Do you think this is going to work well during a traffic stop?

I've never had any issues respectfully refusing to play along.

'Do you know why I pulled you over?'

'Good morning, officer. I'd rather not answer any questions. Am I being ticketed?'

Interestingly even that innocent lead question is a trick one. Yes obviously implies guilty. But no implies a lack of awareness of your own actions, which can just as well end up being used against you.

That seems like it's going to increase your odds of being ticketed. Having been pulled over twice and not ticketed that seems like a significant sacrifice.

Not really. When I was younger, I owned a fast car and was pulled over several times in small southern towns as I drove between university and my parents house. Being young black man in dixie country, you would expect that this would lead to lots of tickets and poor relations with the police?

No.

I was polite, respectful, and the such, but when asked if I knew why I was pulled over I would simply shrug.

I got 2 tickets, but many more warnings, and even the tickets had leniency.

In my view, the police are not out to get you. Sure, they want to make ticket quota, but thats just the job... nothing personal.

This is useful anecdotally. I also am polite and cordial with police during traffic stops. Pull over promptly and make sure they have room to safely approach your car. Stay professional. I never know why they pulled me over, even if I was speeding, but that doesn't have to be confrontational. 5/6 the result is a warning. But I figured that was just because I'm white.

It depends on how guilty you _look_ to the officer, doesn't it?

> Good morning, officer. I'd rather not answer any questions. Am I being ticketed?

Interestingly, that sounds different from:

> I won't talk until my lawyer is present.

I was wrong. "Never talk to the police without a lawyer present," means something completely different from what I read. It means talking to the police but pretending you don't talk to them when you talk about it on the internet. I'm sorry, I didn't realize this.

I just say "no, sir" or "no, officer" and let them tell me. I make very sure to be quite polite. Never argue. Take the ticket. Anything worse is not worth the satisfaction of trying to argue. Then, sometimes, if they're not a jerk, they just give a warning, but if not, a ticket is a golden certification that you did not get asaulted or kidnapped by the government agent with the gun.

I didn’t say don’t talk to police at all, and there are plenty questions you must answer, especially in a traffic stop context. There no need to ad-lib, though: if you’re pulled over for speeding, you don’t have to give them your whole life story.

Depends on the officer. Overall (from law school and friends from law school who practice in that area), my understanding is that your chance of getting a ticket is slightly (if at all) higher, but your chance of getting out of the ticket increases drastically. There's a reason "tell your clients not to speak to the police, period" was one of the very few practical pieces of client advice that regularly gets taught in law school.