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Speed Citations and Stops:

What Police Look For:
As we all know, the best way to avoid a speeding ticket is not to speed. However, we have all noticed that most drivers on public highways are technically driving above the speed limit, and yet not everyone gets a speeding ticket. The following are some of the criteria that individual officers use, by training or experience, to justify pulling over speeding drivers. Even if it is too late for this advice and you have been pulled over by a police officer, it helps to know for future awareness the process an officer will go through to determine whether to cite you for driving in excess of a posted or safe speed limit:

Observing The Vehicle In Motion:
Officers sometimes patrol highways, or at other times position themselves under overpasses, behind barriers, or on highway on-ramps, to observe traffic. People operating a vehicle in excess of the speed limit, that additionally exhibit some form of reckless driving, are pulled over for safety reasons. Often, these drivers may be under the influence of alcohol, illegal drugs, or may have other impairment, such as prescription drugs, a mechanical defect with the vehicle, or a medical condition that makes them a danger to others on the road. The officer will look for a willingness to take risks at high speed, poor coordination and reckless disregard for the safety of others.

Legally, all an officer needs to justifying pulling a vehicle over is a reasonable belief that the driver was operating in an unreasonable manner, or a reasonable suspicion that an ordinance or other law has been broken. A good faith belief on the officer's part that the driver may be physically unfit to drive may suffice.

In pulling over someone for speeding, an officer may actually be trying to catch a “bigger fish”, such as someone driving intoxicated, or someone in possession of contraband, such as narcotics.

Evidence of Impairment:
Officers look for 20 specific visual cues that indicate that the driver may be a danger to others. If observed independently of any other behavior, each clue has a corresponding probability of impairment established by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). They are as follows:

		The Officer's Visual Cue/Corresponding Probability of Impairment
		30% Headlights off  30% Accelerating or decelerating rapidly 35% Turning abruptly or illegally 35% Stopping inappropriately (other than in the lane of travel) 40% A slow response to traffic signals 45% Driving into or crossing traffic 45% Erratic application of the brakes 45% Driving with tires on center or lane marker 50% Drifting  50% Following too closely 50% Stopping without cause in the lane of traffic 50% Driving slower than 10 miles per hour 55% Swerving 55% Driving on other than the designated highway 60% Weaving 60% Almost striking object or vehicle 60% Appearing to be drunk (eye fixation; tightly gripping the steering wheel; gesturing erratically or obscenely; face close to the windshield; drinking in the vehicle; driver's head protruding from vehicle) 65% Straddling center or lane marker 65% Turning with wide radius The probabilities listed above correspond to the officer seeing only one cue. When the officer observes a combination of several cues, the probability rises.

The Color of the Vehicle:
Additionally, statistics shows that certain colors of cars, fair or not, are more likely to catch the eyes of officers. As a matter of neurology, psychology, and human physiology, bright colors such as (1) yellow, (2) orange, or (3) bright red (not dark red) seem to stand out more. More citations are given to white or silver cars than any other, but this seems to be a combination of their bright color with the fact that there are substantially more cars of these colors than other colors on the road. Some longer term traffic officers, however, have admitted to looking for a different color or type of car each time they are on patrol, just to make it more interesting, and thus tolerable, to them.

The Position on the Road:
One other theory of why certain cars stand out holds that traffic tends to travel in “packs” of cars. The vehicle that is ahead or behind of a group of cars, or certainly speeding out of a pack of vehicles, is more likely to stand out to an officer observing traffic. This is especially important in officers using radar guns, as the position of a car next to a large group of cars, or even a large vehicle, can skew a radar reading.

Common Misconceptions:
Police officers work everyday under several misconceptions from the people they stop. Many officers talk about how people think the motivating factor for an officer to give a ticket is based on how the offender looks or acts.

What police officers are taught in the academy, is to make up one’s mind whether to give a ticket or a warning before one steps out of the patrol car, one officer stated. “You see the violation, make up your mind, and then appearance and behavior won’t effect your decision.”

After You are Pulled Over:
When an officer initiates a traffic stop, officers observe to see if there is evidence of impairment, or of other crimes, such as resisting arrest. Observations typically include:

• Attempt to flee
• A slowed response in pulling over
• No response to the officers lights, siren, and commands
• Abrupt swerve
• Sudden stop
• Stopping in an inappropriate place
• Hitting the curb or other object when pulling over

Racial and Other Bias:
Police officers, however, have come under fire from individuals who charge that police officers stop their automobiles based on race rather than any supposed traffic violation. 

In response, police officers repeatedly deny they use the passengers' race as a determining factor in stopping an automobile, and claim that they had legitimate reasons for stopping the automobile. Police officers also support their automobile investigative methods, and courts have tended to uphold police procedure.

By using a "legitimate" traffic violation as a pretext to eventually search an automobile that an officer suspects is involved in illegal activity, such as transporting drugs, he is able to make numerous traffic stops to catch a few criminals who may have otherwise gone undetected.

Another misconception is a quota police officers have to fill every month.  In most departments, this is simply not true, although there are questions for those officers that are “below the curve”, in that they are not ticketing as much as other officers.

Officer Safety:
Traffic stops are also very dangerous and unpredictable for officers. There is no way to know who is in the car when an officer stops  somebody for a traffic violation. It could be a murderer, a wanted felon or a desperate teen on drugs.

For that reason, strict protocols exist for a traffic stop. First, when an officer pulls somebody over on the road, he or she parks the cruiser behind the pursued car with the front end out in the road a little bit, for cover from oncoming cars.

Once an officer steps out of his or her cruiser, they calculate the space between the two cars. While walking up to the stopped car, an officer will press down on the trunk to make sure nobody is hiding in there that can jump out.

An officer will then check the back seat and the front seat for anything suspicious or dangerous. An officer typically stands behind the driver-side door for protection from the passengers in the car.

Most officers will tell you that they prefer drivers to turn off the ignition, not make sudden movements, like they are reaching for a weapon or hiding something, turn on the interior lighting in the vehicle, and keep your hands where the officer can see them, such as on the steering wheel.

Because automobiles and traffic flow are so heavily regulated, police officers have wide discretion as to who they stop for a traffic violation. Not only are police officers able to make traffic stops based on countless offenses, they also hold the decision-making power as to whom they will ticket for traffic offenses. It would be impossible to issue citations for every citizen, nor would citizens want tickets issued for every possible traffic offense. While allowing police officers discretion in whom they stop and ticket may be common and legal, this power may also be abused, especially when the police officer allows race to help determine whom he will or will not stop for a traffic violation.

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