got pulled today

[snakeman]

  while out today i passed a trooper going the opposite direction 60ish in a 40, it was wierd, i knew i was caught so i pulled into a parking lot, i knew because he did a U in the middle of the road.. but no lights and no ticket, not even a written warning,just verbal, he just asked for my license and what year the bike was..i think he just wanted to see it up close LOL, and he looked at my tag and said "someone might ticket you for it being so far back in the tail" i guess because i didnt run like the idiot squids around here do, that maybe he noticed a difference.

[2old2fat2slow]

You got lucky Bro! Last time I was in an identical situation,I pulled over immediately and was on my best behaviour. I still got a wreckless driving out of it. 

[PolishPete]

Same thing happened to me...I was going 63 in a 45...keeping with traffic on a big 3 lane road.  I saw the cop pull up behind me (no idea where he came from), lights came on...I pointed to the shoulder where I was going to pull over...and did so.  He came up, "do you know why I pulled you over?"  I said 59 in a 45...he said "close, 63....I'm not going to give you a ticket...do you have a M class license and insurance"...yes sir I do.  "Nice bike...you know I ride too...of course not these..." , he walks around the bike, asks some questions and gives me a written warning.  Cool guy.

[maskale]

I got my ticket then the HD riding cop wanted to talk about my bike, I was like fuck you man.

[Fretless33]

  while out today i passed a trooper going the opposite direction 60ish in a 40, it was wierd, i knew i was caught so i pulled into a parking lot, i knew because he did a U in the middle of the road.. but no lights and no ticket, not even a written warning,just verbal, he just asked for my license and what year the bike was..i think he just wanted to see it up close LOL, and he looked at my tag and said "someone might ticket you for it being so far back in the tail" i guess because i didnt run like the idiot squids around here do, that maybe he noticed a difference.

I bet the officer rides too...that's why he was so lenient.

[Grady]

Early March, got pulled over for doing a quick run up to about 93 mph in traffic, right in front of a cop. Soon as i saw the lights i pulled over. He warned me about not riding like a dick because he rode too, and that i should ride responsibly because I am only harming the general perception of the cage driving public by weaving in and out of traffic... Yes sir, thank you sir, have a wonderful afternoon sir.

Man, I do nothing but the speed limit through his town now! I know, shame on me! 

[PHIL53]

We were going to the hang out at the beach a few weeks ago on a sunday afternoon, lane splitting  because traffic was horrible, the lead rider gets stopped, the rest of us get back in the lane. She showed the cop her M-license and he let her go. we all said because she was a girl .
I was surprised he didn't stop all of us, guess I was lucky.

by the way the officer was on foot/atv.

[Bounce]

I've been written once so far in 8 years of street riding.  It was for 90 in a 65.  The reason he gave me a ticket,  didn't have my current insurance card with me.  My policy was current, but I didn't have my current cards.  He said if I had current cards, he would have let me off.

I've been pulled over probably a half-dozen times since then and never even had a written warning.  I'm exceedingly polite, I go WAY out of my way to let the officer know that THEY are in COMPLETE control of the situation and I'm not even going to fart without asking their permission first.  "Yes sir. My insurance card and registration is in the fairing pocket on the left side of the bike.  I'm going to reach in and retrieve it with my left hand.  Is that OK with you?"  Etc.

I have a current endorsement, insurance, and I always ride in full protective gear (I had 2 cops list my gear as one of the reasons they weren't writing me).

And, although I speed pretty much every time I get on the bike, I try to be smart about where I do it.  I'm not going to go blazing through a residential area, I don't speed in school zones, etc.  I do generally move faster than surrounding traffic, as a matter of personal survival, but as long as I'm not being a dick about it, no cop has ever given me a hard time about it.

[maskale]

I hear ya bounce. I have only gotten a ticket once, but the truth is I should have got one everytime I got on my bike.  For the amount of speeding I did and the cops I went by I can't belive I was not pulled over more. 

I know this makes no sense, but you will know what I mean. I speed within reason and do it safely. ie. on the hwy I would do 90 when everyone else is doing 75-80.  Never cut in too close, never cross the solid line.

Like you said taking this position  when pulled over helps.

[Jeff]

Never had a ticket on a bike...  been pulled over 4 times.  3 of them were the exact scenario you described.  Pulling over first makes a BIG difference IMHO.

[snakeman]

 i know this hard to believe but, i've been pulled 13 or 14 times since i moved to NC back in 1999, not all on bikes though, been ticketed twice, one speeding, one expired ins. sticker, one that stands out for me most was in my 1969 eldorado, i got pulled because my marker lights were the only thing on as the sun was going down.. and i when off on the cop, i screamed, " is this what i need to expect in NC , being pulled every month " i told him to look up how many times i had been pulled and he came back to the car and told me to just turn on the lights to be on the safe side... i worked with a guy while all this was happening that was going to school to become a cop and he could not believe it every time i came into work and said "well i got pulled again, that makes #10, 11 12, etc." and he would just bust up laughing.

