We’ve all been there. Sitting in the driver’s seat when blue and red lights begin to flash directly behind us on the road. Sometimes it’s obvious, other times it’s a surprise, and either way, the mission is clear when it happens… get out of the ticket(s). So today, we ask you: what’s your go-to move when you get pulled over?
Granted, not everyone has had their own run-in(s) with the law and to you saints, I’ll just say, congrats. And please don’t brag too loudly. For the rest of us, it’s almost a rite of passage to deal with traffic officers from time to time. I’d reckon a guess that we all sort of get used to a specific course of action over the years.
Here’s mine: When the lights flip on I do my best to pull over to the safest spot I can possibly find as quickly as possible. In fact, the last time an officer of the law pulled me over I actually took the time to exit the highway completely before pulling over which I don’t think he loved. At the same time, I’m not about to sit on the side of the highway while cars whizz by at 80 mph+ if I don’t have to.
Next, I roll down my windows, turn off the car, and typically place my hands on the wheel or even on the window sill. This move actually had an officer once ask me why I did it and I simply said “I know you feel safer if you can see my hands,” which I hope is accurate. It’s worth admitting that if it’s nighttime and the officer shines his spotlight in my driver’s mirror I intentionally position it away so that it’s not in my eyes the whole time (I used to try and make it reflect into the cab of the patrol car. Avoid this move).
These may not be the steps you thought we were talking about but here’s why I bring them up: I’m trying to disarm the officer (not literally and physically, obviously). I’m trying to get them on my side a little bit and help them see me as a normal person, not a suspect.
In some cases, that seems to work well. I’ve received a handful of warnings in the past for both warranted and (in my opinion) unwarranted stops. In other cases, nothing seemed to matter. One time, after several years of maintaining a clean record, a motorcycle police officer pulled me over for going 37 in a 35. He claimed that I was in a temporary 25 mph school zone (from 7 am – 3 pm) and wrote the ticket despite my pleas to let me go with a warning. Did it matter that it was June and school wasn’t in session? Of course not.
If I had to simplify my “go-to move,” however, it would simply be: be honest. Once, over a decade ago, I was pulled over for what the police would call street racing (I’d call it enthusiastic but responsible enjoyment of a sporting automobile), and I’ll admit that I was for sure at least five mph over the local limit. The Camaro driver following me was also probably over the speed limit. I couldn’t see all the way back behind me where the Camaro was, but it’s a solid guess. In any case, three officers pulled up behind my WRX, and when one approached the door, I just owned it.
“What were you doing?” the officer asked. “Being an idiot,” I replied. Not more than ten minutes later I was driving away with not even a written warning.
What’s your go-to move when you’re pulled over? Are you just straightforward with the officer(s)? Do you have a specific excuse for different perceived infractions? Do you crack your window six inches and tell the officer that you’re not driving, but instead that you’re traveling? Tell us in the comments and don’t try that last one. It doesn’t usually end well.
Top image: screen grab, Super Troopers; Fox/YouTube
Hands on the wheel, and just be truthful. If I was speeding, I say exactly why. They generally just give me a look of “You dumbass” and let me go after running my documents. This works well because I’m a white male. I cannot say what would work otherwise. Also, the last time I was even pulled over was probably around 2012 or so.
I’d also like to say I was pulled over by the same cop in the same place 24 hours later. I was just in a different car. I was 16. He said, “Didn’t I just pull you over here yesterday?” and I said, “Yes sir, you did.” and he looked at my license and said “Just slow the f**k down.” and handed it back to me.
Only been pulled over once. Had just gotten my Thunderbird road-legal and had had a bad day at work- had a lot of emotions to take out, got clocked at ~150 km/h in a 100 zone. Normally that’s a “we’re impounding your car, have fun walking home” violation, so I was shitting a brick- but I guess the officer saw me for the scared kid I was because after talking for a minute he let me off with a warning. I think I went about 20 under the limit everywhere I went for the next week.
