So, I got a few comments regarding "Daytime Running Lights"
I may have been incorrect in my thinking and I thought that was what he said when he approached the
car.
It was still light out out at 4:00pm so I didn't think my lights, which are set to auto , were on
at that time. I will investigate more.
Maybe it was just the "tail light". Most likely I stand corrected.
My auto lights might have been on and the filiment on the tail light was out but the brake light
still worked.
Either way, he was poaching.
Exactly right. Fishing, being a prick, looking for trouble.
ReplyDeleteI get "not all" LEO are like that, but far too many and enough to spoil the pot for certain.
I can no longer watch them because the recordings are so infuriating, but there are several First Amendment Audit channels on chewwtoob that highlight the problem.
I worked in healthcare for a lifetime and there were several people I drove out of my workplace for incompetence and the wife got one for stealing patients pain meds. I quit a hospital because I thought they were racketeers preying on vulnerable patients and families.
DeleteAs a LEO, as much or even more than a regular Joe: Stand up for what is right or be counted among the crooks!
simple, a older WHITE guy in a newer made made truck- MONEY. and that is how they think. you will rather pay the fine than take time off from work to fight it. THEY KNOW THIS. so, you easy money for the state.
ReplyDeletemost people will pay the fine if under 100 bucks than lose a day at work. the philly parking assholes have made millions doing this for years ! hell, they even sent the same fine to people 3-5 times and they will pay it.
there was a big write up in the local news about it about 10 or so years ago.
also too, ALL of the parking clowns in philly are armed. just saying. dave in pa.
Not all cops are assholes. But every asshole wants to be a cop. And those guys get hired. By other assholes.
ReplyDeleteIf his priority was safety,he would have gotten your attention, had you follow,get to a safe place and then pull over. He sounds like a little jerk who got bullied in school and is out to get even with the world.
ReplyDeleteI am still trying to figure out how a bulb was blown in a 2022 truck. I have a 2016 with 93k miles on it and have not had any bulbs blow.
ReplyDeleteAnything government, local, city, state, federal is broke and understaffed. They will try to generate revenue the easiest way they can. This is how they do it
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your second and third sentences, but the first one - eh? broke?
Deletethey're in a contest, each one trying to outspend the next and "understaffed" - they've got more hippopotamuses standing around blowing water outta their...
Either way he was an asshole.
ReplyDeleteYou ever notice how polite they are on the live cop shows? Compared to how they are when there's no camera to record them? Duh.
Public safety is one of the prime responsibilities of an officer of the law. According to the thinking of the one that pulled you over, endangering all other drivers, exposing you to the danger of a traffic accident, and ignoring they're own safety was less important than showing your ignorance of not having one lamp not working on your vehicle, with the collection of a fine for the local jurisdiction. Some would describe him as a dumbass, and an asshole. I agree with that description.
ReplyDeleteI thought daylight running lights were only the front headlights.
ReplyDeleteDoes the state require DRLs? No, because they're not on older cars and there's no retrofit mandate. So...the only beef is "installed electrical component malfunctioning," aka "burned out bulb" which is an equipment violation. Technically, he was correct, which makes him no less of a badged dick for issuing a citation instead of just telling you to get it fixed pronto. Shiny badges and all that.
ReplyDeleteUsually this kind of thing is addressed by a warning or what we use to call a fix-it ticket where you get it fixed wirthin 7 days and the ticket goes away.
ReplyDeleteOne evening on the way home I had pulled into a store parking lot and parked in front and both my headlights were on and working because I could see them in the store window. I left to drive home and cop pulled me over with a headlight out. That quick. Go figure. But in that kind of situation it makes no sense at all to fine someone. Light burn out. When you notice it you fix it. Case closed.
Also I grew up in Mass and years ago you had to be 6' or taller to be a state cop. While it may be more fair to potential cops to not have a rule like that back then the staties were intimidating. When they walked up to your car ypu were staring at their belt buckle and they towered over you and your car.
