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
I hand over my driver’s license and my military retiree ID card.
I hit record on my phone and place my hands in plain view on the steering wheel, because American cops are often poorly trained trigger-happy goons.
Whip it out. It has to work sooner or later, right?
Pee my pants. If youre going to say that youre rushing home to go to the bathroom, sell it. And nobody wants to ticket the guy that peed their pants.
“siri, start recording audio”
A bit new to this, but I feel like having young children in the back can help put things at ease. Especially if they keep interrupting cutely about a cop being there or that Mommy is going to hear about this one.
My wife has the absolute best strategy. For14 years, she has daily driven a Jeep Wrangler TJ. Twice she has been pulled over when driving one of my cars, and she has been immediately “I know this was going to happen” when they got to her window. “I told my husband I was going to get a ticket driving this thing” is her 100% honest line. Officer then asks something like “why is that?” She then explains what her usual vehicle is and how it feels and accelerates.
If you are speeding in a Jeep Wrangler, you KNOW you are speeding, it is not happy. In a Jaguar XJR? Hardly notice.
Both times they let her go with a warning.
I just act super friendly and talk and talk. And if they ask me to stop talking, I apologize and then … talk and talk and talk. They either get tired of it and leave me alone or they talk back because their job is kind of boring and lonely.
I usually go for windows down, hands on the wheel, and try to make them laugh and otherwise be honest. I had a couple chats with the state police back home where they let me off with a verbal warning despite doing at least 15 over because I informed them I was carrying and I’d have to reach past it to get my license and permit and asked what they’d like me to do. I always got a thank you for alerting them and it led to a conversation about how they wished more people would be up front about that.
Last time I got pulled over, I was not. I knew I was being followed but not why, given it was a new car that I had picked up a month ago, everything worked, I hadn’t been speeding, etc. The sheriff had every intention of hauling me to jail for what he thought were bogus plates on my car until I produced all the paperwork. He walked around the car, saw my registration sticker, I handed him the paperwork from the dealership and DMV, and he just stared in disbelief. We had a good laugh about it, he fixed the DMV error in the system he’d never seen before, apologized to me, and I was on my way. I don’t know how you get plates and registration without being in the system, but apparently it can happen.
Hot, steamy, rancid, upholstery-ruining fart that reeks of the decaying remains of an elder god. Then roll the window down juuuuussst as they walk up. Act nonchalant.
Bonus, if you get pulled over a lot then eventually your car will always smell like that. Win-win?
+1 on the being honest part. I wish I had the brains to figure that out when I was a dumb kid.
One thing I would add is that when the lights come on, wave to the officer to acknowledge that you see you’re being pulled over so they know if you need a little extra time to find a safe place to pull off. Have your license and registration at the ready and be prepared to wait around a bit – even if you haven’t done anything wrong it usually takes a little while for them to check on things.
Then, yeah, be honest. I once got pulled over on I-64 when I had my ’91 Corvette. When I pulled over, the officer pulled in front of me with another car. I (stupidly) thought he was pulling someone else over and I left the scene. He caught up quickly, pulled me over again, took my license and registration, and went back to deal with the other cars. It turns out he was pulling a whole line of us over for tailgating. We weren’t going crazy speeds (I think I was about ten over), but we were definitely following too close (the guy behind me was on my bumper, which is pretty terrifying in a C4, so I was doing my best to try and stay ahead of him).
I had plenty of chill time as he left me there for a while while he ticketed the other drivers, and I was a little older and wiser at this point. I calmly explained my dumb mistake, apologized, and told him I should have known he was pulling me over – especially because of the front license plate, then we had this exchange:
Officer: Why don’t you have a front license plate?
Me: I am not going to lie to you…
Officer: You’re a Corvette owner and you don’t like the way it looks.
Me: Yes.
Officer: Ok. I’m going to write you a ticket for the license plate and let you off on everything else.
Me: Deal! Thank you!
Believe me, I was super relieved to pay a cheap ticket when I could have gotten written up for speeding, tailgating, evading arrest, and probably a few more things. All because I was honest.
I’m a big fan of Alternate Ticket Options. Worst case, you are out a few extra $$$.
“Sir, do you know why I pulled you over?”
“No, but I’m sure you can’t wait to tell me!”
Seriously, I just roll the window down and wait, if the wife and/or kids are with me I’m usually fine, if I’m on my own I’m getting a ticket.
I follow the advice from an adjunct professor (retired local PD turned FBI later in his career) I had for criminal justice 101, which is very similar to author’s:
Why should one admit what they did? They can tell me. I don’t have to say I did it.
