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BangShift Question Of The Day: What Is The Stupidest Thing You’ve Been Pulled Over For?


BangShift Question Of The Day: What Is The Stupidest Thing You’ve Been Pulled Over For?

Looking at the troubles that our fellow hot rodders in the UK may be in, got us thinking. There are too many stupid pieces of automotive legislation to list, but what are your favorites for the ultimate list of stupid automotive laws or regulations? And what is the stupidest one that you’ve actually been pulled over for or failed an inspection because of?

We’d love to here some obscure stuff here, but we are going to start off with the elephant in the room for Californians. The visual smog inspection. Somehow the California Air Resources Board and all the gang that puts together smog laws still believes that there is some reason to require a visual inspection. Ultimately it’s because they want to make money off of us by making things CARB approved or whatever but that’s another discussion we aren’t going to get into. So my car can go to the smog station for testing, run cleaner than a 2013 Chevy Volt, and still fail if I have headers, a cold air kit, or some other part that isn’t CARB approved or listed as exempt. Really?

But my favorite getting pulled over story was in Texas where I was waiting in front of a bar to pick up my drunk buddies in my ’69 Camaro convertible. It was running, they were coming out the door, and the cops pulled in behind me. Here is how the conversation went.

“Can you please shut off the vehicle?” the officer shouted. I turned off the car and said “I could hear you fine, you don’t need to shout, it’s actually easy to have a normal conversation in here, despite what people think.” The officer replied “I’m calling for a tow truck because your car is being impounded.” “Excuse me?!” was my reply. He then proceeded to ask for my license and registration and would give no further explanation until he was done writing the ticket, at which point he said this…”Son, by Texas vehicle code xyz1234 you must have a muffler on any vehicle operated on public streets. Your vehicle is going to be impounded until you pay the fine and any associated storage fees.” As I giggled, I asked “What is the decibel limit for vehicles operated on public roads in Texas?” His response was “There is not decibel limit on this time but each vehicle must be equipped with a muffler. It’s the law.” I then informed him that I was going to get out of the car and show him something. “Look under there” I said. “I’ve got TWO MUFFLERS!” Smiling and looking at the shock and anger in his eyes, I said ” Hit me up when they add the decibel limit, but until then I’m legal. Search the car, search the passengers, do what you gotta do, but I have drunks to take home.” And handed him back the ticket.

The bad part is I had to watch my ass around town for a while, but I usually drive like a good boy anyway.

Keep in mind, this isn’t a bash the cops for pulling you over deal. It’s a bash on the rules that required them to pull you over deal. For the most part these poor bastards have to deal with all kinds of crappy people and they protect us from bad guys. So again, this isn’t a cop bashing blog item. 

So, What is the stupidest regulation you have ever been pulled over for?
Tell us your stories. We want to here them.


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32 thoughts on “BangShift Question Of The Day: What Is The Stupidest Thing You’ve Been Pulled Over For?

  1. squirrel

    The motorbike cop who accused me of “speed shifting” my truck….which has an automatic transmission….

  2. Jason

    I was pulled over twice in two years by the same Dudley do right cop in two different vehicles! The first time was for excessive noise. The car was a 350 powered 81 lemans with headers and dual exhaust, thd car was not that loud. Think it was 100$ fine.
    The next year I was driving my old dodge challenger in the same part of town after dark, busy street, 3 lanes wide on each side. I saw the COp following me up the street for about 40 blocks hanging about 5 cars back. I eventually get pole position at the light and this ricer, in the far left lane ( I was in the far right) decides to let loose off the light. Well I just Idled away. Immediately the lights went on and I got pulled over. It started as he was gonna ticket me for stunting, after I made it clear my 340 does not sound anything like a 1.6 litre, and no tire marks on my lane, he was gonna ticket me for no shoulder belts, my car had Lap belts that are totally legal, after I explained the law to him he started to walk around my caramd told me I was getting towed because my tires were bald. Which had easily 1/8″ of tread still. At this point I told him to give me the seatbelt ticket, I figured it was cheapest and easiest to beat in court. I was more worried ge would start smashing taillights as en excuse to give me a ticket.
    This was in Calgary Alberta, in the glenmore trail, mcleoud tr. Area.
    I soon after moved away from that yuppie dump of a city and moved to a town more hot rod friendly.

