Virginia Traffic Stops
Virginia traffic stops can feel daunting when you are unsure what it is you are being stopped for. An attorney may encourage you to keep your hands where they can be seen. A well-versed traffic attorney can be a critical source of advice and protection if you are charged with a traffic violation.
How to Handle Virginia Traffic Stops
The first thing a person should do is check their blind side to make sure they have room to pull over. They should immediately pull over to the shoulder of the road. If a person is in an unsafe place, they should pull over to a safe place, but do something to acknowledge the officer and let the officer know that they are the one being pulled over. It could be pointing to the right side of the road or sticking their hand out of window and signaling, or just hitting their blinker or hazards.
They should do something to let the officer know that they are acknowledging their presence behind them to keep the traffic stop from turning into an eluding situation. A lot of people do not pull over immediately because they want to find a well-lit area or whatever the case may be. That is fine, just make sure to acknowledge the officer and let them know that they are pulling them over and that they are making the steps to get to the right side of the highway or into a lit parking lot.
How Can Someone Pull Over if there is No Shoulder on the Road?
For Virginia traffic stops involving no shoulder, a person should pull over to the right as soon as they can. If they are not going to automatically pull over to the right, the first thing they should do is put on their right blinker, letting the officer know that they are moving to the right. In addition to the blinker, they can use their hazard. A person can point to the right or out of the sunroof instead of their window in order to signal to the police officer.
They can see something coming up better as opposed to pointing. They should do something to acknowledge the officer’s presence. Let the officer know that a person is pulling over. If it is a situation where a person is afraid and does not even pull because there is no parking lot in a well-lit area, they can always call the 911 emergency number and tell them that they are being pulled over by an officer and they are pulling over to a well-lit area, but they are not eluding or running from the police.
Night Time Traffic Stops in Virginia
Virginia traffic stops at night are typically conducted the same way a daytime stop would. In the city, officers normally will keep their lights on their vehicles shining to create a safe space to pull over. However, if a person is pulled over and do not feel safe, the first thing they always need to do is acknowledge the officer and let them to know by some kind of movement on the outside of their vehicle, like flashing their signal or turning on their blinker so that the officer knows that they acknowledge and are pulling over.