I’d say ask my old prof, but I’m sure he’s dead.
haha. 🙂
Undo a couple of shirt buttons, show some leg, bat my eyelashes and play innocent.
Works nevery time!
That would only work if the cop happens to like hairy chests… and if he does, it might not go very well after that…
I dunno, I’ve never tried it on a guy cop.
Honestly, there’s a large dose of luck involved too. I’ve been pulled over three times, and only one of them was because I had done anything wrong. The other two were for dead lights that I could not possibly have fixed in the time since they died. It always makes me wonder how other people get away with driving around with a head or tail light out. Both times I’ve had it happen I got pulled over within five minutes.
Honesty and making them laugh goes a long way. Got pulled mid-burnout in my old V6 Mustang fresh out of high school. Told the state trooper that I had just gotten the car fixed after a few weeks of it being down and had a rough day at work(had on a grocery store uniform). He let me off with a written warning and a “make smart choices” speech.
I’ve always wanted to just distract them from the actual offense. I’ll never try and I don’t think it would work, but it would be hilarious to me.
“Do you know why I pulled you over?”
“Is it my taillight that’s out?”
“No, I didn’t see that–”
“Could you check?”
“Looks like it’s working.”
“Maybe it was a brake light, let me hit the brakes for you.”
“Brake lights are good.”
“How about my turn signals?”
“Left is good. Yeah, so is right.”
“Up front, too?”
“Sure, I’ll check. Left’s good. Right’s good.”
“Headlights?”
“Yeah, they look good. High beams? Yep, all good.”
“Thanks for checking all that for me, sir, you have a good night.”
That’s good bit regardless if you ever get to do it in real life!
The last time I was pulled over I was going 79 in a 70 (with cruise control active) in my former daily: a red WRX.
The blue lights turned on and I did what I always do: I pulled over to the side of the road, turned off my engine, pulled up the parking brake, gathered the necessary materials on the dash, opened the window, and set my hands high on the wheel.
I turned to my partner and said something along the lines of “well, they got me fair and square” and that I would be paying that ticket. Well, would you believe this fine, upstanding state trooper lied and told me he was pacing me going 96 (or 94 or 95; he changed the speed a lot during our conversation)? I laughed out loud and said “I’m still on cruise control and the speed I selected is visible right there on my dash”.
He took my licence and registration and walked back to his car. I turned to my partner and my conciliatory tone was gone: “I’m going to fight this; would you be willing to testify in court?” They said “yes” immediately. The trooper returned, told me I had a perfect driving record and that he “didn’t want to ruin that” and let me go.
I think he expected something other than a pair of sober 30-somethings on their way to a weekend away when he pulled over that WRX. I hope I still have the dash cam recording of that interaction somewhere.
It’s funny how quickly the lie just becomes irrelevant instead of being corrected in these situations. I had a similar situation, and the cop said he had radared me, then said it was either me or the guy next to me, then said he was just giving me a warning because he didn’t want to give me a point on my clean record.
I think he just saw a Civic and decided I was probably a racer.
I was also pulled over with a carload of youth group once because we “fit a description” (which is to say he thought we were partying). Never did say what the description was or what crime it was attached to, and he never even looked at my license.
Why was that trooper allowed to lie so blithely to me? Why do we allow a man with a gun, who has the right to pull me out of my car and imprison me, to lie about the actions I was taking that would enable him to arrest me without repercussion?
Also they do not even have to come to your house if you call them. So yay tax payer money for people only enforce laws that they feel like.
The courts have continually expressly enabled the police to do a lot of things and granted broad immunity even when their actions are not justified. And, even if a cop oversteps the boundaries of immunity, they are generally allowed to resign and go find a smaller agency that will take them. And the cops protect their own, so things don’t often get out to bring them down.
I was writing a piece on (now former) Washington State Trooper Michael Idland while he was awaiting trial for molesting women during traffic stops. The WSP didn’t even want to send me their policies regarding paid/unpaid leave (while they were paying him the entire time he was in a cell). When they finally complied with the public information request, the policies they sent clearly referenced unpaid leave policies that they did not include.
The prosecutor accepted an Alford plea (defendant admits he’d be found guilty, but does not admit guilt) and the judge sentenced him to time served plus probation and made him pay for his incarceration, but he did not get sex offender status and was allowed to resign from the State Patrol.
I have also personally talked to a judge (I knew his son) who felt justified in ruling that a cop who saw an Altoids tin was justified in an unwarranted search because the tin is a known drug container, so the drugs were in plain view.
The whole system enables bad cops. Partially because the police are assumed to be just and honest, but also because the bad actors already in want to protect themselves, and that often means enabling even worse folks.
