BS Traffic Ticket
- Thread starter Trekker4747
- Start date
Nice work man...take your medicine and pay the ticket.
It was dark outside, being pre-dawn and all. Also, there's a lot of marked police cars around here that do not have the lightbar on top (despite being a black and white) and the emergency lights are in the rearwindow/on the pushbar.
I glanced over at the car fairly quickly and just saw it as nothing more than "a car" some distance away and not something to be concerned about.
Well, next time look more closely before running a red light then. 
I was in a similar situation to Trekker several years ago. The light wasn't changing, so I made a right turn. The problem was that I wasn't in the right hand lane. The car behind me was a cop (which I couldn't see because my mirror was broken) and I got a ticket for it.
Had I been the cop and observed everything as you have described it, I would have let you off with a warning.
Unless it's an emergency, I would say sit at the light no matter how long it takes. If it really is malfunctioning and enough traffic gets backed up the cops will come along shortly and get everyone on their way with no need to do anything unlawful.
Unless it's an emergency, I would say sit at the light no matter how long it takes. If it really is malfunctioning and enough traffic gets backed up the cops will come along shortly and get everyone on their way with no need to do anything unlawful.
They don't always have them.
Indeed. I once got pulled over by a cop who was driving a silver Volvo who had his headlights alternating back and forth. No siren. No blue/red flashing lights. The guy followed me forever before I even realized what was going on.
Yep. Because cops have a monitoring maching they're looking at a 5:30 in the morning that let them know right away when lights are screwing up so people should just sit there and wait a couple minutes for the cops to get there and take care of it.
That, or I live in the real world where I'd be waiting at that light for an hour for a cop to get there.
How about simply using your mobile phone to contact the police dispatcher and report the errant traffic signal?
What's a mobile phone?
Yep. Because cops have a monitoring maching they're looking at a 5:30 in the morning that let them know right away when lights are screwing up so people should just sit there and wait a couple minutes for the cops to get there and take care of it.
That, or I live in the real world where I'd be waiting at that light for an hour for a cop to get there.
I doubt it would take long, if the cars started getting backed up in a line, before someone would put in a call to alert the cops that there was a problem with the light.
In that situation, the safest thing to do is assume that any car you see is a police car, marked or unmarked. Compare the time you have spent and will spend thinking about the incident and fighting the ticket to the time it would have taken to let the car pass by.
It's hard to imagine myself going through a red light, just because I'm insane about following rules, but I've never been in a situation where I felt I needed to, either. I've been through some really awful lights, but I'll usually just turn or try to find another way if I'm not locked into my course of action.
I would have driven to the police station assuming it was a whack-job following me, then when he presents himself as a cop, I would file a complaint saying I was being stalked by a creep.
Wig-wags alone do not a police car make. Without a red or blue lights who knows who is trying to pull you over.
And then the police officer would give you a ticket for being on your cellphone while driving.
He wasn't driving. He was stopped at red light.
And then the police officer would give you a ticket for being on your cellphone while driving.
He wasn't driving. He was stopped at red light.
Such details won't always stop a citation. I know from a friend's account that it's possible to get a DUI while parked.
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