Pulled over for license plate lights!

I used to be a teenager with a beater 122, and once I damaged my trunk lid. I swapped lids and was planning to paint it, so I drove it for about a month with the handle missing, which contains the license plate lights. I got pulled over 6 times that month. I had no idea just how hard the cops were watching me, looking for any excuse to pull me over. A couple times they gave me a ridiculous interrogation and wasted entirely too much of my time. I was annoyed like you, so I put the lights back on and went back to being left alone.

Yes, it's annoying, but if you were committing other crimes and they caught you because of the license plate light, it was worth it to them. Maybe that neighborhood has had a kidnapping or a rash of break ins, now they have everyone they pulled over on record with a date and time they were in the neighborhood. That might help them catch someone. It might not be just about harassing you.

Once I did stop and tell a parked policeman that he had a headlight out, and I said it in a really condescending manner just as revenge for all the times they've pulled me over for piddly stuff and talked down to me like I was stupid just because a light burned out on my car. I've grown up since then though.

cleanflametrap said:

Correct. Not your safety issue. Potentially the officer's safety.

For those same economic reasons you cite, some are supplementing their income with theft and burglaries, so if the cops are hanging around a neighborhood more than usual, looking for excuses to stop drivers, it may not be limited to catching traffic law violators.

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Yep, I had one of those untagged vehicles used in a burglary on my property.
Even though I rammed and destroyed it, the cops were able to do exactly nothing, because none of the perps were too badly injured to escape on foot.

Well, I was upset last night because I originally thought that it was the sheriff pulling me over again and in fact it turned out to be the State Patrol. The weird thing was that when he pulled me over and I immediately asked him why he was pulling me over he started rambling something about the governor wanting him to be in that neighborhood and something about shootings. One guy did get shot and killed in that neighborhood over a year ago but it was some crazed teenagers and they caught the guy. Happened in the park right across the street from where my kid lives with his mom. In the end the guy might just have done me a favor because now my license plate lights are better and brighter than ever. I'm still a little skittish driving around there at night but I'm now pretty sure I won't get pulled over for that reason anymore. I will now be keeping an eye on those bulbs in the future. Fixing them turned out to be a simple task in the end. The old sockets were corroded pretty bad but I found some better replacements.

Now to get those donuts. Just kidding. I need coffee as well.

I go to Starbucks three to five times a week.....

Every week or two I end up with a State Patrol or Border Enforcement guy in front or behind me. I enjoy buying a doughnut for them. The Baristas know to not reveal who the perp is.

It happens. I got pulled over coming home from the coast in my Bertone Coupe this summer. The sheriff came from way behind speeding to catch up with his red lights flashing. I couldn't imagine what the heck he was pulling me over for. Same thing, license plate lights not working. It was just an excuse to check me out, maybe, he'd never seen a Bertone before. I told a customer of mine that lives on the coast about being pulled over and he said that on the weekends, late at night the police and sheriffs out there are just looking for an excuse to pull people over because a high percentage of the people out there on the highway at that time of night are heading home from the casinos after a long stint of drinking and gambling. It made total sense.

It really makes me question their behavior if they have to fly down the road to catch you for something minor. They think that they are invincible but it reminds me of the guy in New Jersey who killed two girls because he ran a stop sign while speeding in order to try and catch up to a speeder. Completely unnecessary. Two lives lost because of a minor violation. To serve and protect? I know that they have difficult jobs but they should be held to the same standards of behavior as us when it comes to safety.

Years ago, my youngest got an inspection ticket for inoperative 240 sedan tag lights a few yards after pulling out of the parking lot of a bar at 2:30 in the morning. She was the bartender.

Here in MD, an inspection ticket doesn't cost anything, but one needs to bring the car to a police station after getting it fixed, so they can verify the repair was done. Of course, they just paper check it, knowing you wouldn't be there if it wasn't in good working order now.

2manyturbos said:

I told a customer of mine that lives on the coast about being pulled over and he said that on the weekends, late at night the police and sheriffs out there are just looking for an excuse to pull people over because ....

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Sounds like the city I used to live in. There was a lot of meth use in the city and a little gang activity, and any time I had anything wrong with my car - lights, tags, a missing front license plate, I got pulled over. Especially late at night. But the many times I used a stoplight as a christmas tree on the main drag I was never bothered. I think cops usually run overstaffed at night, just in case something big happens.
Valentines day the first year I had my license, I was pulled over in my parents' caddy for not having the lights on. I had pulled into a gas station to buy eggs as a last-minute stop, and was used to not needing to turn my lights off and on with my brick. The cop pulled me over and made me sweat for 15 minutes after telling he could take my license for being out after midnight with a provisional license. He let me go, but he seemed to enjoy scaring me. I was also followed for over 15 miles by an overzealous off-duty cop out of a bad neighborhood in his personal pickup, which ended with me in cuffs for 5 minutes after we both called the police and I thought they were there because I called them. That particular cop was a douchebag. Most cops I encounter are 50/50 nice/jerks. I worked with LE in Yosemite national park and those guys were pretty laid back, but took their jobs seriously.

One of the many times I was pulled over for (bad wiring) broken passenger side running lights, the cop took off to chase some guy who burned rubber around a corner and left me with a warning. That guy has his priorities right.

microsa1 said:

No state inspection? Should have been caught there and either fixed or fail and no sticker.

What state?

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I think the majority of states don't have state inspections other than smog.

coonmanx said:

It's all good and I just had to vent. I will be driving through the same neighborhood tonight but I just might start varying my route a bit. They always seem to hang out on this one street so I think I will just take another route. The thing is that we as drivers do have rights. But the cops wield the power. And if they want to cherry you up they will. It is as simple as that in the end.

Now I have to go install some new covers on those license plate lights. Mine look all burned or something so I went to the local pull and pay and got some better ones. I want them to be blindingly bright!

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Yeah man. Just grin at them and know that you didn't do anything wrong. Ask them how they are, just like they're sellin you coffee. Leave out any requests for pastries though

coonmanx said:

It really makes me question their behavior if they have to fly down the road to catch you for something minor. They think that they are invincible but it reminds me of the guy in New Jersey who killed two girls because he ran a stop sign while speeding in order to try and catch up to a speeder. Completely unnecessary. Two lives lost because of a minor violation. To serve and protect? I know that they have difficult jobs but they should be held to the same standards of behavior as us when it comes to safety.

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I agree with you 100%. It pissed me off that this jackass drove 80+ mph on a twisty mountain road to stop me for license plate lights, just because he could. He might have killed someone.