Got pulled over
Anyone have similar experience and what did you have to do in court? Thanks!
Last edited by LIONHEAD; Mar 19, 2004 at 09:40 AM.



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The M-B salesman told us that people go for years without a front plate (it doesn't seem to be a high priority for our local cops) but my wife is the daily driver of our car and she's too much of an upstanding citizen to drive as a license-plate scofflaw. Probably has to do with the fact that she's never been stopped, or so she claims.
On it went, as soon as the plates arrived from the DMV ...
The Best of Mercedes & AMG
Move to LasVegas...there are more cars here with expired plates from other states and without front plates by registered drivers than there are with the so called required front plate. (Watch some cop catch me on the way to the shopping center today probably...:-)
Not many solutions available.
What do they do with some of the cars that come with factory windows that are dark?
Jack



Once you install the license plate holder on the front bumper, there isn't much point in taking it off. Even if you do, and don't get nailed again by the local gendarmerie, you'll forever have those screw holes in your formerly-pristine bumper...
The M-B salesman told us that people go for years without a front plate (it doesn't seem to be a high priority for our local cops) but my wife is the daily driver of our car and she's too much of an upstanding citizen to drive as a license-plate scofflaw. Probably has to do with the fact that she's never been stopped, or so she claims.
On it went, as soon as the plates arrived from the DMV ...



Unfortunately the police in Chicagoland go to extremes. They stopped a car a year or two ago for tinted windows and ended up shooting the poor kid who was a football player at Northwestern University.
Hey Lionhead can you please post a photo of your grill from stray ahead. Ideally showing the whole front of the car and the grill. Thanks
Bruce
I don't stop people for tint on their windows unless you are foolish enough to tint your front windshield . If you tint your front windshield you will get a ticket for sure unless is confined to the top 6" of the windshield. I will tell you why I feel some officers do. It is a safety reason for the police officer. Tinting ranges from very mild to some that we all have seen were you can not see inside the car. Put yourself in my place. I stop a car and as I'm getting ready to exit my vehicle I have no idea who the person is in the car. Almost always is a law abiding citizen, but there is a very small possibility that this person is wanted for a serious crime somewhere and has decided that no matter what he is not going back to jail. If that is the situation then I'm the only thing standing between him and freedom. If he has a weapon he may feel that using it is his best option. With that scenario, someone is going to loose and I would hope that due to our training it would be me. Now compound that concern with "dark" tinted windows. As I'm approaching the vehicle I can't see inside the vehicle and can be walking into an ambush. That's why we"light up" the vehicle with all our auxiliary lights hoping to be able to approach the vehicle undetected for a tactical advantage. Any way you get the point.
My suggestion to anyone who has tinted windows and gets pulled over is to pull over quickly as far to the right on the shoulder as possible. Immediately lower "all" your windows so that the officer feels a bit more secure because he can now see inside the car. When he asks you for your paperwork, be polite and apologetic. It may get you out of a ticket. I can almost guarantee you that you will not get by with a warning by having an attitude or being defiant.
Lastly understand that having your front plate in states that require it help us do our job by being able to identify your vehicle from the front or rear. If we are in the lookout for a vehicle in connection with a crime I can pull over and monitor traffic heading towards me by looking at the front plate. Also I have come across several individual that have taken the front plate off their legally registerd vehicle and put it on the rear of a vehicle that is not registered and drive around knowing that unless they get stop they will be ok. Lionhead I think that we can agree that the car is beautiful !!! It will still be beautiful even with a license plate on, but if you feel that strongly about it and don't mind taken chances find out if the tint and the missing front plate are only violations that do not accrue points on your license. In that case you would only be responsible for any monetary fines everytime you get stopped. By the way I own a 2002 S500 sport, 1993 STS and my girlfriend has a 2000 S500 and a 2000 Galant. I know that they would look better without a front plate but they all have front plates. Sorry for the long post but I thought it was a side not being shared and if I am banned I will accept my exile willingly.
I really shouldn’t comment on this, since I’m a foreigner, and the laws are different. But there is one thing in your answer that actually surprised me. It seems that being polite and apologetic could help you off the hook. In our country it’s not up to a single police officer to take his own decisions when something outside the law has taken place. We should not be put in a position where we have to act different to a person because he/she happens to be a PO. Over here you can talk to a PO as he was just a “normal” person. We cannot be fined for starting an argument. It’s actually the PO that has to act polite, and if he doesn’t, he can get into trouble. It was a case in a Norwegian court where a man had called a PO a “dick….”. The PO went mad, and dragged the guy to court, but the PO lost the case totally. I think it's called the freedom of speach
(And we are also the only country in the world together with UK that have 100% unarmed PO’s.
)
You misunderstood part of my answer. As a police officer I have discretion. I don't have discretions over crimes ( major violations ) in those cases I must make an arrest. For minor violations like traffic violations, I don't have to issue a summons everytime I notice a "minor" violation. I can merely stop the car and give a verbal warning or issue a summons it up to me. I'm saying that if you are polite and don't give a BS story I am more likely to give you a warning, but if you give me attitude and a hard time I am going to give you the summons. This should make sence.
You are correct in that I can not do anything more to you just because you act like an idiot. I would simply listen calmly let you vent and carry on. I would then go back to my car, issue the summons for the original infraction which I pulled you over for. Then I would return to your vehicle and very politely hand you your summons and explain to you how to answer the summons by mail or court.
Moral of the story your odds are much better if you are polite, but if you choose not to be polite don't be surprise when you get a summons or worse if the rest of your paperwork is not in order or up to date. I hope this explains it better.
Of course there are some rotten apples in the bunch but you can say that about any industry. From all my posts, I have never bashed the officer. I also know it's a matter of safety to see fully the occupant driving the vehicle. In the town I was pulled over I can see why the officers can be hard nose as there are a lot of young punks street racing especially in the summer. In Illinois what I don't understand why the rear windows can be as dark as possible as the rear occupants can be as dangerous as the front occupants in concealing a deadly weapon. Looks like the tint will be coming off soon and the front plates installed.


