I Fought the Law

Laws govern how we drive and dictate the penalties for failure to follow the rules. Though we all agree those laws are necessary to protect us from the irresponsible actions of others, we hate to see them applied to us. These legends speak to our desire to outrun John Law, either by escaping his clutches at a traffic stop or by beating the system through a technicality or clever ruse.

A second class of "highway laws" legends addresses beliefs that some very strange statutes are hidden deep in the books.

TRUE
Cuff Linked
Motorist caught speeding by photo radar pays fine with picture of money; police send him picture of handcuffs in return.

TRUE
Licensed to Bill
Man whose personalized plate reads NO PLATE receives thousands of parking tickets.

TRUE
The High(way) Sign
U.S. interstate highways are numbered according to a pattern based on their direction and location.

TRUE
Brown Bagged
Mrs. James Brown once tried to beat traffic charges by claiming she was entitled to diplomatic immunity for being married to the "ambassador of soul."

TRUE
Diamond Lanes Aren't a Pregnant Girl's Best Friend
A pregnant woman tried to beat a carpool lane ticket by asserting her fetus counted as a second person.

TRUE
The Father of Traffic Safety
The man who penned the first automobile traffic laws never drove a car himself.

PARTLY TRUE
Maybe You Can Drive My Car
A driver must surrender his vehicle to a policeman who requests its use in order to chase a fleeing suspect.

LEGEND
The Dishonest Note
Hit-and-run driver leaves dishonest note on damaged car's windshield.

LEGEND
Adam 12-Pack
Drunk driver mistakenly attempts to flee from cop by taking his police car.

LEGEND
De Coy Drunk
Sober patron staggers out of bar at closing time to lure police away from his drunken friends.

LEGEND
Scarecrow
Youths shoot a patrol car parked as a "speeder deterrent" on the one day it contains a real cop.

LEGEND
Snap Trapped
Pranksters affix license plate stolen from a speed trap camera van to their vehicle and drive through trap, resulting in unit's issuing tickets to itself.

LEGEND
Arrested Development
Quick-thinking cop has a bit of fun with a drunk stuck in the snow by pretending to run alongside his car.

LEGEND
Steal Belted
Prankster who thinks he's fooling a speed trap camera instead gets tickets for not wearing his seatbelt.

LEGEND
Fuzzy Logic
Motorist mistakes Dustbuster vacuum for a Fuzzbuster radar detection device.

FALSE
Red Handed
Red cars receive more speeding tickets than do vehicles of other colors.

FALSE
Fine for Speeding
Slightly overpaying the fine for a traffic ticket will keep points off your driving record.

FALSE
Four Play
A U.S. mail truck has the right of way over emergency vehicles.

FALSE
Landing of Hope and Glory
U.S. interstate highways were designed to be used as emergency airstrips in case of war.

FALSE
Night Vision of Loveliness
Drug runner evades detection by driving a fast black car while wearing night vision goggles.

FALSE
Take My Breath Away
Sucking on a penny will help someone who has been drinking defeat a breathalyzer test.

FALSE
Flash Point
Flashing your car's high beams at a traffic signal will cause it to change from red to green more quickly.

FALSE
Foling the Police
Placing tinfoil in your car's hubcaps or hanging a CD from your rear-view mirror will fool police radar.

FALSE
E-ZPass Tickets
New York will be embedding strips in vehicle registration stickers in order to catch speeders.

FALSE
Pole Position
States are installing cameras along interstate highways that automatically track and ticket speeders.

FALSE
International Driver's License
You can avoid paying for traffic tickets or establish a new identity by obtaining an International Driver's License.

Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2013 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson.
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