The last time I drove to Texas from California, I got stopped right after getting gas in Fort Stockton, Texas. I was merging onto the freeway and noticed that the freeway was clear for a mile, but a patrolman stopped me and told me that I had failed to stop at the yield sign because there was a car a mile down the road behind me. He then took me to a 7-11 to pay a $60 fine and told me that if I did not pay the $60 in cash right then that I would go to jail. Obviously he stopped me because I had California license plates, and I will never stop in Fort Stockton again. I found out later that it is a notorious place for this type of activity. I had a similar experience in Odessa many years earlier when I was driving with a friend from Colorado. Parts of west Texas are really bad for this type of extortion, and possibly other parts of the state as well.

I've not had a bad experience with police in California, but they are sticklers for parking, and if your car is 1/2" over the line, they will issue a parking ticket. I don't fault them for that, however.

Wow, Lars, have driven through Texas many times and never had that problem. I would've told him to take me to jail. The last time I was pulled over was in my home town in NV some 15 years or so ago. Small town, me and my kids were on our way back to Kentucky and as you are leaving town the speed limit was lower than the highway speed (I guess) because I was already driving the highway speed of 55 mph because it was the middle of nowhere, in the desert. lol He just gave me a warning. I normally have a cop radar thing because I always seem to lower my speed if I had been speeding before I spot them.

I was pulled over once, long ago, in CA as I was pulling out of a McDonalds where I had stopped for coffee. I was followed out of the driveway by an officer who then stopped me because I didn't have my seat belt fastened yet -- unusual because I always and always have since they became standard equipment worn my seat belt. He let me off with a warning, I think because DD was properly secured in her car seat in the back. I think this was just after wearing a seat belt became mandatory in CA -- mid-late 1980s.

Lars, it does sound like you fell victim to a scam.. We had a village near here that was notorious for similar traffic stops and other unethical practices -- the state stepped in and disbanded the village.

I was once pulled over three times in two days!! Apparently, another car like mine - a well-used, older bronze Ford Ranger pickup - had been involved or was suspected to have been invoved in something nefarious and so I was pulled over because they were suspicious of my ride!! This was in a small municipality just north of where I lived so I travelled through routinely and that municipality's police force has a reputation for being hard-nosed! Neither time did I receive any apology for being pulled over in error and one officer was involved twice!! And he was particularly rude and unpleasant. I mean....come on! How likely was it that a little old lady with a dog sitting next to her was the perpetrator of whatever crime they were investigating??

georgysmom2, I'm glad it ended well for you. One of my friends was recently pulled over for having one of the little lights that illuminates the license plate out. That seemed like a really odd thing to get pulled over for, but I'm guessing in his case they were looking for an excuse to pull him over-- only to discover he wasn't someone who needed further scrutiny.

Lars, I think the pay-on-the-spot thing use to also occur in Wyoming. Or it did back in the 90s. I remember being told to carry cash if you ever drive through WY, which we did since we lived in South Dakota for a time. In SD, the police at the time also ticketed out of state plates at a rampant rate. DH was active duty military at the time, but with CA plates on the car. He got a ticket for just a few miles over the speed limit. He even told the cop that he thought that what he was driving was the speed limit on that highway since it wasn't well posted. I don't know where you live in CA, but where I live, I've never seen anyone ticketed for parking over a line (are you talking on the street? Or roadside parking spaces? Not parking lots, right?). I'm unfamiliar with that practice in our area so guessing it's probably a type of parking we don't run into here. Heck, most roads and parking lots in my area don't even have painted lines!

Years ago, I was stopped once by a deputy in California. There had been a lot of purse theft going on so I did as recommended and had my bag in the trunk. I didn’t know what I had done wrong, but pulled over immediately and got out of the car and headed for the trunk to get my license. As I was reaching for my bag, the deputy who was behind his car door, drew his gun and started yelling for me to put my hands up. IT SCARED THE LIVING H*LL OUT ME! And I could not understand why he’d pull his gun and start yelling at me. Once he understood why I did what I did, he explained why he did what he did and said he had stopped me for speeding but wasn’t going to ticket me because he thought I had learned an even more important lesson that day, (said with a smile) and I had.

And, a couple years ago, right after my DH had been diagnosed, I was super stressed and late for an appt. and not paying attention the way I should have been. I got pulled over doing 55 in a 45 mph ticket trap where a frwy ends. The lady officer came up to my window, got my license, insurance and registration and went back to her car. That ticket was the straw that broke me and by the time she came back, I was sobbing. She said it’s just a ticket, it’s not that bad, and I said no you don’t understand and I explained about my husband and how it was all just catching up to me. She had already written the ticket but put a note on it to charge it as a parking ticket and apologized because that was the best she could do. It’s been 7 years and I think about her every time I drive down that stretch of road.

No one wants a ticket, and I’ve had 1 bad experience, but I think over all, the good experiences happen a lot more often then they don’t.

Lars, my DH got his one and only ticket driving through Texas as well. He didn’t ask for money on the spot, he was 5 - 10 over the limit, but it was the country and the roads weren’t busy either.

A lot of stretches in Montana do the cash now of go to jail too.

