[TwistOfFate!]

Originally Posted by govindremesh

Sorry to be critical but this mentality is what lead you to these incidents in the first place. I am assuming that you did not take any driving lessons in Europe, because the first thing they teach you during lessons is to look ahead and read the signboards to follow them, no matter what the navigation tells you.


hopefully you've learnt your lesson.

Ah, you don't have to be sorry and I can't deny either - it was my mistake in both cases. And of course, valuable lessons learnt first hand. I have ever since taken the theory sessions and they helped big time. I would recommend (rather insist) that anyone moving abroad ensure to take the theory sessions at the least to familiarize themselves with the signboards and what to expect/what is expected of us while on road!

[supermax]

Originally Posted by TwistOfFate!

Ah, you don't have to be sorry and I can't deny either - it was my mistake in both cases. And of course, valuable lessons learnt first hand. I have ever since taken the theory sessions and they helped big time. I would recommend (rather insist) that anyone moving abroad ensure to take the theory sessions at the least to familiarize themselves with the signboards and what to expect/what is expected of us while on road!

Well said. Many Indians who drive abroad while on a visit think they are safe drivers just because they have not been involved in any accidents, without realizing that the accidents have not happened as others have very likely given them the extra safety margins. All it takes is one more such driver at the same roundabout/intersection at the same time, and there'll be an accident.

Regarding the time you missed the mandatory turn sign, was it perhaps that you got fixated with the cops you'd noticed earlier and hence missed the sign? I'm not sure how it is there, but bus lanes run parallel to regular lanes here, and google maps or waze etc only show you the road to take, without mentioning that you need to keep off the bus lane. There's no way I could get away with a bus lane incursion and blame it on google maps, if a cop does catch me in the act!

[supermax]

This one isn't of me getting pulled over, but I caused the pull over, and I'm not happy about it. A friend from Stockholm, and his family had come down to Linköping, and they visited my wife and I. Before they returned, they asked us to show them around a bit in our city, and we were happy to do so. The problem was that I hadn't even begun to practice to get my driver's licence yet, and knew nothing of car routes and even road signs that are not bicycling related, as I just bicycled all over back then. I directed them onto a road, to get to a local park, fully oblivious that it was a no-entry zone for private cars, and my friend who ought to have seen the sign and took the necessary detour didn't do so, as he simply put his trust in me. No sooner had we entered the road, than we were stopped by a policeman on foot. He asked in Swedish, if it was okay for us to be on the road there. When my friend mentioned that he hadn't seen the sign barring cars, he was told that there was not one but two signs, and that he'd have to pay up the fine of 1000 SEK (approx 9k INR). I told that cop that it was I who'd directed them incorrectly. The cop gave a wry smile and said I could share the fine with my friend then, and was on his way, after my friend had signed the tablet held by the cop.

[irdevanand]

Hi Folks

One never forgets the first time they see a cop light in their rear view mirror in a foreign country. I have been pulled over once (and charged a hefty fine ) in US during one of my official trips.

I have read extensively about the PULL OVER MANNERS in US even before my first trip to US several years ago. There were lot of stories of fatal shootouts due to misunderstanding even at that time. All that reading helped me handle the situation very neatly. The Both-hands-on-steering-all-the-time gesture, Nice greeting, Nice smile, No sudden movements, No moving your hands to your wallet without prior information, signalling to accept a pull over by turning your turn indicator and moving to the curb as soon as possible etc.

It was running all over again and again on my mind like a movie when i first saw the blinking lights in my rear view mirror. My hands were shaking but i pulled over to the side neatly and waited for the cop to come to me and explain things. He was gentle and explained me everything and cited me a sum which was more than my monthly salary in India. But lesson learnt.

Would advise any first timers reading this post to read about the Dos and Don'ts of a pull over in foreign countries well ahead of the trip. Trust me it helps and it could be a matter of life and death.

Some pics from the otherwise beautiful drive from LA to Vegas !