Still remember the line he gave that made me realize I wasn’t going to go to jail. He asked what year it was, I said 1990, and he said “You’re lucky, because I can’t write a ticket for a ride this nice.” It’s a good thing it was dark so he couldn’t see the rust (sweats)
I haven’t been pulled over in over 20 years now. I saw the question and was thinking hard about when I was last pulled over. Last time would have been in 2001 when a cop I think had a mistaken identity thing and chastised me for aggressive driving after someone had cut me off in traffic. I think he wanted the guy who cut in front of me, saw my face an realized he’d grabbed the wrong car. No written warning, just me really confused for being blamed for the aggressive maneuver that was just done to me.
Which is to say, I have no moves.
Definitely find the safest place to quickly pull over. I’ve pulled into parking lots or well off the side of the highway so he doesn’t need to stand in the road. I also agree with the interior lights on and windows down advice here. And then just sit there, don’t reach for shit or put things away that you don’t want seen.
Hands on the wheel. Passenger hands in sight. Interior light on. Car turned off. Sunglasses off. Succinct answers. Do not deny. Be polite and comply with orders. If I’m on a motorcycle, I put my hands back on the saddlebags so they can see them as they approach. Passengers are to remain quiet unless directly asked a question.
I don’t want any kind of reticence on their part, nor do I want to be particularly memorable. If they ask for my documentation, I tell them where it is and that I’m going to reach for it. “My wallet’s in my back right pocket and I’m going to get it out.” “The registration is in the glovebox and I’m going to reach for it.”
I have friends that are cops and traffic stops are the most fraught part of their everyday work. I start from working to defuse any tension by helping the officer feel safe.
It works for getting out of tickets, too. I got yanked one time in Utah, crossing down into Page, AZ. Stopped for 75 in a 55 on my R12RT, we were polite and wound up talking about dirt bikes. He let me slide. But Page, AZ was visible down the road and he told me to “watch out, the cops around Page are assholes and they won’t cut you an inch of slack.”
No surprises. No friction. If I want to fight the ticket, that happens in court. No sense pissing the cop off right then.
Honesty does work. The cops expect to be lied to and taken for fools. Being truthful and saying “I have no excuse, I fucked up, write me up if you have to, it’s your job, I understand” did get me out of a few tickets.
Agree, be truthful and respectful with in the US or elsewhere. I’ve also found an original story they haven’t heard may work. Got stopped for an illegal U-Turn. Admitted I knew it was illegal. Excuse – I was home visiting from my job in Nicaragua where everyone pretty much did whatever and forgot I was in the States. No ticket.
Usually just yell “DONUTS! DONUTS!”
Ha ha, I just do all the normal things that you’re supposed to do as mentioned so I won’t repeat them…
but will add to always keep donuts in your car and offer them 1, or a dozen
My Sheriff’s Deputy friend refers to them as “power rings”.
Depends.
If I did it and I know I did it, I will be as obsequious as possible – apologizing, admitting it was dumb, etc. I’m a white dude with a clean driving record so I’m lucky in that I don’t generally have much to fear from run of the mill interactions with cops.
If I did it but didn’t know I did (like U-turning illegally cause I missed the no u-turns sign) I’ll just say I didn’t see the sign/didn’t know it was illegal. This has always resulted in just a warning.
If I didn’t do anything wrong and the cop is just being an asshole (for example a cop on the sidewalk running up to my car when I parked and accusing me of “almost hitting” a pedestrian that was 25 feet from the crosswalk when I started my turn) I’ll be a dick to them. In that case, I said no I didn’t, they were well clear of the street when I turned, then I asked if I was being detained and when he said no I walked away.
Taking my kid to middle school in our Previa (major mortifier for a teen) I was pulled over for speeding within view of other kids. I told the truth, which was this: I was listening to the then-new release from William Shatner on the radio. It was his piece “You’ll Have Time”, which includes the lines, “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, But you’re gonna die”. I was paying attention to the hillarious speak-song, and not the road.
I was let off with a warning, and thus my story of the Captain Kirk defense. Well, it worked once, not sure it would ever again.
So, you cheated.
COTD right here
He doesn’t believe in the no-win scenario.
“Do you know why I pulled you over?”
“Uhh, because you’re an asshole?”
