Small town cop, traffic stop, WTF???
 

Saturday afternoon I was going to the next town east of the village I live in (London Ohio) to do some grocery shopping, and stop at the Walmart, roughly 10 miles away. Anyone that has spent much time in Ohio, or lives here knows the town cops watch where speed is reduced from 55 MPH going into small towns,

As usual there are 2 town cops sitting in the seniors center parking lot looking for people to be more than 5 MPH over the posted speed, which is 35 MPH. I know they sit there and I'm well within the speed limit and as I pass the one cop pulls out behind me. He follows me into town where the street is 4 lane and through the course of 5 traffic lights has chosen to ride in the lane next to me. We probably stopped at 3 of the 5 traffic lights so he has been sitting next to me for at least a minute during these stops.

At the far end of the main drag the road splits into a Y and I'm in the left lane to go north, he moves in behind me from the right lane. I have a pet peeve about people that don't use turn signals, and from driving tractor trailer it's ingrained to use turn signals, and I always do, along with paying close attention to speed limit changes.

The speed limit coming into town drops from 55 to 50 to 35 and then down to 25. He was sitting in the section originally where it goes from 50 to 35, and since I'm familiar with the graduations, I follow the speed limit to the letter, use my turn signals at every lane change and turn as I always do. He's now shadowed me a mile and a half, and just as I'm ready to turn into the Kroger store he lights me up, and blips the siren. I for the life of me can't believe he's pulling me over, so I turn off the main drag into the parking lot, and pull over to the curb.

I know some here know, that I inherited my mothers 99 GP about 3 years ago, when she gave up driving at 96. It's a ex Mary Kay car that is painted a GM color called, yep, you guessed it, Mary Kay Pink. My parents bought it as a returned lease car in Phoenix, at 1 year old in 2000. Salesman told them the color wasn't pink, it was Arizona white, and it was to mimic the pink Arizona sunsets, which is a total used car salesman BS story. My mother told me that crock, until I proved to her that GM has no such color as Arizona white, and the car was an ex Mary Kay car, returned from lease after 1 year. Mary Kay does not buy cars, they only lease them for their top tier salespeople. They pay the lease if you sell enough product month by month, as soon as the salesperson misses their quota the company doesn't pay for that month, the salesperson pays the lease payment.

I roll the window down as he looks into the rear seat area, I guess to see if I had a shot gun lying back there, and asks me if I have the registration card for the car, which I do. He says that according to the info he's pulled up on his computer, that this car is supposed to be pink, and it's not pink. He wants to match the VIN to the plate which he does, then insists the car is white, and not pink.

This particular day the sun is directly overhead, and under real bright sun, the car does look white, if you don't look at it closely, but put it next to a white car and it's evident, it's not white.

I tell him, I cannot believe he's pulling me over because he can't tell the car is pink, and he thinks these plates aren't registered to this car. After matching the VIN to the registration, I'm kind of ticked off, and tell him the car is pink, it's painted a GM color from the factory, and the actual name of the color is Mary Kay Pink. I wish it wasn't pink, but it's my parents car, and they have since passed, so I'm keeping it.

Another irregularity is, he never asks for my driver license, or proof of insurance, that is so weird. They always ask for your drivers license, and proof of insurance every time I've been stopped for anything, they are all about license, and insurance, not argue the color of the damn car.

So now Barney Fife is apologizing to me for pulling me over to look at the pink car, which he insists is white, to check to see if I swapped plates without transferring them. He tells me I'm free to go, so I do.

That has to be the weirdest traffic stop for no real reason, that I've ever encountered, or heard anyone tell me about....................:noidea:

I'm sure someone here can top that one though.....:first:

"IT'S NOT PINK, IT'S WHITE"!!!!!
https://i.ibb.co/xCBq1X1/giphy-orig-B-FIFE.gif

I live in a small town . Small town cops have very little to do so they have to come up with something to justify their job. Years ago my wife was pulled over while driving her 1969 Fbird convertible by one of the local cops as she crossed the town line. She is not a young person (can't call her old). The cop must have thought he had caught himself a young "hot rodder". He walks up to the car, looks in the window, turns around and leaves. Not one word was said. Must have ruined his day.

That is the most bizarre traffic stop I have ever heard of. Even in Ohio, I don't think it's illegal to paint your car another color? Not that yours was ever repainted. When you register your car however, they do ask for a color. I never knew why, exactly. Very strange. They were fishing for something else.

Good thing you didn't have an emergency to attend to.....

Had a cop tuck in behind me once, and the moment I turned right he pounced. Many of them view right turns as an avoidance manuever, I've found this to be true several times.

