Being stopped by a cop doesn’t always require a citation. According to seasoned traffic cops at www.thrillist.com, if you follow these seven fundamentals you’ll have a good chance to avoid a ticket before the cop starts writing it:
- Check your mindset. You do not own the road. Driving is a privilege, not a right. Develop the key attitude for beating a traffic ticket in California: humility.
- Red lights mean pull over. Immediately use your turn signals to let the cop know you’re cooperating. Make it easy on the cop by pulling over where there’s plenty of room for him to walk to your car without getting hit by a truck or falling off a cliff.
- Shift into Park, turn off the ignition and roll down both front windows. Cops often choose the passenger side to greet you. If it’s dark, turn on your interior dome light so the cop can see you clearly.
- Place both hands on your steering wheel. Don’t do anything else. For all the cop knows, you just robbed a liquor store. Sit still. Let the cop check you out, look in the back seat and realize you’re no threat. As retired cop Matt Episcopo says, “A relaxed cop is a happy cop” ( http://mattepiscopo.com/ ).
- Make eye contact. Smile. Just say “Hi.” The response is usually “Do you know how fast you were going?” or “Did you see that stop sign back there?” What you say next MATTERS. Curt, one-word answers are not good answers. “I’m not really sure” or “I didn’t realize how fast I was going” are better conversation-starters. Don’t play dumb, but don’t admit you were doing 90 in a 35 zone.
- Be cooperative. Let the cop know you care about highway safety, that you’re sorry for your dumb mistake. Don’t beg, don’t cry, whimper, flirt, or start whipping out cards other cops gave you at the latest Chamber of Commerce “coffee with a cop” meeting. If you’re military, clergy, or the father/son/mother/daughter of a cop, make reference to that. Cops respect other members of the law enforcement “family.”
- Keep it lighthearted. Try to get the cop to smile with a couple of lines about how you hope his day is going better than yours (maybe because your kid just puked in the back seat). If you can make him pause before going back to his car (where he’ll find out more about you than your mother knows) to get his ticket book, you’ve got a good shot. Now is the time to ask for a warning instead of a ticket.
Cops don’t stop you without a reason. As officers dealing with this issue at https://www.reddit.com suggest, once you’ve been stopped, the likelihood of a citation is high. But treating the cop who stops you with respect and good humor will always improve the odds of beating a traffic ticket in California.