Your description of the British car (an MG?) reminds me of a fellow I used to work with. He drove a Mustang, and his insurance portrayed the fact. Never mind that it was older and gutless. He described it as 0-65 in 5 minutes. Hahaha!

Wow. Lots of compliant and obedient people here. I guess that makes sense given the times.

1. Don't tell them what you did wrong. Let them tell you.

2. Don't apologize for whatever it was, or admit the infraction. If it is a ticket just take the ticket.

3. Know a lawyer, and know how to contact them if you get taken in.

You got it, jasdip! It was a real POS but lots of fun. A perfect second car. Why? Because if you needed to be somewhere important at a specific time, you needed to use a different car because you couldn't rely on it to get you there on time.

Regarding not pulling over. I was once driving alone late one night through a deserted canyon road. Before cellphones were popular. A vehicle approached quickly form the rear. There was no turnout and they kept coming up my rear. So I sped up. They got closer and I feared they were going to try to run me off the road. So again, as there was no turnout, I continued to sped up trying to get to the highway. As we hit the highway they hit the lights. So I pulled over on the shoulder. There was a discussion of why was speeding. I explained they scared the crap out me by their tailgating, How was I supposed to know they were LEO? They had seen me leave a bar and followed me. I'd had one beer a couple hours back and told them so. Passed the breathalyzer without a problem and they let me go after telling me to slow down. *eyeroll*. I was driving speed limit until they chased. Later that week I mentioned the incident to a local sheriff. he said I acted appropriately given the circumstances.Better to risk arrest than killed or raped by some crazy.

Wow, 20 over is a lot. I never go more than 5 over.

Ah, roadsters. They're a lot of fun! I'm not sure how fast I'd go if I had an open road and no one nearby. Probably not horribly fast?

The MG and I parted ways 15 years ago. My current main car is a sedan.

I think I will check with our local police department about proper conduct for a driver when pulled over.

What I *think* I was taught was to signal; pull over and stop; put the car in Park. (I don't remember being told to turn off the ignition.) Then you were to roll down your driver's side window two inches and put your hands on the steering wheel. When he approached, the officer was to show you his ID. From there on in, the officer told you what he wanted you to do.

I've had two traffic tickets in my life, both LONG ago. I was driving my Healey roadster both times. Once I rolled through a stop sign. (Too lazy to downshift, and there was no one around -- except, obviously, the cop!) Once I was 15 MPH over the speed limit after coming off an expressway.

DH was invited for a 'ride along' by an acquaintance who is a police officer. He was initially impressed by how *crowded* the squad car is. He observed a couple of traffic stops -- one of which turned up a driver with no license or insurance. The officer said it that while he has his hand on this gun every time he approaches the stopped car, it's his goal never to have to take it out of its holster. (When you take it out, it's because you are prepared to fire.)

This is something I found peculiar in the recent deadly shooting of a man that was photographed by his girlfriend. It appeared that the officer had his gun out from the first and was too close to the man. Maybe the woman didn't capture the entire episode?

Chisue ---The girl friend started to videotape after the shooting. There is a lot of conflicting info coming out about that event. In one article she is quoted as saying her BF told the officer he had a gun as he reached for his wallet. If that is true it is a stupid stupid move on his part. She stated she screamed "he has a license". So It may very well be that the man was shot simply because he did not follow protocol that just about any firearms training will teach.

Several videos have leaked out on these two innocents. The good hardworking boy and the nice innocent mommy. Child in backseat while mom of the year does her thing. Yeah I believe everything this dumb witch says. Exposes her child to drugs, sells drugs with child. Hope the powers that be investigate. Actually glad the family is suing. They will be put under the microscope and the truth will come out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MyGQShcKow

Having lived only in the UK and Australia, being pulled over by the police in America sounds like a frightening, and potentially life-threatening situation to find oneself in. I don't know how you all cope with living in a country with such an extraordinary number of guns in general circulation that the sort of behaviours you've all described by both ordinary-person-being-pulled-over and police have become necessary for survival. I guess you can get used to almost anything, especially if you've grown up with it, so that it seems 'normal' to you. But lately we hear of, and even see on video, incident after horrific incident of ordinary black people harmlessly going about their business being shot and killed, including at least some that have had a good upbringing and been taught by their parents how to practice safe interactions with police.