One nite about 11 PM, My wife and I were leaving Tucson driving thru Oro Valley heading north driving a rental, after visiting with relatives. I forget the name of the road, (Oro Valley road?) but it's wide, multi lane, but a low speed limit. You know, one of those roads that should be 60 and it's 45?

In any case, I see the lights go on behind me, officer pulls me over. He comes along side my car shines his light on my face and jumps back a bit away from the car. He then says " you are *******! , some celebrity name I'm not familiar with. I say what?????

He proceeds to tell me I look like whoever (I found out later some pro football team coach), told me I was more than 10 MPH above limit, I probably was. looked at my license, rental car paperwork, etc. and asked me if anyone ever told me I resembled that person.

I replied on occasion people say I resemble Sean Connery, once on a plane the stewardess asked my wife if we get asked, another in a grocery store a woman was circling around us looking at me and asked....could be worse, I guess. He told me to slow down and let me go.

Interesting nite.......

George

Mike, as I mentioned, he did look hard through the left rear window as he walked up to the window. But he did spend an inordinate amount of time arguing with me that the car was white, and verifying the VIN to the registration. Of course I know that they ask what color the car is when you register it, and I supplied it correctly as required.

I did have one insurance person put down pearl when I told them what color it was, but that wasn't when I was registering it from out of state, it was another matter entirely.

The weird thing is no drivers license verification, and no insurance information, it was ever mentioned during the whole ordeal.

I know full well how bored small town cops are, the village I live in (1900 population we don't need a full time police force with a chief, and 3-5 officers) cited me for working on my own truck in my own driveway. Truck was fully registered and had insurance on it.

They lost that one in court, cost them plenty to hire an attorney to represent the village, and then they lost anyway. I tried to talk sense to them, and get them to rescind it, but NOOOOO, they weren't having any of that. They've never said boo to me since losing in court.

They also can't see the drug dealers that live next to me, that's been going on for years, with no consequences for selling dope from the house. A blind man could see what's happening, but not our police department. :confused:

I'm well aware of the fact that turning as they follow you is sometimes looked at as an avoidance, but I hadn't put the turn signal on yet, he did it just before I was going to hit the turn signal switch, probably 100 feet before the driveway.

Unfortunately, I've had way more than my share of stupid cop stops in 52 years of driving. Some were deserved, but some weren't. The ones that are BS, I go to court over. If I deserve it I usually pay up.

The weirdest/stupidest one that ever happened to me was getting pulled over for turning on my headlights.

So I was driving to work ('70 Buick Wildcat) and its light out but early and my street is clear. As I leave my neighborhood and pull onto a more traveled road, which runs by a creek I notice it is a little foggy. I turn left and as soon as I complete the turn I hit the headlight switch (to be safe). The car coming the other way is a cop. Who pulls a U-turn and lights me up.

I ask why I was pulled over. He says: "You saw me and turned on your headlights to avoid being pulled over". It took him over 30 minutes to issue me a warning (verbal) so I was late to work.

I've had a couple of odd stops.

When I bought my 74 SD455 4-spd back in the mid-80s, I purchased a personalized tag that read "MY SD455" for it. I was pulled by a cop in a small town a couple of counties away from where I lived. He was polite and asked for my driver's license and registration, which I gave him. After looking over the registration, he asked me if it had the original motor. It turns out he was a Pontiac guy and had a couple of Pontiacs, including a 69 Judge. He was very polite and owned up to stopping me out of curiosity when he saw the plate.

My next odd stop happenedin Virginia in the later 80s. I had an arrangement with a guy in WV who raced Pontiacs and put Chevy V8s into S-10 trucks and Blazers. I would find him solid Firebird bodies and S10 bodies, and he would find me rusty GTOs and early Firebirds with drivetrains. I had gone up to his house to look at a car one day in winter. I was driving my all original 70 Grand Prix 455 car. I was on my way back and it was cold, dark and pouring rain when I got pulled by a Virginia State Trooper. I rolled down my window and he asks me for my license and registration, which I provided. He then tells me that it is illegal to have a radar detector in Virginia. I told him I didn't have a radar detector, and he says he saw the light from it clipped to my sun visor.

My GP still had the original AM radio, so when I travelled I used a small Sony Walkman radio with ear buds that I clipped to the visor. I had taken the ear buds off when the lights came on. I pulled the Walkman off and handed it to him. He just stood there for a second, started cursing, handed the Walkman back to me and walked back to his car. I waited a couple of seconds, and he left. I expected him to at least tell me I was free to go or something.

It's been decades since I've been pulled over, probably because I've only had uninteresting daily drivers during that time and before that deserved to be stopped.

