Was officer right?

Bigtalker

Member
Last week, I was driving down a two lane expressway when a GSP pulled in behind me. I was talking to my son just as he was coming up behind me and I went over and touched the right hand line. The officer followed me for about 3/4 of a mile and proceeded to pull me over. He of course asked me if I had been drinking and I told him I had not. He told me that he pulled me over because I had crossed the "fog line". I told him that I saw him pull in behind me and that I knew I had touched the line once. He took my info and came back with a written warning for failure to maintain lane. I asked him what constitutes failure to maintain lane, and he told me that if I touch the line, he can write me a ticket. Does anyone know if that is correct? I quess it just ticks me off that I was doing nothing wrong and end up getting a written warning. I do not mind being pulled over, just the fact of him writing this up. While he sat there with me for 10 minutes, he could have been looking for someone that was TRULY endangering the public. :bangingheSorry this is so long.
 

leoparddog

Senior Member
whether he was "right" or not, sometimes I think they give you a warning just so that they can justify stopping you looking for a drunk driver. You weren't drunk and giving you a ticket would probably encourage you to go to court and argue the ticket. So you get a warning.
 

ch035

Banned
warnings dont mean anything, i got a few. I think that when they pull you over and report that they are pulling you over and run your tag ect they have to log it. If you deserve it they log it as a ticket if you dont they log it as a warning issued. For all he knows you could be drunk and all coked up with 10 guns, then he pulls you over and nothing is wrong so he logs it as a warning and moves on...thats all
 

jettman96

Senior Member
I don't know about the legality of the situation of touching the white line or "fog line," but, it sounds to me like he was just looking for an excuse or he was bored. I agree with you that he could have been doing something much better with his time than harrassing you about touching the line.

I think he should've just followed you and made sure you were not intoxicated and then just left you alone.

Maybe he was upset cause you weren't a DUI.
 

PWalls

Senior Member
He could just as easily left it with pulling you over to check you out and then went on his way instead of the paperwork and hassle of a warning.

Not arguing the pulling over part because they can and do catch drunks that way (crossing or touching the line part). But, when he was able to see quite clearly upon visual inspection that there was nothing wrong, he could have just said have a nice day and went on his way.
 

win280

Guest
I think he could have given you a ticket for failure to maintain a proper lane.( this depends on your attitude)
It still makes us feel like it was a waste of time,but as cho85 said, you could have been someone else that had outstanding warrents or some other issue.
I wouldn't worry about a warning.
I have a hard time maintaining a proper lane with the conditions of the roads these days.
 

goob

Senior Member
warnings dont mean anything, i got a few. I think that when they pull you over and report that they are pulling you over and run your tag ect they have to log it. If you deserve it they log it as a ticket if you dont they log it as a warning issued. For all he knows you could be drunk and all coked up with 10 guns, then he pulls you over and nothing is wrong so he logs it as a warning and moves on...thats all



Everything is "logged" no matter what it is. They also "log" verbal warnings.
 

redlevel

Senior Member
It sounds to me like he was doing his job. After all, he is a traffic enforcement officer.

Why is it people all of a sudden seem to have such a problem with LEOs doing their jobs?

I wish there were twice as many of them out there.

While he "sat there with (you) for ten minutes" how many other drivers saw him and decided to slow down, or even get off the road if they were drinking. After all, visibility is part of a State Trooper's job.

More power to them.
 

notnksnemor

The Great and Powerful Oz
Not playing devil's advocate,
But seriously, have you ever been following an LEO and observed their driving?
If you applied the same standards of normal driving to them, they would be pulling each other over for touching the line.
 
There are no telling how many cops have gone to court and used "weaving within a lane" as the excuse to pull someone over. Not crossing or touching the line, but just "weaving within the lane".

Try to find in any law book where you are not entitled to use the full lane you are in.

It's not against the law, but every judge in this state allows it for probable cause to make a traffic stop.
 

Ed in North Ga.