I have been driving a WRX for 5 years now and haven’t been pulled over in it yet (knock on wood). They are totally a cop magnet though and I am very careful in areas with police presence because I know they would pull over a blue WRX for any speeding but probably wouldn’t pull over a white Buick doing the same speed.
Very, very true: it’s a self-reinforcing feedback loop. Cops look for these because they’re ticketed, and now they’re ticketed more than they would otherwise be, which means cops look for these…
This traffic stop was honestly the last straw with my ownership of that car — and one of many, MANY problems — and I think I sold it within a couple weeks. I hope yours is going strong and treating you well!
It is going strong for sure. The most expensive trip to the shop so far has been pads and rotors. I honestly would have done them myself but it is a company car. It only has about 80,000 km on it because I didn’t drive much from 2020 to 2022.
I’ve purposely kept stock wheels and exhaust on my Bugeye just to not attract (more) attention.
Friend of mine definitely got a double-take when pulled over in his old WRX. Gray hair really throws them off their game.
I start figuring out how I’m going to explain this one to the wife.
In 48 years of driving, I’ve been lit up three times. I only got out of one ticket.
The first time, a CHP officer pulled me over doing 70 during the 55 mph era. I pulled over as soon as I saw the lights, rolled the window down and had my hands on the sill when he walked up. He explained he had clocked me at 70, lost me in traffic and then clocked me still doing 70 a few miles later. He was nice enough to only write me up for 63 and a traffic class/wasted Saturday erased that.
A few years later, I was heading home at night from the TV station I worked at on a Suzuki 550 and exited the freeway and got up to about 110 on the completely empty frontage road before I thought “if there’s a cop on the freeway, I’m going to be busted” and slowed down. As soon as I got into town, the lights came on.
I pulled over, shut the bike down and was pulling my helmet off as the officer walked up. I had worked previously as a police beat reporter for a newspaper in that city and the officer, now a lieutenant, lived next door to our office. He immediately recognized me as we had occasionally spent time drinking beer and joking on his porch on evenings off.
Coolest cop ever: “Bill! How the hell are you?”
Me: “I dunno Chris. You tell me.”
CCE: “Oh hang on a second… (into his radio) Davis, 3L-12, I lost him.”
Sure enough, there had been another officer on the freeway who spotted me and radioed ahead.
That weekend, I showed up on CCE’s doorstep with a case of his favorite beer.
The last time I was pulled over isn’t worth talking about and was dismissed when a scheduling snafu for night court occurred.
Sounds like a motorcycle cop.
My usual is to provide no information beyond what is required, but be as courteous and deferential as I can (while offering no admission of guilt). “Do you know how fast you were going?” “I was focusing on traffic and my surroundings, so I’m not entirely sure, sir, but I felt was going with the flow of traffic.”
I have received three tickets and some number of warnings. Including warnings for things that were perfectly legal (went through a yellow light in a permissive yellow state, for example). The tickets are old enough to no longer matter, although only one ever showed on my driving record, since I had one deferred and the one received on Joint Base Lewis-McChord was never reported to any state agency.
I am a slow driver so getting pulled over isn’t something I think about. Theoretically, I would do all of the things reasonable people recommend (roll down the windows, hands where the officer can see them, let the officer know what you are doing, etc.). In practice, I don’t think I did any of that when I was pulled over in 2020 for the first time in around 20 years. At first, I didn’t think the officer was even pulling me over. When I saw the officer behind me with his lights on, I pulled over to let him pass and was shocked when he stopped behind me. I was so caught off guard that I didn’t even remember to roll down the windows, much less do anything strategically to get out of a ticket. Fortunately, the officer was nice and the stop was brief and uneventful. It helps that I was pulled over for something stupid (I picked up my phone for ~15 seconds at a red light to read a text message, which is technically illegal). I got a warning and haven’t been pulled over since.
I guess my “go to move” when being pulled over is to look like a flustered innocent nerd. I’m not sure I would recommend that strategy, but it worked for me.
Tell the truth, be respectful and humble! Admit you made a mistake, and that you are truly sorry! Popo let me off when I ran a red light in front of him. It was stupid, and I wasn’t even late to work!
Paperclip a $100 bill to the back of my drivers license and see what happens from there?
Also make to so have a box of donuts with you.
Some people I’ve know have said to the officer: “Here, hold my beer while I look for that stuff you’re asking about.”
I knew a guy I went to high school with that when asked if he had been drinking this evening he said ” No, why? Is your mom in my back seat?”
If you can believe it, he was arrested even though he was sober.
HAHAHA