Go with a tailights are a construct of the white male patriarchy defense.
ReplyDeleteShow up in bubble wrap sporting an I'm with Karen shirt.
The glorious Masshole People's Republic, Holy Shit you are behind CCP/CPUSA occupied lines.
It's prolly just a terminology problem.
ReplyDeleteThe amber and red lights which are supposed to be on when the headlights are on can be called "running lights".
They're also known as marker lights.
And they're required to be working.
But in almost every jurisdiction, they run your plate and ID and see if you've been pulled over for this before and if the answer is, "no," they give you a fix-it-ticket and send you on your way.
Blame Canada for calling headlights on when the car is driving "daytime running lights". They're not required.
Having supervised worthless cops like that I may be able to add a little context. The supervisors and the other cops know who the assholes are but there are limits to what can be done about them. You can’t tell them they can’t write those kind of worthless (but technically legal) tickets or the supervisor will be in trouble, not the cop. Peers can and do mock them on the down low but they are generally immune to positive peer pressure because they’re assholes. They write those kind of tickets because they’re afraid to look for more dangerous stops who might wipe the floor with them and they’re too lazy and cowardly to get into a fight with a felon, make a real arrest and stay past the end of the shift doing the paperwork. One thing the supervisor CAN do is find unpleasant assignments for officers like that and generally make their lives as unpleasant as possible while being careful not to say or do anything IAB could ding the supervisor for. However, that can only work so well and some of them can shake it off and keep being an idiot. I had one particularly worthless cop like that who kept me busy handling citizen complaints on the street during his car stops. Normally with other cops I might try to appease the motorist but in his case if I thought they had strong grounds I’d give them detailed instructions on how to file an official complaint with IAB and what to say to get results. One day I had to respond to another motorist’s complaint and I thought she had a good solid complaint with a witness in her car. But I apologized to her because even though she could file a complaint this was his last day on the job and his shift was two hours from being over. I told her it would be waste of her time. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteThere is increasing focus on how ticketing is unequal among various ethnic groups. He was probably just trying to balance his performance sheet. Who knows, he may have been getting pressure to write more citations to certain demographics from his superiors. His attitude may have been the result of following a directive he did not agree with for the sake of his job. We live in a strange world right now.
ReplyDeleteIrish brother, they really like the easy money. Having been pulled over twice in less than 24 hours for the exact same thing, I have made it a habit to turn those daytime running lights off every time I get in the truck. The second officer told me, as I was on my way at 11:00 am the next morning to the auto parts store, if I’d have been the asshole he expected me to be, he was going to really mess up my afternoon… his exact words. It was only because I still had the ticket from the previous encounter still in the console, did he back down.. and only issued me a warning ticket. It’s not something I like to think a lot about but now I try to check those lights for proper operation at least once a month or so. I hate wasting a day at the courthouse ‘cause it sure puts me in a bad mood, but I’m not giving those assholes any more of my money than they already get.
ReplyDeleteVC
Fun fact..
ReplyDeleteLots of stores have windows lights can be seen in. The reflection is enough to verify function. Don't even have to get out..
Another fun fact
If the window you're using is at O'Reilly's and a light fails the test
You can solve that problem.
About 15 years ago a girl in the neighborhood was driving a Jeep of some kind and I noticed a brake light that was out. Next time I saw her father I mentioned it to him. He said they knew about it. The problem was in a multi-funtion circuit board in the dashboard-gauges, lights, all kinds of stuff, plus the power to various bulbs selected by the turn signal lever and the brake pedal. Jeep was out of stock of the very expensive board. He got a letter from the parts manager so she could "explain" things to a cop in case she got stopped. It all sounded like Jeep had borrowed a few of Ford's "better ideas".
ReplyDeleteBuy a Dunkin Donuts gift card and place it between your drivers license and vehicle registration.
ReplyDeleteI only wish cops would start targeting out of staters who move here. Maybe they would stay up north where they belong.
ReplyDelete