If they can't get you on a flagrant violation, they will go after trivial violations or even non-violations. Cops have an arsenal of "offenses" that they can cite you for like "careless driving", "failure to yield", and minor "safety related" problems with your vehicle itself. Of course, in most cases, it comes down to the citizen's word vs. the cop's word, in which case the cop almost always wins. Most people don't bother to fight the ticket. If the cop is forced to write tickets, he will always find someone to ticket.
Hmmm. I guess I'm lucky then. I was once leaving a nightclub where I had been playing music. As I drove down the highway, some a-hole pulled up to within probably eight feet of my rear bumper at 65 mph. No one anywhere around, so I put on my blinker and pulled into the next left lane as there was an exit coming up. I figured the A-H was going to exit the highway.
Nope.
He swung over behind me, still extremely close. I thought I had a drunk A-H behind me. I blinkered and moved back into the right lane. At this point, he swerved back behind me and threw on his flashing lights.
I had to do a twenty minute drunk test on the side of the highway with a highly agitated and pissed of police officer. I was totally sober. He said I was "swerving" on the highway. Complete BS, but I didn't get a ticket. He was swerving and driving in an unsafe manner. I felt like my safety was in danger, and at 65 mph, my life was at risk.
Why can't I ticket him? What an Obama he was.