What is the silliest reason you got a ticket for?

[Kruse]

Here's a "warning" ticket that I received about 20 years ago. My wife and I and our three kids saw a movie in a movie theater across the state line from where I live. When we get outside, it was dark and I started my vehicle and turned on the headlights. I saw both headlights come on and then I saw one go out. "Great! A headlight just burned out." I decided to go to a WalMart a few minutes away to buy a headlight bulb. My intent was to replace it right there in the WM parking lot. I purchased one, popped the hood and saw that I would have to remove all kinds of goodies to get to the headlight. I gave up, closed the hood and started home. One the way out of town, sure enough, I get pulled over by a cop and he told me about my burned-out bulb. I told him about it just burning out, buying one 5 minutes previous and I even told him I would pop the tailgate and show him the new bulb and receipt for it in the back. Nope. Wasn't gonna have it. He wrote me a "fix-it" ticket. At that time, a "fix-it" ticket meant that I had to have it fixed within 72 hours, sign it off by a cop from my state and then give the signed-off ticket to the police station in their state.
I fixed the headlight the next morning and it just so happened that my niece, who was a Kansas State trooper, happened to be visiting. I had her sign it off and then I drove back to the out-of-state police department and show them the signed-off ticket. I also drove back there in a different vehicle.
So I get to the police station and show a different cop my signed off "fix-it" ticket. I asked him if I was good. He said I was. I asked him if somebody was going to take care of this so that there wasn't a warrant for my arrest after the 72-hour time limit was up. He said I was good to go IF I would show him the repaired headlight. Now nothing was mentioned about that by the cop or the writing on the ticket, just that I had to have it signed off by law personnel in my state. I told the cop that I drove a a different vehicle and that having it inspected by him wasn't a requirement. He then said that I was good to go and that my ticket would be taken out of their system, EXCEPT he followed me out to the parking lot to make sure that I wasn't lying about driving a different vehicle.
Talk about changing the rules as the game is being played.

 

[Nessism1]

Not a silly ticket, a my bad...

On the freeway, in the fast lane, going downhill, on my motorcycle. Two freeways merge together in this area, 8 lanes + an exit lane, which I needed to catch. When on the bike, the fast lane is safest, because cars can't merge in from the left. Also, I always match the speed of traffic, to keep from getting run over. So, I did that and made my way over to the exit lane, and a cop popped me for speeding.

Went to court, explained to the judge that as a motorcyclist, in that situation, the only safe way to get to the exit lane was to match traffic speed. And since it was downhill, everyone was speeding. Judge was cool. Told me that I was guilty of speeding, no excuse, but he did me a solid and reduced the ticket cost to the minimum, which was $18. Pay the clerk.

I didn't have money that day, poor college student, so took the payslip home...and forgot about it. Total brain fade.

Unpaid ticket went to a warrant. I didn't have the money to pay, so for a year I drove with a swivel neck, to avoid getting picked up. In the meantime, I graduated and got a job, so, back to court. Same judge. He looked at the doc, looked up at me and said, "What happened?" I put my head down and said I forgot! He shrugged, and pointed me at the clerk again. The price of the ticket was now 10x. I paid in full and scurried my ass out of there...

 

[BHopkins]

I have been deserving of the tickets that I have received. And I have been very fortunate to deal with some decent law enforcement officers. I have gotten warnings on a few occasions, when I could have been ticketed. But there were a few that seemed petty.

When I was 21, I was on a double date, and heading to the Bonnevile Raceway dragstrip, when I realized I was about to miss my exit, and made a very quick double lane change, to make my exit. I got pulled over by a highway patrolman, explained that I was unfamiliar with the area, and may have been a little distracted, by visiting with our dates. He let me off with a verbal warning. Looking back on it now, he may have been checking for impaired driving.

A few years ago my wife and I were on our way home to Utah, from vacationing on the Oregon coast. We were just West of Twin Falls Idaho on I 84, and I was in the left lane leading a pack of several cars, all doing 82 in a 75. Came up on two Idaho State Police sitting in the meridian. One of them pulled right out behind our pack, worked his way up to me, and lit me up. He let me off with a written warning for driving 7 over, and told me to drive safe. I wanted so badly to ask him why he pulled me over, as I am, and was, accustomed to driving right by Utah Highway Patrol officers doing 8 over, without them even budging. I really suspect it was because I was driving my SL550. Perhaps it looked like it was going a lot faster.

 

[shortyb]

Just remember folks, cops have to write silly tickets to boost their counts so they qualify for the washer and dryer at the end of the month .

I suppose the citizens of my city can thank the judge that was on the bench when I came to work there for the lack of "silly" tickets. He was one of those old, grizzled, military vets that didn't put up with alot of frivolous ticketry and such. He and I hit it off right away and many times would tell me one of his biggest peeves were that some officers would write nonsense tickets just because they could. I tried to warn the newer officers what they were in store for if they decided to write for silly stuff. But it took Judge L about a minute to put a stop to it by admonishing the officers in open court for writing such nonsense, before dismissing the tickets. Silly tickets went to nil pretty quick. He was a good man and a fine judge. Taught me a lot. I miss him.

