Have you been pulled over while driving in your MINI ....and what did you do?

 

Yes, twice. Talked to the officer a little and received a ticket.

 

Several times. What can you do except listen to officer, smile, sign the ticket and send in the money?

 

4 times. I did what everybody else did.

 

Well, not sure if this counts
We had a meet and eat a few weeks ago here in Columbia, and a few new members showed up.. one in particular had a hyper blue mini like mine.. so of course.. uhm.. (don't try this at home) had to show off a lil bit.. her and I were zoomin along on a city street near 1130 at night.. the street was quiet.. didn't see anything... as I am driving my father who was in town for a visit says, you need to slow down or your going to get a ticket.. I said nahh, not me! Well I have an 06 MCS.. and my husband has an 08 MC.. He was quite further back then me and the other mini.. I am not going to mention how fast I was moving.. but I came up on a stop light and stopped in the right hand land.. husband behind me, cabrio on my left.. when the light turned green.. I looked up, my heart fell as I saw the blue lights.. and thought OMG Im gonna get a ticket lol..
so I pulled forward heading to the side.. when I looked up the blue lights hadn't moved .. and my husband was still there..
Long story short.. the cop told him he saw the blue minis flying by.. then saw the pepper white come along trying to catch them.. he knew that he could pull the white one over lol... so my husband was my stoolie.. he took the ticket for me.. He was going 60 in a 40 mph.. the cop said he clocked me at 70 mph. My husband got 49 in a 40, so all in all the fine was 81 and change..

 

I got pulled over for window tint one time.. even though it was dealer installed and completely legal officer gave me a 'fix-it' ticket and told me not to do anything about it

 

I got pulled over for no front plate a while back. Drove it that way for 2 years before getting caught. I have the JCW aero kit and just couldn't get myself to drill holes in the front fascia. Cop was nice and just gave me a warning. Ended up costing me about $50 for the tow lug plate mount. But better than a ticket!

 

i got stopped twice 1st time no ticket 2nd time High Speed Pursuit! J/K 2nd time Ticket went to court and took the defensive driving class no points + insurance discount

 

Got pulled over for speeding. The officer asked right when he got up to the car, "what are you gunning it around here for!"
I was only going 45 in a 30. Can you believe it!

 

OK, only once though. I did not break the speed limit, but I took a turn and uh....forgot to slow down, I guess.
First, he asked why I did that right in front of two motorcycle cops, and I still do not know where they were hiding. I had no clue they were close. Second, he told me that I was squealing tires all around the turn, but that wasn't really true cause I had the stupid DSC active. Maybe a some slight scrubbing but certainly no squealing. I thought it best not to correct him though.
Third, he gave the car a good once over, noticed no front plate and did not say anything about it.
Finally, he told me how much he admired the MINI and especially the JCW version, told me to drive safely, slow down for turns, and I was on my way!
NO ticket!

My 16 year old was very impressed, I was very relieved.

And I have never taken a fast turn since.

 

Me never, at least not yet. Do you have a story to share??

 

 

...twice for speeding, once for no front plate, three times for cornering too fast, a few times for over steer, once for doing a J-turn in a parking lot, two times for doing hand brake turns in the snow, um, maybe four or more accidents, several sobriety/seat belt check points - I don't drink but they stop random cars, my harness raised a few eyebrows. I'm probably forgetting a few things, but oh well.

 

Never been pulled over ever......this must mean I'm not driving my Mini fast enough!

 

No, it means you're smart.

 

yeah i ran a stop sign. it was awkward. i was parallel parking, and taking a long time at that, and when i was done i went to open my door and this lady cop was standing outside my window. then she was really rude to me when i asked her why she needed my registration, etc. i didn't remember doing anything wrong. (i'd never gotten a ticket before then and i'm 22! then she told me that i didn't even slow down when i ran the stop sign which is pretty much impossible because that means i would have turned at 30 mph... which i know can be done in the mini but i never would have done that around campus. whatevs she was just a bitter lady cop.

 

Quite a few times with results like everyone else. Some result in tix, some not.

OP, do you need ideas as to what to say for future reference?

