DYKWIA is Do you know who I am?
Generally, you are supposed to pull over as soon as practical. I've seen people stop on busy streets in Houston for traffic stops, instead of driving another block and turning into a side street, which I always thought was foolish.
Now since anyone can buy a blue light, there have been cases where criminals have tried stopped people at night, then robbing them, leading to even police agencies telling people to drive to a better area - but those have been been for unmarked cars. With outfitted cop cars, you have a much weaker argument as to why you drove over a mile.
Bet practice after being lit up is to change lanes to the right side, and either pull over when practical, or put on your emergency blinkers, and drive about 20 miles an hour if the highway is all torn up from road construction or such. This lets the cops know you're not doing a getaway via driving at a horse gallop pace. Then pull over, hand them your info so they can make sure you're not a criminal, then figure out what the issue is.
Or you can be like LT. Man-Child in the video, and end up hot sauced with snot running down your nose, and in cuffs. Personally, I'd have rather had the cops say they pulled me over since they couldn't see my temporary plates (which I thought were supposed to be on the outside for just this reason), and be on my way.
The time to figure out why you've been stopped is after they have run your DL and tags, not before.
Ultimately, cops are bureaucrats with guns, and just another government employee. Just like at the driver's license office, or applying for some building permit, there's a very limited amount of verbal arguing you can successfully do with them. Much better to contest things later, with written laws / procedures / processes printed out and ready to rely on.
-
Agree x 1
Last edited: Apr 11, 2021