I expect that might change when my GTO is back on the road...:3gears: :police:

Travelling from SC to Pa back in the mid 80's and was travelling north on rt19 in WV. Coming down this grade, I'm doing exactly 55 (posted speed limit) and this state cop was coming down the other side of the grade. I hit the bottom and started up the other side, and he spun around and pulled me over, and commenced to tell me he shot me at 69 in a 55, which was BS as my wife and daughter both happened to be looking at the speedo. He stuck me in his car, and I asked him to show me some proof of what he's charging me for, and he shows me this hieroglyphic crap on his radar unit which told me nothing. He said I was welcome to come to court to fight the ticket, or send in $85 for the fine! My guess is they were simply glancing at out of state plates and making up charges knowing most wouldn't come back to fight an $85 ticket!

Brad that’s crazy! :police: :huh: Got pulled over a couple times for having expired inspection stickers on my antique registered cars here in PA. There is no rule on file that you must scrape them off so I left the last one on where it had been inspected. One State cop told me it had to be scraped off right then and there. I told him it’s perfectly legal as even Historical registered cars are allowed to keep there old stickers on the cars. He made me wait 20 minutes, came back to the car and said..... “looks like you are correct and have a safe day” :rolleyes:


Then when I got my 2009 Challenger, I was turning into a Target shopping center as the State cop was coming out. He immediately swung around, got behind me, no lights on as I backed into a spot he blocked me in. I got out and said is there something wrong? He says.....” no you did nothing wrong but we know why people get these cars and it never is to follow the rules, so make sure you aren’t one of those people. “ :eek::oogle: I said I’m 60 years old do I look like I want to break the laws? He said just make sure you don’t! “ WTH was that? :noidea: I should have taken his badge # and reported him, but I just shook my head and went shopping at Target. Mind you the car was a “Target” being bright red. :D I only had it 3 days when this happened. :rolleyes:

I was 2 blocks from my house.
I was stopped at a stop sign as a ST trooper rolled by real slow looking at me.
I had been driving for hours, so I wasn't thinking about the fact that I didn't have my seat belt on! (2011)
So the ST trooper got on his radio and called another St trooper who was 1/4 mile behind him to pull me over.
As I rolled across the road I saw the other car coming with the lights on! So I pulled over and he told me I wasn't wearing a seal belt and asked why.
I said because my clothes are very oily and I didn't want to get that on my seat belt. He said well its the law! I said yes it is, and I can break it if I want so just write me a ticket for something it is impossible for you to seen 1/4 mile down the road. And I will go home.
So he was pissed, I was pissed and we both went on our way. Him on the way to bother someone else and me home with a seat belt ticket, only to be chewed out buy the wife!
I drive a lot and usually get 1 a year for speeding!

Road pirates...

If one pulls behind me, I'll usually start snaking around the backroads in the woods. They usually stop abruptly and bang a uey once they realize we're pretty deep into the sticks. lol

MA, having formerly been a state inspection mechanic in PA, the cop is wrong. Only a state inspection mechanic, or a peace officer can remove an inspection sticker legally from a windshield in a registered car. A wrecking yard can remove one from a used windshield also before they sell it to an end user. Installing a used windshield in a car with a current inspection sticker is considered counterfeiting, and if the VIN written on the back of the sticker doesn't match the VIN on the car, you're in for a heap of fines.

The correct thing to do if you have a current sticker and have to replace the windshield is cut the corner out of the windshield with the current sticker, and you can display it for 10 days from the date you had the glass replaced. You better have all your paperwork and receipts with you too.

You have 2 options, get the car inspected again to get the most current sticker (if you're within 90 days of the expiration) or for $2 you can get a new sticker that is solely for windshield replacement purposes, that doesn't constitute a new inspection, it just gets you to the same place as the original sticker would have. The station the issues the replacement sticker has to hang onto the original sticker, and the corner of glass it's attached to until the state police do their annual audit of the garage records.

I don't miss all the rules and regulations attached to the PA inspection garages, and mechanics at all. And as with every rule or regulation, it's up for interpretation by the state cop who presides over the inspections in their area. Too political for me.

My 05 GTO is Yellow Jacket, and especially when the car was brand new I got pulled over for nothing, just so the cop could look at the new car. One cop finally admitted he wanted to see one close up, and being bright yellow, he didn't pass it by without stopping me to look at it. When all was said and done he told me, "nice car", and let me go on my way.