Raee, reminds me of a small village near Cleveland.

Linndale still nabbing speeders

Lars, out of state license plate, easy pickings! Many years back I got stopped for speeding on my motorcycle with Washington tags in a small Ozark town, late at night, headed home from my Army base on leave. I thought it was odd because I was traveling the same speed as an 18 wheeler in front of me. (It was cold and I was getting heat from his engine.) The Deputy gave me a self addressed envelope to mail in my fine payment.

I noticed that the envelope's address wasn't to the Sheriff's Department and I decided not to pay it. A couple of years later I read about a Deputy in that same area that was keeping a 2nd ticket book for his personal use on out of state drivers. The offense never showed up on my driving record.

I would love it if my little town used the same cameras as Linndale has. I get so sick and tired of people speeding through. Our speed limit is 35, down from 55 on the highway. In the summer, the "summer people" speed through and I'd love to see them nabbed, plus it sounds like it can really add to the city's coffers.

A couple of years ago, I was driving to next town and noticed a lot of cars behind me. I also then noticed my speed was in kilometers instead of miles! NOW HOW IN THE HECK DO I TRANSPOSE THIS WHEN I'M DRIVING? (I couldn't even if I weren't driving! I made a turn into another road in order to stop and get my mindset going. That's when I heard the siren and saw the blue lights flashing! The officer was very nice but said they had a report of "erratic" driving on my part. Well, that I had to agree with! He checked my licence and insurance and I told him my story and that I was going to stop at a nearby gas station for instructions in the metric system. He just told me to do that and to have a good day! I did stop at the next station and a nice young man punched in a button that I must have inadvertently pushed earlier!

Now that parts of west Texas have speed limits of 80 m.p.h. and even 85 m.p.h., it's pretty darn hard to get a ticket for speeding unless you are flying. Georgysmom2, I always react with the shakes when I get stopped. I'm not sure why it's so scary.

My daughter was driving my car in Pa and got stopped and was issued a ticket for expired sticker. I had to pay a fine of 120.00. I had moved and MVA won't forward mail so I never got the new stickers and didn't notice they were expired. Expensive lesson.

A thing about parking over the line. Within the last couple of years Kansas City has installed a streetcar line down one of the narrower streets. There is room to park on both sides of the street, barely. If you park on or beyond the line you do not receive a ticket your car is towed. Why the idiots decided that street was perfect when the next street over was six lanes wide is beyond me but they did.

A few years ago, I was taking my husband to the doctor during AM rush hour traffic. He had had to give up driving so I was the driver. On a very busy and wide street, blue lights began to flash behind me and after I negotiated 3 lanes of heavy traffic, he walked up grinning and said he was sorry, but he had had a report of a person in a car like ours who was flashing women on Lowe's parking lot nearby! I can smile about it now but it was very frightening then!

Lars, that's just the worst story............my first reaction was that it was some kind of scam. I've enjoyed reading other's experiences. Probably more than they enjoyed the actual experience. :-))) Particularly liked mai's where the "policeman" pulled over and actual policeman. Sometimes there is justice!

Satine, the same thing happened to my mom (not in PA).

That is why the Secretary of State (SOS) (who deals with driver's licenses and stickers in IL, where we live) requires vehicle owners to notify them of a change of address. She did not do so (my dad had just passed away and she moved, etc., so it just did not get done). Now the SOS will send an email reminder that a sticker is about to expire (if we sign up for it).

Lars, before we went to Tulum for a wedding a year ago, I read on TripAdvisor that this was a common happening if you as a visitor rented a car. One guy related his experience, telling us he refused to get the money and they let him go. Yes, it's a scam though I'd never be brave enough to refuse.

In our CA cities, they are indeed particular that you park inside your space because we have too many cars and too few parking spaces.

Years ago my sister-in-law was doing some last minute Christmas shopping, and was driving the short way home and saw blue lights flashing behind her. She pulled over the the officer came up and informed her that the sticker on her license plate was expired. She apologized and said she'd take car of it first thing when the DMV re-opened after the holidays. He responded "No you don't understand. I can't allow you to continue driving with the expired tags. You'll have to get out of the car, and I'm going to have it towed to the impound lot. You'll be able to retrieve it after the holidays, but will have to pay the towing fee and the impound fee, as well as the ticket." She got out, got the large bags of gifts from her trunk, and stood by the side of the road, in foot-deep snow, as her car was towed away. She walked along the road, carrying the bags of gifts, through the snow, to the nearest payphone, and called several people trying to find someone to come pick her up. And on top of all that, she was 8 1/2 months pregnant.

Probably due to the stress of the incident, later that night, she went into labor and was taken to the hospital and delivered the next day, Christmas Eve -- two weeks early.

Well that officer had the real Christmas spirit! I wish I could remember the exact words of the officer that stopped me but the bottom line was that if I should get stopped again, the next officer might be a S.O.B. and give me a ticket. So even Police officers know that some of their counterparts are less than nice. I was lucky. So far the new tags have not arrived.

While living in Lake Charles, La we got parking tickets from NOLA airport.

I called and was told to send money or show up and contest. We did neither and it went away. 3 tickets on a company car.