I got a warning this am...

ZCarGo

I passed a jerk driving slow in the fast lane and moved over in front of him. I didn't think much of it, but looked in my rear view and a State Trooper lit me up. Don't know where he came from and I'm pretty good at spotting them. I pulled over three lanes to the right shoulder and waited for my destiny.

Honestly, I didn't really realize why he was pulling me. I thought it was for speeding, which has become a chronic issue with this car...really need to use cruise control more.

The Trooper was pissed and was yelling at me.."this time of day", "stupid move", "he can arrest me". He asked if he should arrest me and I said "I'd prefer that he didn't".

I just told him I didn't have any excuse. They hate any excuse and I didn't know what the heck he had pulled me for anyway. No sense in saying I was speeding for some stupid reason when he was pissed about me passing!

When he finally told me what he pulled me for, I couldn't even remember passing the guy. I had to think for a while and replay it before I could remember the situation. In other words, the guy I passed didn't really piss me off enough for me to actually make an aggressive move. He was just another jerk driving slow in the fast lane.

After a couple minutes, he came back and was still giving me a hard time. He was saying he could arrest me and charge me $500 for the offense of reckless driving. Then he said the only thing that saved me was that I had a perfect record (as in no tickets or accidents in over 20 years) and that was only giving me a warning. I thanked him for his kindness, promised it wouldn't happen again and went on my way.

So I'm wondering..did I do anything overly aggressive? Was it the car and the whole "yellow sports" car.."I'm going to teach you a lesson". I'm sure I probably did something that provided enough probable cause to pull me, but come on..I haven't really changed my driving habits since I got my Z, although, I've never had a yellow sports car before either.

I guess I need to drive in the slow lane with the cruise control on to avoid this sort of thing from happening.

Anyone else pulled with similar stories?

-ZCarGo-

wstar

Who knows, other than you and the trooper. I've never been ticketed (or threatened with) any kind of reckless driving charge, and I've been pulled over in some situations that many would consider a little reckless. So at least around here, I think the standards for that are pretty high, and I'd be inclined to believe maybe you had crossed the line.

On the other hand, cops are humans too, perhaps he just had a bad day and had seen too much stupid crap on the road already and you just sent him over the edge with something benign. The fact that he didn't write the ticket in the end kinda lends support to that theory.

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Caravanshaka

Reminds me of a time I was driving to school in my old 240sx (1990, real cwest body, 300 whp sr20det in it). It was about 7am and I had picked up my girlfriend and was cruising down a 4-lane road with a 40 speed limit and was going about 43 mph in 5th gear. All of a sudden a work van pulls out in front of me in the right line when I was about 50 ft from passing the street he was pulling out of. My choice was to swerve around him or slam on my brakes and hope he hit the gas as hard as I hit the brakes. So I decided to swerve since there were no cars in the other lane...It was a quick move as to not hit him, went around him and got back in the right lane and got up to the next light.

After driving through the intersection when the light turned green a city cop came flying around the van in the middle of the intersection and flipped on his lights as he got behind me, and I was thinking "what the heck is he pulling me over for?".

I pull into the parking lot and the cop comes up to the window and asks me to step outside, so I did. He says "what the hell do you think you are doing driving like that?" so I asked him to explain what he meant since I generally drive on the slow side for an 18 year old on a 300hp sports car (25 now, this was a while ago). He says he was in oncoming traffic when he saw my car fly across the double yellow line in a fish-tail and nearly hit him. I was like "WHAT??" (let me add, I had 10" wide wheels with 275's in the back of this 240 with 50/50 weight distribution going only 40 mph and didn't even accelerate once I got into the left lane). I explained to him that I was avoiding an accident by swerving around this van that cut me off, and that I never once lost control of the car. He says he should bring me in for reckless driving and blah blah blah.

Another cop car shows up about that time, which turns out to be my neighbor (who has ridden in my car before, and is a real nice guy and has helped me work on it a few times in the past) so he asked the officer what happened then pulled me aside and asked me what happened. My neighbor told the cop he was being ridiculous and that he knows I am a good driver and such. He still ended up writing me 3 tickets, one for "unsafe lane change",one for "failure to maintain lane", and one for "Failure to use turn signal". My neighbor told me as I was leaving "come see me after school and we'll take care of it"

He brought me to the city judge and we explained what happened. She dismissed the turn signal ticket, and cut the fines on the other 2 tickets to 1/4 of what they normally are and gave me deferred on them. Ended up not going on my record.

What was up that cops ***, I don't know...but I was a teenager in a sports car driving to school and avoided an accident. I have driven like an idiot a few times in my life, and would be more than willing to own up to it if I got stopped for it...but this was definitely not one of those times.

Oh, and to this day, no tickets on my record, and I'm not sure about the 1 time I got rear-ended in my wifes car if that is on my record or not, but I wasn't at fault so no real accidents there either.