Regards
Dev

[vennarbank]

It was in 2001, in MA, USA. I was returning from office on a weekday earlier than usual. Suddenly a policeman who was standing on the road, flagged me. i stopped and enquired the reason. He replied that there was a shooting going on. I presumed it to be a film shooting and asked the officer, whether i can see it. He had a genuine puzzled look on his face and said it is very dangerous. Now alarm bells rang and i apologized to the officer and told him what i thought. He also had a good laugh at me.

In another instance my friend was driving and we were pulled over. My friend immediately went into a panic mode, and began to plead to the officers not to shoot him. They could not control the laughter and let us leave.

[sdasgupta]

Very interesting thread.
I have a few to narrate from my US days, though the memories are a bit faded with time.
Will start with the funniest one...

This is sometime in '96. My friend in Boston has just bought a new Toyota Camry and driven over to my place in Merrimack, NH. We load up his car and mine with a bunch of friends and head off to the White Mountains for the weekend. Highways are posted at 70 mph and we are doing around 75 when I remember that my friend has been boasting about the V6 in his Camry, so I zoom past him to taunt him. A little while later, he overtakes me. Unknown to me, the folks in the other car have decided to get me a speeding ticket. We sort of race each other at 80-82 speeds and reach a town near our destination (I think it was Breton Woods, but not sure...) and the roads are full of traffic heading to the tourist spots. My friend is behind me at this point and suddenly goes straight ahead on a right-only lane to get ahead of me. Guess what, there is a cop car in the jam ahead of me, and he immediately flashes his lights and pulls my friend over into a nearby restaurant parking lot! We saw all of this from my car, and I also pulled out and parked a little distance away in the same parking lot. As soon as the ticketing was over and the cops had moved back into their car, one of our friends ran over to my car laughing and informed us that while they were plotting to get me a ticket, they themselves ended up getting one! We all burst out of my car laughing uncontrollably when we heard that, and the cops, who were still in the parking lot in their car, stared at us, wondering what was so funny about getting a ticket.

The second incident that comes to mind was in '98, with me and my wife driving from Denver to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon and back. The car rental desk had given me a brand new Dodge Intrepid V6 which had recently been launched and was a hoot to drive. I drove over 2500 miles in 4 days on that trip! The return trip from Las Vegas to Denver was memorable in many ways. Anyone who has driven that I-70 East route will know that it is one of the most picturesque drives where you start from the deserts of Nevada, go through the beautiful red arches in Utah and end up high in the Rocky Mountains near Denver. This day was additionally astounding because it was early May and we started in the morning with our AC on full blast in the desert heat and ended up crawling behind a snow plow in the middle of heavy snowfall in the mountains before Denver, all within 12 hours. When we entered Denver, it was midnight and we were lost while trying to get back to my friend's place. While trying to find my bearings, I turned into a side street and then immediately turned back into the main road in the opposite direction. There was a cop car sitting quietly in the side street, and as soon as I got back on the main road, it was behind me with flashing lights. I think they thought that I had turned back and taken the opposite direction after seeing the police car, and got suspicious. We pulled over and waited for them to come over, and then realized that they had called for backup and we had multiple cop cars behind us with spotlights aimed at our car! My wife was new to the US, and this was really scary for her. Two of them finally came over and asked for our papers. After running the license etc. they asked me what I was doing in downtown in the middle of the night, and when I explained that we were lost, they asked us to take out our map (these were the days when there were no google maps, and we used the trusty paper maps) and patiently showed me the route. I then asked why they had so many cars with spotlights behind us and was told that our car matched the description of a wanted vehicle. What a day/night that was!

The third instance is tame compared to the ones above. I was driving to work, again in New Hampshire, and doing 78 on a 70-limit highway since I was late for a meeting. Got pulled over and was handed a ticket for around $80 (if memory serves me right).

