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Traffic violations of private property

SteveSS

SteveSS

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Let's assume for argument's sake I take my old truck and do donuts in my field. Nothing illegal right? Now I'm in a shopping center parking lot. I've always heard cops don't investigate accidents in shopping center lots because it's private property. In one lot by my house, they have stop signs about every 20 yards which I ignore unless there are pedestrians.

Now picture a car meet in a shopping center and someone does a burnout. The cops swarm like white on rice. It's not public property, I suppose the store owners could press charges but why can the cops issue tickets?
 
SteveSS said:
Let's assume for argument's sake I take my old truck and do donuts in my field. Nothing illegal right? Now I'm in a shopping center parking lot. I've always heard cops don't investigate accidents in shopping center lots because it's private property. In one lot by my house, they have stop signs about every 20 yards which I ignore unless there are pedestrians.

Now picture a car meet in a shopping center and someone does a burnout. The cops swarm like white on rice. It's not public property, I suppose the store owners could press charges but why can the cops issue tickets?
Click to expand...

Untrue. I just had to chase down a 70 year old lady who side swiped a car in the parking lot then took off knowing what she did and the police showed up... Police are still required to keep Law and Order on property that is OPEN to the Public even though privately owned.
 
They don't issue citations because they don't patrol the private property. It's a jurisdiction thing.
I live on a private road in a private development. A kid was slammed off his bike by a van driving through.
Cops were called, of course they responded. Kid was packaged and placed in an ambulance.
Cop said he could not citation the driver because the incident occurred on a private road.
(Besides, the cop didn't witness it).
So now the insurance companies are battling it out in court.
Maybe some law enforcement affiliates here can weigh in?
:popcorn:
 
Last edited:
Probably varies by state. Here, if it's posted (signs in the lot)that driving laws are enforced then the popo can cite you in a public parking lot
 
Tricky scenario. Your field, your property is private. Doing burnouts on it anywhere is completely ok. The shopping center parking lot is owed by the shipping center group of people but it’s a public place for anyone to show up. That’s why the regular laws apply. Here in Maine we always had to investigate that stuff.
 
I can only speak to the laws in the State of Michigan (15 years ago) when I was an accident investigator. Private property accidents can be investigated depending on the incident. Police in MI can write Drunk/Impaired tickets on any property open to the general public (parking lot, etc). Same holds true for reckless and careless driving in areas open to the general public. For more serious incidents that lead to injury/death on strictly private property we are taken out of the motor vehicle code and move to the general compiled laws for the State of Michigan. A traffic ticket will not be written but fault will be assigned and the negligent party(s) can/will be held responsible both civil and criminal. A for instance: A stop sign in a Wal-Mart parking lot was not placed there by a traffic control order, but was put in place by Wal-Mart to control the flow of traffic. In MI the police would not/could not write a ticket for failing to stop at this sign as the area does not fall under the Motor Vehicle Code. An officer could bump up the incident to careless/reckless driving if warranted and then issue a citation. In our area the judges usually would agree with the officer if there were people in the immediate area. One person in an empty parking lot doing a burnout would not normally rise to a careless/reckless driving citation, but would garner a warning. Of course, as usual, the driver's attitude can easily come into play.
 
I once backed into a car in a parking lot. The car was a POS that was rotten in every panel. I asked what it would take to settle the incident and the guy got an appraisal of close to $2000. and wanted that in cash. I told him to stuff it because the car wasn't worth that much. After some back and forth he called the cops. The cops called me and I refused to admit fault. Their stance was that "it happened on private property so we can't do anything anyway". The guy never got reasonable and I never paid him.

Every summer the tuner crowd gather at the donut shop in the local mall lot. They do their burnouts, rev the **** out of their motors and are a general nuisance. Despite local 10 p.m. noise bylaws this goes on till the wee hours. Cops do nothing. Been going on for years!
 
When the mike brown thing was going on, the powers to be gave the protestors an area to play in and burn up, so to speak. there were business in the area and it became a no go zone. It took weeks to get the law to stop the violence and let the owners in to clean up and reopen their businesses. It became a case of public property meets private property and how they wanted to calm the waters and at whos expense. They acted as if they didn't want to prosecute for fear of more violence even though they had video of everything going on. Used car lots were burned to the ground. Much later they went out to find some of these people, it was a joke to say the least. Laws are meant to be bent, in some cases, look at the Walgreens in San Francisco, take what you want till the bigger side screams more or louder.
 
There was a meet-up of a bunch of tuner-type cars at a local parking lot back in late September. Over 300 cars showed up to do burnouts and such. The cops blocked all of the exits and not only arrested participants, but impounded over 125 vehicles.

Yeah, the cops can do that. At least, here they do.
 
Someone backs into you in a mall parking lot, the cops claim its private property - out of their hands. Shoot someone in a mall parking lot its a whole different story. Why!
 
I'm ok w cops not citing on private property or roads.
My little guy is enjoying freedom, on his Honda 110 dirt bike.
Live and let live...up to a point, until the Felonius a-holes need to get cuffed.
 
Hey-O said:
When the mike brown thing was going on, the powers to be gave the protestors an area to play in and burn up, so to speak. there were business in the area and it became a no go zone. It took weeks to get the law to stop the violence and let the owners in to clean up and reopen their businesses. It became a case of public property meets private property and how they wanted to calm the waters and at whos expense. They acted as if they didn't want to prosecute for fear of more violence even though they had video of everything going on. Used car lots were burned to the ground. Much later they went out to find some of these people, it was a joke to say the least. Laws are meant to be bent, in some cases, look at the Walgreens in San Francisco, take what you want till the bigger side screams more or louder.
Click to expand...

I don't blame the cops for holding back there, the Mayor, and the rest of the political hacks were pandering to the flavor of the month.
They were just waiting for the cops to try and effect an arrest, it would have gone sideways, and ugly cause that's what the media and local thugs wanted to see.
I'm sure many of those cops " standing by" were pissed.
That is the result when nobody's got your back, and the whole town seemingly wants your pension.
 
Remember the Mayor of Baltimore?
She gave the angry mob an "area to blow off steam" as she put it.
Ha! They burned the place down.
Millions of dollars in damages.
She didn't buck up a dime.
 
Potts said:
I don't blame the cops for holding back there, the Mayor, and the rest of the political hacks were pandering to the flavor of the month.
They were just waiting for the cops to try and effect an arrest, it would have gone sideways, and ugly cause that's what the media and local thugs wanted to see.
I'm sure many of those cops " standing by" were pissed.
That is the result when nobody's got your back, and the whole town seemingly wants your pension.
Click to expand...
Well said and I agree. Bending the law in order to keep the peace.
 
In OH and FL, police will write up the indecent but won't generally issue a citation.
 
Back in the '70s my cousin got a brand new Monte Carlo. A guy in a beater ran in to it in a Drug store parking lot. He called the cops and was told that they wouldn't respond because it was private property. He said well OK but you might want to come and stop the fight!!!! They were there in a few minutes!:thumbsup:
 
i can tell you for a fact,if you are in your own yard/driveway and doing burnouts and the smokes drifting Across the road so bad you cant even see the road,that the sheriff Will show up.......and complain.
whoops !:steering:
 
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