Police can stop motorists for a variety of reasons, including minor issues such as not using a turn signal, having a broken tail light, having window tinting on your windows or similar issues. These stops for minor crimes are considered “pretext” stops because police usually use these issues as a pretext to hopefully find evidence […]
Supreme Court: Traffic Stops for Expired Driver’s Licenses are Legal
When it comes to traffic stops, police are legally required to have a justifiable reason, known as a reasonable suspicion, to pull over the car. They can’t stop you just because they don’t like your hair or a bumper sticker on your car. In fact, even flipping the police off is considered protected free speech […]
Crimes that Can Result in Lifetime Driver’s License Suspensions
There are many crimes that can result in a temporary license suspension, including drunk driving, many juvenile crimes, violating the implied consent law, reckless driving, joyriding and more. What most people don’t know is that there are also some crimes that can result in a lifetime license revocation of your Class A, B or C […]
Accused of Joyriding in California? About California Vehicle Code 10851
While everyone has heard of grand theft auto (no doubt partially due to the successful video game franchise), joyriding is a much more common crime in California. That’s because it’s easier for prosecutors to get convictions for this crime than grand theft auto (GTA). Although joyriding, legally known as the unlawful taking or driving of […]
What the Law Says About Lane Splitting -San Marcos Criminal Lawyer
California explicitly legalized the practice of lane splitting by motorcycles in 2017. Before that, it was still unofficially legal for motorcycles to pass vehicles in the same lanes. While many drivers feel uncomfortable sharing the lane with motorcyclists, the driving practice has actually been known to make the roads safer. That being said, there are […]
You Have the Right to Flip Off the Police -But You Probably Shouldn’t
An appeals court decision recently made news when judges ruled unanimously that giving the police the middle finger is protected free speech and cannot be used as grounds for a traffic stop. That being said, just because you have the right to flip off the police, it’s still probably something you don’t want to make […]
The Medical Emergency Defense for Reckless Driving and DUIs
Ordinarily, if you excessively speed, run red lights and park in a red zone, you could be charged with reckless driving, but there are, of course, exceptions. If you were experiencing a medical emergency, this can serve as a defense for reckless driving or even drunk driving. Here’s what you should know about the defense […]
Are Dash Cams Legal in California? Here’s What You Should Know
We’ve already discussed the fact that it is legal to film police in California and even covered an incident where a police officer’s dashboard camera and bystander cellphone video recordings were used to charge the officer with murder. But can citizens legally install dash cams in their car? They can, but the matter isn’t quite […]
No, Driving Barefoot Isn’t a Form of Reckless Driving
Even if you’ve never done it yourself, someone has probably warned you at some point that driving without shoes on is a crime. Sometimes they will claim it’s an infraction. Sometimes they’ll say it’s a form of reckless driving. Whatever you may have heard though, Vista reckless driving attorney Peter M. Liss wants you to […]
How Police Use Psychological Manipulation to Get Suspects to Cooperate
We previously talked about how police will use informal questioning to get you to confess to a crime, but that’s not the only trick they use to get people to help them do their job. Here are a few things police say to manipulate suspects into doing what they want: Do You Know Why I […]