Pictures of 05 GTO when it was less than a year old, it's tough to miss with that color:

https://i.ibb.co/rxw7X9V/charlie040.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/McqBG0B/016.jpg

In my small town I was stopped behind an officer parked in the middle of road handling a small fender bender. I waited till it was cleared up, the involved autos were gone, the officer still parked in the road sorting the paperwork. I waited patiently for him to vacate the scene ... he sees me, walks back, fingerless black gloves and all, leans in the window and says "What's your problem?". I said ... "Just waiting for you to be done, didn't want to squeeze by your patrol car." He replies, "Why aren't you wearing you seat belt." .... here we go, he was correct, I wasn't wearing it ... So he calls in my plate. Three minutes later a senior cops pulls up, that I've known for 20+ years (he heard my name on the radio), calls the young officer back and has a talk with him, comes back and tells me to meet him at the station in five minutes. I show up, walk up to the station with my friend, he grabs some paper work, walks out to my truck ... says "Looks like you got the tail light fixed, good" and tears up the seat belt ticket. Not sure what that was all about, but as we are there the young cop pulls in the lot and yet another officer I've known for decades says to him. "I hear you are harassing citizens" and laughs. Young officer is hanging his head .... small towns, you gotta love them sometimes.

I knew these officers their entire careers, and their fathers, they had been drinking in our bar for decades along with half the police force and the captain ... "back in the day".

Unfortunately things have dramatically changed since. Town has grown, we have cops that didn't grow up here, and aren't related to anyone (maybe a good thing?), and don't know which citizens are a problem in the community and which are not. Tough issue, I'm a big fan of local cops being local people as they usually know how to react to situations based on local knowledge of the parties involved. But ... downside it can lead to nepotism, corruption and often children of officers getting WAY more leeway than the average Joe.

My weirdest happened about 30 years ago.
My 1st wife and I were driving down a semi busy road at night, about 10 miles from home. A cop pulls me over and I had no idea why. I wasn’t speeding and I was legal.
After I gave him my license I asked him what I did wrong. He said “Well we had a report of somebody trying to pick up girls from his car, and yours fits the description.” I looked over at my wife and we both busted out laughing. I asked him if he thought I would do that with my wife in the car. He chuckled and said “Probably not”. Then said I was free to go.

If the wife WAS in the car while you were picking up girls then she's a keeper :)

In an old work truck years ago and it started shaking really bad. Slowed to walking speed and started looking for the first wide spot to get off the road. It was a narrow two lane and cars were passing me at every chance they had. First wide spot was in front of a school that just happened to have a patrol car there for traffic duty.. Got stopped and got out of the truck to see what was wrong. Police car pulled in behind the truck while I was under it checking the two piece drive shaft. Officer walks up and asks for drivers license. Told him the truck was broke down and he said "fine, give me the license". Goes to his car and comes back with a ticket for running 88 mph in a 15 mph school zone.

Said he saw everything but the radar gun said 88. "Go argue with the judge, not the radar gun".

That's the ticket story so stopping there
Clay

I got pulled over for speeding in my 63 GP playing with a Buick electra on 80 near North Jackson, Ohio. I had to sign off on ticket. Then the court wanted cash no checks! College student on my way home.I didnt complain just paid the ticket. Another time in downtown Kent I was playing around speeding with guy in other lane. I was going somewhere,. on the way back I was stopped checked paperwork.Cop asked if I was street racing as he saw me but couldnt get me. I didnt say a word, better off,he let me go.

I had a full felony style stop a few years back here in small town Montana. Cop car sideways to my door, blinding me with lights (pulled in parking lot, as you), second officer looking all in vehicle with flashlight, while first interrogated me. Headlight out. Had new replacement on seat next to me, that I was going home to install. That didn't diffuse, just got worse. I have been around on the streets enough in my youth to know and feel that I could not make one wrong move. They were hoping I would. It was beyond tense. After much nastiness, they let me go with a threat that if they saw me again, they would do it all over. No traffic infraction or ticket, no warning, invisible on any records. Why did it happen? (in that manner) My only deduction is they really had an attitude against ponytails. Brought back memories from 1970. They had no clue I was an established local engineer at that time.

It was a roust, as was yours. They were hoping it would lead to bigger sheet than a pink thing. You disappointed them. Tax dollars hard at work, while the meth heads run rampant.

Back when we were living in Arizona, I had a friend from Michigan visit for a few days. We decided while he was there it would be fun to take the Chevelle out to Firebird Raceway and make a few test passes.

I was company vehicle driver at the time and had a real nice red crew cab dually (big block powered) with Alcoa aluminum wheels, as my driver. I hitched up the open trailer, loaded up the car, and off we went.

Unfortunately, the afternoon and evening went downhill from there. During the course of the night the bearing in the alternator froze, pitching the fan belt. No big deal, in the grand scheme of things, but we were done for the day. After hanging out a bit we loaded up and headed for home.

