AvoidingTicketsP2

Avoiding A Traffic Ticket
Page Two

Don't: ride forever looking for a "safe" place to stop. When you see those dreaded blue lights come on
behind you, your primary duty is to pull to the right safely and stop. Don't ride for blocks looking for a
"better" place to stop. The officer might think that you're attempting to elude him or looking for a more
secluded location for a possible assault. The officer has already determined where you should stop; it's
where he originally flipped on his lights.
When you see that patrol car with its emergency equipment activated, you have to realize that he might not
even want to stop you; he may be trying to pass you, on his way to an emergency.
Do: keep both hands visible. Remember when I said, "The officer doesn't know if you're a threat to him?"
Keeping your hands visible will go a long way toward showing the officer that you are no threat. A good
practice is to kill the engine, stay straddled on
your bike, and keep your hands on the handlebars until the officer asks for your driver's license. If you're
off your bike, digging around under your seat or in a saddle bag as he approaches, he might wonder if
you're sloughing some dope or trying to find that .38 Special or rocket launcher you might keep in there.

Don't: Call your lawyer. You think I'm kidding? I've had drivers call their lawyers several times. Without
exception, the lawyers have told the drivers to do as I say. On one stop I walked up to a violator's window
and without saying a word he handed me his cell phone. I asked him what he was doing, without even
looking at me he said, "Talk to my lawyer." I took the phone, pressed the "End" button, and wrote him a
ticket.

Do: have your license readily available. The officer won't see you in a positive light if when he asks to
see your license and other required paperwork you embark on a lengthy search mission which leads to a
saddlebag so crammed with paper that it looks like you've stuffed three New York City phone books into it.
Something else to keep in mind, you're not making a credit card purchase. If you keep your license
inserted into a holder take your license out for the officer. Don't hand him the entire wallet. Keep your
registration and insurance information easily accessible.

Don't: say, "I'll have your job," or "I pay your salary." Exactly, you pay our salaries to enforce the law
including traffic laws that your elected government officials enacted. If you don't like the law, change it! It
isn't going to help your cause to show disrespect for an important function of an officer's public safety
mission.

Do: offer the officer any excuses before he writes the ticket. I know what I said about excuses and I still
hold my nose when listening to most of them. However, some excuses (some people have the nerve to call
them reasons) are better than others and on occasion, an excuse may get you out of a ticket.
Once the officer has written the citation, all bets are off. If you have a good reason for what you did tell
the officer on his first approach. Once he returns to his car, there's a good chance that he'll come back
with a ticket. At that point, if you expected a break you're going to have to get it from the judge.

Don't: ask the officer if he has anything better to do. He'll tell you that he doesn't and he'll carefully write
you a hefty ticket just to prove it!

I'm not revealing any "secrets" that will guarantee that you won't receive any traffic tickets ever again.
I'm not interested in providing any information that encourages dangerous riding, duping cops, or lying
your way out of a ticket. Enough people try that without any help from me.
These recommendations will not prevent your getting stopped in the first place. Your safe riding habits will
do that. I've aimed these tips at the safe rider who like most of us, (yes, even cops) sometimes wind up at
the wrong place, at the wrong time, doing the wrong thing.
After years of watching people talk themselves into tickets, I just wanted to give you some good practical
advice. Much of this advice boils down to simple common courtesy. Don't act as if you have a sign
hanging around your neck that reads: I don't want a warning officer; please write me a ticket!
"Politeness goes a long way," advises Officer Mark Wong, a ten-year veteran patrol officer, "People lie
and disrespect us all the time. Try to be different."
If the police stop you for a traffic violation, your attitude is very important. Cops may have a thick skin,
but they aren't robots; they have feelings like anyone else and react accordingly.
If you understand that once stopped you've already "earned" the ticket and the officer's decision to issue
it to you may hang on what you say and do, you'll have gone a long way toward getting a warning instead of
that ticket.
Rather than filling some bureaucratic coffer, don't you think that the money would be better spent on a
chrome cover, a new pair of leather gloves, or a subscription to American Iron magazine?

STEVE POMPER

AUTHOR

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