What Happens When You Don’t Pull Over For the Police

If you ever find yourself being flagged down by the police to pull over, you better just pull over. The last thing you want is to drum up any more suspicion from the police, when they already want to talk to you. It might be that you are scared, or that you actually have something in the car that you don’t want the police to find. Whatever the reason, making the decision to not pull over is a bad one. Cooperation is key when it comes to being flagged down by a police officer. Different counties, towns, states, and provinces have different rules about how much trouble you can get it in if fail to obey a police officer, but the bottom line is: the outcome is never as good as it could have been if you had just pulled over.

What Kind of Penalties are Possible

Depending on where you live or where the incident takes place, you can lose your license, and be fined up to $100,000. In Toronto, Ontario the fine is a maximum of $10,000 and up to 6 months in jail. In Chicago, Illinois, the fine is $1000 and/or up to 6 months in jail. When you decide not to pull over, you are putting yourself, the police officer, and others at risk. Because you may be upset or worried, your driving might not be the best and this could lead to a serious accident.

If You Are In An Accident

If you decide not to pull over at the request of a police officer, you could be putting others at risk. If you are in an accident, you could be charged with reckless driving, as well as failure to obey a police officer. What’s more, you could face multiple charges and fines on top of the fact that you didn’t pull over. Personal injury lawyers in Toronto can help if you are in an accident, but you’ll likely also need a lawyer to handle the fact that you broke the law.

How to Recover from Charges

If you’ve been charged with failure to pull over when a police officer requests it, you could find that you never get your licence back. Or, you have to pay a fine to get your licence back. What’s more, your driving record will reflect the fact that you lost your licence and this can make it difficult to obtain car insurance, or a car loan in the future. Insurance companies might require you to pay a deposit on your insurance, charge you higher premiums, and certainly if you caused an accident while evading the police, they will require you to hold a higher deductible – that’s even if they give you insurance. You can expect your insurance to be much more expensive for a period of up to 7 years after the accident and/or incident; depending on state or provincial law.

All of these situations can be avoided by obeying the rules of the road, the signals you receive from police officers, and by driving carefully when you are behind the wheel of a car.