It wasn't a very long trip but I noticed right after we got on the freeway that there was a local police car following me. I started checking my gages, making sure I wasn't speeding (or driving with my turn signal on) and everything seemed to be in order. We had already decided to stop for a snack so I exited the freeway and prepared for a right turn and, sure enough, that's when the pretty lights came on.

I pulled around into the restaurant parking lot and gathered my paperwork. The officer approached and, in a very nice way, let me know that it was not a traffic infraction that was causing a problem but that he was confused :confused: by all the various license plates shown on the represented vehicles: an Arizona "Manufacturer's Plate" on the truck, an active Michigan plate on the trailer and an expired Michigan plate on the car. I explained, slowly (and clearly, or so I thought) that the truck was owned by GM and that they were responsible for the registration and insurance; that the trailer was owned by my dad, sitting in the truck (..."hi dad"...) and that it was also up to snuff; and that I owned the car which I had not registered since moving to Arizona but which was ok since it was not street driven.

As I alluded, I thought I had laid this all out very clearly but, to my dismay, we had to go through this little dance two or three more times before the officer was finally satisfied. After a long delay back at his cruiser he suggested I have a nice day, that I drive safely, and with that he went on his way. I had already dismissed Dad, James and my guest to run into the restaurant and get a seat so, after the officer left, I locked everything up and headed inside.

...

...

...

...


About midway through our snack it occurred to me I didn't know where the truck keys were. I dug around in my pockets a bit and, not coming up with them, had that nagging sensation that I had locked the keys in the truck. I excused myself and headed back out to the truck to check.

Sure enough, there were the keys hanging in the ignition. (dohh!) All four doors were locked, windows up, and the truck was snugged up tighter than a drum. Fortunately, this was also not a big deal, on account of two things:

a) Those sliding rear windows, which don't look very secure......aren't.

b) As is my custom, I had brought with me every tool that I owned, sitting in the pickup box of the truck.

Within a few short minutes I had popped the latch, slid the slider opened, jumped through the window and, keys in hand, went back inside to finish my snack.

K

you should keep some MaryKay samples in the car

...and a pink scarf nearby to tie around your neck.
then speak with a "funny" accent

It won't take long at all to get moving again. :pound:

Oh, I have some stories about wife #1 that I can’t repeat here. She was very open minded. :)

I love that color question. Most everything I have isn't the color its supposed to be. Add to it that I am somewhat colorbliind.... makes the DMV questions fun.

On the transfer and registration of my sons kinda champagne colored civic at the BMV office:

Lady: "ok, what color is it?"
Me: "Halfway between manila folder and vomit"
Lady: "What??"
Me: "look out in the parking lot for the biggest pile of s**t here, thats the car. You tell me what color it is."

I have Antique registration plates on my cars which automatically voids the inspection rules in this state.

This is my personal all time favorite. On the way to national GTOAA meet in the mid to late 90's, on a Sunday morning, by myself pulling a small trailer. got pulled over in the metropolis of Cokeville Wyoming, doing 47 in a 40 on the eastern outskirts of the town, all 55" long of it. Paid the fine later but was, and still am, amused at the location written on the ticket.

US30 @hideout..........................gotta love it.

lol


LOL!!

I had a friend that was driving a GM engineering vehicle and got pulled over.

He told the cop "...see that speedometer? It was just calibrated with a fifth wheel!"

The officer replied "...see that radar gun? It was just calibrated with a turning fork!!"

K

We were coming home from the POCI convention in Springfield IL many years ago on the interstate. A convoy of 5 Pontiacs from PA just keeping up with traffic speed and got pulled over by a local cop. All 5 cars got speeding tickets at the local police station, a great money maker for the town the interstate went thru. The tickets were just enough that they could be paid with cash, no credit cards accepted, and we were sent on our way. No points on our license, just cash out of our pockets. It looked like we were having a mini car show at the police station.

Gotta love fines. The ultimate cash grab.

Here in MA we're supposed to run front plates, but they're ugly as hell. I've discovered that it's a $40 fine for not running one. I chalk it up as the "looking good tax".

They dont bother old cars, but the newer ones get screwed.

I was driving a Ford Falcon when I was 17. I pulled out on to the street which had a 35 mph. Got lit up by a Chicago cop. He said I was going 55mph. I said that this thing could not do 55 as I had just pulled out on to the street. He said if you keep talking wise ass I will write you 2 tickets, one for speeding and the other for being a wise ass.. just got a speeding ticket.

