Getting pulled over for no reason

[fireheart17]

Over here, P-Plates* are basically easy targets for police officers. This seems to go up if you happen to be:

-Male.
-Under 25.
-Driving a Holden Commodore or Mitsubishi Lancer.

Now while P-Platers over here are subject to a number of restricted conditions (YMMV on what those conditions actually ARE), the P-Platers are often pulled over in times when a fully-licenced driver is CLEARLY flouting the law. They ignore him/her to go after the P-Plater.

Example: Random Breath Testing spots. Across all states, P-Platers are meant to have a zero BAC. Other states vary in what the limit is for fully-licenced drivers (usually .05). The cops will be happy to wave in the P-Plater who's driving absolutely normal, but will quite happily ignore the VERY drunk driver in the car right behind them who will more than likely get away with it.

The second those P-Plates come off however, you're suddenly able to fly under the radar and basically do what you want (to a point)

(You'd actually be surprised at the fact that the people on P-Plates who DO want to flout the law are either too dumb or too proud to take their P-Plates OFF their car )

*P-Plates are basically the halfway point between a learner driver and a fully-fledged driver. Usually this means you can drive solo, but you're subject to a bundle of restrictions. Those restrictions vary between states.

[wraiths_crono]

Ive been pulled over once for something silly: I looked suspicious, but it took me dropping a family name before they would say what that suspicion was: drug running, in an ol beater truck, filled with phone books in the bed (my job at that time) driving through a higher class area. 5 cars tho and they kept demanding to search me, stated no without a warrant as they had no real claims to anything I may have been up to (except delivering a phonebook anyway)

Sometimes they do these things because they guess they MIGHT find something more, some do it because they know many people wont argue back as well. Some enjoy the power pulling people over gives them.

[HEMI6point1]

I haven't been pulled over (yet - knock on wood), but the most ridiculous ticket I've read about was on a forum dedicated to a certain modern American muscle car (think retro-styled 2 door with a HEMI).

He said that in his town he was probably one of the first ones to get one in a certain limited edition color, so of course people are going to look.

A cop pulled him over for "driving with intent to distract." The cop's reason? Too many people were rubbernecking his car.

The ticket IIRC was close to 400 dollars. Yikes! Can you imagine what the fine would be if he drove a Ferrari?

And yes, he fought it....

[sophie]

Apparently when the cops ran the plates and my license and I haven't committed any crimes or even had parking ticket that was suspicious too. I thought being a law abiding citizen was a good thing.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

Police here can pull you over at any time for a random licence and registration check, or to breathalyse the driver.

I've twice been pulled over, once on my bike, and just before this Easter in the car, for a 'random' check, where the cops both times admitted they pulled me over because of the vehicle - they admired them and wanted a closer look!

The bike one was funny. It happened at Phillip Island (home of our MotoGP and Superbike track), and I was there for the Superbike races. I was pulled up on the main road through Cowes, the town closest to the track. There was a constant stream of bikes going past, all of whom noticed the lone female rider pulled up with the cop. Every single bike that went by gave me a 'you ok?' gesture, and I tried to quietly return 'all's fine' while talking to the police officer - I didn't want an incident from misplaced chivalry. And he told me straight up, he just wanted to see the bike up close, and did it go well, and so on. He was very friendly and pleasant, so I didn't mind a bit of a chat. I did draw the line at leaving him the bike in my will though! :-)

[Kristev]

It actually can get worse. Around here, cops like to bother people for not having cars, as if walking everywhere you go made you a criminal by default.

[protege]

I've twice been pulled over, once on my bike, and just before this Easter in the car, for a 'random' check, where the cops both times admitted they pulled me over because of the vehicle - they admired them and wanted a closer look!

I had a cop flag me down once over in Mt. Lebanon. For those of you not familiar with the area, it's a pretty snooty section of town. Since it was a nice day, I took the MG. Nothing really unusual about that--it's been to the hobby shop and my grandmother's place several times. What was odd, is that not even a block from the shop, a Mt. Lebo cop flagged me over.

As I'm pulling to a stop, I'm trying to figure out what I'd done wrong. Sure, the car is loud, but I wasn't speeding. I didn't blow through any stop signs or red lights

So I'm all "what's wrong officer?" and start getting the insurance/registration info for him. Turns out he just wanted a closer look at the car. Seriously? Way to give me a heart attack! Good thing he didn't bother checking things closely. He missed the lack of seat belts, the elderly tires, and the missing license plate light on the passenger side.

Needless to say, I took the long way home--well off the main roads

[indigo]

It actually can get worse. Around here, cops like to bother people for not having cars, as if walking everywhere you go made you a criminal by default.

My younger brother has been stopped three times in the last week and a half by cops who demand to see his ID - and he's on a bicycle. The third time he asked the officer what probable cause he had for stopping him and demanding ID - the cop called for backup.

Now we're in a rural (ignorant redneck) town and my brother has long hair and a penchant for wearing dark colors. Gee - wonder why he keeps getting pulled? Of course they won't do anything about the oversized jacked pickups that like to swerve close to him when he's on his bike, but by golly they've got to do something about that "weirdo" on the bike.