How To Get Out Of A Speeding Ticket

If you want to take the surefire approach to not getting a speeding ticket, then just always keep your speed at 2 miles an hour below the speed limit, reduce your speed 500 yards prior to any downgrade zones, and don’t increase until 100 yards after an upgrade zone.

Ok, we know the above paragraph only applies to my daughter when I am in the car with her.  All of the rest of us occasionally get a little lead footed.  Some of us have been compared to a Somalia Taxi Driver, although I still think that tag is a little harsh when I simply prefer to be called Aggressively Talented with Motorized Vehicles.

So you are cruising along when you notice the red and blue lights in your mirror.  What do you do?  At this point you are “had”.  Regardless of what the internet attorneys tell you about calibrated radar guns, asking for supervisors, claiming sovereign citizen, none of that will work.  All it will do is assure you get at least a speeding ticket, and perhaps a few additional citations.  Not only will you get a ticket, but you can rest assured the officer will make notes and schedule a special appearance come court time.  So let’s assume you are going to be a sane individual and try a better approach.

First, you want to be able to have the officer at ease.  If he (or she) is worried about his own safety, he isn’t going to give you a chance to speak, he will take your info and promptly issue you a ticket.  You want to have a couple minutes here, and the only way to that is to make them feel safe.

The number one killer of cops during traffic stops is other drivers.  It is amazing how flashing lights tends to attract drunk drivers who instinctively swerve to hit those lights.  If the officer is standing on the white line, he is going to have normal drivers whipping past him at 55mph, which is scary enough.  The way to increase his comfort?  Give him more room to work.  Find a place that has a large area for you to pull over.  If you are on the interstate, pull as far to the right as you can.  If you are on a rural road, look for a driveway you can pull in.  Think about hills and curves.  Don’t park in a place where cars popping over a hill are going to have limited time to respond.

What if you are on the interstate, in the right lane, and you are passing a semi?  For the love of Midas do not slam on your brakes to get behind the semi.  Think about this….you were tooling down the interstate at 80mph.  Mr. Nice Guy was sitting still, or worse, passed you from the oncoming lane.  He had to either turn around or take off from stop to try and chase you down.  If you were doing 80, he likely did 120 to catch up.  He most likely had to hit his brakes a few times as idiots didn’t understand what lights and sirens mean.  His brakes are probably hot.  He just came up to your bumper with a full head of steam.  If you slam on your brakes, you cause his pucker factor to go up about 5 notches.  Not the ideal way to start this off.  You have two choices.  If you already have the momentum to complete your pass, turn your signal on and keep your speed up.  Clear the semi by enough room for you AND the police officer.  Take your time getting over so the semi doesn’t run him over from the rear.  Your other option, which is perfectly fine, is to fine one of those paved crossovers and pull into there.  If you cannot complete the pass, turn your signal on, slowly decelerate, and get behind the semi and over to the shoulder.

Ok, so now you are off the road and have built a safety margin where he can stand at your door and have a little bit a buffer.  Next thing to do is to put your car in park, roll down the windows, and turn the engine off.  Next, turn your interior lights on.  Place your hands on top of the steering wheel, fingers extended out.  I know what you are thinking…”wow, this is a bit over the top.”  Correct, and the police officer is immediately thinking “wow, this guy is over the top”.  Which is good.  They aren’t thinking “I wonder what this guy is stashing under his seat or what weapon is he getting”.

When the officer walks up, he may ask you if you know why he pulled you over.  Don’t lie, and don’t play dumb.  Simply state “Most likely because I was speeding”.  He is going to ask for your license and insurance card (most states no longer ask for registration).  This is where you don’t move yet, but you respond with the following verbiage:  “Yes sir, my driver’s license is in my wallet which is in my left rear pocket.  I am going to take my left hand and remove my wallet”.  Obviously change this as suits where you keep stuff.  Once you have said this, and paused for a second (he may even say “ok”), take your hand and slowly do exactly as you said.  Bring your wallet to the top of the steering wheel and remove your ID.

