I have been pulled over only twice in my life (so far), once for speeding (I was given a warning by a very nice MD State Trooper) and once for running a red light by a Baltimore County cop.
Both incidents happened nearly 30 years ago when I was nineteen or twenty, when I was young, reckless and stupid as opposed to my current state; middle aged, cautious and only occasionally stupid.
The night I ran the red light was Halloween and my best friend and I were all dressed up and embarking on a night of barhopping to find the best costume party and the cutest guys.
We had already been to one bar and while I do confess to having a drink or two, I wasn’t really “drunk”. But my friend and I were talking up a storm and trying to decide where we were going next, who we wanted to meet and who we didn’t and I wasn’t really paying attention to my driving. We were heading toward Towson and on a busy stretch of up hill road where there were several traffic lights very close to one another. I think I was talking and looking ahead to the next traffic light and didn’t pay attention enough to the red light right in front of me and sailed right through it.
I realized what I had done almost simultaneously to seeing the blue flashing lights in my rear view so I immediately pulled over.
I remembered what my dad had told me about being pulled over; “keep your hands on the steering wheel in plain site and wait for the cop to ask you for your driver’s license and registration. Be polite and follow his instructions.”
While I was waiting for the cop, my friend gave me gum to chew (hopefully to hid the smell of beer on my breath) and she gave me all sorts of potential excuses to give him.
But I knew I had run the red light and I knew the cop saw me so I didn’t think it was any use trying to talk my way out of it.
When he came up to the car, he showed me his badge, gave me his name and politely asked me if I knew why I was pulled over.
I answered, “Yes Sir, I ran through the red light”.
He smiled and said “OK” and then the cop went back to his car and I was terrified what might happen next.
He came back to my car and handed me a ticket that I signed it without question. I even said something like, “Thank you officer, have a good evening”.
I was so upset, that I didn’t even look at the ticket until the next morning. I wasn’t so upset at getting a ticket and while I was grateful that that I didn’t get a DUI, I was still living at home and on my father’s insurance and running a red light meant points on my license and I greatly feared my father’s reaction if his insurance premium went up.
When I finally looked at the ticket, the officer gave me a ticket for “failure to signal”. It was only a $20 fine with no points.
I don’t know why the cop gave me a break. It could have been my Raggedy Ann costume – kind of sexy and I did bat my eye lashes at him a bit. It could have also been that I had no previous moving violations and it could have been that I was honest about what I had done and didn’t argue with him.
But it’s important to note that the cop was polite to me so I was polite to him.
If the cop had been arrogant and angry with me, the outcome could have been very different.
Wow! Those are very rare critters these days. Almost all of the ones I know about are first class jerks. One of them gave my brother-in-law a ticket for doing 53 in a 50 mph zone (which he later got thrown out in court).
In another instance, just this past spring, one of my colleagues was sitting in a traffic jam on I-270 S near Gaithersburg, when an motorist plowed into his rear, pushing him forward and into the rear end of the guy in front of him, who then hit the guy in front of him. A woman trooper soon arrived, and instead of doing a proper investigation and citing the motorist who had hit my friend and caused the chain reaction, she simply gave them all tickets and told them to let the judge sort it out. The ticket was dropped two weeks later, but only after my friend had to invest time and money into getting a lawyer.
Now, ask me again why I don't generally like LEOs, especially troopers?
And if's it's at night turn your dome light on. Years ago I had two different former police officers tell me these same things. It's been a long time since I've been stopped for speeding but the two times I was, these are the things I did, and I only got a warning both times.
I think police officers probably regard these actions as a courtesy, especially when it's night.
Cordially,