I have a number of friends who are cops. Nobody breaks more traffic laws than an off duty cop! They don't get tickets!! LOL

Two years ago, driving my Tundra to work. I did two things: adjusted the radio and changed the temperature. Next thing I know, I'm getting pulled over by a cop who seemed to come out of nowhere.
"You were on your handheld phone", he said. "It's pretty obvious, the way you were bouncing around inside your truck". I told him that the phone is connected to the truck. I don't need to pick up the phone to make a call, answer a call, check text messages, etc. It all comes through electronically. "No way", he says. "I need your drivers license, insurance, registration". It's a 1000.00 fine here, never mind the insurance implications. I was ticked. I told him that I was going to make him look like a fool in court, and I did. He was so flustered that by the time I was finished with him on the stand he was beet red. I asked him about ten questions, the final being "how were you able to see what I was doing, since the only thing that you could see from your car looking up to my pickup was the headliner". Even the Judge chuckled at that one. He left the stand and walked right out. Charge dismissed.

Recently the phone rings at midnite...it's a customer needing something so I told him to meet me at the shop in a few minutes. As I walked past the GTO I decided to drive it to town.
After helping the customer I drove up the back steets to the highway and decided to open her up a bit...wide open for most of 2 blocks and then bent it around a big broad corner at about 90 only to blast right by a city cop sitting in the dark...opps.
The young cop said damn man I had no idea that thing would run like that!
Then he said please don't do that in the city...even in the middle of the nite.
He never even asked for my license.
Ha...gotta love small towns

yellow 32 highboy.
 

I was driving my highboy to see a friend. A young county officer pulled my over and said that a car fitting my car just pulled out of a gas station and left without paying for the gas. I didn't even come from that direction. I think he just wanted to look at it. No tickets or arrest.

My Uncle was a small town cop and was guilty of speeding a lot. One day he was speeding down the interstate and got pulled over by a State Trooper. My Uncle flashed his badge to the State Trooper and got the reply " Well you should know better than to speed shouldn't you" and wrote my Uncle a ticket. My Uncle told the Trooper that he should never speed in his small town or he would return the favor. So sometimes off duty cops do get tickets.

Back in the mid 70's there was a cop in Junior, about 3 miles down the road from where I lived in Belington. He would ticket Anyone for Anything over 40 mph. He was known as Kojak for obvious reasons if you'ed ever seen him and was notorious for this and very well known. When I got out of the service in 81 and moved back home of course I had to get a WV drivers license and insurance. While setting in the insurance office thumbing through some of the small pamphlets I noticed one that said High Risk. When I opened it there was a list in big bold letters, Drinking And Driving, High Performance Automobiles, Convertibles, etc, and about 2/3 the way down was the town of Juniour WV. I had forgotten all about him, I thought wow, he's still there, it's great to be home.

Things were a bit different in Belington and not so stealthy. My brother and I were tooling around one evening, his future wife was riding shotgun, he was driving my car and I was stretched across the back seat enjoying a bee, er um I mean beverage. We were crossing the parking lots behind the buildings of main street and just as we were getting ready to pop out on the street all of a sudden it looked like Christmas, my immediate thought was, " Oh boy! I can't wait to see what I get!"

My brother quite surprised, immediately stops the car and is confident as far as he's concerned, has done nothing wrong. Next thing I know there is a voice asking him to get out, so he does, then shortly afterward followed by another voice inviting me out as well. So I crawl out the drivers door and who new... there are two officers here. I didn't know Belington had two officers, how times change. Interestingly enough the first officer escorts my brother to the back of the car so me and the second officer can converse.

First thing I know, he's obviously trying to button the top of my shirt while buffing the drivers fender, entire hood and top of the passenger fender, using me, all the while expressing his displeasure with me over something er other, I really wasn't paying too much attention since I'd noticed a small group of people on the corner at the red light, "only red light in town", and inquired if they were enjoying the conversation. I heard a few snickers and gestures of amusement, "it's usually pretty dull in Belington".

Anyway, he thoughtfully kept hold of me as I slid off the fender so as to see I wouldn't be injured upon impacting the pavement. He then abruptly helped me up with a quick tug but still hadn't quite got my shirt buttoned at the top, although to his credit I could tell he was giving it his best, all the while, still expressing his displeasure over a prior event or something like that, again I wasn't paying much attention, my mind had wondered back to my cold bee, er uh beverage getting warm and a hankering for a smoke.

It was funny to hear my brother vigorously protesting the entire time, I was really gettin kinda tickled about that, he was normally pretty quiet and reserved. In hindsight he knew I deserved every bit of that conversation. We all laughed uncontrollably that night, as well as every time it was ever brought up. Although I didn't get a ticket, I did get the message, and I have to admit, I did have it coming. There were no hard feelings, I'd often still run back and forth to work with open headers, man, those were the days.


