I got stopped by the cops
By sudalunts
@sudalunts (5523)
United States
August 12, 2009 3:14pm CST
I was driving home from my mother's house, and decided not to take the highway, wrong decision. I was driving through the city, and came to a street where there were two cops on either side of the street. The light was red, and I was slowing down, the officer came up to my window and asked for my paperwork. Darn it, I was not wearing my seatbelt. I handed her my registration and insurance card, and the officer said my insurance was expired. that can't be right, and I dug in the glove box trying to find the current card. I couldn't find it, and they told me to pull over to a side street, and that I could not drive the car home because they thought I did not have insurance. I called my husband, and he found the current card in the file cabinet. Shortly afterwards, the officers came back and said that they would allow me to drive the car home. I got two tickets, one for not wearing the seatbelt and the other for failure to show proof of insurance.
I will have to go to court with the current insurance card to prove that I do in fact have insurance, and they said that ticket will be dismissed.
Have you ever been stopped by the cops, and didn't have your paperwork in order?
2 people like this
14 responses
@virusxtreme24 (805)
•
12 Aug 09
Yikes, I guess this is another situation of wrong place at the wrong time.
I've been stopped by the cops once, and my paperwork was all scattered in my glove compartment, it was a mess. After the incident I always had my paperwork organized and ready in my glove compartment, just in case.
1 person likes this
@sudalunts (5523)
• United States
14 Aug 09
Actually, I found the insurance card, but it was after the fact when I got home and had calmed down. I too, reorganized my paperwork correctly, and got rid of all of the expired documents.
@mommaj (23112)
• United States
12 Aug 09
WOW! That's horrible and I am sure with the economic situation the way it is, you will be seeing more police writing tickets for little meaningless offenses. You used to just get a warning if your turn signal didn't work. Now, you have to pay a fine. It's ridiculous. We pay so much in taxes and we still have to pay ridiculous made up tickets. For example, a lady in the neighborhood got a failure to stop at a stop sign. She has a manual transmission. She actually stopped at the stop sign, but then she drifted before she "took off". How can she get a ticket for that?
Law enforcement may just be doing their job but it has become ridiculous.
1 person likes this
@uicbear (1900)
• United States
12 Aug 09
I got stopped because I didn't have the current sticker on my plates. I had them in my car, but we had recently gotten a new style of plates and I didn't want to put the new sticker on the old plates, and I hadn't had time to put on my new plates. The officer followed me for three miles (at least) and finally pulled me over. I think he was disappointed that I didn't give him any other reason to pull me over. He was very condescending asking me if I knew why he pulled me over. I showed him my new tags and he took a fatherly tone and said I need to put the plates ASAP. I was irritated thinking, here in a city of millions of people, I was the most important thing he had to take care of. Yea, I'm a rebel.
1 person likes this
@dlr297 (5409)
• United States
12 Aug 09
Yes we did last summer, and they will dismiss the insurance ticket if you have proof of insurance when you go to court. That is what happened to us, my new card was at home i just did not put it in the car yet. and they also let me drive home, but i had to sit their until they were done with their check, so i had to sit their for about 2 hours until they were done. now i make sure that it is with me at all times. But the seat belt one you are going to have to pay.
1 person likes this
@jaiho2009 (39141)
• Philippines
12 Aug 09
Hello friend,
Yeah,sometimes we never knew what will come after being caught,and then realized our mistakes,like our paper works not done,or had it left at home.
I was once caught due to abrupt changed of lane,but i objected when the cops issued me the ticket.I asked for a camera review becoz i knew i never made an abrupt changed,i knew myself i changed lane more than 200 meters before i turn the other direction.And i never saw a double line which says i am not allowed to changed lane anytime.So,i asked for a street camera review.And,there,i never violated any rules.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
12 Aug 09
Knock on wood, it has been a long time since I was stopped by the cops. It's been more recently for my husband though. He had all of the standard paperwork in order, but he didn't have a good proof of address and thus had to go to court. You see, he was stopped on a road that was closed to through traffic. We had just closed on our house the day before, obviously we didn't show our new address as the current address because we didn't live here yet. Where he was stopped, he could look right into our back yard.
Went to court the first time and said that he wanted a trial. Went back to court the second time and the officer didn't show up so it was dismissed, and we didn't have to pay anything.
Oh, and I've been caught in a roadblock before and ended up with a ticket because I didn't have proof on me of being on a prescription medication.
@dreamr802 (985)
• United States
13 Aug 09
That's awful! Once I got pulled over without my license. I was really sick and I had changed from my jeans to sweatpants to go and pick up some medicine and I got pulled over. I was so sick that the cop thought that I was drunk! He accused me of not having my license at all. I told him that it was a CT license (I was in FL because of school) and he had a dispatcher look it up and for some odd reason they were able to locate everyone else in my family that had a license (my mom, dad and sister) but couldn't find my name. I was so upset, he gave me 2 tickets...one for speeding and one for my license and I had to go to the court to show my license and prove that I had it.
The cop was so oblivious to the fact that I was so sick, I could barely talk I had to write down my name on his pad and my explanation because he couldn't understand me. He also had me breathe in a breathalizer because he thought I was drunk...So 2 days later I had to show up to court and they still gave me problems because it was a CT license and I was in FL and I had to show them that I was in school...it was just a huge mess.
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
15 Aug 09
I have had things like that happen to me before. It is really frustrating. I tore the house up one day trying to find my new insurance card when I swore it had been in the car. I never did find it and had to have the insurance company email me something I could print out.
@hsofyan (3446)
• Jakarta, Indonesia
12 Aug 09
Yes, I ever stopped by cops. When the checks are there on the road. All vehicles passing stop and review. They did not find the error, and finally I pursue.
Anyway, in my place, does not have compulsory insurance letter.
@jellymonty (2352)
•
13 Aug 09
Oh I've lost track of how many times coppers have stopped me and yes most times when they stop me I always seem to have something wrong or I forgot something. Last month I got a ticket for speeding and I forgot to stick my vehicle insurance card on the windscreen and also I forgot my license at home so yep coppers always know when to catch you. But nowadays am careful. I always do a thorough checklist list before I start the car!
@kl_blueknight (381)
• Malaysia
13 Aug 09
Sorry to hear that. I am sure it happens to alot of people. It happened to me several times and some police are quite arrogant too. Its part of life that we cannot argue with the cops.
@sleblanc17 (139)
• Canada
13 Aug 09
The lack of insurance proof ticket will be easy to fight.. as long as you prove you're insured within like three days or something (in Canada at least) then they'll drop the charge.
Shoulda been wearin a seatbelt tho! haha
