Police Officers, Sheriff Deputies, Troopers, please answer this law traffic...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gerry
  • Start date Start date
G

Gerry

Guest
...enforcement question? Anyone is a police officer or has law enforcement experience; please answer this if you would.

In an online forum, where only police officers can post messages, one of the troopers stated that police officers can conduct traffic stops on vehicles whose car tires’ touch the yellow lines/paint in the road. He didn’t elaborate enough so there are a few questions I have about it. Assuming this is correct, here’s my question. What kind of traffic offense would you call this? There’s always a name of for something. When someone spits on a cop, he can charge them with “battery by body waste” or “assault”. I’m looking for the term that describes when a motor vehicle touches the yellow line. If I were a cop, I would suspect the driver is possibly under the influence of alcohol and stop him on suspicion of DUI. That would be my probable cause (PC). Am I partly correct that it would simply be DUI? Could it be “poor driving coordination” LOL, never heard that term before though.

I know swerving is a PC to stop someone which could be a possible DUI. So maybe that is the term.

Also, what is the difference between DUI and DWI?
DUI=Driving Under the Influence
DWI=Driving While under the Influence

I am taking a police civil service exam that is schedule this month. I’m trying to learn as much as I can at the same time I guess.
 
First of all, most police tests don't test you on knowledge of the law or legal terms. Most police agencies test you on basic math, grammar, problem solving, ect. Legal questions can be taught in the police academy.

Anyways, to answer your question. The term (in my state, Missouri) would be "Failure to maintain a single lane".

To the first answerer: It may be BS, but police can stop you for a violation of the law. No matter how trivial you might think it is. My personal policy for lane violations is 3. If I'm following you for any amount of time and you commit three lane violations, we are going to have a chat about it.
 
In my area, at least, someone who is swerving would be "failing to maintain a lane". One might suspect DUI, but that would be the official reason for the stop. In some areas, DUI means what DWI means in other places. Some areas, however, use DUI when you are over the limit, but if you are driving erratically may charge you with DWI when you're technically under the legal threshold for DUI. It differs in different places.

By the way - just for the record, I'm not a cop...I just work with them, lol.
 
Back
Top