Starting the near New Year off right ... two traffic stops within an hour

[MikeG]

I was driving from Tucson to Phoenix on Christmas Eve through SR79 and avoiding the interstate.

In Tucson I get pulled over for drivers side brake light being out. Other two brake lights are working. Just a verbal after running DL/reg/Insurance so no issue and I didn't know the light was out so good info.

An hour and half later, I get pulled over in SR79 probably within spitting distance of an RP members command post. Apparently my crappy driving got the attention of a concerned motorist and reported it. DPS officer had to drive 60 miles to find me and pull me over. He asked me if I knew why I stopped him and I said my drivers side brake light was out. And the answer was about the civilian call about possible impaired driver. I hadn't imbibed anything at all and offered to do PBT if he he had one to save time. It was not necessary as he could tell I wasn't impaired just from convo. I said maybe I was distracted or tired but didn't recall either the RP or driving erratically. Neither he nor dispatch could raise reporting party by phone. We chatted a bit about some police stuff as we had some common things. He didn't even notice the brake light out until I told him and he confirmed it. DPS has to log all stops so the tail light was a gratis thing for him to note and log and I am not even required to fix it apparently. No court or fine or certification of repair (better than the emissions people), just a courtesy notice

Anyway, I presumed the original stop was a pretext to look for impaired drivers and I relayed that to an officer friend and they were upset. Apparently, because having a single brake light is not an infraction and it's not citable. This caused a recent DUI case in my friends dept to be tossed as the pretext for the stop was a courtesy notice and not PC for an infraction. He thought the original deputy should have waited for a moving violation of some sort (and he may bot have been looking or DUI, I just presumed it because it was chistmas eve.) And he was amazed the DPS guy actually found me after 60 miles.

Any comment or experience with stops like this? Do you ever pull some over for something that is not citable? If it is true. I'd rather be stopped for "weaving in lane" and get a warning and repair order rather than having them risk PC on a DUI by just stopping on the brake light. I did read the statute and only one brake light is required equipment but I can imagine there is other sections that require all OEM equipment to function at some point (maybe at vehicle sale, otherwise, why did all the manufactures add the third brake light?)

PS - I am writing letter for DPS commander for Kudo to the DPS guy that chased me for 60 miles (well, trying to catch up as I pulled over when he caught up - but that's pretty good dedication following up on an motorist report on remote highway on Christmas eve on the chance he might be stopping a DUI). he might as well ge a nice letter if he wasn't going to get an arrest.

[mcsap]

ANY equipment violation is 100% citable in PA. I don'[t normally cite for a tail light out BUT I could. I would use license plate lights , 3rd brake lights and even marker lights out to stop people. Even if you add aftermarket lights to your car , they have to work and I can stop you for it.

[Kimble]

DPS officer had to drive 60 miles to find me and pull me over. He asked me if I knew why I stopped him and I said my drivers side brake light was out.

So you did a traffic stop on a TX trooper? ... bet he didn't see that one coming!

[MikeG]

So you did a traffic stop on a TX trooper? ... bet he didn't see that one coming!

AZ and it was late on Christmas when I wrote it so my imbibing state was quite different. he asked "do you know why I stopped you?" Very confusing to take the quotes off after some Christmas cheer. I reread my post this morning and it sounded a lot more coherent last night.

BTW, stupid DPS fax is busy for letter so now I have to mail it.

[MikeG]

ANY equipment violation is 100% citable in PA. I don'[t normally cite for a tail light out BUT I could. I would use license plate lights , 3rd brake lights and even marker lights out to stop people. Even if you add aftermarket lights to your car , they have to work and I can stop you for it.

Apparently, it's not a violation in AZ to have a 1 of the 3 brake lights out as only one is required. It's also okay to make a stop for this and alert the driver as a courtesy. I'll have to find out more about the DUI that was tossed but basically it was explained to me that since the single brake light out wasn't citable, DUI based on it would be tossed. If my license plate light were out, it would be citable and therefore okay.

[retdetsgt]

ANY equipment violation is 100% citable in PA. I don'[t normally cite for a tail light out BUT I could. I would use license plate lights , 3rd brake lights and even marker lights out to stop people. Even if you add aftermarket lights to your car , they have to work and I can stop you for it.

It's more or less the same here with the exception of the aftermarket lights. You're required to have two tail and brake lights in a given area above the ground unless the vehicle is old enough to have come from the factory with only one. Pre-1958, some pickups came equipped with only one tail light/brake light combination on the left side of the vehicle.