  3. nitroratrod

    I was driving down the interstate, not speeding in the center lane all by myself in the middle of the day. I passed a trooper on the right side of the road. The next thing I know her is on my rear with the lights on. I pulled over and shut off the engine. He comes over…..”Do you know why I pulled you over?” I said “No”. He says,” In the state of Michigan you can not have any window tint on the side glass of you vehicle.” I either had to pay for the ticket or peel the tint and prove to them that the tint was gone. Yup….good stuff.

    1. The bullet

      To the guy that got a tint ticket in Michigan, that’s big biz around here. Tiny shops will provide for a extra fee, if you get pulled over they will remove the tint and reapply it after you court date or fix it ticket inspection

  4. Ermott

    So again, this isn’t a cop bashing blog item.

    If the cops are part of a corrupt system, and go along with that corruption by selectively enforcing unfit laws, then I think they deserve all the bashing they get. The officer has a choice whether or not to “see” an infraction, then pull a car over or not.

    If I get into trouble for after market auxiliary lights on my pick-up, but my neighbour doesn’t get fined for the same set of lights on his motor home, something that’s very possible where I live, then it’s the cop that’s at fault and who should be criticised.

    “I’m just doing my job” was a phrase once used by an different set of police officers, and look at the horrific trouble THAT led to.

  5. Mater

    i was pulled over once because the truck i was working on decided to flood when it got started again it blew out black smoke. this cop then pulled me over and started yelling about the environment never even asked me any thing then just gave me a ticket with an illegible date on it

    contested the ticket and the judge gave the cop a WTF look and dismissed it

  6. FordFE427

    One night back in the 80’s I bought a burrito at a local quickie mart and tossed in the microwave and hit the “3” button according to the chart to heat up a burrito. After it dinged the burrito just didn’t feel hot at all, so I popped it in for another 3 minutes. Got in my car with three buddies and started driving. Took a bite of the burito that now had an internal core temperature pretty close to LAVA! Scorched my lip, the burrito broke in two and splooshed right in my lap! My buddies are laughing their asses off, I’m screaming and swerving all over the road and that’s when the red lights came on. The cop thought I was drunk, till he shined the flash on me and instantly knew what was going on. He just turned and walked away laughing without saying a word.

  7. scott liggett

    Reckless endangerment. Thats the ticket I got after sitting on the curb in the snow for an hourat 3 am while the cops tried to figure out to write me up for. I was engaged in a new sport my buddies and I invented a new sport. I wasnt even driving the car. I was snow skiing behind the car being towed by a ski boat tow rope. Bumper skiing. The cops concluded I was recklessly endangering myself.

    My friend who was driving got a reckless driving ticket and a ticket for the broken exhaust pipe. Two friends got tickets for riding in the trunk of the car. We removed the trunk lid of our roofless 63 Impala sedan and put a seat in there to carry more people.

    It was quite comical when all of went to court. The officer had trouble proving reckless driving cause my friend was going in a straight line at 25 mph. Dismissed. The riding in the trunk tickets were dismissed too because we showed the seat in the trunk was welded in and had seat belts. The judge asked whose life I was endangering while I was skiing behind the car. I said myself. Dismissed. Its not illegal in Nebraska to kill yourself. The cop was furious. The judge told him he should get a better grip on the laws before writing any more tickets.

    We ended up with the fix it ticket for the broken exhaust pipe which we fixed with a soup can and two hose clamps.

  8. Robert

    I was pulled over because my license plate frame covered the lower middle section of my tag that displays what county I live in. I think the real reason I got pulled over is because I was driving a beater with faded paint in a nice part of town and the cop needed an excuse to make sure I wasnt there for trouble.

  9. gatemac

    Had new shocks and tires put on my 69 Nova SS and got pulled over for 1/4″ over legal bumper height….had to let air out of shocks to be legal ….so I did and ran 10mph to next gas station and refilled them …..

  10. HTRDFN

    I once got a ticket for no rain grooves in my rear tires. Probably not a stupid law but I thought it was kinda funny.

  11. Robert MacConnell

    Epic, mega burnouts on a public thoroughfare. (This was a long time ago and I have since reformed my ways). I had just produced the mother of all smoke clouds when, as the smoke was drifting away, a cop car came rolling through it. It looked just like the scene in “Animal House” where the Lincoln comes rolling out of the smoke.
    There were several hot looking cars in attendance and, because the smoke was so thick, the cop was unable to determine the culprit. He gave us a testy warning to cut it out and left.
    After he left, I noticed that smoke was still curling out from my rear wheel wells.