 

Funny... just last night I got pulled over!

The husband and I are out looking to buy Christmas lights on clearance (for next year). We were getting ready to leave our third Wal-mart when we heard what sounded like alarms outside and there were blue lights flashing and stuff. Get to the stop light at the entrance/exit to the main road and we're going to turn left to go home. Instead, we are nosy and wonder what's going on. I move into the right hand lane, stop, all clear and I make a right. Right on red.

We drive past the bank and each say to each other, "There's the cops right near the bank... maybe there was a break in... looks like they must be looking for someone" (and cops were driving around on the grass on the side of the road in front of the bank with their lights on) and since it's not the greatest area we decide to just hurry up and get out of there. I drive past the cops (not speeding) and one of the cops drives over the curbing and pulls out behind me. Again we're thinking they must be looking for someone.

There is another stop light and I'm waiting for the chance to go because I'm thinking this cop is going to turn on his blues any second to get around me and I need to get out of his way. Get the chance to go right (on red) and the cop stomps on it and turns his blues on so I move over like I'm supposed to but he's not passing me... he's stopped behind me!! I'm thinking, "Are they looking for fugitives in the Cooper?"... in the meantime, we've got the top down with a mother lode of Christmas lights and an animated alligator in the back seat. Every bright light on the cruiser is shining on us and reflecting in my eyes. He gets out and walks toward us and asks for the usual.

We asked what's going on and he said, "You turned right on red". We were dumbfounded. "WHAT?!?" I said, "We're not allowed to turn right on red?" He said, "Nope". We were really confused. I said, "Well there were just two cars in front of me and they both turned right on red... what did I miss?". He said, "Well we can't catch everyone". So again he asked for the license, insurance, registration. The husband was looking in his wallet for a copy of the insurance card and the cop said in his uh... "friendly" (NOT) raised tone- "SIR, I'M NOT ASKING YOU FOR YOUR INFORMATION JUST HERS". The husband (all flustered) starts to say, "I know... I'm looking for the... (insert huff)... just calm down dude... we're just trying to get what you've asked for.".

The cop instantly goes into a tirade on the husband and starts yelling about how he's not a "dude"... he's a "DEPUTY" and he deserves to be treated with more respect. He continues by telling the husband that he would normally just give a warning for this offense (if I have all the required license, insurance, registration) but since he obviously shows such disrespect for authority (BTW-husband has never been in trouble) his comment was a good way to make sure that I got a ticket! I'm thinking "OMG- I didn't say anything... why should anything a passenger says have any relevance on whether or not I get a ticket?". For all that cop knows, my passenger could have been very drunk... and drunk people say things sometimes. The husband was starting to try and explain that he was looking for the insurance card and I just looked at him and said "SSHHHTTT! don't say anything else.". Honestly, that could have escalated SO fast... I was thinking that the Taser was coming out.

So the cop gets all our information and takes it back to the cruiser and comes back. He starts with a raised voice about how he was "nice enough" to not give me a $141.00 ticket. So in my nice voice I was trying to figure out what I missed so that I don't make the same mistake again. He said, "There are two signs that say 'No Turn on Red'". I apologized and said, "I have no idea how I could have missed them... where were they located?" He said, "There's one on the light pole and one on the grass... they're NEW and have been there for less than 2 months!". So that explains it... they were never there before. And apparently it's quite the cash cow!

I went back around to try and find the signs and didn't see any. So we were thinking, maybe it was at the exit of the Wal-mart intersection. Weird place but maybe. We went there and looked. Sure enough, there they were... but we really had to look for them. The one that was in the grass was located behind one or two other signs and since I had moved into that right lane from the middle left earlier, I was already beyond it and hadn't seen it. Whenever I have to go down that way, I always turn left to go home. Then we were looking for the one on the stop light. It was not lit up and due to the brightness of the RED light at night we could hardly see it. There's no light on it and it's too high to have any reflective capability.

So lesson learned, I guess... grumble grumble.

 

Check your state laws about posted signs - some states stipulate that if the sign is not reasonably easy to see, you can't be charged for an offense against it.

