Pulled Over and Got Three Warnings

RollinLS

RollinLS

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Got pulled over tonight on my way home from dinner. Met up with my family for dinner for Fathers Day. Left the restuarant. While sitting at the light, I noticed the patrol car. I had my window, but the wife had hers up. No big deal. I made my left passing driverside to driverside with the officer. Next thing I hear is squelling tires. The officer whipped the car around in a VERY busy intersection to run me down. Note, the speed limit is 30mph. I wasn't going anywhere fast.:lol: Guess he thought he had a "bigtime" criminal to catch. Probably looked at the Lincoln and stereotyped it as a "drug car". He pulls me over. I ask him "what the problem is?" He ask for licenses, registration, insurance. I hand it to him. He tells me he pulled me over for no front plate, tinted windows, and clear plate cover on the rear plate. Apparently, Illinios pasted a law effective Jan 1st that plate covers of any color, even CLEAR(which mine was) are illegal.:slam He runs my licenses. One ticket for speeding for 67 in a 55 three years ago in Ohio. He comes back to my car and gives me a written warning for all three things.

1. The plate cover issue. I found that to be silly. Whatever. I will remove it.

2. The window tint. Not going to happen. I have had them tinted for three years. No one else has had an issue with. Even the 8 officers in the town I live in. Not even the County boy that pulled me over a few months back. if I get a ticket, I will pay it and keep the tint.:p

3. The missing front plate. I know exactly where it is. On my workbench where it will stay. Again, I have had no front plate for three years. I don't plan to put in on anytime in the near future. Illinios has been talking about going to a single plate system. Figure I will be ahead of the game when it happens. Of course, none of the officers where I live seem to care about it.

I do find it annoying that the officer took such a risk in whipping around in a VERY busy intersection to run me down for what he did. Note, he didn't turn his lights on till he got directly behind me. He could have caused an accident. He could have been going after someone speeding, runnning a redlight(that area is known for that problem). Instead of pulling me over for three "non-moving violations". I am grateful that I didn't get the tickets. I just don't justify the extreme he went to for the violations involved.
 
Do LS owners complain about the police more often than other makes around here, or does it just seem that way lately?
 
Calabrio said:
Do LS owners complain about the police more often than other makes around here, or does it just seem that way lately?
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I wasn't complaining.:p I was sharing the story to see if anyone thought it was as ridicoulous I did for the officer to do what he did for such a silly infraction. Besides I deal with law enforcement daily.:p
 
97stscaddy said:
:lol:
I've always wanted to ask a cop that. :p But I dont get pulled over often enough to get the chance.
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Drive 60,000 miles a year and see how often you get pulled over.:eek2:
 
i haven't had a problem getting pulled over because of the "car", i've gotten pulled over because i'm a latino, bald and young. it happens quite often here and it does piss me off but hey you can't really do anything about it but co-operate, unless you want to give them a reason. when i first got the car i got pulled over for "loud music" (keep in mind this was back when everything was stock). he pulled me out and my brother (14yr old at the time, also latino, and bald) and put us in the back of the patrol car. i honestly rather co-operate and obey the law because at the end of the day these laws are there for a reason. tint is illegal even if nobody pulls you over for it. front plate might not seem like a big deal but if something life-threating happened and you didn't catch the plate cuz he/she didn't have one, then you would've appreciated the law. finally, if they pull you over, it was because of something. we do drive luxury sedans and at times it does seem that this is an excuse they use, but their job is difficult enough without us complaining about it. so if i was the one that got warned (and this is just me) i would do as they said to do since this is the laws in which we are suppose to abide by. if you don't like it then complain and do something about that specific law, i'm sure there would be others behind you. if not don't complain when you get a ticket the next time. don't get mad, this is my opinion and mine only
 
I’m surprised Lincoln has not issued a TBS for the squawk coming from in front of the steering wheel.

If you continue to disregard the warnings you could find out about another violation called Scoff Law.
 
I got pulled over a few years ago for speeding (89 in 65, ouch) and got dinged for no front plate and also the clear rear plate cover. $284. The front plate issue is obvious, the clear cover law sorta makes sense too. Officer explained the problem with them is that cheep plastic gets fine scratches and yellows over time...and it DOES make plates hard to read (eventually). Also hitting them with bright lights at night and the glare makes the plate hard to read. My complaint was why they were sold at nearly every auto parts store, wal-mart, etc. with no "for off road use only" warnings? Live and learn I guess.
 
Some of the clear plates are designed to make it hard for photo radar to read the plates. So that is probably what got his attention. The two states I have driven in, technically it is not illegal to have such covers but the cops are said to get mighty picky if they think you are using that type plate. Maybe they aren't illegal but any cop worth his paycheck can find all sorts of problems with your ride and your driving if you give him enough reason.

I actually bought a pair when I lived in Oregon. Never put them on the car since I had a few friends who got the run around. The ones I bought had kind of a "fresnel" lens where from straight on they are clear but at an angle they fuzz things out. The wrapper they came in said street legal yadda yadda, but after talking with a few people I decided to just keep them in the garage. If I ever get a photo ticket I will probably get mad and do something.

I hear that clear sparkle paint at arts and crafts stores works well. They are clear all the time but with bright flash like photo radar, they sparkle and wipe out your numbers. Hmmm, gotta think about it, awful lot of photo radars now that I live is So Cal.

Cops got plenty to do. You just want to attract as little attention as possible. The more attention you attract, the more interest the cop will have in you and your ride.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson
 
I used to live in a small IL town by Paducah,KY and I was always getting hassled by IL state cops about that stuff. What I used to is keep a licence plate braket in my car and I would tell the cop that I bought the bracket but I haven't had the time to put it on. Or try puting the plate in the front window. I have done that in many cars and never had a problem.
 
