Ask a Cop?: Turning right on red… and other issues..

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—–Original Message—–
From: Carl
Sent: Tuesday November 09, 2010 12:33 PM
To: info@coptalk.info
Subject: Turning right on red

When coming to an intersection with two right turn only lanes, may I turn on red from the left right-turn lane?

Like your podcast but the banter does get old pretty fast. I do enjoy hearing stories about things you encounter in your day to day. Tips on how to interact with police would be nice.

Common calls you receive? That’s interesting.

Is it really like TV show Cops? Chips?

Do red cars appear faster?

Can I drive after drinking just 1 beer without getting in trouble?

Thx guys. Stay safe.


Answers below:

When coming to an intersection with two right turn only lanes, may I turn on red from the left right-turn lane? 

Unless it’s posted otherwise, it is legal to turn right at a red from either of the right turn lanes.

Like your podcast but the banter does get old pretty fast.

Easily happens when we all get together, it’s especially easy to pick on Brent but it’s all in good fun. We try to keep the show amusing as well as informative so it wont get too boring. 

I do enjoy hearing stories about things you encounter in your day to day. Tips on how to interact with police would be nice.  Common calls you receive?  That’s interesting.

We’ll try to get back to more cop stories and calls we’ve been on. Also interactions with police.

Is it really like TV show Cops?  Chips?

The show Chips from the 70’s and 80’s was entertaining but it was acting with only some similarities to cop work. Cops is filmed live and most of the calls they go to are the same ones we go to on a daily basis. If you watch Cops, your seeing what we do daily. But Cops mainly shows just the exciting calls and chases. Although we have those too, we have lots of boring calls we also go to. Another thing the Cops show doesn’t show is the hours and hours of report writing we have to do to document arrests and prosecutable cases. There’s another interesting reality show about jails (I think it’s filmed in Las Vegas) that shows what the deputies in the jails see and go through once we drop off our arrests.    

Do red cars appear faster?

Not sure they actually appear faster but they definitely draw ones attention to them. They tend to stick out from other colors.

Can I drive after drinking just 1 beer without getting in trouble?

It depends. One beer may not affect a lot of people but for others, one beer may make them feel the effects more. A 200 lb. man may not feel anything after a beer while a 105 lb. woman may have a buzz. People CAN be arrested for DUI if an officer feels their driving is impaired, even if they are below the legal limit. And if someone is on medication such as a painkiller, one beer can greatly enhance the effects of the medication. Keep in mind, if you go through a DUI checkpoint with beer on your breath (even if it was only one beer), you’ll more than likely be asked to perform some field sobriety tests to make sure you are not impaired. Almost everyone we stop for DUI say  they only had one or two beers but they end up being 2-3 times over the BAC limit (.08% here in CA).     

Thx guys. Stay safe.

Thanks for writing in!

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