As for the officer's comment about deserving respect, I think he's among those who are in that line of work for a power trip. They seem to forget that they work for US and that their authority is only given to them BY US. And your husband owed him no more respect than he owed your husband - which doesn't sound like much. He's the sort of a-hole that gives cops a bad name.

 

miniola, you can turn right on red in FL, unless stated.

As for the respect comment, don't respect the person, respect the position and uniform. There are alot of cops out there that I don't respect, and there are some out there that know that, but I do respect the position they hold in society and the uniform. That's it.

 

You can turn right on red in all 50 States (after stop) unless posted otherwise.

My last ticket was also for a Right Turn On Red offense.

On the Tamiami Trail and had just gone through that intersection in the other direction, wondering about the FHP parked there.

On the way back (it had previously been a 'Yield' sign at this corner) got a ticket. (had not stopped)

Took it to court and the Judge let me off with 'Go to Driving School' no-fine and no-points.

The 'Yield' sign was replaced and the 'Wolf-Pack' moved on to other locations.

The 'DWI' School taught me the "Two Second" rule and how to use the "Caution Light" to make an intersection Left Turn.

This was all in 1974 and have not gotten a ticket since.

 

Yeah, I'm wondering about the specs for posted signs... they may be incorrectly placed. There's a reason the cops are waiting there for people. But I guess the fact that he was "nice enough" to just give me a warning though... means I don't need to spend lots of time getting my panties in a bunch over it.

I've known lots of cops... friends with some and not friends with some. I don't think they're all bad... but the dynamics involved in who becomes one and why are quite interesting.

I was surprised I didn't get a ticket just because I had a radar detector!

 

Stay away from VA and DC because you will get a ticket for having one. Only $40 in addition to my $120 speeding violation. I was living in PA at the time, knew they were illegal, turned it off and unplugged it but did not take it off the window (can be kinda awkward to take it down while driving) . Cop admitted that she saw it was not plugged in and it did not have batteries but gave me a ticket anyway. Moral of the story, take you radar detector off the windshield while going through VA, it could save you $40.

 

Sounds like you had a similar issue. You're in a familiar area but something has changed and unless it's blatantly obvious, why would you notice? Good thing you took that traffic school though! Looks like you've learned a lot if you haven't had a ticket since 1974!

I still don't understand why they changed it to a "No Turn on Red" at that location. Wondering if maybe there were lots of accidents there? There hadn't been any new road construction or additional lanes added since the last time that I had been there... but I don't go there too often. So, nothing to signal that there had ever been a change. Really weird. Seems like cops slowly driving up and over curbs and/or sidewalks and pulling back out in traffic to "catch" these people at a "dangerous intersection" is far more reckless. I was thinking if I went to the Sheriff's Dept to talk to someone about it I would be put on a naughty list that I don't want to be on.

JustJAY- Your Avatar really cracks me up. I wanted to say something when I saw it before but never did. Is that you? Looked in your gallery but no pictures. Anyway, looks like a tight squeeze!

I've had only 2 tickets so far (I'm 37). Both have been in FL. The first was in 1999 in a boring gold/beige colored 4 dr Mazda and the 2nd was last year in my Chili Red MCSC by the ol' "by air" speedtrap on I-75 in Brooksville. Now, THAT was one I was ready to fight about. I was going to fight it just out of principle but it was a 2 hour trip one way and it would have cost more in time and gas to deal with it. I didn't take any school because I haven't been in trouble enough times for it to have any real effect on getting insurance or points or anything. Sounds like nabeshin's having lots of fun though!

BTW- Do states, counties or cities get any kind of commission or referral fees for traffic school customers?

Does anyone know how the average civilian citizen would know the difference in rank when a cop pulls you over? (Other than looking at a name tag) I've seen Commander, Chief, Lt., Deputy, Detective, Major... I know I've seen more. But seriously, I could even see "Sir" as disrespectful to some if he/she has worked his/her way up the ranks. This guy was adamant about being called "Deputy". Maybe better not to address at all?

 

I just purchased my first Mini from Califonia and on the way back to Iowa I was pulled over in Oklahoma. I think he just wanted somebody to talk to as I was barely speeding and he gave me a warning.