That's certainly not my idea of 'freedom' - the very concept so most firearms enthusiasts claim to be so anxious to defend.

cdlc (sorry! It's just so long!), The US is a big place. There are lots of people, some of whom are rotten and some of whom are not. We live in an electronic age and now everything is scrutinized in the world's eyes. It's the exceptions and oddities that you're hearing about. Why would you hear about our well run things and incident free stops? Don't kid yourself. Police brutality happens many other places, including the UK/Australia.

comtessedelacouche (10b S.Australia: hotdryMedclimate)

Having lived only in the UK and Australia, being pulled over by the police in America sounds like a frightening, and potentially life-threatening situation to find oneself in

******

It's a shame the media is portraying America like the Wild West, but that's what drives ratings.

I have lived in Canada nearly my whole life, that being said I do travel to the US and have been pulled over on a couple routine stops over the years. I have never had any issue here or in USA. Signal and stop the car, turn off ignition, hands where the officer can see them, do not reach for anything unless asked, be polite, make eye contact. I have never encountered an officer be rude to me, maybe stern but never rude or out of line. I have never had a gun pulled on me, thank god because i'd probably pass out in fear.

I know there are bad officers in the bunch, its naive to think that they are ALL wonderful people. I live in a small town and the police officers here are pretty great, heck they've bought me coffee numerous times while in drive thru at the local coffee joint.

I really do feel for them, they have a tough job to do and really don't know what they will encounter even during a routine traffic stop. The reality of death on the job for them is something they have to live with everyday, is it for me? No, I highly doubt anyone is going to shoot me at home based business with majority of activity conducted online. I couldn't imagine waking up everyday and willingly going to a job where I know I could be shot at, injured or worse having to be put into a situation where I need to take a life in order to preserve my own. Dying is easy, living with the fact that you had to end someone's life, I'd imagine is not

One time, I was pulled over and given a ticket (illegal left turn) by an officer on horseback. Shame I didn't have a sugar cube handy for Scout.

One of my encounters involved an accident with a deer. The deer was running through an empty lot directly toward my path. I put on the brakes hard to stop before it ran in front of me. At the same time it made a weird swerve to try to go behind me and actually ran into the side of my car - causing damage -- and I had already completely stopped. I got out of the car to see what I could do with the deer as it lay there, stunned. The side of the car was dented and parts of the molding were broken off. Suddenly the deer got up and jumped into the lake next to the road and swam away!

I turned around and saw a county sheriff's car pull in behind me and the sheriff got out with his pad. He walked up to me, shook his head, tore off a page and handed it to me. It was his phone number. He said, "Mam, I saw the whole thing from the hill. Here is my number - your husband is never going to believe the deer hit YOU!"

loon, that is hilarious! I like him. He sounds like good people. Did your husband believe you?

I'd really like to make it clear that I have no issue whatsoever with Americans or police in general.

It's the long-standing cultural indoctrination with the idea that everyone needs, and must be allowed to own, firearms in order to be safe/free/happy (or fill in your own desired outcome). Anyone who's lived in any other first-world country knows this is simply not true. It's the ubiquity of firearms throughout your society that makes everyone less safe and free.

The consequence for police is that they have to live with constant, justified fear of being shot and injured or killed, as others here have movingly pointed out, every day of their working lives.

This is why innocent people are being killed by police - not because police, on the whole, are bad people. I don't think the argument that these incidents are unusual/atypical holds water. Just because millions of people DON'T get shot and killed doesn't lessen the trauma and life-time consequences for the families and friends of those who do, or for the police officers involved, on a pretty regular basis.