 

[KMFDM]

Speeding on the Bicycle in Seattle. I was going downhill and cop thought that 52 in 25 mph was dangerous on a bike. Was going to give me a warning. I insisted on getting a ticket. Had it framed.

 

[PF52]

Cop always said His reason was that I had a license plate light out. Funny that they never let me get out to see it.

Whenever I checked the lights they worked.

I got one of those one night in Eau Claire Wisconsin; the cop pulled me over after following me for a number of miles and he said my license plate light was out. I was suspicious, because not fifteen minutes earlier I was out of the car at a gas station, filling my window washer reservoir (this was in the middle of winter). I popped the trunk and while I was back there I noticed the license plate light worked just fine (as an adult male, I notice stuff like that). GM's auto-headlights keep the lights on while idling. If I recall, he let me go with just a verbal warning (hard to write a real ticket since the light was in reality not burned out), I am sure he just saw the Illinois plates and decided to pull me over to look for further violations.

 

[JWC86]

“Failure to drive in centre of lane” on a motorcycle. I thought it was a BS charge but I looked it up when I got home and it’s a real thing in my area apparently. It goes against everything they teach you in the rider safety coarse and common sense as far as covering your lane on a motorcycle.

I have to say, that one was BS

Only other one I can think of is slow rolling a 4 way stop while turning right. It was at 3am in the middle of no where with sight lines a mile in all directions. I figured the officer was just checking to see if I was drinking(was not, was in the way home from work) and would let me go. Nope, $400 fine for failure to obey traffic signs and lots of points off my license. I was 100% guilty but come on, that was some BS also.

 

[Chris142]

“Failure to drive in centre of lane” on a motorcycle. I thought it was a BS charge but I looked it up when I got home and it’s a real thing in my area apparently. It goes against everything they teach you in the rider safety coarse and common sense as far as covering your lane on a motorcycle.

I have to say, that one was BS

Only other one I can think of is slow rolling a 4 way stop while turning right. It was at 3am in the middle of no where with sight lines a mile in all directions. I figured the officer was just checking to see if I was drinking(was not, was in the way home from work) and would let me go. Nope, $400 fine for failure to obey traffic signs and lots of points off my license. I was 100% guilty but come on, that was some BS also.

They want you to ride on the oil slick?

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

Love that! We used to cut the engine and coast when we could when the police were around. Our header mufflers were just to appear as mufflers… Were you in North Carolina then? I grew up between Charlotte and Belmont.

It is so neat the products one can get a hold of these days. They have been selling these auto dump valves for several years now. You can purchase and install the auto-valves between the headers and mufflers. Flip the switch and you are running wide open exit headers and can close it off asap once you are done with your latest thrill ride.

 

[justalubetech]

I was stopped for a completely legal u-turn, the state trooper said it looked like I was trying to avoid him .

He slapped me with over $500 in fines because my insurance card was one day expired (that part my fault, had the new card on the counter and just forgot to put it in my wallet on the way out)

Was all dropped though since I had proof of ins and the trooper didn't really have a reason for the stop.

 

[97prizm]

Speeding ticket for doing 33 kms/hr in a 30 kms/hr zone.
Beat it in court.
Another time for doing 89 kms/hr in a 70 kms/hr zone, but I had been in a 90 zone, and the snow stuck to the sign made it unreadable, and the cop knew that to.
I walked back and took a picture of it, for court, so he was yelling at me like a lunatic, because he knew that sign wasn't readable.
Beat it in court.

I feel like if you beat a ticket in court you should be compensated many times over vs just having the ticket thrown out. This might persuade law enforcement to not write bs tickets to bump up revenue.

 

[MFHORN]

You know you're bored when you're reading the 'silly reason for getting a ticket' forum posts. I need to go find something productive to do....haha

 

[John105]

Uh boy did I already answer this thread? It was right out of Seinfeld when he stole the bread from the elderly woman. A NYC cop said I'm getting summonses for giving old ladies a hard time. This had to have been circa 1993-94 or so, Ave of the Americas and W 8th St.

 

[k1xv]

i got a ticket for trespassing. There were no fences or signs. The municipal court judge in New Jersey, who do not need to have any formal legal training, found me guilty, saying "if you are not on your own property, and do not have specific permission from the owner, you must be trespassing"

When I was in high school, one of our assignments was to go to night Municipal Court to see how it works.
There were about 30 motorists there with traffic tickets, all contesting them. The judge found them all guilty.
After the court session was over, one of my classmates asked the judge why everyone was found guilty. The judge said:

"I see these police officers all the time and I know them to be honest and truthful. On the other hand, I don't know the defendants. So when its the officers word against the motorist, I believe the officer."