ChrisSlicks

ZCar, all I can think of is that you possibly didn't see a car in your blind spot on the passenger side when you cut around the slow car. I know I've been guilty of that at least once.

ZCarGo

Could be that I cut it too close for the cop's comfort. I guess if I was really incredibly reckless, he would have been compelled to write the ticket. There's only so far good looks and charm goes, especially when I'm lacking in both.

-ZCarGo-

2bits

Luckily the trooper only gave you a warning, but he shouldn't have raised his voice or threatened jail. Either you did something that warrants hauling you in to jail, or you didn't. That fact that he asked the question provides the answer, and it's just not called for. Very unprofessional. I can only give him the benefit of a doubt and presume he was having a really bad day as we all do now and then, but still...

ssqpolo

maybe he just expected another teen punk to be driving. when he saw u and ur good record, he gave u a warning. but like others said, maybe u cut too close for his comfort.

spearfish25

Agreed. The role of a police officer is to uphold the law and protect the citizens. Allowing personal bias or emotion to come into play is unprofessional and outside the job description. First, he shouldn't have been upset. Second, he should have explained why he pulled you over promptly and clearly. Third, asking if you should go to jail is just taunting you to feed his anger. You handled things exactly right. You apologize a hundred times (even if you think you're right), don't give excuses, and say that you'll be sure you'll never do it again. Even asking him why he's upset would just exacerbate the problem. My father-in-law is a sergeant and he's a great, mellow guy. However, there are many hot-head cops out there who feed on finally being the bully after getting daily swirlies in highschool. Being apologetic and deferential has always worked in my favor when I've been pulled over.

Musashi

The problem probably started with this nerd getting picked on in high school, marrying a fat pig who yells at him and spends all of his money and now this sorry loser has a badge and a gun. You crushed his hopes in dreams because his wife wont let him have a Z because it's not practical enough and she's too fat. He took out his frustrations for his sorry existence on you. Forget about it and be grateful you got off.

I have had cops screaming and yelling at me for not having a front plate on a car you just don't put a front plate on, following me because of the cars I drive, even right to my house. I know how to handle these PIGS and it's kiss their sorry asses.....

NotmyGTR

Blind spot cut off, no signal before changing lanes, accelerate too close to the car you passed before changing lanes, or as soon as you passed you changed back into the lane too close to the car you just passed?

Or, the cop had morning duty and couldnt meet the rest of his fellow patrolman for breakfast at IHOP?

Thats the one thing I truly miss about Japan. Cops over there pull you over and get soooooo irritated because they cant communicate 100% so eventually they just get pissed off, tell you to slow down, and send you on your merry way. That is of course unless you get hawked down by one of their 800+hp Skylines they have. When they pull you over........break out the checkbook, and its gonna hurt.

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SiXK

You are correct, but all too often they are very unprofessional. I had a complete *** of a cop give me a ticket for 64 in a 55. Amongst the most minor of violations. he followed me 11 miles (morning commute traffic), pulled along side of me for a while, and as soon as I started to inch past him he pulled me over and ticketed me. I was going maybe 1/4 mph faster than him and both of us were traveling less than 10mph over the limit.

the orange county sheriffs on that road (State Road 408 Orlando) either go 60 and dare people to pass them (speed limits 55), or they go 85-90 and blow everyone away. I learned my lesson and if one gets behind me I signal and get over and drop back. If ones in front of me I get behind him and do not pass. Honestly I hate cops.

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chubbs

It sounds like you adopted the right attitude. Even if you did wrong, the cop clearly had problems of his own and needed to release them. He used you as his verbal punchbag, got it out of his system and then came over all forgiving (control freak)! You did the right thing by taking his verbal abuse, because he gave you that instead of something worse. Had you reacted he would have escalated it and before you know it, you'd have had his handcuffs on.

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semtex

I've had good experiences with cops who have treated me with professionally and politely, and I've had bad experiences with cops who have behaved like bullies with badges. The good ones make me want to shake their hands and thank them for laying it on the line day in, day out. The bad ones make me feel tempted to reach for my own gun and do something I'd inevitably regret, regardless of the outcome. Thankfully, I've been able to resist this temptation. I just keep reminding myself -- There are no do-overs . . . there are no do-overs . . .

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Robert_Nash

Apparently this trooper was having a bad day and had to take it out on somebody.

It's also true that "aggressive driving" is the new politically incorrect way to drive these days and the bar between "nice driving" and what actions constitute "aggressive driving" seems to be getting thinner and thinner all the time...I suspect it won't be long until states (likely starting in California) start requiring manufacturers to install "mood monitors" so that even having the wrong thoughts are reason to pull you over.

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PrObLy

Were you on the interstate, or was this just a city road? Also, did you give him ample time and room to move to the right lane before you passed him?

If so, where I'm from, he would have been the one getting pulled over and issued a citation or warning for not moving out of the way for faster traffic (no matter how fast you may have been going)

As long as you weren't riding his bumper or if you really cut him off hard while passing, this seems silly.