AZ traffic stop question

Arizona DPS officers need "reasonable suspicion" to pull you over. Reasonable suspicion is the reasonable assumption that an infraction has, or is about to be committed. There are some things like DUI checkpoints etc. that are allowed that really are serving to effectively pull you over without reasonable supsicion etc. but for the most part they need a reason to pull you over. If an officer pulls you over for absolutely no reason, the DPS can be sued and can be sanctioned with a large punitive award. In the past, officers have used bs reasons to pull people over such as "unsafe following distance" or "failure to yield the lane to quicker vehicles" even though you are going the max speed limit already etc. Lately, the AZ DPS have cracked down on such absurdities by their officers because of the risk of racial profiling liability. To get back to your question, if an officer pulls you over without reasonable suspicion and he then learns that you do not have insurance as a result of that nefarious inquiry and issues a citation for it, you can most certainly have that citation dismissed if you can prove he had no reason to pull you over in the first place. Its like evidence being thrown out of a murder trial because the officers gathered it without a valid search warrant. If you got a ticket from such a circumstance, I would fight it............vigorously.

 

Yep. Also, reasonable suspicion could be a lot of things, even a license plate light that isn't working. Got any cracks in your windows? Were you swerving, even in your own lane at all? etc etc They can get pretty picky when they have to.

 

Can't he give you something kind of like a fix it, that when you show up in court, you can show you actually have insurance to the judge.

 

Offhand, sounds like you already have been given a break.

 

The cop will argue that he could tell that you were speeding even though he didn't have the opportunity to assess the exact speed.... In his defense, that is all he needs to make a stop. I think a no proof of insurance ticket is just a "fix it" ticket right? It should be no biggie..

 

I was pulled over a week ago because I was driving fast to the speed limit. The policeman was heading in the opposite direction and coming to a stop when he heard me accelerate. It was at night and he only heard my car. When he spoke with me, he told me he could put my car on a flat bed right now for exibition of speed (which he did not see, only heard). I played it cool and he let me go because there was absolutely no law broken. I did not speed passed the speed limit, only to the speed limit. There were no other cars driving in my direction.
Yes officer, I will not drive so fast to the speed limit again............tonight.

 

I would have said "make my day" and "good luck in court."

 

Hmmnnn.... He might be lying about the 94 bit then.. Cops CAN lie in the course of an investigation...

 

I took the patient, non threatening nice guy approach. I did not want to be delayed any further.

Yes, he was an ass for pulling me over. I could have tested him. He would have done what ever he could to be more of an ass. I did not want to provoke, so he let me go with a warning and a chuckle. No biggie.

 

Wow. You got lucky. Doing triple digits! They could have impounded the car and hauled you off to jail if he had got radar of you going that fast. Just pay it.

 

Arizona has many traffic laws that are essentially designed to avoid litigation by avoiding blame, such as "failure to control your vehicle to avoid an accident". However, these types of laws can also be used by the police to cite someone when they dont have evidence, but "feel" that the suspect has broken the law. Often the "exhibition of speed" is used for this purpouse. The actual legal definition is ambiguous at best, but can include everything from doing a burnout, to revving your engine really high. The crazy thing is, it doesnt have to coincide with breaking any speed limit at all! If you pass someone going slower than you too quickly, they can cite you for that, or reckless driving, exsessive lane changes, or any number of other ambiguous laws!

 

Arizona DPS arrest their owe.Only state that I know that does

 

I am not a lawyer... but I do have plenty PLENTY of experiance in court for traffic violations.

Couple things,

Don't challenge the can't give me a ticket because i didn't do anything wrong. It will go to trial... he will stand witness. He will then proceed to tell the court that you were doing well in excess of the speed limit... (almost tripple digits) even if he doesn't have you on radar, he will claim that he has been trained and certified by the state of AZ for visual speed estimation (usually with in 3mph of accurate) and that was the reason why he "stopped" you. He will get away with it. But if that BULL**** line by the cop doesn't work, he will just say that he saw a car STOPPED on the side of the 202 and was trying to assist. By law you do have to identify yourself and provide proof of insurance if you are confronted by a police officer while driving a car.

So basically if that portion of the ticket goes to trial.. you skrewed.... however... if the judge just says... ehh skrew it.. in your arraignment.. you got a gift. If nothing else just show proff of your insurance pay the measly fine if there is one... and remember to carry your insurance with you next time. Also, it might be a good idea to remove your name and address after admiting that you were traveling at triple digit speeds on a public forum when you are going to court... just a thought