Traffic Stop: Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You

If you’ve ever been pulled over by a traffic cop, your first thought may well have been: “Maybe I’ll get off with a warning.” But what is a warning, and will most officers really give one when they could slap a driver with a real ticket?

A lot of people think a friendly traffic cop is about as likely a character on Southern California highways as the tooth fairy, but that prejudice isn’t really fair.

The elusive and little-understood traffic warning does exist. My husband was recently pulled over for driving without a seat belt--something he does periodically even though he should know better.

And although he didn’t have his registration, my husband managed somehow to talk his way out of a ticket. The traffic officer at first said he was going to call his sergeant for permission to give just an oral warning, and then he started walking back to his patrol car.

But he turned around and came back, saying: “If I call, I know he’ll tell me to give you a ticket. So just try to remember to use your seat belt.”

The incident demonstrates the most important aspect of oral warnings: They are entirely up to the personal judgment of the officers making the traffic stop.

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Police generally think that warnings are not effective, because motorists tend to forget them faster than they would a costly ticket.

A check with police and sheriff’s departments in Los Angeles and Orange counties revealed that none of them has a formal policy regarding when officers can or cannot let a motorist off with a warning.

Officer Mike Partain, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department, says the officer at the scene has the discretion to choose between issuing a ticket or letting a person off with a warning.

The same policy--or non-policy--exists at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol.

Of course, officers say, the problem with warnings is that they are not logged anywhere, so there is no system to ensure that a person let off with a warning doesn’t later get off a second time.

“Chances are if you have someone who is your average road warrior--tailgating and speeding--that person will get a citation,” said Mike Kelly, a spokesman for the Huntington Beach Police Department.

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What are the ingredients of a warning? The violation generally has to be minor and not endanger anyone. Rolling through a stop sign when nobody is around except a stealthy cop is the kind of minor violation that may be treated with a warning, the LAPD says. But if you’re caught flying through an intersection, you’ll get no mercy.

Are attractive women more likely to get off with a warning--and ditto for handsome men stopped by female officers? Technically, no.

But police are human, Kelly notes: “Attitude plays a part more than anything else. If the motorist has a decent attitude and is being honest and says they made a mistake . . . an officer may give them a little bit of a break.”

Are cop-driver interactions involving different races more likely to ensure a ticket? Absolutely not, law enforcement representatives say.

It also seems probable that officers in smaller communities around Southern California are more likely to give a local resident a break than somebody else.

Arguing never works. A humble admission makes more sense, the LAPD’s Partain says.

Partain, who patrolled L.A. as a motorcycle officer for years, says police hate it when motorists lie about a violation or refuse to acknowledge that what they did was dangerous. That usually means they would do it again if they had the chance. That alone, he says, could turn the tables.

The whole idea of an oral warning is to educate drivers, Partain says. But if they’re flippant instead of remorseful, chances are they’ll get the ticket. Here’s what not to say: “You’re just trying to get your ticket quota.”

Jeanne Wright cannot answer mail personally but will attempt to respond in this column to automotive questions of general interest. Write to Your Wheels, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA 90053. Via e-mail: highway1@latimes.com.