Senior Member
while most LEOs will disagree, I know the ones up here write alot of warnings as pratice- as stated above, it gets them up to you for a closer look- your in the minority- you KNEW you hit the line. Most of us dont know it till were told, and even then we wonder if we really did- Ive hit that line more times than I can count!

shift gears- what if it hadent been you? what if it actually was a drunk?
The man did his job- I thank every one of them every time, and have only had a few that were on attitude pills- I thank them as well. Their job of trying to catch law breakers and looking at wrecks- much less informing people their family may have died in a wreck is enough to make anyone insane- its a hard job, and a harder life. I couldnt do the job- I`d be kidding myself if I said I could.
 

knifemaker

Senior Member
I think he could have given you a ticket for failure to maintain a proper lane.( this depends on your attitude)
It still makes us feel like it was a waste of time,but as cho85 said, you could have been someone else that had outstanding warrents or some other issue.
I wouldn't worry about a warning.
I have a hard time maintaining a proper lane with the conditions of the roads these days.

Attitude is the wrong reason. Either you are guilty of an infraction or not. I'm sure some leo's retaliate because of attitudes on both parts, ( yours and theirs), but it is still the wrong reason.:stir:
 

justus3131

Senior Member
A two lane expressway....I think the officer was doing his job to check you out. My biggest fear driving is on two lane roads, where the margin for error is so minimal and we trust our lives and those of our families to the driver in the opposite lane. While you may have been perturbed that you were stopped, I am sure the officer, in his experience had noticed similar errors exhibited by drunken drivers.
 

merc123

Senior Member
Not playing devil's advocate,
But seriously, have you ever been following an LEO and observed their driving?
If you applied the same standards of normal driving to them, they would be pulling each other over for touching the line.

No worse then the trooper that followed me down I-575/75 yesterday. I was doing 80-85 in front of him, and when we finally got into traffic downtown he hit the HOV lane and hit about 95. He was by himself and I never did catch up.
 

knifemaker

Senior Member
No worse then the trooper that followed me down I-575/75 yesterday. I was doing 80-85 in front of him, and when we finally got into traffic downtown he hit the HOV lane and hit about 95. He was by himself and I never did catch up.

Did you try?:bounce:
 

merc123

Senior Member
I didn't want to push my luck in the HOV, but yep I tried :) Just too much traffic to really "try." No sense killing me or someone else :)
 

cape buffalo

Senior Member
If he came up here he would get writer's cramp i dont think anyone can stay in thier lane ..
 

KennesawLawMan

Senior Member
The warning in this case was easily justified by your own admission. You could have also received a citation for it (40-6-48 is the code section). Many departments require that all traffic stops be documented; this means that you either get a warning or a ticket. Failure to maintain lane, or weaving is the top indicator of an impaired or fatigued driver. Impaired driver's and fatigued driver's are the most lethal on our roadways. This Trooper was just doing his job. Sounds like he was pretty nice for not writing you a ticket.
 

limbhanger

Senior Member
LEO's

It seems that there are increasing numbers of folks on this site that are giving LEO's a bad rap. I understand the frustrations of the public when they encounter LEO's doing their jobs and question their authority and question the reasoning behind the probable case for the stop. Then I read various posts and read words such as harassment used to describe the reason for traffic stops. As far as crossing or hitting the fog line, the Trooper had PC to stop you and check your condition. As for the written warning, it is required by GSP to issue these warnings. Pull a few dead people from cars or personally give death notifications as the result of a crash and you might understand why people are stopped for minor traffic infractions.
 

contender*

Senior Member
I was talking to my son just as he was coming up behind me and I went over and touched the right hand line.


Was your son in the car with you or did you have a cell phone stuck in your ear??
I personally think they should enforce more of the "minor" stuff like this. I have met WAY too many folks that have no idea how to keep the rubber between the lines. Not a big deal when your driving a Toyota Corrola (sp?) but when your pulling a tandem axle sixteen foot trailer loaded with 5000 bucks worth of lumber the pucker factor comes into play. ESPECIALLY when you've got some teeny bopper with a cell phone stuck up their "ear" with better things to think about than driving...:banginghe:banginghe:banginghe
 
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