  12. DDP

    Because the officer entered my liscense plate number in his computer wrong and it stated the car registeration was expired a year ago. Even though the sticker on the plate said DEC 2014. And the tap on the rear fender with his flashlight that chipped the paint was “No big deal, you can leave now”. Gee, thank you officer!

  13. R J Lloyd

    I was cited for towing 56MPH in a 55 zone, while passing a Vespa going approx 35?
    We were on a 6 lane hwy. I was in the second lane from the right. Deputy Dog was pissed, while yelling about it being his job, to catch speeders or People going too slow, not mine to slow down the speeder?. The Judge gave the cop a lecture, in open court, about logic and manners, dismissed the ticket, and apologized for the whole deal.

    1. hoosier

      Reckless driving and unreasonable high speed. Sounds reasonable for a 21 year old at the time doesn’t it. Only catch is, I wasn’t on a public road. I was meeting my fiancee (now wife of 29 yrs) after she got off work at a half dead mall. when leaving I was doing 30mph and was not going down the lanes in an empty parking lot. I actually got both of the tickets,Went to court 2 times the cop never showed up. I think the judge was going to give him another continuance when I said, ” your honor, I made a point of telling the officer I was going to fight this in court and he hasn’t shown up twice, obviously he doesn’t want to look like a fool or lie in court. I ask your to not ask me to miss more work and dismiss the charges.” He said,” I’ll dismiss them but, ” and get this….” he has 2 years to refile these charges” in that time period he could have strarted the whole thing all over again. I think when they lose in court, they should have to pay damages, Hey SUPER ! how would someone go about that?

  14. ksj2

    My brother was starting a street race on a county road and the local highway patrolman was waitin at the end of the 1/4.My brother went and hid in the ditch.Sure enough the Trooper comes looking for him after giving the 2 guys multiple tickets and finds him hiding and gives him a ticket for reckless driving.The local judge just shook his head and dismissed it.Hose clamps and soup cans Scott?Ive doen that more than once.LOL.

  15. John T

    Mine was when I was 17, driving a 1961 EK Holden (Aussie GM car) – it was loud, jacked up in the rear, and painted red – real cop magnet. They pulled me over for a defect check, and as they looked under the hood it had a six with twin carbs that had those crappy little aircleaners held on with hose clamps – unbeknown to me, one had exited the vehicle so when he looked there was only one – theres your defect, he said – fire hazard…um, the only thing above it was the steel hood but anyway… so next they do the handbrake check – they pull o n the handbrake then try to lean against the b pillar and see if it will roll backward ( a weakness on old holdens) – I was well aware of this and used to park with the sloppy old 3 on the floor shifter in reverse – you couldn’t tell just looking at it and of course it didn’t roll… so after it passed that check he put one foot on the accelerator and hit the key to see how loud it was….(he’s still standing outside the car with the door open) – car fires, takes off backward, and the jacked up rear sends the bumper straight through the cop car grille (78 Valiant) – no real damage to my car, a few cop car blue witness marks on the bumper was about it. The cop car, on the other hand…both front fenders, all the lights, and lotsa coolant pissing out….the old cop sitting in the car got out, belted the constable across the head, tore up the defect, apologised to me and gave me a claim form for the damage THEY caused to MY car (which was uninsured too!) – I got $211 out of that (ps the whole car cost me $90 when I first bought it..)

  16. Eric

    I got pulled over in a Grocery Store parking lot for swerving to avoid an old lady that was backing out of her space without looking, had I not swerved to avoid her she would have hit me.

  17. Mike

    I had my learners permit for a whopping four days and was gleefully lining up behind shopping carts at the Shop-Rite, assisting them with thier 30 mph crashes into the side wall; when an officer rolled up. The fellow with me did not know I was just a “learner” says in a paniced voice, tell him that we just put new king pins in and were testing them by doing doughnuts in the empty parking lot. Fiat 1200’s don’t have king pins.
    The cop gives me a WTF look, tries not to laugh and tell’s me that he always lets people go for original excuses the first time he hears one. Go home and don’t let me see you here again. The Fiat lived another three months and bit a telephone pole.

