Here in Calif, starting in 2024, law enforcement officers will now be required to immediately inform the driver why they were pulled over. Prior to this change, the first thing the officer would often say is “Do you know why you were pulled over?” Drivers might then volunteer information about an infraction the officer wasn’t aware of.
Good change? Bad change? Any interesting traffic law changes where you live for 2024?
Good change.
Definitely good.
If criminals are allowed to remain silent, surely drivers deserve the same treatment.
Doesn’t really matter. I always just say I don’t know, been a long day, etc. if you are stopped, they sure have a reason so whether you admit it or not, they still have. Being nice sometimes means they cut you a break. I suspect some will use it in court though trying to fight the inevitable.
One time in rural Minnesota a female patrol stopped me. No idea how fast I was going but we had our cute little dog in the back seat looking at her with those eyes. She let me go. I always credited the dog so I put extra puppy teats in her casket just in case.
Got pulled over for tail light out, it was working fine after. Who could argue the point! It was an officer that wanted any excuse to pull over high school kids and look for pot.
I’ve been pulled over so many times I could/should write a book. You reminded me though my girlfriend at the Time and I pulled out of the drive in one night. A deputy pulled me over in my vw because he saw me take a sip of coke. Thought it might be beer. No it was coke. Don’t drink. Back then only crazy people used drugs and pot. Now it’s normal.
I was invited to a catholic school graduation party by my prom date. It was in a wooded area by her house complete with camp fire. 20 plus kids or so. Deputy shows up to check the refreshments. Not a one had anything stronger than a coke/soda for you New Jersey folks. Just a bunch of good kids celebrating graduation. Deputy just smiled and didn’t care to join us.
If cought street racing in WA your car gets impounded for 72hrs, also pemalties for aiding and anetting street racing.
Gonna street race in a 59 Volkswagen? We had to save money for school. No money for fast cars.
Any penalties for the street racing drivers? Or is the only penalty they lose use of their cars for 3 days?
Fines up to $5000 and up to 1 year in jail.
Also includes Drifting.
Florida has expanded their slow down or lane change laws. You used to have to either slow to 20 under the speed limit OR move over a lane if an LEO had a car pulled over. Now you have to do it for any service vehicle, or broken car with e-flashers on or people around.
People either ignore this law entirely
Or they slow TO 20 mph AND move over. This causes everybody to jam on their brakes and clog up lanes to a crawl. And it sometimes causes accidents due to the “accordion effect.”
Me too. It isn’t 20 questions. If they have a reason to pull me over they can tell me.
Me too. I was driving back to the office from a remote site. There had been a drive by shooting at a bus stop a couple of blocks from my turnoff. The cops pulled me over and asked if I knew why, and of course I didn’t. They said my brake light was out. I checked later and of course it worked. I still had to go to a police station to show that it worked. I also told the officer that I did nothing but visit the police station to get the signature that it worked. There is nothing worse than a Prince George’s County police officer. They can’t find real criminals so they stop innocent citizens to make it appear that they are doing their job.
Absolutely! Bracket racing! You’d probably get a 3/16 mile head start in a 1/4 mile drag race. 
Georgia has the same law I don’t know if the fine has changed but I do know that one of my kin payed $350 a few years back for not moving over.
$350… Ouch.
Just saw a summary, 2ndt time the cars seized, probably other charges,
So now a parked car with flashers on will back of traffic for a mile. Nice way to make traffic less efficient and make people spend more on fuel. And the last minute lane changes and accidents that are caused from that too.
Like I said that was a few years back I don’t know if they made any changes or not. But it sure cured him from doing it again.
There are two ways of looking at the situation-
Empathy. Poor bugger, something’s wrong with their car. I’ll slow down a bit and move over to make it safer for them to resolve the unfortunate situation.
Apathy. You stupid idiot! Now look, I am inconvenienced by YOUR troubles. The heck with you, I cannot be bothered to slow down or move over or inconvenienced in any way. It’s all about ME.
Just how many disabled cars does anyone pass in a day? Have you ever had the unfortunate situation where you had to pull to the side of a high speed roadway? Having people flying by a couple feet from your car? If not, try it sometime. It might affect which one of the above you are in or closest to being in.
Superfically it is scary. In reality, I don’t want people making last minute lane changes and causing someone to lose control a couple hundred feet from where I am stopped. Things that feel scary are not always as dangerous as they seem. The idea that you are safer if you don’t wear a seat belt because you will go through the windshield in an accident is still around after decades. It makes people feel better, but it doesn’t have to be true.
The highway isn’t the place to be polite. It’s a place to follow rules and be smart.