So today I embarked on my first long distance trip, around 600 miles. I'm having a great time, but a nice police officer has me a little peeved. As I was about a quarter mile from reaching a town, I passed a sheriff. I was going around 72 and I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary or unsafe. Acouple minutes later I happened to look in my rearview and saw that very same cop ony ***. He pulls me over and in a very nice manner tells me that he couldn't read my liscense plate. Then he starts giving me the third degree. Asking me where I'm from and where I'm going and what I'm doing there. He then tells me I should remount my plate and then tells me to have a nice day and drives off

Now this isn't meant to be another cop thrashing thread, I'm kind of more or less looking for input from some of our forum members who both ride and are also police officers. Did this cop single me out because I was a bike? I know for a fact he couldn't have noticed my plate. Does the fact that I have out of state plates play into it? He was being pretty stern until he found out I grew up in this state and was moving back. Now I realize no one can speak for him but himself, but is it some sort of code of conduct? Thanks in advance for any light you guys can shed on this for me.

 

Sport bikes draw attention....SURPRISE!!!

 

Why are you surprised you got pulled over? You said it yourself he couldnt have noticed your plate. He was nice, so dont be pissed off, it really isnt worth it.

 

Who knows, maybe a bike similar to yours ran from him a few days earlier. At least he was cool.

 

Well the first thing that stands out to me is how would the cop know you have out of state plate when you know for a fact that he could not read your plate?
I'm not sure what state your from but here in Florida the display of tag statue was admended on October 1st 2007. The statue, 316.605, basically read that the tag had to be displayed in the rear of the vehicle and be plainly visible and legible at all time 100 feet from behind. It is a little more detailed but this was the main point. Now it changed for truckers as well as every other vehicle on the roadway. Now it has an addition that reads -- Vehicle license plates shall be affixed and displayed in a manner that the letters and numerals shall be read from left to right parallel to the ground. No vehicle license plate may be displayed in an inverted or reversed position or in such a manner that the letters and numbers and their proper sequence are not readily identifiable.

I stop motorcycles for this on a daily basis. Alot of people do not know of this change. I write warnings for this. The only ones I write a ticket to are the ones that are suspended or have no endorsement. Its said that in Florida almost 35% of the state does not carry insurance , not required on motorcycles, and possibly over 30 % do not have a motorcycle endorsement.
I think your looking to deep into a code of conduct. I'm a traffic cop my focus is on traffic. I know others that could care less about traffic.
Hope this helped you out.



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another nickname for a sportbike is "cop magnet." lol. if it aint a harley, it aint right. <---cops motto

 

Did he single you out because you were on a sportbike? Probably.

Naturally, we gather a lot of negative attention because of all the asshats that ride sportbikes. Street stunting, running from the police and triple-digit speeds, etc. etc.

But, if you didn't get a ticket, you should be elated, not peeved. Obviously your tag was mounted in a way that he couldn't immediately see it, so maybe you should reloate it. Do you have a picture on how it was mounted?

 

how is a cop supposed to read a tag when the bike in question is goin 72 mph in the other direction.i bet none of ya`ll can swivel your heads that fast and stay straight in your lane at the same time.sounds like bull**** to me.

 

So how is the plate mounted? Is it in it's original intended location, or somewhere else? if you don't have it where the factory put it, you only have yourself to blame. Besides, He probably used the laser on you bt found it hard to get your plate as you passed and decided to give you a warning.

 

The only thing I'm really questioning is that he was headed in the other direction then flips around to pull me over and then when he leaves he does a u-turn and keeps going in the opposite direction. It was a miserable day and my plate was really dirty. I don't really question the warning about my plate, it's in a questionable spot. Just how or why he turned around. Do they have a device that reads plates going the opposite direction?