[cpabhijit]

I've driven about 5-6k kms in EU over multiple trips and have been ticketed once, and that too is quite a weird one.

A bunch of us colleagues had rented a car in Zurich and were planning to drive around some parts of Switzerland. We picked up the car in the evening and got back to where we were working/staying - a small industrial town nearby. We crossed a bridge near our house and a camera flashed. Interesting. We were driving quite within the limits and it can't be one way or no entry since we were following some cars ahead of us and the bus we took to work also took the same bridge. We parked the car at home and me and another guy walked back to the bridge. There was a lot of stuff written at the entry to the bridge, all in German and we had no Google Translate at that time. We went up to the camera and saw that it was flashing for every single vehicle that passed. Relieved, we went back home and the following couple of days, drove all over the country, through some of the most delightful roads and scenery.

Anyway, a month later we got a CHF 100 ticket with a nice write-up in German of whatever was the offense. I took it to my manager who was German and he read it and started laughing. So apparently that bridge is only for buses and...wait for it...cars whose owners stay in certain parts of the town!!! And the camera clicks all these pictures and compares it to it's database of number-plates which are allowed to ply on this bridge. Just amazing. And my manager was laughing because apparently the entire driving population of our office had also run that ticket, including him!

[karsouvik]

This is really a interesting thread. I also have an experience of pulling by cop in US. I and my wife was going to Florida from Atlanta in a rented Ford Focus RS, it was morning 5am, pitch dark. I was new to drive on US road at that time and I was very cautious about the speed limit and reading the road signages, you can say over cautious. So we were cruising on interstate in a relaxed manner well within the speed limit even though I could see other cars were overtaking me with insane speed. Suddenly I saw a police car with flashing beckon in my rear view mirror. I and my wife both started to panic as it was our first time experiencing a police car behind us and we were new to US that time. The police car started to hoot and I slowly pulled over to the service lane and kept my hand on the steering and thinking what I did wrong. In the meantime the cop came to the passenger side and asked our name and where we were going and then he asked if it is a rented car or not. After getting all the answers he asked me why I did not switch on my car's back light, it is dark and dangerous of driving the car without back light in the dark. Now I got confused as my car's headlight is switched on and my understanding was if I switch on headlight then back light will also be switched on by default. When I explained the same to the cop then he came to my side and asked me to open the door. I thought he wanted me to come out and searched the car but he simply came and rotate a knob and switched on the back light and said in this car back light switch is different and be careful for rest of my journey and wished us a happy journey. He was really courteous and helpful during the conversation and did not ask for my driving license or anything, it seems he was pretty aware of this fault specifically for that car model which had different switch for back light 😂. But that time we were pretty amazed with the road safety standard that American follows. And in that journey I had never touched that back light knob ever.

[SedatedDrive]

I do my best to follow the rules and laws. I have driven mostly in New England, did trips up to DC/Virginia, many trips to NJ, some to PA, and 8 months of defensive driving in Greater Toronto. With a mix of common sense, regard community safety and an abundance of caution, I have managed to never be pulled over, 0 citations and 0 parking tickets.

[OffRoadFun]

Story #1: Decided to drive from CA to Montana (Glacier national park) over the July 4th weekend. Rented a Ford Focus at the last moment. Was very excited to be visit MT/ID for the first time. I also told my wife that Idaho/Montana being so sparsely populated, speed limits are virtually non-existent there! Will be fun.

Took a break on Intestate picnic table for lunch and started driving, somewhere in Idaho where speed limit was 75MPH. Suddenly saw a cop in rear view mirror and was concerned by prospect of $272 speeding ticket. The cop turned on his lights and we pulled over. The cop came and asked how fast did I think I was doing. I told him I don't know but I won't be surprised if it was over 90MPH! He said yes you were doing 88MPH.