The usual, pull over, hazards on, window down, paperwork ready. But for fucks sake, all of these answers about what to say are wrong. The only acceptable answer, at least in the US, is *nothing*. You do not have to talk to the cops. It can only screw you over if you do. Present your license and registration when asked, make no sudden movements, and say nothing. Comply with orders, but not requests (“Can you step out of the car?” is a request, “Step out of the car now!” is an order). Orders may or may not be lawful, your lawyer can argue it in court later, but if you accede to a request, you are admitting everything that results from that request as lawful evidence. Conversely, everything that follows from an unlawful order is inadmissible as evidence.
The only exception to this is if the officer asks to search your vehicle, state loudly enough for the body cams/dash cams to pick it up that you do not consent to a search (unfortunately, 4th Amendment rights have to be positively asserted, they are not assumed by default).
The entire point of this is to deny cops any probable cause for any shenanigans. They can pull you over for an observed traffic offense, and then they can detain you for a reasonable amount of time to complete their investigation- this is the key point: EVERY TIME YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND TALK TO A COP, YOU GIVE THEM MORE JUSTIFICATION TO EXTEND THE STOP AND ESCALATE THE SITUATION. Do not do this. If you shut up and say nothing (other than denying consent to be searched), you have provided the minimum amount of legal ammunition for the cop to use to justify their actions. While the supreme court has declined to name an exact figure, generally speaking the maximum amount of time for a simple traffic stop to be executed with no aggravating factors (and if you shut up and say nothing, the chance of those aggravating factors drops nearly to zero) is ten-ish minutes. More than that and the courts generally start ruling “unreasonable detention.”
This concludes my rant on “unless you called them, cops are never your friends, shut up and don’t talk to them.” Your future lawyer thanks you in advance.
Ehhhh, this depends. If you’re a group that isn’t unfairly targeted by cops and what you’ve been pulled over for is pretty minor, you can often get out of a lot of time and hassle by either admitting you were going 10 over or saying you don’t know how fast you were going, or whatever. Yes, this is technically an admission that you broke the law and can be used against you if you fight the ticket, but if you act all weird and just repeat “I don’t answer questions” or whatever, the cop will (unfairly) extend the stop and will certainly give you a ticket meaning you either have to pay it or show up to fight it. That sucks and shouldn’t happen, but it’s the practical reality.
Note this ONLY applies for minor traffic infractions when you don’t have anything in the car! If the cops ask you for permission to search your car, say no, if they start asking prying questions that have nothing to do with the traffic stop, say you’d like to speak to a lawyer, and if they’re accusing you of things that go beyond a minor traffic infraction, ask for a lawyer. Your future criminal defense lawyer (which maybe would have been me, but I don’t take individual clients anymore) will definitely thank you.
No, the “I don’t answer questions” crowd is being confrontational, and speaking 4 words too many. Silence, coupled with a slight smile is about as non-confrontational as you can get. It is also just as likely to get you off with a warning as admitting you were speeding, with the added bonus that it is extremely easy to fight the ticket, vs admitting to a body camera that you were in fact violating the law. If a cop takes offense at your silence and unreasonably extends the stop, then congratulations, it’s a payday. I have an acquaintance who got the capital to start his business off of a settlement for the exact issue- he was pulled over, said nothing, pissed off cop detained him for an hour, called a drug dog, and performed an illegal search. One filing later and the PD was begging to settle to the tune of six figures.
Most cops are reasonable people. Some are not, and encounters with those few can make your life a living hell. Unless you have personal knowledge of the cop pulling you over being a reasonable person, it makes more sense to assume the worst.
Refusing to talk is most certainly not “just as likely to get you off with a warning.”
Well, have to disagree there. It has a 66% success rate for me, and the ticket for the third stop was easily dismissed in court.
Oh, I completely agree that it’s a good practice to A) not admit guilt and B) don’t say “I don’t know” to “Do you know how fast you were going?” And I agree those factors would make fighting a ticket easier if you haven’t admitted you were guilty or that you were unaware of what you were doing. I’m simply saying that doing the whole “I don’t answer questions” is surely increasing the chances that a cop just says okay, and writes you a citation that you now need to try to fight.
