JDM,
I agree with the things you say about being stopped by the police and how to act.
BUT, I have also been pulled over by the police recently for having Xenon headlamps in my car. The "real deal" Xenon (ballast, igniters, etc) and was given a ticket for it. I was polite, tried to explain to the officer that the Xenon headlamps are D.O.T. approved, come on all kinds of luxury vehicles and are not the "blue bulb" halogen bulbs the "ricers" put in their cars because a blue light is cool. My headlamps aren't even really blue, just a "cleaner looking" white light. If you have seen a car with real Xenons on it, you know what I'm talking about. I even have my headlamps pointed down slightly lower than normal so I know they are not shining up into anybody's eyes. I wasn't speeding, driving on the wrong side of the road or running a stop sign. Just driving to my fiance's house. The officer saw me coming, pulled over onto the side of the road to wait for me to pass, and then followed me to pull me over. I had all of my required paperwork (registration, insurance, driver's license, etc.), current and up to date with me. I was being totally polite and "yes sir" the whole time. Once I explained what type of headlamps they were, I was told by the officer that "Louisiana is going to force all of the car manufacturers that have Xenon headlamps installed at the factory recall them for downgrading back to the basic halogen headlamps." Remember that I work for a BMW service dept. We have thousands of Xenon headlamps on the road and this is not going to happen. I guess my laughing in his face when he said that didn't help either, but by that time he was almost finished writing the ticket anyway, so it didn't matter.
My point is that if an officer has already decided you're getting the ticket, you're getting the ticket. No matter how nice you are, what you say or do, even if you are right and he is wrong. I got the ticket tossed out, but it was still something I shouldn't have had to do.
Hell, I was even older than the officer writing the ticket, he should have given me some kind of senior's discount or something.
Things like this are what give police a bad "wrap" at times and a loss of respect.
How many people have died because somebody had L.E.D. washer nozzles?
