I was on my way home from the gym tonight when I notice a cop behind me. I checked my spedometer and realized I was safe - doing 38 in in 35. The cop followed me for about 2 miles, then threw on his flashers! I pulled over, and after a five minute wait with his spot light shining on me, he walked up and said "Do you know why I pulled you over?" I politely replied "no". Well, the cop says, "Your North Carolina Tarheels license plate frame covers the state, the county, and your registration sticker - and you don't have your front plate on your car." I played dumb, and only got a written warning, but I'm still kind of bummed.

I HATE the front plate on my TLS. Has anyone ever done a mount of the front plate up underneath the grill or something? I somewhat remember a post about that - I'll do a search.

As soon as I pulled away, I noticed a car coming in the opposite direction that didn't have a front plate and I also took note of the dealer license plate frame on the car in front of me - which covered the exact same information mine did!

I guess I'm lucky that cop wasn't behind me after a few drinks and I'm also lucky that he didn't give me a ticket. I wonder if he would have pulled me over if I had an Ohio State Buckeyes license plate frame?

 

Probably. There's a bunch of reasons why a cop may or may not pull you over for a minor infraction. I suggest you get one of those "I donated to the Policeman ball" stickers.

In my lifetime, I have been pulled over by troopers, policemen, S.O.'s, aircraft, marked and unmarked cars, all kinds of LEOs, you name it; about 30-40 times. And I'm still not quite used to it.

 

Sounds like you got screwed on the license plate frame thing. I feel sorry for you as I am in a similar situation being an ACC man out of our territory! Being a Clemson fan living in TX, I will be a little worried about "special treatment" when the Tigers play Texas A&M in a year!

 

:wow: that's a lot. what were the violations? were they serious?

 

Sounds like the cop was nitpicking and/or bored. At least he didn't give you a ticket. If that happened then you would really have reason to be angry.

As for the front plate, I have never had a front plate on any of my cars and have never once been caught. I personally think front plates are ugly and I will never put one on.

 

wuts to vent about? he didnt even give youa ticket!

 

I'm happy I didn't get a ticket - just venting that I have to remove my UNC frame and put my front plate on.

 

The state of Ohio are pricks on the license plate issue. I've been pulled over twice about it (over the past 6 years) and still never put one on. Having the plate on the front of the car looks gay!

BTW, what are you doing with a Tarheel frame in Ohio???

Buckeyes all the way!

 

I wouldn't worry about it. When a cop pulls you over for something like that in the middle of the night it means that he's lonely, the donut store is out of his jurisdiction or closed, and/or he's bored. He just wanted someone to shmooze with, he didn't really care about your license cover. If you like it so much, leave it off. What's the worst they can do? On a longshot, you get a ticket and take it to court, with pictures of dealership plateholders in the area that cover the same amount. No judge wants his time wasted with such crap, even in traffic court.

 

This year, I think even the Carolina locals may be embarassed to wear their baby blue!

However, even I know better than to put my PAC10 or Arizona decals on my car in the heart of Carolina.

J/K

P.S. Glad you didn't get a ticket.

 

A friend of mine is a cop in a smaller town here in Washington. The only reason they pull people over for piddly sh!t like that is because they are looking for warrants. And the being lonely thing is absolutely correct. Cops in smaller towns don't have enough to do so they'll pull people over for crap like this just to see if you have any warrants out.

Oh and I asked him what his feelings are on the front license plate being removed (cause I took mine off) and he told me will absolutely pull someone over for it because it is a 'pet peeve' of his. Makes me wanna

 

Yeah - rough year for my Tarheels....they'll be back though. Jawad Williams (from Cleveland) will help them rebuild.

I'm also a huge Buckeyes fan. Those are my two schools. Just got the UNC frame to be different (had an OSU frame on my QX4).

 

There are 400 different vehicle code in California. If a cop wants to pull you over. There are a lot of reasons for it. Glad that you don't have a ticket. Maybe he doesn't meet his quota on "citizen contacts" at that day.

 

Cops use minor violations to pull you over if they suspect something like a potentially stollen car or drugs.

The smallest infraction allows them to pull you over and visually check you & the car out. The missing front plate could lead to a stollen car...a good theif will swap the plates off so that if the car is called in they won't be spotted. However, they usually don't take the time to reinstall both plates, just those in the rear. Hence the cop may have wanted to check out the deal and figured using the rear plate frame obstructing the State & registration as an excuse is reason enough to yank you.

No need to be pissed or upset, they're just doing their jobs.

And for the record...no I am not a cop, I just have a bunch or friends that are.

 

About cops pulling you over for suspected car thefts or drugs,
I've been pulled over in Miami driving in a Caddilac at 3am, ostensibly for having my front lights "too dim"- when the cop told me this I just looked at him and asked him if there was a real reason or if I could just go home. We got to talking and after about 20 minutes he told me that the real reason he stopped me was because I was driving a car with foreign plates (from Canada) and he wanted to see if the inside of a Caddilac looked the same in Canada as it does in the US, since he was thinking of restoring a Caddy and thought he could get parts cheaper up north.

The second time I was pulled over in Harlem (a really crappy area in New York) driving a rented Mustang. Cop told me I went through a stop sign - bullsh!t! I was on a main street with only traffic lights, no stop signs in sight. I pointed this out to the cop, he went back to his car and about ten minutes later he came back and told me to drive more carefully. I later found out from a cop friend of mine that when cops see a white kid driving in Harlem after dark in a new sports car, they automatically think drug buyer or drug dealer, so when the cop shone his flashlight in my car he wasn't lookin at my face, rather for contraband in sight.

Lesson learned, when cops pull you over at night, be cool, if you haven't been doing anything wrong just tell that to the cop and let him go through the motions. 99% of the time they'll hassle you for a minute, go back to their car for 5-10 minutes to run your plates, and then let you go. More of a pain in the neck than anything, but if they're doing it I like to think that they occassionally catch real criminals this way.

 

Damn, sounds like he was in a pissy mood. They must have ran out of jelly donuts at the 7-11.

 

Regarding the front plate: MA requires that. My dealer actually used a frame to hold it so that they don't have to drill two holes on the front bumper.

 

Speeding probably about 25 times. Lots of warnings (about a dozen). Half on radar, one laser, pacing, cops just seeing you driving fast, vascar, airplane, lines stretched out across the roadway. Tinted windows about 5 times, [no] front license plate, 'D A Y T O N A' at the top of the windshield, radar detector in the windshield.

Been ticketed in Texas (2), Alabama (1), Wisconsin (3), Minnesota (16), Kansas (2), and Missouri (1). Been driving since 1979. Lived in Minnesota 1987-1999.

Tickets in the Twin Cities:
Hopkins (2)
Minnetonka (2)
St. Louis Park (3)
Edina (1)
Bloomington (1)
Eden Prairie (1)
Minneapolis (1)
Hennepin County SO (1)
State Trooper (4)

Nothing serious like running a red light, illegal turns, or driver's license violations. Just speeding mostly (if my memory serves me correctly).

 

Good God, and you still can get insurance? I actually started laughing. That's a pretty impressive list of tickets!