[oceandreams94]

Hello, years ago, my husband and I were vacationing in Daytona Beach and were pulled over by a pliceman. He told us that our license sticker was expired. However, I had just purchased the new sticker less than a month before our trip, so unless it had fallen off the car, I did not understand why the officer was saying this. He would not let us get out of the car to see for ourselves either.
So when we drove away, with his ticket in hand, my husband drove to a gas station to check for himself. Sure enough, our sticker was NOT expired!
the next day, we drove to the court house to explain the situation. But our only options were to either pay the ticket, or go to court, and the next available time for that was over a month away, and we had to return home to Illinois. So we paid the ticket!

Sorry this was so long, but my question is, have any of you whether you were from out of state or a resident, had anything like this happen to you? Like the police pick on you, LOL? And why does this happen? Its not fair!

[daniellefort]

Yes in fact i have. Once i had a sporty looking 97 camero and i bought the blackout covers for the tail lights. They've been on the car for well over a year. well one morning, i got pulled over and was told they were too dark and i had to take them off before i could drive off and in fact they were illegal to have on my car So at 7:30 in the morning dressed in my office clothes on my way to work in the down pouring rain, he made me go to the back of my car and take them off. Boy was i mad.

On my current car Grand Prix GTP i got pulled over because he said he ran my tag # through and it didn't come up. Sure enough when he ran it again, he said he must have typed in a wrong number but made sure to mention that my windows were tinted too dark and that i need to peel them off or it's $80 fine for each tinted window. He said next time i get pulled over and the tint isn't gone, i'll be fined for it. I think he just pulled me over because i had a sporty punky looking car and he had nothing else to do with his time hoping to find trouble inside.

[oceandreams94]

WOW, I wonder why some of them pick on people like that? We had a little black Pontiac Sunbird at the time, but we were a lot younger and from out of state so maybe it was just because he thought we looked like toruble, LOL?

[info please]

I never had any problem. I'm glad somebody wants to take the job . That's one hard job and I think there doing a great job here in florida.

[BravoSix]

If tail light covers are illegal, then it doesn't matter how long they've been on. I've never been big on writing traffic tickets, but just because I choose not to enforce laws that I find silly does not mean that another officer who chooses to enforce that law is picking on you.

As for typing in the plate wrong, mistakes happen. I know....I've made them.

As for the original poster, if their account is true, then I would say they have a valid issue. Registration can be checked almost instantly, so even if the sticker showed expired, the officer would have been able to verify it's current status.

I'm not saying this is necessarily true, but often times the recollection of the person being pulled over isn't accurate, or their story reflects an obvious bias. I've had people tel me stories about an officer while not realizing that I was the officer in their story.....and their story was comletely off-base.

[daniellefort]

[quote=BravoSix;637075]If tail light covers are illegal, then it doesn't matter how long they've been on.

As for typing in the plate wrong, mistakes happen. I know....I've made them.QUOTE]

Well i didn't know they were illegal to begin with but i was saying i had them on my car for so long and never got pulled over before and many times had officers behind me. What do you say about making me get out in the pouring rain to take them off though?? Isn't that a bit extreme. High heels, skirt on my way to work? could have let me pull under a gas station cover or something at least.

Well it seems like the officers around my town stop you for any little thing. It's a good thing i think but isn't that a distraction trying type a tag # while driving? I mean i wasn't stopped at all when he was behind me to give him time to get close enough and type it in.

[macguy]

Originally Posted by oceandreams94

Hello, years ago, my husband and I were vacationing in Daytona Beach and were pulled over by a pliceman. He told us that our license sticker was expired. However, I had just purchased the new sticker less than a month before our trip, so unless it had fallen off the car, I did not understand why the officer was saying this. He would not let us get out of the car to see for ourselves either.
So when we drove away, with his ticket in hand, my husband drove to a gas station to check for himself. Sure enough, our sticker was NOT expired!
the next day, we drove to the court house to explain the situation. But our only options were to either pay the ticket, or go to court, and the next available time for that was over a month away, and we had to return home to Illinois. So we paid the ticket!

Sorry this was so long, but my question is, have any of you whether you were from out of state or a resident, had anything like this happen to you? Like the police pick on you, LOL? And why does this happen? Its not fair!

Had it happen with a tail light and sure enough it was not out when I checked a few minutes later after they left. I had to pay $10.00 and show it was fixed, (I did nothing it was never out). Don't really know what to say about stuff like that. When I worked construction I worked with a guy who was an ex cop from Pennsylvania and he told me all kinds of stories how cops would find reasons to stop people they didn't like the looks of and if you gave them any kind of back talk you got a ticket for something. In your case, even if you went in and said look there is the sticker, they would just say you put it on after. You can't win.

[Miami Vice]

Starting with the original post. If you drove to the gas station and realized that the tag wasn't expired, you should have called his station and notified a supervisor. The situation should have been resolved.

As far as the "blacked out" taillights. If you bought them after you bought the car, the box that they came in should have said "check local laws" or for "show use only". I assume that after you took off the lights in the rain, the officer didn't write you a ticket and let you slid with a warning. Most people that are warned instead of ticketed tend to ignore the warnings and repeat the violation. I don't think that he should have made you take them off in the rain. This sounds like a case where I would have taken the ticket and contacted his supervisor.

Some officers are into traffic laws big time. Others just use it as a tool to be able to stop cars and see who's inside. The people are checked for warrants and in many cases narcotics and guns are found. Traffic enforcement is a great tool for both fighting crime and also detering it. Most people who would just get off with a warning give the officers a hard time or a bad attitude and end up with a ticket or under arrest.

As with every profession, there are those that abuse their power and shouldn't even be wearing the badge. No matter how much you dislike the police, I always advise people to check with their local police to see if they have a ride-along program. This way you could put yourself in the passenger seat and see what officers go through on a day to day basis. I'm sure that soem of you will gain some respect for them. Here in Miami, we actually have a citizen's police academy. It's for a couple hours at night.

For those of you that have had bad experiences, I appoligize on their behalf and on behalf of all good officers trying to make a difference and keep you all safe.

[riveree]

My husband is in between cars right now (sudden jeep death !), so he's driving a truck that's been "making the rounds" in the family.

His nephew has put those covers on the back tailights...we tore them right off after seeing how much they block the brake lights.

The windows have been tinted dark - which we can't easily undo - and it is awful...they are absolutely a safety hazard - even in good weather, it hampers night vision (geez, they hamper DAY vision!).

These things are absolutely a safety hazard on the road - to EVERYONE on the road - the laws are there for a good reason.

I'm glad some officers spoke up here, it's so easy for people to blame the police when it's simply their job to enforce the law - they don't make the laws.

[Edvard]

I'm surprised you haven't been pinched over the dark tint yet. You could run someone over at night. But the real deal, you have no idea how many really good drug busts started with an equipment violation, and triple that for unlawful tint. It is also a serious officer safety issue. They can't see how many people are in there, how many guns etc. Somebody has to approach that car on the side of the road at night, some never make it home, could be your dad, husband, wife, son etc. There are some rooks that write every soccer mom they see with a burned out light, and most give a warning once they meet someone who just wants to hurry home and fix their equipment, but some of those equipment violations lead to a whole lot more, and you don't know until the driver is stopped, the window is down and the occupants are really nervous, hiding stuff etc. It's for the safety of everyone, keep your stuff legal and you don't need to worry about it. If they write you for a light that's working, call his Lt.