When we hear of terrible, unjust things happening, we all want feel better by finding someone to pin the blame on, but as I see it, anger and recriminations directed at either the victim/s (for not being sufficiently smart or well-educated, engaging in petty crime and/or drug use (in some cases) or not following a protocol that apparently even the very smart people on this thread aren't all completely sure of; or at the police (for being 'trigger-happy', racist, stupid or uncaring) should be secondary to anger at, and determination to put an end to the legal tolerance of the lethal weapons that are the root cause of the problem.

It's the ubiquity of firearms throughout your society that makes everyone less safe and free.

I totally disagree and restate what I posted before. It's a worse American problem, the lack of empathy, or valuing of human life.

There are many more white people shot in the US every year by police officers, but those shootings don't get the same media attention. There is just so much more outrage when a black life is lost and obviously it makes the national news feed. Google it and see for yourself.

Every year thousands of people in the US are killed and maimed by people using guns. One here. Two there. Kids, suicides, somebody somebody 'dissed', 'domestics', drunks, etc. It's so common that it's not news -- in the US.

Yes, the rest of the First World thinks we are nuts...because people in their nations are not being dying in these numbers. They have the same proportion of mentally ill, angry, jealous people -- and criminals. They have other weapons. They do not have easy access to guns.

You mean like the rash of Chinese criminals killing kids with hammers? Those are ok because they're not guns. 25 dead and 115 injured. Sounds like similar numbers. Guns are bad, bad, bad. People would do the right thing if it wasn't for guns. Your arguments saying we should handle things like other first world countries doesn't sway me. Stuff happens. Bad stuff happens. It will always happen. Take away the guns (you still haven't said how that would work exactly???), and all deadly crime would stop? Somehow? I don't agree.

I had an experience where I was in the car with some folks from outside of the US. There was a car stopped in front of us to let elderly people out at the door of a restaurant. One of my passengers said "Why don't you beep?". Another said, in horror, "Oh NO! You don't beep in the US! If you do they'll shoot you!". I couldn't believe it and I was enraged. But I kept my calm and said "No, the reason I am not beeping is because it would be rude. That's all". It shut the alarmist up.

Grrrr .....

Suzieque,

I have heard of road rage incidents that did lead to shootings.

Rob333 - Taking away the guns will not stop all deadly crime, that's unrealistic. One would imagine if the weapons were taken away the number of violent gun related homicides would go down. At the end of the day crime will still be there, deaths will still be there. Even in Canada where gun laws are extremely strict there are still gun related homicides. While I am all for gun ownership - freedom etc, there should be more strict gun laws in US, to me there is no reason a regular old joe like myself should be able to purchase an assault rifle

Lucille - of course! We all have! But my point was that it was the default response from this person from outside of the US. It was as if simply beeping your horn would automatically get you killed. C'mon - we all know that that's far from true.

Nat, it was pure sarcasm ;) Saying remove the guns remove the deaths is hardly an argument for getting rid of them. (it's the one that resonates the least for me).

It's like saying the death penalty is a deterrent to killing. Oh no she didn'! How's that for a can of worms?

Rob333, I figured it was, people who think removing the guns will magically solve the problem are seriously mistaken.

Please don't get started on the death penalty :p

It's a lot harder to kill hundreds of people with a knife than it is with an assault rifle.

Those that want to "kill hundreds of people" would still find a way to get that assault rifle. Or any other weapon they wanted.

If I remember correctly. Timothy McVey used fertilizer.

Rusty

Interestingly, though, in Australia, having had a number of mass shootings, our (conservative) government changed gun laws to be far more restrictive, and we've never had another mass killing of any kind since.

I can look for a reference for this but not now - sorry, I'm too tired. It's probably quite Googleable though, if anyone's interested in the details.

Not really. I'm so glad you're so sure your country is far better.

???