The he asked what we were doing in North Idaho with a California plate and I told him we were on way to Glacier national park on Canada border, always wanted to drive to Montana. Then he asked for my license and my wife added we wanted enjoy my birthday with a long drive (which was true). He checked the DOB in license and went back to his vehicle behind us, I was wondering if I would have to part with $272 today or not.

He eventually came back after a couple of minutes and told me " you really don't want any gift from me on your birthday, do you?"

Totally unexpectedly, he told me to drive a bit slow and told my wife to give hit me with an elbow next time if I speed again and let us go.

For this and its natural beauty, the trip to Glacier National park in Montana is one of the most memorable. There is no national park in the US like Glacier National Park I would say! Breathtaking! In some ways, better than even Yosemite!

[ajmat]

First time was in Texas - my fault, driving at 75 in a 50 zone. A Mustang was parked on the left and came splat in my rear view mirror. I payed the idiot tourist. He looked at my passport and wanted me and let me off with a warning.

Second time was in the UK, one evening, driving a Mercedes. Got stopped as I was a young man in Mercedes (they were special back in 1989), had dropped my uncle and was returning it home. They asked my name, where I was going to and owner of the car. (they knew that already!)

Third time - again in the UK. Pitch dark - we spent an evening at a classmates in rural North Yorkshire. Was within speed limits but I was enjoyig my Peugeot GTI suspension to the limit. Passed a car with something on the roof going the opposite direction. A few miles down the road, my friends tell me it is either a police car or a driving school car following me.

Suddenly, the lights start flashing, I slow down but only stop after a mile as the roads were narrow.

"What's your name"

"Ajit"

"Carry on - you were driving pretty briskly - four lads and a fast car means I had to check!"

[no_fear]

Originally Posted by karsouvik

I and my wife was going to Florida from Atlanta in a rented Ford Focus RS, it was morning 5am, pitch dark. I was new to drive on US road at that time and I was very cautious about the speed limit and reading the road signages, you can say over cautious.

No, the cop pulled you over, because the Atlanta Florida US-95 interstate and associated highways are popular with drug traffickers / drug mules. They drive at late night / early morning, which is the grave yard shift for cops. Most drive with rental cars, and some keep the lights off so that cops on the highway cannot see them from the rear. Your driving style triggered the cop's attention.

The cop listened to your story and did a cursory check of the car under the pretense of turning on the rear light switch. The fact that he knows where the rear lights are, means he is well aware of the different models of cars that are used by drug traffickers.

This is a very common cop tactic. When he asked you to open the door, and you let him, he did a visual check of the car interior and occupants with your implicit permission, without you realizing it.

Had my fair share of pulling over suspects due to similar driving patterns

Most highway cops don't bother with non functioning tail lights - to pull you over, is either grounds for a ticket to meet monthly quota, or because the car model, plates, etc triggers a BOLO (Be on the lookout).

[OffRoadFun]

Story #2: Someone in initial days someone gave me a tip that it is always good to be open and may be sometimes talkative with the cops. It helped
Me and my wife were coming back from a day trip on scenic CA Hwy 1 one of the evenings and had plans to head CA/NV border for night stay (and further travel next day). Was on a rural Hwy in West CA with speed limit of 60MPH and one of the headlights was not functioning. I wasn't particularly fast but I think the broken light got the attention of the cop. Seeing cop car lights on in rear view, I pulled over. The cop came over and asked where we are headed. I mentioned the day trip and cop said nice day trip. Then he mentioned that one of the headlights is broken and I was going at 75MPH in 60MPH zone to which I mentioned, well I was just following the traffic.

The cop took the license, went back to his vehicle, check the details and came back after a few minutes. He came back and told me he will give a warning for broken headlight.

I asked a dumb question, what about the speeding ticket? He (and my wife) looked at me in disbelief! Realizing he is wearing body camera, he just conveyed via hand gestures it's been waived. And then he told me to follow the speed LIMIT, not the traffic and let us go!

Another trip saved!

Here is a younger me, with partially broken headlight (but still working), somewhere in Arizona.