually pulled me over for (the report was umm....scant at best) , oh yeah...and for getting the plate number of my car wrong.

jimbob_racing wrote: Going to Cal U? I had run ins with cops down there back in the early 90s too when I was attending. What sports car club do you belong to?

Years ago in this case was 1965 (graduated in 66) I commuted from Irwin to the college every day for 4 years and that was the only time I was ever stopped. Yes, I do belive in miracles!!

The car club was the Twin Rivers Sports Car Club based out of Belle Vernon. I doubt it is even in existence now since most of the members were students at the college back then.

"Road Rage." Fortunately that one was just a warning. Cop asked my wife "Does he drive like this all the time?" At which point, I busted out laughing, as the proper response would have been "Only when he's been drinking!"

Well first there was the u-turn on the interstate where I could see so far down the road that there was nothing at all unsafe about it.

And then there was the getting sideways around a corner and the cop following me 3 miles home before deciding to turn on his lights.

SVreX wrote: I'm sitting on one right now that really pisses me off. The "Move over" law in GA may cost me $500. Basically, this law requires you move over 1 lane when there are emergency personel on the shoulder.

Thanks for that info; I didn't realize we had that law in GA.

I did learn that they have that law in Indiana. I was driving a powder blue '67 Lincoln convertible, and my father, who'd just bought the car at auction, was following me in his '02 Caddy.

Barely a mile from the auction, we passed a trooper ticketing a car in the emergency lane. Didn't think much of it, as we'd never heard of a pull over law, but soon enough, I spotted blue lights in the rear-veiw. Not behind me, but behind my dad!

As dad pulled over, I did as well, since we were essentially a "convoy". The trooper was quizzing dad as I walked up, and he asked me why I had stopped. We explained that we were driving together, and were unfamiliar with that Indiana law. He let up pass on that one.

But then he issued dad a $20 ticket for not wearing his seat belt. As he was writing it, he looked up at me, and said, "You're allright, though, since the car you're driving was built before seat belts were required." Apparently he thought the Lincoln was about 5 years older than it was, cuz every '67 I've ever ridden in had belts IIRC.

Mine was the first ticket I ever got. I was leaving my High School in my '82 CJ-7 Jeep and my buddy was driving really slowly in front of me, so I just put the two right wheels up on the curb and passed him. Two cars behind was a school district cop and he immediately pulled me over and gave me a ticket for "Failure to pass on the left" and threatened to give me one for wreckless endangerment (is going about 15 mph). The ticket cost me $95 and little grief the following day at school...

NYG95GA wrote: Apparently he thought the Lincoln was about 5 years older than it was, cuz every '67 I've ever ridden in had belts IIRC.

The federal law was '67 for seat belts, '73 for shoulder belts. You usually have to dig around the codified laws to find the exact provision in your state, but in most they do not require belts in pre-'73 because the lap belt only is arguably more dangerous.

While stationed in both CT and NY with the Navy I actually carried a certified copy of the seat belt section out of the state code with me clipped to the visor. Seemed every single cop thought it was his duty to pull me over in the old Dodge or Opel and give me grief about seat belts. It usually took a couple of months worth of arguing every time I went to a new base to prove the base security wrong too.

Wrong way on a one-way street - on a bicycle. I was on campus, where riding bikes on the sidewalk was legal, and approached but did not touch a large traffic circle. I used the sidewalk and crosswalks properly to get to the right side of the boulevard I needed. The Kampus Kop, Officer Speed (his real name!), was a block away, near where I was going. I wound up taking the Safe Driving course to wipe it out.

Later that summer, I happened to witness the same cop watch and stop an offender in the same area. A girl definitely rode her bike the length of the Engineering Quad on the wrong side, right up to the cop. He stopped her, she argued, and he let her off.

Apparently, I didn't show enough - or the right kind of - cleavage.

Jensenman wrote: Gameboy, the cops down there wil yank your license for 75 MPH? Up here, they don't even look up. Many's the time I have been doing 85 MPH (roughly 135 KPH) in a 70 MPH zone and been passed like I was standing still by SUVs full of kids and stuff.

Oh yeah, over 120kph they'll take your license for life if they're in a bad mood, but in practice they usually enforce it above 160. They say if you get clocked at over 160, don't even lift off the gas...I say don't get clocked over 160