Oh yeah, he's screwed

[Akasa]

So I was at the bus stop waiting for my bus when I saw a police car turn on their lights behind a car. I missed what it was that triggered it, but stupidity abounded.

The idiot was in the far left lane of a 4 lane street, that had an additional right turn lane. He darted across ALL 4 LANES to the turn lane, and turned right w/ the officer on his tail before pulling over. Now he could have stayed in the left lane and turned left off that street as the street he turned onto was a 2 way street.

So I'm sitting at the bus stop watchign the flashing lights and counting how many cop cars are coming. I counted 3 additional cop cars by the time my bus came and one of them parked BESIDE the car that was pulled over, so there was one behind, 2 in front and one beside.

I soo wish I could hear the conversation between the police and that idiot.

[Gruesome]

The lights of a cop car must knock 20 points of IQ out of the idiot drivers, sometimes. I know I've been guilty of that on at least one occasion, although I managed to keep the stupid inside my own head.

As to the "how many cops do you need for a traffic stop" phenomenon, I used to love watching the campus police at my university overreact to every damn thing. If something happened at night - and I mean damn near anything - every cop car in the fleet would arrive in a hurry and you'd think they found a serial killer or something. You don't really need a "show of force" when a couple of drunk college kids get into a scuffle.

[blas]

It takes at least two cops around here for a burnt out headlight.

[hotelslave]

When I worked at the hotel we would always joke you could tell how you could tell how slow the city cops day was by the amount of cops that would show up. One day 10 cops came for simple stuff some days only one would come for major lol

[smileyeagle1021]

When I worked at the hotel we would always joke you could tell how you could tell how slow the city cops day was by the amount of cops that would show up. One day 10 cops came for simple stuff some days only one would come for major lol

sadly our joke is by speak of response. Slow night means cops there in minutes, busy night means, "I hope y'all are shuttered in nice and tight, because we'll get there whenever we damned well please"

Oh, so happy to be in the call center... no need to ever call the cops here (unless of course one of our deaf users requests us to relay a call to their police jurisdiction... but that is rare).

[sirwired]

It takes at least two cops around here for a burnt out headlight.

Night-time traffic stops are extremely dangerous for officers. If it is not an otherwise well-lit area, and a nearby cop isn't busy, I can understand summoning backup.

Handy advice: If ever pulled over at night, put your license and registration on the dash, turn on the dome light, and leave your hands on the wheel. The dome light screws up your night vision, which helps the officer feel better about approaching your car. And obviously you want your hands where the officer can see them. These steps help the officer feel safe, and make it more likely you'll get off with a warning.

SirWired

[Geek King]

Handy advice: If ever pulled over at night, put your license and registration on the dash, turn on the dome light, and leave your hands on the wheel. The dome light screws up your night vision, which helps the officer feel better about approaching your car. And obviously you want your hands where the officer can see them. These steps help the officer feel safe, and make it more likely you'll get off with a warning.

I would suggest just turning on the light and putting your hands up on the wheel. If a cop sees you rooting around in your car, they will likely approach the car with their hand on their gun and ready for trouble. Don't go digging for your information until they ask for it. Even then, tell them exactly where it is before you reach for it. Some really bad stops in the past few years have many police officers very tense, so you don't want to mistakenly push them into drawing on you.

[Andara Bledin]

What GK said, there.

Also, if you have anything even remotely weapon-like in the car that they're likely to spot during a routine traffic stop, it's best to advise them of it before the find it themselves.

Of course, that can be a rather lengthy list when they've got cause to search your trunk, and you're on the way home from a renn faire with all of your swords, knives, daggers, and black powder guns in the trunk, save for the lone 8" dagger your idiot husband left on the floor next to his feet. >.<

^-.-^

[Dave1982]

2nd everything that was said. Of course, managing to do that while nervous is easier said than done. When I had my little run-in with the cops a month ago (only my second ever...the first was when I was pulled over for going over the double yellow lines about 2 months after I first got my license more than 10 years ago), the cop yelled at me for making a sudden move. I realized right after I'd done it that it had been a mistake, but I was too jumpy at the time.

And when he subsequently searched my car (with cause), I advised him that he'd find 1 or 2 box cutters somewhere that I'd tossed in there when leaving work.

Amazingly, I got off almost completely scot-free. Verbal warning. Just don't ask me what I did; it would be unwise for me to say so publicly.

[Imogene]

I've been pulled over twice while driving: Once, because the registration sticker on my windshield was old (by about a month, oops, it's technically the parents' car... I just drive it) and once on my obviously cursed drive to OK... my poor car was on a tow dolly behind the Uhaul, had two incidents where my car got thrust up over the dolly... got pulled over by a couple of cops because I made a series of two Uturns in a minute, trying to figure out how to get back on the freeway... got directions, got adrenaline, moved on... spent the rest of the night trying damned hard to find our destination on the vague ass directions our soon to be roommate gave my passenger.