I don't think Australia is better than America, particularly. In my experience, every country has its own strengths and weaknesses. (I've lived for around 30 years each in the UK and Australia, and have spent a few months in the US on business and visiting friends, as well as travelling in other parts of Europe and Asia.)

It would be sad if a sense of national pride or defensiveness were to prevent people from informing themselves about this issue, including how other countries deal it.

Having said that, of course each country has its own history, geography, traditions, etc that all affect how hard it is to enact sensible measures to control unnecessary firearms ownership, so how each country goes about the task is likely to be a bit different, according to their circumstances.

You keep trying to convince the way it's done there is what will work everywhere... even when the thread was over and done. Popped back up to say the same thing.

"You keep trying to convince .......even when the thread was over and done. Popped back up to
say the same thing."

You do the same.

The thing is, my dear Aussie couch potato (our phrase for it), you're looking at this wrong. Aussies, as with people in so many other countries, try to solve problems when they arise. Most Americans, on the other hand, stick to their guns (literally) and refuse to consider that real problems can have real solutions. We have an inalienable right to be stubborn and inflexible when it comes to simple things. We don't solve problems, we continue them. argue polarized platitudes and then continue to live them daily.

You have a nice country there down under, I've enjoyed several visits. Nice place and nice people. On my visits, I enjoyed learning and experiencing so many things there that you do in better ways than we do.

and so do you!

Elmer, I'm sure that "the Aussies" would welcome you. Perhaps you could move there and be very, very happy.

start Bawling!! lol

Have you been there and experienced what Australia has to offer,
Suzieque, or is this just your opportunity to be snarky? Most people grow
out of using silly insults by the fifth or sixth grade, others
continue. Sometimes because they feel uncomfortable when confronted with ideas that challenge their own views.

Some find it hard to be open-minded.

And some keep answering to have a the last word? maybe?

It's true, I've noticed that too.

Haha - nope, Elmer. Not jumping on an opportunity to be snarky, although you do certainly provide enough fodder for that . I am just suggesting that you'd have a better life than you seem to think you have here in the US. Yes, I've been to Australia. While beautiful and yes, they have so much to offer, I'm always grateful to come home. Although I'm not proud of the actions of an awful lot of people here in the US, I'm proud of my country. We've got fixes to make. But I'm in it for the long run.

That seems to "challenge your own views". So be it. You got your panties in a wad about me some time ago (as you have with several others ..... you know who they are) and let's just agree to steer clear of each other. Y'want to start talking about silly insults? Perhaps just search on your own name ....

So it's true! (his post, not yours suzieque). I thought that was what was going on. Thanks for clarifying it. No need to thank me for the clarification.

Every comment from any person is new and stands on its own. Or doesn't. I mostly pay no attention to who says what from one time to another unless I see something in close proximity from one to the next in a thread or on a given day. It's conversations with no allegiances one way or the other. Sorry if that disappoints you.

I like challenging views, you should do the same. Try to do so without challenging the person offering the view. Or their user name - amazing!

I find it challenging that some that Mr. Fudd has indicated sort of relates to my feelings.

I have been stopped. I have attempted the protocol. I have been bitten.

'Nuf sed.

I'm pretty sure most people don't want every comment challenged? I could be wrong, but I don't think so.

I'm being tag-teamed. Where's Freddie Blassie when you need him?

Elmer, you clearly missed my point. I wasn't picking on your name. I was suggesting that you might want to search on your own name here on KT to recall some of your own comments. Amazing!

Over and out of this thread. It's tiring now.

Actually, I'm making a very visual point (that I'd be making without suzieQ. But I think she has some good points). I'm not mad at you at all or having a bad week. I'm just pushing back. I've been doing what it feels like you are doing! Every time someone comments, you have comment again. We got it. We may even agree with some of what you said, all of what you said, or none of what you said, but I don't think we need it again?

I know you're smart enough to get what I am saying, and doing. I'll quit now, but I hope it's sinking in.

Freddie, where are you Freddie?