Frank

Silly stuff, huh.... Having lived most of my life in Ohio, I understand.
 

There is a YouTube Channel which may help you appreciate how to approach traffic stops, and some perspective of your rights and responsibilities during the stop. The channel is called Audit the Audit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc-...gA5lPTpSQ5uo-Q

Having friends and family members who are law enforcement officers, they often feel that such stops and behaviors negatively impact the positive relationship they have with the law abiding citizens in their area, and on the roads. Hope this helps some.

...because of the sheer volume of yellow '32 Ford Highboys on the road at that time, right?

Actually, in all seriousness, I was out for a ride before it got cold here and saw five '32 Fords during the course of my outing. All different shapes and sizes (some with fenders, some without, some coupes, some roadsters) and all of them black.

K

I was getting harassed in a town called Kalamazoo, Michigan back in the 70s. Kalamazoo
was a college town with a lot of speed traps to pull in the City Money for the coffers.

I was driving the 64 GTO with the GTO letters on the size of the car and the grill and trunk. I removed those emblems for a few years and guess what, not one traffic stop to check registration/insurance from the time I took them off.

I know that I am not the only one to be targeted because we are driving vehicles with a performance image. But this is a city council issue who tell the police to generate x number of tickets each month.

Tom V.

I got pulled over late at night just east of St. Louis. I had left work around 6:00P driving from Chicago to Arkansas with a new lawn tractor I had bought for my dad's birthday in the back of my '99 Durango. Of course I got off an exit before my normal gas stop, realized my mistake and decided to drive a bit until I hit a gas station.

It was pitch black out and the road was all torn up, the lane narrowed down with no shoulder and a 2' drop off with lighted barricades sitting cockeyed half on the road and half in the ditch. I was winding my way along avoiding the barricades along the narrowed road and decided it was a lost cause. I pulled into a closed business' parking lot to turn around and head back to the Interstate. As I pulled back onto the road, a cop lit me up from behind and followed me as I had to weave along blinded by his lights until I could find a place to pull in.

I handed the cop my license, registration and insurance as he got to my window. He looked at me long and hard and said "You know you probably crossed the center line half a dozen times while I was behind you ,,, you been drinking?" I figured this was a going to turn into a field sobriety test and at minimum a reckless driving wrong lane usage ticket so I just answered very calmly Look, I know you're trying to do your job, but with the lane narrowed for construction, the barricades randomly placed and you on my ass with your lights on, I'm surprised it wasn't more like a dozen times. Every time I put a tire on the center lane, it was intentional to avoid a misplaced barricade." We locked eyes for a moment and he just walked away without saying another word..

When I drove tractor trailer regional, I had a GTO license plate attached to the front bumper. Got pulled into the Delphos OH scales on US30 for an inspection. Scale operator was watching the front of the truck, for lights out, etc. Ohio trooper walked to the back of the trailer to check lights, tires, etc.
As the trooper is walking back up front, the scalehouse guy motions the trooper to come up front, and starts pointing at something. The trooper takes a look, and walks back to the drivers side of the tractor. "Oh SXXT, here it comes" I'm thinking. He walks up to the window, and says "what year GTO ya got?" referring to my plate. I said "65, and 68, both hardtops". He then starts telling me about the 69 Judge he was restoring. I'm figuring on a ticket. and he wanted to talk shop!

I have to say, in most cases when I've been stopped, it was for good reason. However, one stop sticks out in my mind as being unfair. The year was 1975 and I was coming home from a class at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. I was driving my 66 L-79 nova. State highway patrolman pulled me and gave me a ticket for the car being too loud. Now in this case, I had a full , stock exhaust system and on the freeway there is no way he could have heard me anyway. When we stopped, he stated, "in my professional opinion, your exhaust is too loud." and wrote the ticket!

I forgot about my "Right Turn on Red" in Royal Oak.

$200 - even at 2 in the morning and if the only people awake in the entire universe are you ... and the officer.

K

FWIW, this isn't my car, this is a 2000 S/E Mary Kay Pink GP I found on the web. This picture is exactly as my car appears. In this picture you can tell the car is pink when there is a white background (snow) against it, it does under most lighting look white though at a quick glance.

If I would have pulled it up against another white car, it would have been evident that it wasn't white:

https://i.ibb.co/G2wHP38/th-2-Mary-Kay-99-GP.jpg

Back in the 90s another Uncle came out to visit from West Virginia who was a Vietnam Vet. One of the things he wanted to see while he was here was the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. We got into his Monte Carlo SS and he asked me to drive. A co-worker gave me directions there so off we went. The directions said to go up 395 to 14th Street and turn left on Constitutions Avenue. So I come up to Constitution Ave and there are No Left Turn SIgns, I am second in line to turn left, the lady in front of me turns left and I look over to see a police car which said Park Police. I think to myself.... Park Police... He's nobody. Well I made the left turn in front of Nobody and he got out of the car and flagged the lady in front of me and me over. After a $75 ticket he proved to me that he was somebody. But we went on to the Memorial and it was worth it for me to get him there.