So the motorist never had a chance to win his case.

 

[y_p_w]

I didn't get the ticket, but once I was in Yosemite National Park and I saw a car parked in the Yosemite Lodge parking lot with a ticket. I got curious (worried about maybe getting a ticket myself for whatever reason) and had a quick look at it where I didn't touch the car nor the ticket. It wasn't covered up and was easy enough to read. It was a ticket for improper storage of cleaning fluids. It was some sort of household cleaner (like Formula 409) which was clearly visible in the passenger compartment. I think it was similar to improper storage of food.

Anything with a strong odor is supposed to be stored out of sight at all times and taken out of a vehicle at night. Bears will break into cars when they smell something inside. They're particularly aggressive in Yosemite, and have been known to break into vehicles on sight based on what they see (like coolers or food containers). There was one notorious bear nicknamed "Camaro Bear" because it apparently scored something good from a Camaro and apparently proceeded to break into them on sight.

I've seen a few National Park Service parking citations on cars. Just had a quick look at the mailing address, I think I saw it was an address in Philadephia. I believe contesting a citation would still be local. OK - looked up out why Philadelphia. Apparently a central bureau for processing federal citations.

https://www.pawd.uscourts.gov/central-violations-bureau-cvb​

About CVB​

The Central Violations Bureau (CVB) is a national center responsible for processing violation notices (tickets/citations) issued and payments received for petty offenses charged on a federal violation notice. This includes violations of certain federal laws as well as certain state laws, if the state law violations occur on tribal lands or on federal property such as federal buildings, national parks, military installations, post offices, Veteran Affairs medical centers, national wildlife refuges, and national forests.​

 

[ls1mike]

29 in a 25 at 1am. Over 20 years ago now. Cop said he didn't see brake lights so he stopped me. Asked if I had and drinks that night. I said yes, but before I could explain we started the sobriety test, then breathalyzer. I blew 0.0 and passed. He said I thought you had drinks. I said you didn't let me explain. I had one beer at 530pm. So I got the ticket but the judge threw it out

 

[DirectRejection]

It has to be this parking ticket I got at 1 Maritime Plaza in San Francisco.

I parked and ran up the stairs to the lobby to pick up rush documents from the security guard that needed to be delivered as soon as possible.

It was 2:14 am. I got back to my vehicle at 2:19 am. It seems there was a sign saying No Parking Third Tuesday of Every Month 2 am to 2:45 am For Street Cleaning.

The time on the ticket was 2:16 am, and parking enforcement was already gone.

LOL...I did not fight the ticket, because they got me this time.

 

[y_p_w]

It has to be this parking ticket I got at 1 Maritime Plaza in San Francisco.

I parked and ran up the stairs to the lobby to pick up rush documents from the security guard that needed to be delivered as soon as possible.

It was 2:14 am. I got back to my vehicle at 2:19 am. It seems there was a sign saying No Parking Third Tuesday of Every Month 2 am to 2:45 am For Street Cleaning.

The time on the ticket was 2:16 am, and parking enforcement was already gone.

LOL...I did not fight the ticket, because they got me this time.

I've walked away from my car for maybe two minutes when I suddenly realized that I forgot to feed a parking meter. Ran back and had a ticket. They can be pretty quick. I wouldn't be surprised if they had some invisibility cloak just waiting for someone to mess up.

Around here, enforced street sweeping is typically during the daytime. I know one city where I've been there and have seen either parking enforcement ahead of the street sweeping vehicle, or sometimes even tow trucks. I guess it depends on the local ordinance.

In San Francisco, technically they can't issue a street sweeping violation after the sweeping has concluded. So theoretically if someone sees the equipment coming through and then parks after the sweeping is done, that's not a violation. Not sure how it could be proven though other than video. But a parking officer assigned to be with the sweeping equipment might be reasonable.

https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/san_francisco/latest/sf_transportation/0-0-0-51637​

SEC. 7.2.22. STREET CLEANING PARKING RESTRICTIONS.​

​

To Park any vehicle on any street on the days, and between the hours posted with signs giving notice of the days and hours that Parking is prohibited on that side of the street in order to allow street sweeping; provided that such prohibition shall not apply to a vehicle which is Parked during the days and hours that Parking is prohibited after the street sweeper has already passed the place where the vehicle is Parked.​

 

[ATex7239]

I’ve never got a silly ticket, but I have been in ridiculous situations before. Got into an accident one time because a girl crossed the divide into my lane and we had a head on collision. The cop would not cite her. Said there wasn’t anyone at fault even though I was driving the speed limit and heading the correct direction. She came into my lane. Turns out he gave her a ride home later. She was a very attractive young blonde... I guess I wasn’t his type.

 

[PandaBear]

Parking my car in the opposite direction the first week I got my license because I was lazy.