After learning to drive, when you are having your own experience of driving behind the wheel you might be stopped by the traffic police. Traffic police have a right to stop any vehicle and being a responsible and civilized driver, you are obliged to stop your car as it comes under your duty being a driver.
For your query, you can ask for the appointment certificate from the traffic police whether he is in uniform or not to check the authenticity if he is a constable. According to the criminal procedure act; an officer who won’t provide the appointment certificate on demand violates the act and the actions were taken by them are unlawful.
Authorities of traffic police:
National traffic act states that a traffic officer has the authority to demand driver’s license which by law must be kept on the vehicle.
When you are stopped by the driver, you will be asked to show:
- Your driving license
- Your vehicle registration
- Your proof of insurance for the vehicle
Police have further authorities to:
- Check if the vehicle is in good working order
- Check if the vehicle is properly insured
- Check if the driver is impaired with alcohol by taking a breath test.
Your response to the traffic police:
Everything now matters to your reaction, if you drive through by ignoring the traffic police that’s stopping you then you will be charged heavily for not obeying the rules.
Second, when you are stopped by the police, you should remain silent and show the documents, he is asking for without saying any word. Anything you will speak out will be used as evidence you can be charged with a criminal offense.
Third, if you will not show your documents, you will be charged with the provisional offense of not showing the police proof of insurance for the vehicle.
What authorities traffic police are not having?
Traffic police aren’t having the right to search your vehicle unless and until you give permission or it has reasonable grounds and proper evidence that there is a crime in the vehicle and that evidence could be destroyed if they waited for a search warrant. Except for these two calamities, the police are not allowed to search the vehicle and you have the right to say NO if they asked for.
Secondly, the passengers in the car have not to tell you who they are until the constable has evidence that the passengers are involved in criminal offense.
Possible reasons for being stopped by traffic police:
Traffic police have the right to stop you anytime on anyway without any reason, maybe just to check your driving license and other legal documents.
Moreover, whenever you try to break the traffic rules, you will surely be stopped by traffic police and will be charged for it. The following are the main obvious reasons at which traffic police will not only stop you but are obliged to pay heavily for it.
Racing and stunts on roads:
If you are found doing racing and stunts on the road, traffic police have the right to take away your vehicle for 7 days and suspend your driving license for a week.
Found drunk during driving:
If you are found drunk and still driving, the traffic police will stop you and will take a breath test to check if you are drunk. Depending on the results of the breath test police will take action against it by taking away your car and suspending your driving license.
Taking drugs while driving:
You will be demanded standardized field sobriety test for checking if you have taken drugs within 3 hours of driving and if the test gets positive you will be either charged for it or your car and license will be taken for a month and if you will refuse for taking the test, you will be charged with a criminal offense of not obeying the police.
Wrap up:
When you are done learning to drive from a reputable driving school trained by a driving instructor, you would have known the rights of traffic police and your duties towards it. By going through the article you would have to get cleared about what to do when stopped by traffic police and what things to avoid while driving.