I know of no laws that I can stop you for and yet not cite you.

[ET109]

What was the second stop for? You said he didn't know about the light... did he pull you over without seeing a violation based on a civilian complaint, or did he just decide to put down the equip. violation for some reason?

I've pulled people over for courtesy reasons... like when they have their McDonald's meal on the top of their car and are driving along without knowing it. I don't pull people over based on the word of an anonymous caller unless I physically see a violation though.

[MikeG]

What was the second stop for? You said he didn't know about the light... did he pull you over without seeing a violation based on a civilian complaint, or did he just decide to put down the equip. violation for some reason?

I've pulled people over for courtesy reasons... like when they have their McDonald's meal on the top of their car and are driving along without knowing it. I don't pull people over based on the word of an anonymous caller unless I physically see a violation though.

Civilian complaint only I believe. He only mentioned what RP said. I told him about drivers side brake light and when he went back to patrol car with DL/Insurance he confirmed brake light was out (asked be to brake/not brake to confirm while I was in park). He didn't know about it until I told him (in fact that's why I thought he pulled over so when he asked, that's what I said) It was a courtesy warning and they need to log all traffic stops per their own dept policy so I figure that when I wasn't impaired, the brake light courtesy warning made his stop easier. I don't know what they actually need for follow-up to civilian complaint. My LE contact has a 0% location of civ reports of imparied drivers so the 60 mile drive and ID was impressive. He stopped me as I turned off the state highway (felt bad as I usually look for a safer turnoff but he lit me up at a stop sign and I figured it would be bad form to ignore it to look for a better stopping point - he's going to position his vehcile so I can't reverse into him and that kind of exposes him to follow on traffic.). He couldn't raise the RP so he was kind of stuck. I didn't mind the repair courtesy warning as there is no consequence to me and if it made it easier for him to close out the RP complaint, more power to him. From a purely selfish point of view I'm glad he didn't wait for me to make a citable violation. I gave him the equipment failure and it gave him something to log for the stop. It's win/win from my point of view.

[greg72982]

Civilian complaint only I believe. He only mentioned what RP said. I told him about drivers side brake light and when he went back to patrol car with DL/Insurance he confirmed brake light was out (asked be to brake/not brake to confirm while I was in park). He didn't know about it until I told him (in fact that's why I thought he pulled over so when he asked, that's what I said) It was a courtesy warning and they need to log all traffic stops per their own dept policy so I figure that when I wasn't impaired, the brake light courtesy warning made his stop easier. I don't know what they actually need for follow-up to civilian complaint. My LE contact has a 0% location of civ reports of imparied drivers so the 60 mile drive and ID was impressive. He stopped me as I turned off the state highway (felt bad as I usually look for a safer turnoff but he lit me up at a stop sign and I figured it would be bad form to ignore it to look for a better stopping point - he's going to position his vehcile so I can't reverse into him and that kind of exposes him to follow on traffic.). He couldn't raise the RP so he was kind of stuck. I didn't mind the repair courtesy warning as there is no consequence to me and if it made it easier for him to close out the RP complaint, more power to him. From a purely selfish point of view I'm glad he didn't wait for me to make a citable violation. I gave him the equipment failure and it gave him something to log for the stop. It's win/win from my point of view.

Stopping on citizen complaints only is iffy here. We try to find our own reasons as people are generally not dependable to show up in court...

[MikeG]

And my third traffic stop in a week. This one was driving down wrong way on one-way street in Williams, Arizona (they do a Polar Express train ride). I must have missed the sign that converted the two lane road to one way (it's an old Route 66 city loop). It's a bad sign when parking spaces on both sides of the street are angled away from you. I pulled into local business parking lot to get off road as soon as I noticed it. So did police officer. I told him I just noticed I was going the wrong way on one way street, my fault and must have missed the sign. It was really close to the transition from two lane road to the city loop. No citation so I'm hoping these things come in threes and I'm done with traffic stops for a while. My luck is going to run out soon.

P.S. I didn't realize Williams was even big enough to have a PD, let alone a K-9 unit.

[greg72982]

I vote for a license suspension...

[retdetsgt]

I vote for a license suspension...

I read once that traffic cops in Malaysia carry flogging devices and punishment is issued on the spot. Stop sign violation = 4 lashes, speeding = one lash for every so many miles over the limit, etc. Your auto insurance won't go up, but your medical might.