[mitchntx]

I am cruising, putting easy miles on my new motor when the DPS trooper I meet hooks a U and lights me up. When I saw him, I knew it was gonna happen ... 2 lane hiway, no traffic ...

I immediately pull over, right tires just off the pavement in some weeds. Gonna make it tough if he wants to look at the exhaust.

He walks up and sees me sitting, hands on the wheel and seat belt still on.

<not exact words, but close enough>

He says,
DPS trooper, sir, do you know why I've pulled you over?

I respond,
Well, I wasn't speeding, no traffic to follow too close to, I know my lights all work because I just replaced a couple of lamps and I had my seat belt on. It must be the front plate that you didn't see.

Him,
Yes, you must display a license plate on the front and rear of the car.

Me,
It's up there, just really low. (I have it attached to the air dam)

He walks about 15' in front of the car and says,
It needs to be visible.

Me,
Standing, 15' in front of the car it isn't visible, I understand. But sitting in your car 50' in front of me, it's perfectly visible.

Him,
But I can't read it.

Me,
Really? You should be able to read 4" tall letters from 50', sir. And you also said visible, not legible.

Him,
I'm just gonna issue you a warning, no violation citation.

Me,
Thanks. I've read very closely that statute with an attorney and it is so loosely written, it can be interpretted many ways.

Him,
It sure can

Me,
And I realize driving a car like this, I'm a target. And anything questionable will give you an excuse to pull me over.

Him,
That is true.

Me,
So when you profiled the car, did you expect an old man to be driving it?

Him,
<silent>

Me,
<silent> (I figured I had pressed my luck far enough)

He asked me a few more qustions about where I was headed and why I needed a roll cage in the car ...

I took the warning, said be carefull and have a nice day and then drove away.

Oh well ... it was 3 minutes out of my life and maybe it will cause him to think a little next time. That makes 4 times in a year. Does anyone else keep a file of the warnings received?

Now, the funny thing is, as I was sitting there and the trooper running my 28/29, an Eclipse w/ the typical coffee can out back came by and revved me and the trooper. I snickered.

I laughed out loud when I saw the Eclipse pulled over about 3 miles down the road. It was hard, but I resisted a rev back at him ....

So, in the grand scheme of things, everything worked out just fine!
:gruffy:

[94bird]

The most surprising ticket I ever got was when I was driving a Mini to work in England on a 4 lane highway (A road). I had my driver's window down and my arm on the door. My left arm was doing the steering. I made a couple of lane changes and was about ready to get off at the next exit when a cop pulled me over. I had no idea why he would have stopped me but he soon explained that it was not legal to drive with one hand. I just naturally thought he was going to give me a warning, but I got a full fledged 20 UKL ticket. Things are obviously different in the UK. They drive so much more "properly" than us. As soon as he heard my American accent he gave me that lecture.

I was about 3 weeks away from moving back to the US and came REALLY close to just telling them to stick it with a letter to the local constabulary on the day I was going to leave, but thought better of it. The sad thing is that was about 8 years ago now and I have never been back. I would have loved mailing that letter . . .