Once again, saying “I don’t answer questions” is unnecessarily confrontational, and it’s saying too much. Just… don’t answer the questions. Or say anything, other than to affirmatively assert your Fourth Amendment rights if necessary. Silence is a fantastically disarming tool in interpersonal relations, and keeping the temperature to the minimum in an encounter gives you the best possible odds.
Play dumb. I’d let my inspection go too long and got a warning since I legitimately did not know why I was being stopped. So I played dumb, asked the officer to watch me make an appointment to get it taken care of and got off with a verbal warning. Unless it’s blindingly obvious like way too fast in a 55 and I’d just passed the cop. I pulled over immediately since I saw them whipping around. I talked my way out of that one due to delivering pizza and it being a little traveled road where the only person I’d have directly hurt would be myself.
Pulling over carefully, all windows down, engine off, dome lights on, hands on wheel, head forward. I narrate my movements as well. I have had a couple cops tell me to just relax. Similar to Jason, I think they appreciate the courtesy and hopefully go easier on me. I’ve run into far, far more cool cops than bad ones… not to say there aren’t bad apples but for the most part, they are people, doing a job and just want to get home safe.
It’s more of a prophylactic measure, but I think a well maintained, washed and detailed car (without bumper stickers) goes a long way to influencing how a cop will treat you. Especially if it’s an older car that might otherwise be considered a “shit box”. My theory is that if a cop sees clean wheels and tires, a vacuumed interior, and an organized glovebox then I’m more likely to get favorable treatment. In essence, virtue signalling.
Usually one of three approaches work
“I am on the job asshole and you are about to fuck up my whole case if those turds in front/behind me get away. And if that happens your ass will be collecting change from parking meters til you retire you piss ant scrotum.”
BTW this only usually works on family members on the job.
Quickly eat Alka Seltzer tab, open door and fall on ground foaming at the mouth and having a pretend seizure. It helps to kick your legs a lot so you can nail him in the nuts and then pretend you have lost consciousness.
Or my favorite. ” Do you know who the fuck I am?”
Usually only works if you look like one of the Trump turd kids.
Except for Barron and Tiffany. The seem almost normal looking, well maybe not.
I start meowing
Pull over as soon as safe. Engine off. Flashers on. Windows down. Interior lights on. Hands in my lap. Registration and insurance? “I need to open the glove box.” Moooove sloooow.
I’ve gotten a warning for 30 over and a ticket for 5 over.
I’m always polite, but if the revenue officer is behind on quota, you’re getting a ticket.
3 pages of comments and no-one’s mentioned the Highway Patrolman Ball?
Or the other classic: mention a dead body in the trunk. When the backup arrives, pop the trunk and say “I’ll bet that lying SOB said I was speeding, too!”
Generally, I put on the flashers, pull to the side of the road, park and turn off the car. Windows down, wallet on the dash, hands on the wheel. 2 taps to the back of my phone triggers it to record audio. When instructed to provide my license, I ask permission to reach for my wallet, and then provide the license. Always polite and professional.
The one time I got asked to step out of the car, I slowly opened the door, stepped out, and promptly started to fall over. Cop actually caught me, asked if I was alright, and I explained about my sciatica causing my left leg to go numb. Apologized to him for the inconvenience, sat on the curb while he proceeded to bring the dog to my car (my car had matched the description of a known drug dealer), and the dog did not hit on anything. The officer apologized for the inconvenience, handed me back my license, and asked if I was ok to drive. I said, “I’d better be, since I have a political science exam in 2 hours, and it will take me an hour and a half to get to the university from here.” He laughed, let me go and thanked me for being respectful.
Simple really. Be respectful and try to put the officer at ease.
Like you said, roll down window, car off, hands on wheel. Then if the officer asks for my info, I let them know I am reaching into my pocket then over to the glovebox when they give the go ahead.
If you were speeding say so, don’t try to hide the fact you were doing 90.
I have also been caught off guard. Pulled over in the middle of the night on a lonely highway.
“Why you were going so fast?”
“Trying to keep up with traffic, I am just terrible a it”
In 99.9% of the cases that helps. Though there are few bad apples in every profession.
Bees.