MustangForums.com - Got pulled over? Do you want a ticket or a warning?

Regarding people who get pulled over for traffic violations and wonder why one person will get a warning while another gets a ticket for the same violation. I can't tell you how to get out of all of your tickets, but I can tell most people how to get out of most tickets, most of the time. Seriously.

These guidelines are based on my experience, which relates to municipal (city) police. Rural county sheriffs deputies and state police/highway patrol in rural areas will probably operate differently, but many of these things will still apply.

These are general guidelines that will work for most people, most of the time. Of course there are exceptions to every rule. That's not the point, the point is that you can often determine whether you get a warning or a citation if you know what to do and say (and what not to do and say). This applies to people pulled over for a typical traffic infraction or vehicle code violation - if you're driving like a complete jackass expect a ticket.

Also, part of the equation is the officer who pulls you over. Police officers who patrol the streets generall fall into 2 categories - patrol officers and traffic officers. Patrol officers generally respond to calls and work traffic only as a secondary task. Traffic officers exist only to make traffic stops and work accidents. Motorcycle officers are traffic officers. In general, patrol officers write far fewer tickets and give more warnings,while traffic officers write far more citiations and give fewer warnings.

Patrol officers usually wear green epaulets and traffic officers usually wear red epaulets (colored ribbons on the top ofshoulder of the uniform). If you get pulled over by a traffic officer your chanes of a ticket go way up, but all hope is not lost. Some traffic officers (and many highway patrol officers)are particularly militant about traffic tickets and would write their own mother for 10 over. If you get stopped by that guy nobody can help you.

Patrol officers who work night shifts writefewer minor traffic tickets because they know that a percentage of all traffic tickets will be contested and they don't want to end up in court when they could be sleeping or enjoying a day off. officers on the day shift write more tickets because they will likely be on duty when the court date occurs anyway.

How to pull over:
As soon as the officer lights you up you should slow down and pull over at the nearest safe place to do so. Pull over in a place the allows the officer to get out and approach your vehicle safely. Pull into a parking lotif possible, and pull in far enough that the officer can get out of harm's way. If you pull over in a way that puts the officer in a dangerous position you already have a strike against you.

What to do after pulling over:
After stopping the car, turn off the engine. Turn off the radio, hang up the cell phone, roll down the driver window (unless it's raining or something). Turn on the dome light if it's dark. Place both hands on top of the steering wheel and wait for the officer to approach you. Passengers should remain still and quiet while you deal with the officer. Don't be digging for your paperwork, if the officer wants your paperwork he'll ask for it. Also, it's a good diea to keep your paperwork and license readily available in your car.

What to say:
Don't talk, just listen. Don't admit to anything, just answer the questions truthfully and if you don't want to admit guilt to questions like "do you know how fast you were going" then just say "no" politely and leave it at that. Don't get defensive and ask why you're being pulled over, the officer will tell you. From the moment the officer approaches your car you are being evaluated for signs of aggression, nervousness, guilt of some violation, intoxication, etc... Remain calm and polite and cooperative and it will go much better. Don't make excuses (the officer has heard them all and yours isn't all that creative) and don't argue. The place to argue is in court, not on the side of the road.

If the officer takes your info and heads back to his car, politely apologize for whatever violation you were stopped for and ask him if he would please give you a warning. You'd be surprised how often you get what you ask for. If you have a clean driving record, tell the officer that your record is clean and you want to keep it clean.

The officer is going to check your driving record, so be honest. Also, many cities keep a record of every time your vehicle license plate is run by the police as you are driving around town, how often you have been stopped, and the outcome of that stop. If you rarely get stopped and have a clean record and ask for a warning chances are good that you will get it. if you get run and/or stopped a lot and have a poor driving record chances are the officer will figure you don't learn and will write you another ticket.

Attitude is a major factor in determining whether you get a ticket or a warning. If you're polite and cooperative your chances of getting a warning go up greatly.

Most police officers have learned that when they stop someone and the driver has a bad/defensive attitude that if they let them go with a warning that person will invariably end up filing a BS complaint on the officer for something, so they go ahead and write a ticket to getthe probable cause for the stopdocumented. For example, if I stopped you forrolling a stop sign and let you go with a warning and you then filed a complaint the first thing your attorney will be saying is "If my client broke the law why didn't you write hime a ticket? Isn't it true that you only stopped my client because he was black and you like to harass black people?" or some such garbage. So when you sense that a driver is going to get squirrelly it's easier to write the ticket and document everything. No good deed goes unpunished for the officer who lets drivers with bad attitudes go with a warning.