How I Got Out Of My Last Traffic Ticket

by derek on November 13, 2007 · 17 comments

You know that nervous feeling that you get in the pit of your stomach when you might be driving a little over the speed limit and you pass a parked police car hidden on the side of the road.

Police

I had that feeling tonight on my way home from work and it reminded me of the one and only time that I have been pulled over and did not receive a ticket.
Now you might be one of those people that has the gift of escaping a ticket and if you are – keep it to yourself! I’m not one of those people and every time I have ever been pulled over, I have received a ticket of some variety. Although on a warm summer evening last year, I finally experienced the joy of getting out of a ticket.

Background

While I was in college, I always renewed my drivers license through the mail and received a sticker to place on the back of my license with an updated expiration date. Because of this my license still had my parent’s home address even after I had been married and bought my first house with my wife.
My wife never understood why I didn’t just go and get myself a new license with our home address. To be honest, it was mostly out of laziness but this worked in my favor last summer.
On my way home from working out with a buddy of mine, I was cutting through the back streets of a neighboring town. I was anxious to get home and show off my new muscles. There was a woman driving in front of me as we approached a three-way stop sign. When the woman came to a complete stop and sat there for a second, I was disgusted with the prim and proper road etiquette that she was displaying.

The Rolling Stop

By the time she finally made her way through the stop sign, I decided to just kind of roll through it and might not have come to a complete stop. That was when I looked down the side street to the left and saw the police car sitting there.
As I drove forward, nervously checking my mirror, my fears were realized as I saw the lights flick on and the police car ease in behind me. Sitting there in my workout clothes, I draped my arm out the open window as the cop approached my door. He took my license and retreated to his cruiser.

The Great Escape

A few minutes later he returned to my door, handed me my license and asked what I was doing over in this area. As I mentioned I was just leaving a buddies house after working out, I realized that I couldn’t say I was heading home because you’ll recall that my license had my parent’s address – which was in the opposite direction of where I was headed. So I casually mentioned that I was heading over to a friend’s house before returning home.
I’ll never forget the next comment from the cop. He said, “Is it a lady friend?”
I responded with a polite, “Yes sir.” At this point he told me to enjoy my evening and to try and do a better job at the next stop sign. As I sat there in disbelief at what had just happened, I think I realized what may have gotten me out of my ticket.
While sitting with my arm out the window of the car, he may have noticed my wedding ring. When I explained that I was heading over to see a “lady friend” that was in the opposite direction of my “home” address, he assumed that I was cheating on my wife and didn’t want to make me have to explain to my wife what I was doing in that area.
Now I have no idea if any of that played into his decision to let me go with a warning but given that I had never been pulled over without receiving a ticket, that is my story and I am sticking to it.
Photo courtesy of southernfried

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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }

simon November 14, 2007 at 12:28 am

your a very lucky man indeed… Wish i could be that lucky with the police here..

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Home Recording Studio November 14, 2007 at 7:37 am

What a cop that you got. Wish there were more such understanding fellows going around.
Did you finally get your address changed on your license?

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knupNET November 14, 2007 at 9:01 am

Classic story!! Tickets are hard to get out of these days. Cops getting tough 🙂

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Gorilla Trades November 14, 2007 at 12:09 pm

omg that is hilarious. I have only been pulled over once, knock on wood, and i definitley didn’t get out of that ticket. Your rolling through a stop sign on some back roads is a little more forgivable than my doing 27 over the speed limit. In my defense the speed limit on this particular road switched abruptly from 45 to 20 and the cop just happened to be sitting right at the switiching point, just waiting for his prey

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Ed November 15, 2007 at 11:54 am

hah! that is a good story. sadly, I have yet to get out of a ticket. the last one i got was for a stop sign roll too = (

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Josh November 15, 2007 at 1:45 pm

Hey, great story! I think you might be right about the wedding band. It just doesn’t make sense that he’d be sitting there waiting for people to screw up and then let someone go when it happened. Just maybe he could relate to infidelity personally.

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derek November 15, 2007 at 3:02 pm

@Simon :: You’re not kidding I was lucky. That was the one and only time lady luck was on my side during a traffic stop of any kind.
@HRS :: Yes, I now have an updated license with my current address. It took awhile but I finally did it – although it was primarily because I had to actually get a new license and could no longer renew via the mail.
@knupNET :: Hopefully I won’t find out first hand, knocking on wood.
@Gorilla :: Sorry to hear that you didn’t get out of your ticket. Was your ticket more expensive than a standard ticket? I thought once you are more than 20mph over the speed limit that you get hit a little harder.
@Ed :: Thanks. My wife has been pulled over three times in the last four or five years and she has gotten out of each and every one of them. See what a little cleavage can do for you, lol. =)
@Josh :: Thanks for the comment. That was the only explanation that I could come up with as well and it does make sense. I appreciate the guy looking out for me even though I wasn’t doing what he thought I was doing.

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Male Pattern Baldness November 22, 2007 at 10:29 pm

You bet !! the feeling that comes when a police car stops you for over speeding is bad. But yes you have been lucky in this. I wish my luck was as good as yours.

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Gary Lee November 27, 2007 at 1:00 pm

I’ve used the following excuses to get out of tickets:
– My Aunt’s sick and I’m bringing her soup
– I have to go to the bathroom
– I was driving 95mph cuz that’s as fast as my expedition goes
I think if you can get them to sympathize or laugh, you’re good to go! 🙂

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shadow February 17, 2008 at 9:39 pm

guys i have a problem i got a speeding ticket the speed limit was 40 and i was doing 80 well i began to speed up a little becase their was no one easle on the roed and i just got off from work so when the cop pull me over he gave me the ticket well when i got home and read the date on it show me that i had to go to courthouse on the 30th but it is closed on that day so what should i do?

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derek February 17, 2008 at 10:33 pm

I’d start with calling the courthouse and/or police station and asking them what they suggest.

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Autopartswarehouse March 28, 2008 at 11:22 pm

Wow… you’re really so lucky. That was really a great escape! hehehe

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pauletet March 29, 2008 at 9:19 pm

What an excuse:) Good for you, at least it save you even its not true:)

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Speeding Ticket August 18, 2008 at 5:43 pm

Lol – sounds like maybe the cop was also a ‘partner in crime’ on the ladyfriend thing. Odd reason to let you go but hey, whatever works!

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Cars Sale August 22, 2008 at 2:54 am

Well, there are days when there are good cops and then there are those crazy cops. You’re lucky to get off with out having to pay anything.

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Michael@3waylinks September 17, 2008 at 4:01 pm

This makes me remember my only time when I was in danger of getting a ticket for speeding. That was on my US vacation and the policeman was kind enough to let me go with a warning after he saw that I was a tourist from germany. I guess he thought of of the german autobahn with no speed limit and wished he could drive there, too. 😉
Mike
Michaels last blog post..Three way linking with 3waylinks.net

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Paul May 5, 2009 at 3:42 pm

You told a good story-I really enjoyed it!

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