Here is another point where I am going to depart from the internet attorneys.  I always have a weapon on me.  I ALWAYS tell the officer this fact.  In Indiana you are not required to inform.  Other states you MUST inform.  Regardless of the law, I always do.  If I am carrying legally, there is no harm in doing so.  I will do this at either of two points, based on where the firearm is at that time.

If it is on my person, as soon as he asks for my ID, I will tell him “Yes sir, I want to inform you I have a license to carry, and I am currently doing so with it located in my front waistband.”  At this point he will most likely say “Thank you, if you don’t touch your firearms I won’t touch mine” or something to that effect.  That is when you will say “my wallet is in my left rear pocket…..”.

If it is in my vehicle I will change the sequence up a bit.  Once I have my wallet on top of the steering wheel, I will remove my driver’s license, my insurance ID, and my license to carry and hand them all to him with my left hand, leaving my right hand on top of the steering wheel and my wallet on top of the dash.  At that time I will inform him “Sir, as you see I also have a license to carry, and that item is located in my glove compartment”.  He will likely respond as above.  Once you have handed him your license, put your hand back on top of the steering wheel.

If you have to get your insurance card or registration from the glove box, tell him “My registration is in my glove box.  I am going to take my right hand and retrieve it.”  Do exactly as you did with your license.  IF you have a weapon in your glove box, and you have already informed him of that fact, say something like “My registration is in my glove box with the item I mentioned.  How would you like me to proceed?”  Again, he will probably say something to the fact of “just get your registration and leave the gun alone”.  Then tell him “I will take my right hand….”  Make sure you don’t mess with the gun.  If it falls out, let it fall.

At some point during this encounter 90% of the time he is going to say something like “Is someone in your family a police officer, or have you been pulled over a lot?”  This is your next chance to spread a little good will.  Simply tell him “no sir, but I volunteer with an organization that helps first responders, and they trained us on how to help police officers make a safe traffic stop.  I am only trying to keep your safety in mind.”  He may ask you a few questions, or he may not.  He may give you your information back, but most protocol requires him to at least run your ID.  If he does, that means he is going to leave your car and go back to his.

Resist the urge to watch him in your mirror.  Just keep looking straight ahead, with your hands on the top of your steering wheel.  Don’t move around, don’t sing.  If you want to pray, do it quietly.

When he returns he is most likely going to either give you everything back and tell you to go about your day a little slower, or he may give you a warning.  There are times when you are still going to get a ticket.  This isn’t a 100% guarantee escape.

95% of the police officers I know don’t like writing traffic tickets for minor violations.  Assuming you weren’t doing 25 mph over, those officers are going to let you off unless there is someone higher up breathing down their neck.  By making him feel comfortable, showing respect for his safety, and being polite you have giving him every incentive to cut you a break.

A couple points to cover.  First, notice when I spoke about the firearm I never said “gun”.  This is because you might not realize he has a partner riding along who is just out of your site on the right side of your vehicle.  He may not hear all the conversation, but he will certainly key in on the word GUN.  You don’t want him getting squirmy.  Often that officer standing over there is a rookie doing a training ride, and he is already about 15 levels of stressed out.  By saying “item”, the officer you are speaking to will understand.

The other thing I do is say “sir” or ma’am”.  I don’t say “trooper”, “officer”, etc.  State Police are Troopers.  County law enforcement are Deputies.  Local are Officers.  At least around here.  In another state they may be called Constables, Rangers, etc.  Believe it or not, some of them are very title persnickety and get offended if they are called something they aren’t.  A simple sir or ma’am works in all instances.

Again, this may seem like a very extreme and rigid method of handling the traffic stop, but give it a try and let me know your experience.  I am fairly certain you will find it will go far better than you think.  And if you do receive a ticket, well you were speeding in the first place.  Just slow down, and review my first paragraph.

Drive safe.