PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

I got pulled over in May 2006, at the age of 17, when my dad was giving me a driving lesson in the parking lot of Doylestown Hospital.

Why?

My dad was active duty Navy and wasn't required to register our vehicles in Pennsylvania. As such, the 1996 Pathfinder he was teaching me to drive in was registered in Virginia. Hospital security called the cops about "a couple of guys in an SUV with Virginia plates circling the parking lot for an hour".

My dad got visibly annoyed at the cop for lecturing him about not having his vehicle registered in PA after having lives there for months, when as active duty military he was well within his right to do so, but I obviously didn't get a ticket.

 

This guy handled the situation quite well.
https://youtube.com/shorts/tfBIDF5axp8?si=sEyhMI5c2_riZDUp

 

@TnShooter

After that incident at the hospital in 2006, I did not have a single encounter with law enforcement until March 2013; I got my driver's license in May 2011 and managed to not get pulled over until May 2017.

I unknowingly wandered into a part of Doylestown that had see a rash of daytime break-ins by a heroin addict (four in less than a month), and started taking pictures of stuff (old houses and the occasional vehicle). Some old lady didn't like this and called the cops; I got stopped less than a block from where I'd parked the Tacoma and was interrogated by four cops for twenty minutes until they realized I wasn't a burglar.

I had a strong disdain for law enforcement that persisted until October 2015 when I got hit in my truck by a drunk driver probably less than half a mile from where I got stopped for taking pictures. The guy who hit me claimed I ran a stop sign and I was afraid my insurance company would find me at fault, but the police arrested him and I didn't get a ticket.

I still get triggered when asked to show ID because of that incident in 2013, and while I am largely pro-police, my wariness of law enforcement didn't really subside until about 2020 and I still don't fully trust police.

 

Best I can remember, I’ve been pulled over 3x in my 25 years of driving.
Actual encounters with police, I have no idea. Couple dozen or so, maybe?

 

Also, I am very protective of my Tacoma, and for example and every time I've been involved in an accident that wasn't my fault I have cussed out the at-fault party...

That said, there is only one time I have come even remote close to actually actually beating the shit out of somebody for messing with my truck. It was Thanksgiving Eve in 2016, and I was still working at Puck as a barback; I had purchased bags of ice at the grocery store because our built-in commercial ice maker could not keep up with customer demand.

I made the stupid decision to drive down the alley in front of the bar, and it was a mob scene; I encountered a group of drunk college age guys who were standing in the alley, totally oblivious to the fact that there was a truck trying to turn. I blasted the horn, and while my truck was moving (albeit slowly; maybe 5 MPH), one of these jackasses ran up to my truck and pounded on the hood.

I threw the truck in park, jumped out, and screamed at the guy "DON'T TOUCH MY FUCKING TRUCK!" I was about to beat the shit out of him; I was a lot bigger than the guy, and both of us knew this once I got out. I quickly realized that he had not damaged my truck, and decided that beating his ass on my employer's property with dozens of witnesses would be a bad idea for numerous reasons, the most important being that I have never been arrested and would like to keep it that way!

I wish I was kidding, but I am not; I have had drunks try to pick fights not only for beeping at them because they were standing in the road, but also because I turned on my high beams as what I thought was a less-obnoxious way of getting them to move.

Even after four years working at a bar, the behavior of drunks continues to amaze me!

 

And I don't know what the hell it is. A big part would be that from getting my license 2011 until 2013 or 2014, I never went on the turnpike and prior to 2016, I never drove more than an hour from home by myself. Once I actually got my license, I didn't get pulled over until just over six years after I got it.

I managed to get pulled over three times before COVID (twice in 2017 and once in 2019; I got off with a warning once); I think a big part of it is that like many other drivers, I've grown complacent since COVID and become even more of a leadfoot.

 

@TnShooter

I also managed to get pulled over twice in six days by two different NJ state troopers, once while driving from a car show in Paulsboro to Amanda's old place in Washington, and then less than a week later with Amanda in the truck while driving from her place in Washington to my grandma's in Edison; I refuse to travel within Jersey unless somebody else is driving, and go out of my way to stay out of Jersey unless I'm going to a particularly good car show, all because New Jersey has to be the most overpoliced fucking state in the Northeast with overzealous troopers who will pull you over at the drop of a hat for the stupidest shit!

@Stitchgirl90 will tell you why the second trooper I got stopped by was so annoying...

 

Still blows my mind when I see Hawaii plates in CONUS. Typically active duty military, somewhat uncommonly common on the west coast. But as a native east coast jackass, still messes with my head.

 

I see Alaska and Hawaii plates around here sometimes, and since COVID restrictions have been lifted, a lot of Canadian plates...

 

I don't give people the finger that often anymore. A lot times what I see is people decide to start raging with me because they think I did something wrong. On Christmas Eve in 2018, I was delivering an Uber Eats order and some guy cut me off, causing my customer's food to go flying off the seat; I blasted the horn a couple times.

Specifically, I beeped at him once and he didn't seem to care; I happened to pass him on the right lane while he was in the left lane, and beeped at him again. This triggered him and he decided to start following me. Every time I put on my turn signal, he would too, and then he managed to get in front of me and wouldn't let me pass; I happened to be turning left from 611 onto Street Road, and he did the same thing. The light turned red, and he got out of his car and started approaching my truck; I was forced to get into the center lane and run the red light to get away from him because I saw no other way out.

I say again, there were no middle fingers or exchanges of words; I beeped at him for cutting me off.

The other thing I had a big problem with was lack of spacial awareness (an autism thing), and I would unwittingly tailgate people; 99% of the time nothing would happen, but a few times I'd end up behind an asshole who thought it was a good idea to not just brake check me but slam on their brakes and almost cause an accident.

Then there was the time in Doylestown in either 2021 or 2022 when a guy in a white 1997-2002ish Ford F150 got upset that I was apparently following too closely, and his answer was to stop in the middle of the road. I thought he was lost or had forgotten to turn on his blinker, and tried to go around him. He floored it and then stopped in the middle of the again, motioning for me to follow him into the parking lot of CVS; I may be reckless but I'm not stupid! I saw an opening on the right and got around him, though he did try to block me; I say again that all I was doing was following too closely, in a 25 MPH zone!

 

My dad is a truck driver.
When we leaned to drive, he was persistent in the 3 second rule. I still get nervous riding with my mother. She drives too close to others. I hope the next car she get has pre-collision braking. She could definitely benefit from have the warning light and brakes come on.

I still remember driving the old ranger and being taught “clutchless” shifting.

 

Marked or not, it's shitty for an officer to drive in that manner especially since those behaviours would be probable cause for them to stop anyone else. But it's more of the "do as I say not as I do" stuff that happens with them.

 

Yep, it's not worth it.

 

Why was he banging on your window?

 

Wow, crazy MFers out there!

 

It wasn't a road rage incident of some sort?

 

I saw a France plate yesterday. Saw a Unimog with Euro plates last week as well, I think another one was Phillipines.

Sorry no pics