shiro-stee:

I graduated in Spring, 1995.


yungjin:

I guess school is still in session.

Do you listen to loud music with the windows down? Do you drive with the flow of traffic, not too fast or too slow? Do you drive with a steady hand (stay centered in the lane) and pay attention to your surroundings? Dark tint? Shiney exhaust (even if it's stock). Debadged?

If your car looks MORE stock than mine, why do you get pulled over more than I do? Why do you attract police attention in your "basically looks stock" car, while I, with my obviously modified front end, tinted windows, debadged trunk and aftermarket wheels, don't? Wouldn't the opposite be more likely? That I, with my obviously not stock car, would draw more attention? That seems more reasonable... and yet.. that's not the case... why is that? I'm sure there are a lot of possibilities (You are unluckier than I am? Chance? Karma?), but my opinion is that you draw attention to yourself, whether you are aware of it or not, by doing things out of the ordinary.

Okay, you really don't know why you got pulled over? The cop didn't tell you your infraction when he stopped you? I find that hard to believe, but.. okay... here's a thought: Perhaps it was because you were driving SLOW... yep.. slow. It's called impeding the flow of traffic. If it is done during late night hours, cops will assume you are 1) drunk and driving slow to hide it, 2) checking out a local for some nefarious reason (drive by, pre-theft surveillance, etc.), 3) lost, or 4) having a medical emergancy that requires assistance. What driving slow is, is NOT NORMAL.. and cops look for things that aren't normal... THAT'S how you attract attention by driving slow ... but then, you still haven't given other details.. like time of day or night, lighting conditions, type of area (residential? commercial area? busy thoroughfare?), traffic concentration at that time, etc. Did they pull you over before or after you dropped off your date? What police department pulled you over (who's jurisdiction was it)? You are assuming they pulled you over for nothing.. fact is, they pulled you over for something.. which they SHOULD have told you as soon as they got to the window.. it's the usual "do you know why I pulled you over?" routine. But see, this lack of detail does nothing to your side of the argument. You were there, so we can only go by what you say.. and yet, you don't give much detail... why is that? I mean, something as specific and simple as WHICH COP came back and finished off your ticket... was it the old one or young one? Simple stuff like that...

Now, NOTE, I'm not generalizing anything here.. just throwing out possibilities, since you haven't really given any details. WE are FORCED to make assumption, since your anecdote LACKS SPECIFICS. I'm not making generalized statements. Point to ONE statement that I made that was GENRALIZED and all-encompasing (like your "no traffic cop will ever get my respect" one). Look at what I wrote.. seriously.. I used phrases like "chances are" and "it's possible".. meaning I am trying to extrapolate based on your anecdote's lack of information. You accuse me of jumping to conclusions, but I am merely extrapolating from what you have shared. I have noted several times that more info was needed, and you still haven't provided it. If any assumptions were made, it's based on impressions of how you wrote, not the information contained in what you wrote (since there isn't much of it).

You still haven't answered these questions:

Who pulled you over? When (what time of night, what time of month, etc.) Where was it (freeway, city street, corner, long straightaway, etc.) Why were you pulled over, according to the officer conducting the traffic stop?

You also still haven't addressed most of the other points I brought up... like jurisdiction, etc.

See.. the problem is, if you are going to make a case and state an argument, you better be able to back it up. I have cited sources as to why some of your arguments were invalid... but you haven't even backed up your own arguments.

Now, I know that cops aren't perfect, are only human, and will make mistakes, but the point is, a cop will do his/her job to keep the peace, and if that means pulling a "suspicious" diver over for doing something that flashes warning signs in his/her head, then that is what s/he will do. For a long time after STis came out, cops thought the stock exhaust was actually an aftermarket and would pull them over. Common mistake, considering how throaty and loud the stock exhaust is. And yet, through out all this, as I said, I have friends that never had a problem with cops pulling them over for their exhausts. Whether it was luck of the draw, a good time of the month, the planets were in alignment, or whatever, they didn't get pulled over... and others did.

Perhaps you hang out in an area where cops have a bad attitude for all things imported, or for young drivers in fast cars, or patrol a heavy ricer/racer area. Perhaps there was a drive by the night before you were pulled over. Perhaps the cop had a "performance evaluation" and needed to increase his tickets. Perhaps, as a training evaluation, the trainee needed more stops to impress the trainer. Whatever the case, until you post more details, you come off as irrationally biased.

Here're some assumptions for you:

based on your writing, I assume you are:

1) young, between 18-24
2) asian
3) male
4) a driver of a blue WRX that is *probably* has a modified exhaust of some sort.

I'm probably wrong, but hey, you accused me of making assumptions, so .. there you go

 

That describes about 1/3 of the people here.

 

oh, nm. Thought you might've known my sis, but she graduated berkeley with her legal studies degree last year. nm , thanks though

 

What I remember is (unless the laws changed AGAIN..) the cars headlights can't be lower than 2' from the ground, the exhaust has to be under a certain dB level (but i don't remember what the number was). Cops have no accurate way of measuring accurate dB levels on the fly. I think that they are trained by ear to recognize what is loud and what is ok. Thats why they stop and inspect any car that looks like they have something modded.

I got stopped in a stock 2.5RS (2000) and got tailgated by a total of 5 cops so far in norcal in my Sti. I was only going 5mph over the limit too with the sti.

Tim