This reminded me of one of my stories..everybody in this crowd has a thousand cop stories I'm sure....anyway, back in the early '80s I got caught in a roadblock on my way home from work. Roadblocks were frequent back then and I actually had my license suspended for 6 months or so because of one. I kept driving because I needed to work.
During this time, about 3am I get caught in one of their roadblocks in the city of Atlanta. I was driving my '68 GTO. The cop comes up to the driver's door....'What year is that Goat?'...."It's a '68 officer".... "Nice, I got a '69 Z-28, blah, blah, blah...alright man, take it easy.." "Yeah, have a good morning officer.."
This cop never even asked me for my license...which I did not have. So, that's one instance of a muscle car getting me out of a ticket!

Just before Christmas 1979, headed home to SE Ohio for Christmas, leaving from my AF base on the Florida panhandle, riding with my buddy Stan from Cleveland (we were in the same AF unit) in his old late-60s 4-door Oldsmobile (which is a very mechanically sound car but looks a bit rusty and needs a paint job and has loud glasspack mufflers) who is going to drop me off on his way, pick me up on the way back. We were making a beeline for I-65N to Montgomery, AL on the back roads, after dark around 11PM, and right when we crossed the Florida/Alabama state line we hit a little village called Dixonville (go figure), and right in the middle of this podunk, we got flashed over by a cop. We pulled into an old abandoned gas station just across railroad tracks running through town, this cop pulls up behind us, gets out of his car, lights still flashing, draws his gun and points it at us, and my buddy who is driving rolls his window down and the cops yells at us to put our hands on the dash and leave them there. Next thing we know, we are surrounded by nearly a dozen marked and unmarked cars with lights flashing, all of them pointed directly at us with their headlights on, and they are all getting out of their cars and drawing their guns and crouching behind the open doors. We are ****ting our pants at this point, two young airmen just trying to get home on leave for the holidays. We hear someone on a bullhorn issuing orders to the cops. After a bit, this police captain comes up to our driver window (my buddy was driving) followed by several officers with guns drawn, and asks for our ID and starts grilling us. We are on leave, going home for Christmas, show him our drivers licenses, military IDs, and leave paperwork (thought we were busted because our leave started on Monday and it was Friday night, but we always used to get a head start like that). They back off with our IDs and paperwork and after a while they come back and tell us, a bank was just robbed nearby and the robbers got away in a car that looks and sounds like our car. Then they let us go. When we got down the road, we pulled over with the shakes from the tension. It really felt like touch and go for a while, we had no idea what was going on and all we could think of was Deliverance. lol But it turns out we were the original plot for My Cousin Vinny!

But that ain't the half of it. Over Christmas, Stan traded his old Oldsmobile in on a brand new 1980 AMC Eagle, which was the first model year for the first 4-wheel drive crossover SUV, and it had radial tires (which were still fairly new on passenger cars then, I believe) and the hard rubber donut spare tire. It was snowing pretty good on the mountain tops in WV on our way back, nothing down lower where we were driving. In fact the mountain tops were all covered with snow and it made a pretty picture. But we're driving straight through. Some time after midnight in Kentucky, the snow was close to a foot or more deep on the highway and still coming down and no other tracks on the road except the ones we were making and Stan is telling me how great this 4-wheel drive car was handling. I started suggesting we find a place to spend the night, but Stan wanted to keep going. We top this hill with the highway curving to the right and all of a sudden Stan notices he had started on an exit ramp to the right and the highway was visible to our left and he yanked the wheel to the left and we spun out and took down several reflector poles and messed up the right front end of the car pretty good. The right front tire was flat, rim was bent, suspension damaged. We stuck that donut spare on the right rear and moved the right rear tire to the right front of the car and tried to keep going. We got into Kentucky and it wasn't working out very well, lots of noise, vibration, and bad handling. Around 2 or 3 in the morning, we found a truck stop and pulled in and asked their employees if any tire shops or junk yards were nearby, ended up waking up this guy who had a junk yard, but the tires on the Eagle were an odd new radial size and he had nothing similar but did have a bias ply tire of a slightly different size with the same bolt pattern and we finished the trip on that tire, rear end whining because of the different tires sizes on the back, steering messed up and front end vibrating.

That was a Christmas I'll never forget.