[Bounce]

i know this hard to believe but, i've been pulled 13 or 14 times since i moved to NC back in 1999, not all on bikes though, been ticketed twice, one speeding, one expired ins. sticker, one that stands out for me most was in my 1969 eldorado, i got pulled because my marker lights were the only thing on as the sun was going down.. and i when off on the cop, i screamed, " is this what i need to expect in NC , being pulled every month " i told him to look up how many times i had been pulled and he came back to the car and told me to just turn on the lights to be on the safe side... i worked with a guy while all this was happening that was going to school to become a cop and he could not believe it every time i came into work and said "well i got pulled again, that makes #10, 11 12, etc." and he would just bust up laughing.

To quote Jim Carrey in Liar Liar:  "Stop breaking the law, asshole! "   


OK, in all seriousness...if you're getting pulled over that often, you're doing something wrong.  Maybe you're not being alert enough and not seeing the cops in time.  Maybe you're just picking a bad time/place to break the law.

I know that here in Cali, it's usually pretty easy to keep from getting stopped because the cops don't sneak around a bunch.  When I visit family back home in Texas, I'm on high alert looking for DPS cars parked in the ditch with only their radar pod visible sticking out of the weeds.   

Also, I don't recommend getting irate with the cop.  You are at a severe disadvantage and he has the ability to very easily make your day get real complicated.  Even if the stop is totally bogus and he writes you, you should be polite....then go fight it in court.



BTW, if you do get a ticket, always fight it.  The worst thing that's going to happen, is nothing.  More often than not, you can get the offense reduced.  Sometimes it gets dropped alltogether.

I also recommend Trial by Declaration, if that's an option.  With that, you defend yourself via a written letter.  The officer has to write a response, then the judge makes his decision.  As long as you don't write like a 3rd-grader on crack, you have a fairly decent chance.  And lots of times, the officer doesn't respond (They're really busy and don't like to spend their days off writing letters about some guy they stopped three months ago for speeding.

I don't mind paying the fine for what I did, but I'll go to great lengths (not that I've had to, but I'm prepared to if necessary) to keep my driving record clean to keep my insurance rates down.

[BlackNumberOne]

i know this hard to believe but, i've been pulled 13 or 14 times since i moved to NC back in 1999,

i believe you man. my worst experience w/ police EVER was in NC. Deal's Gap dumps you out in NC and i probably rode another 5 miles before rolled up to an accident scene and got screamed at by some cop w/ a chip on his shoulder. he ticketed me so fast that i probably didn't even need to shut my bike off. he said he saw me pass an SUV on a double-yellow and wasn't going to listen to my excuse (the SUV actually waved a couple of us by b/c we were seperated from our group). the accident scene consisted of a screaming in pain motorcyclist w/o a license that hit a rock wall and obviously broke his arm and then tried to flee the scene.

i don't know why they bothered pulling me over when they had an accident to deal w/, but i'm still bitter at that cop and if i had one extra day of vacation a year, i would have went to my court date to bitch about it.

[Knightslugger]

i don't know why they bothered pulling me over when they had an accident to deal w/, but i'm still bitter at that cop and if i had one extra day of vacation a year, i would have went to my court date to bitch about it.

Because when something goes down, there's always one or two more police officers than necessary...  they roll up in force then hang around for the grab assing.

I'm by no way a cop hater btw.  i follow the law, i respect officers, and often ask for their advice/permission before i do something that would otherwise get me tossed in the cell with bubba and jimmy.  I'm on good terms with the law, even if my younger brother isn't.  there seems to be an understanding there.  I'm not really sure how that happened.

[snakeman]

To quote Jim Carrey in Liar Liar:  "Stop breaking the law, asshole! "   


OK, in all seriousness...if you're getting pulled over that often, you're doing something wrong.  Maybe you're not being alert enough and not seeing the cops in time.  Maybe you're just picking a bad time/place to break the law.

  a few times i was doing something that warranted pulling me, but a few were checkpoints and of course the guy on the bike gets pulled while the real drunks ride on by, one ticket was because my insp. sticker was moved to the top of my windshield, and once a cop was sitting in a parking lot across the street from my house, and as soon as i pulled out of my driveway in my car he stoped me because my insp. was expired. BS like that will get you pulled all day here. its all about revenue here, they are really strapped for money, roads are pitiful, cant finish some because they have no money, NC is far worse than alot of states,  i guess thats what happens when you rely  on tabacco and furniture for your jobs. i used to joke with a buddy of mine that grew up here, that NC is 10 yrs behind the rest of the US, he finally agreed when he moved to atlanta.