One other thing, the sprays do not work in bright daylight since the photo radar does not need flash on sunny days.

SOme states have a pretty hefty fine for no front plates. Oregon was about $650 if I recall. Usually you get a warning or a "Fix it" ticket. But police have computers and if your missing front plate shows up too often, they can get nasty. Some will tow your car on the spot, so I have been told by others.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson
 
Jim Henderson said:
I hear that clear sparkle paint at arts and crafts stores works well. They are clear all the time but with bright flash like photo radar, they sparkle and wipe out your numbers. Hmmm, gotta think about it, awful lot of photo radars now that I live is So Cal.
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One of the commercial products is PHOTOBLOCKER. One can covers about 4 plates and is a onetime application, cost $20-$30.

They are looking into photo radar around here for the revenue generator. The radar carts owners get about 75% of the fines and incur all expense. The government agency gets 25% pure revenue. Of course the sell is public safety.
 
gcwimmer said:
One of the commercial products is PHOTOBLOCKER. One can covers about 4 plates and is a onetime application, cost $20-$30.

They are looking into photo radar around here for the revenue generator. The radar carts owners get about 75% of the fines and incur all expense. The government agency gets 25% pure revenue. Of course the sell is public safety.
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I'm hearing both you and the original poster. I'm there.

I don't get why the cop thought rollinLS needed to be (more or less) hotly pursued either. As far as your responses to the write ups, I think they're good answers and I hope you stick by your decisions there.

I hope I can add a comment on the clear cover and the clear coat. The fresnel lensed cover (they are quite obvious) would not be a 'clear' cover in most peoples opinions and would appear to be an attempt at avoiding the 'badges' or the cameras. I tried the one with the glitter in it and my digital camera after dark had no problem seeing all the letters on the plate, and I'm pretty sure the badges will see it as another cover with the same purpose as the fresnel one. However, hassling people with literally clear covers over their plates is stupid, people only use that type because they just look nice and are easier to clean.

As for the clear coating, I bought the mail order can of license plate clear coat too. I did one of my plates and followed up with the after dark camera test with a couple diff cameras. It works well, distorting most and sometimes all of the letter/numbers. But, after noticing that it only looked like regular clear coat, I looked around the garage and found that I had a can on the shelf (ceramic high temp clear coat in my case) and did another one of my cars' plates and it worked just as good as the mail order stuff. You can save yourself some bucks by just getting clearcoat locally, you get a larger can, for a lot less money and no mail order hassles. Test the type you decide to use first, I just know the type I tried worked great.

I emphasize 'after dark' here because it's the only time the clearcoat works.
 
From the MythBusters television program:

Plate blockers

Myth: You can put something over your license plate that only obscures it to speed cameras

Adam took photos of it with his Canon SLR and they used the most popular speed camera used by law enforcement.

* Glitter license plate: contains 'microcrystals' to deflect the speed camera's flash.busted
* Lenticular plastic cover: distorts the plate when viewed at from an angle. The plate remained legible, though partially distorted, for both Adam's camera and the speed camera busted
* Plastic wrap: very legible busted
* Commercial spray: very legible busted
* Hair spray: very legible busted

all busted
 
mharrison said:
From the MythBusters television program:

Plate blockers

Myth: You can put something over your license plate that only obscures it to speed cameras

Adam took photos of it with his Canon SLR and they used the most popular speed camera used by law enforcement.

* Glitter license plate: contains 'microcrystals' to deflect the speed camera's flash.busted
* Lenticular plastic cover: distorts the plate when viewed at from an angle. The plate remained legible, though partially distorted, for both Adam's camera and the speed camera busted
* Plastic wrap: very legible busted
* Commercial spray: very legible busted
* Hair spray: very legible busted

all busted
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I think that show BS's in the name of Law enforcement sometimes. The "beat the DUI" episode was my first clue. I know a few people who did the myths they "busted" long before that show was ever thought of and they worked. Then there was the myth about blowing the car over with a jet engine. The used one engine and couldn't get the car to blow over. Then I saw an episode of top gear on the internet where they did it easily with a real jet. That was when I quit watching that show.
 
For those who have plate covers for camera evasion. Try it! Get a disposable or digital camera and take some pics of the treated plate from various distances. Seems like a sure way of proving/disproving.
 
They didnt need to go through a busy intersection like that i agree but the cops around hear always wanna be a$$holes from some reason

example about a month ago my buddy got a $75 ticket.. for honking his horn, a kid with a completely clean record got that for holding his horn on for 4 seconds
by the way, around here going from 1-20 mph over the speed limit constitutes a $75 ticket as well

some are usually cool about things though i have a speakerphone in my car and a lot of them think its hilarious.. i think you just got screwed man
 
chriswells78 said:
Then there was the myth about blowing the car over with a jet engine. The used one engine and couldn't get the car to blow over. Then I saw an episode of top gear on the internet where they did it easily with a real jet.
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Yeah, but the guys on Top Gear used a Citroen 2CV; a good sneeze will blow one of those over. ;) I don't recall the results of the Mythbusters version, but I do remember them showing footage of a real taxi being blown over (somewhere in South America, I think).
 
i have the same problem with the tint situation. i only get pulled over by one state trooper in wisconsin. i have not had any other problems with any other trooper in any state, as i have just got back from a trip to detroit. i passed 12 wisconsin troopers going between milwaukee and the illinois border. this one trooper is a complete prick
 
u are lucky

i got pull over about 12 times they try to tell me that the vehicle was stolen,
got the K-9 in wile i was sitting in the side walk with cuffs and they had not even check my ID or registration till i toll the i was going to sue if they rip my leather int. they check my ID and toll me go on my way. i was 22 at the time.

u dont want to know what they do to me we i cross the border and
come back
 
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