I'm 61, been driving motorcycles (legally) since I was 15, cages (off the learner's permit) since the day after I turned 16, various levels of commercial vehicles up to and including over-the-road tractor-trailers up to 70 hours and a few thousand miles per week since my late 20s/early 30s, and I've been pulled over for traffic violations exactly twice, once in CA in my early 20s, and once maybe 15 or 20 years ago after we moved to Alabama. Both times I got tickets with no out-of-the-ordinary conduct by either myself or the cop happening. Both times I opted for traffic school to take the points off my record so my insurance wouldn't go up, which it didn't in either case. As far as being pulled over for some actual infraction of traffic laws or my own conduct that might justify the invocation of probable cause, that's The End of my story, with one minor caveat that the time I got pulled over in AL I was carrying, didn't spontaneously disclose and the cop didn't ask, and neither did the cop take a hit to his safety, and I wasn't yanked from my vehicle and/or disarmed.
Now, as far as involuntary contact with cops for which I did absolutely nothing illegal to cause the forced contact, I've been stopped at two DUI checkpoints, both of which took place within a year of each other (I actually think it was much less than that, but since I'm not sure, I know I'm safe saying within a year), and both of which took place at the exact same place which was right around the corner from where I worked at the time. In both cases the line was 20 minutes long, and in both cases I was on my way to work and in both cases I was late for work because of the delay the "show-me-your-papers" stop caused.
So for whatever relevancy it may or may not demonstrate to my interest in discussing cop encounters and how I believe it to be in one's best interests to conduct themselves, I'm tied with cops in that two stops were my fault, and two were theirs, for a total of four times in my life that I recall.
I base almost nothing of what I have to say about potential jeopardy of being stopped on personal experience, except for the experience chronicled in the link in my sig-line. Except for that, my interest in the subject is purely based on my interest in discussing, understanding, and opining on constitutional issues and how well or poorly this country is adhering to them, which I imagine no one really has to guess whether or not I think it's
very poorly. As such, I resent the Hell out of being stopped by cops at a show-me-your-papers checkpoint. I view those cops as oath-breakers, just as I view the Supreme Court who illegitimately gave them the power to ignore the probable cause clause of the Fourth Amendment, or even just the "reasonable articulable suspicion" part of Terry v. Ohio by the SCOTUS, as oath-breakers too. I regard the Chiefs of Police and Sheriffs who set up those show-me-your-papers checkpoints in the same light. We, The People specifically withheld such authority from them to go on fishing expeditions, and yet it is We, The People who are accused of giving them lip or a bad attitude if we vocally object to the ubiquitous, but nonetheless unconstitutional, practice.
How many times one has been contacted by cops, whether for cause or no cause, has no bearing on how relevant to modern-day life in America the issues being discussed in other threads are. Most of us have never been shot, shot at, had to shoot or shoot at someone else, and yet here we are on only one among several hundred (at least) gun forums specifically dedicated to carry issues. Not sure why it matters, but the preceding is my answer to the question asked of how many times have I been pulled over/been involuntarily contacted by cops, as well as the underlying question that I infer from the OP about why it's important enough to discuss at so much length if hardly anyone is hardly ever pulled over. It's important because this is America, or at least
was America for a significant portion of my 61 years, and people are WAY too comfortable with liberty being stolen from us if they can't see it, or even envision it, feel it or experience it happening to them personally. This country was created around the thought that the government that governs least, governs best, and yet when I promulgate that notion in every post I make on issues of government, I am referred to as something akin to an anarchist. It is truly sad the state of submission to huge, overreaching, overly-intrusive government many people in this country accept as "normal" anymore. TRULY sad.
Blues
ETA: I remembered one other incidence of being pulled over that I discussed
here, but apparently have succeeded in putting out of my mind for the most part so forgot to include it.