  18. dee_dee_railed

    A few years ago, I was heading home at about 2am in my rusty, white Chevy Van. I had just made a legal left onto a main road from an offramp when I spot a cop coming towards me, I’m doing 35 in a 40 and figure it should’t be an issue. WRONG! The boy slams on the brakes and whips around lights a blazin’. No shoulder, so I turn on the domelight and blinkers and make the next right onto a sidestreet with a shoulder. Gun drawn, I am ordered to shot of the vehicle and put my hands out the window. Done. Immediatly I am being berated about a “funny trun(?)”, almost going the worng way onto an on ramp(incorrect), and why it took me so long to pull over. I was awstruck and told him I hadn’t a clue what he was talking about and that it was safer for all parties involved to wait for a side street if there is no shoulder. Then comes the “How much have you had to drink?” Two beers, two hours ago, with very garlicy pizza in between. I had a valid, liecense, insurence, and registration, so after more abuse of authority, he told me to “get outta here” without a ticket. Near as I can tell, he figured a long haired white dude in a rusty van is an easy DUI at 2am. Yup…

  19. crazy canuck

    doing burnout in my own driveway cops and fd showup yelling match ensues , end result private property no fire they have to leave.week later drivingdown the roadpulled over by one of those cops he looks over car despite recent inspection tag says flowmasters are home built and iilegal ,had to buy some 3″ turbo that are just as loud but look like real mufflers. morons got nothin better to do?

  20. ka67_72

    I wound out first in my T-5 3.50 geared pickup and was pulled over for doing 50 in a 30. I didn’t get a ticket. The stupidest thing I didn’t get pulled over for was being clocked doing 145 in a 30, on base.

  21. Theodore

    Bravo. Excellent question and interesting stories. I respect the police and they need to be prudent (notice individual differences) when applying the law.

    Sadly, I was given a ticket for crossing a double yellow line on an empty road. I asked the cop, Are you serious? He said, “Yes” and “It’s a moving violation.” Wow. That lame ticket cost me $400 extra insurance over three years.

  22. Streetlethal93

    Its a tie. I have been pulled over for my license plate not being illuminated, which in turn I had to show proof in court of my light blub purchase. Or when my old 1969 Cougar hung in 4th gear and I was attempting to leave an intersection, and my clutch smoke being mistakin for tire smoke and getting a ticket for improper take off.

  23. threedoor

    Pulling onto a busy highway in my dad’s pickup with 666 plates and getting a ticker for doing 61 in a 55. Did Officer Wiggens of the state patrol get me on radar? Nope, in Idaho they send the cops to a ‘speed estimation course’ and it stands in court. He lied in court that there was no traffic on the highway. A week later the speed limit was raised to 65. Years later I got naled by him for doing 57 in a 55 but he liked my underage girlfriend so he let me off. After throwing a flare in fuel (fortuinately diesel or he would have seriously injured emt’s and vics) on a wreck he got transfered to the far eastern end of HW 12 near Montana. Bad laws plus bad cops equals the taxpayers paying their paycheck and retirement forever.

  24. nxpress62

    Got pulled over for tailights that were too dim on a 70 chevelle. Asked him how he expected me to make them brighter, and if he had some way of testing the brightness, and he let me go.

    The speed estimation thing can get you in Kansas, too. Got pulled over for ‘excessive speed’ with no radar a couple of times (one ticket) in my 68 camaro (red with black stripes) painted it blue with no stripes and never got another ticket i didn’t deserve in it.

  25. Rocky

    Got pulled over for driving dangerously close to the fog line. Here in the central vally we have whit elines on the right side of the road so we know wher e it pavement ends when driving in the fog. I was also driving too slow 45mph in a 55 mph zone. no traaffic on the road except except me and the cop. I ask for the the vehicle code section that say how close is too close, just got a blank stare then I aske what the minium speed was on a farm to maket road is more blank looks. Got out of the car and did a road side drunk test passed then went through all the lights and brakes on the car. Still nothing this guys is getting real pissed so I said I am leaving unless you arest me. got back in the car and drove away. He followed me for about 10 miles.

  26. Brendon

    I got pulled over for nothing more than looking at the cop when we drove by one another. He thought I looked guilty of something. Turned right around, and pulled me over. I didn’t get a ticket because there was nothing to ticket me over, but to this day I intentionally do not look at cops when I drive by them.

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