I.e., for instance, in the US, a police officer will pull up behind you and turn on his emergency lights to indicate that you should stop for him.
I noticed in Germany that a police car will pull in front and “Bitte folgen” will light up somewhere on the vehicle window or lightbar.
How does this work in your country?
21 comments
At this time everybody is sleeping, except some owl like me.
ITALY:
they put themselves behind you, turn the siren on and the lights.
If you do not stop, they will tell you to do so using a sort of megaphone.
In the UK, police will usually get your attention with their sirens and flashing lights and then ask you to pull over. I find it quite intimidating when they come up to the window, as they can often come across as quite stern.
In Finland they’ll have their blue lights on, and then if they want you to pull over they’ll put on an extra red flashing light which they have at the front and rear to pull over people in front or behind them
depends on the road, they’re narrow
Usually behind, infront or alongside
and then once both cars are stopped you both just get out and stand between them while talking, wherever that happens to be, or on the kerb if there’s a kerb
I’m actually curious too as it never happend in my whole life and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it happen either
Have never been pulled over in Germany, but during our trip in LA cops pulled us over on the highway on the second day, with 3 huge cars lol. When the guy came to the window he had his hand on the gun belt. Then we explained we are German and he immediately went “oh have a safe drive then”. Such a US experience lol.
[They follow you on their bicycle and order you to park on the right side.](https://youtu.be/snhp1IjBWgk?t=162)
I was pulled over many times in past 15 years. They always flash lights and if i dont notice them siren shortly, i use the blinker to signal them I see them and find the nearest spot to safely stop (for me and them). Roll down my window, turn down music and wait for them to come to my car and talk to me. I feel always safe and try to think of a reason what mistake I made. Cops are always calm, talk to me with respect, I got a small speeding fine few times, no issues, main thing is acknowledge my error and be kind. I had zero issues with cops in Slovakia, am very happy with their performance on the streets, but Very unsatisfied with the paper pushers and byrocracy..
If you and the police officer are both driving when they decide to pull you over, it depends on the road. On the highway, they will pass you and use an [LED board] (https://www.policija.si/images/stories/NovinarskoSredisce/SporocilaZaJavnost/2023/02_februar/17_tovorna_vozila_izjava/PHOTO-2023-02-17-12-22-05a.jpg) to say something like: “Police – follow me”. You’ll follow them to the nearest exit and then they’ll stop somewhere safe.
If you’re driving off the highway, it’s harder for them to pass you so they’ll just pull up behind you and activate their lights to tell you to stop just like they do in the US.
If they have a checkpoint set up to catch speeders or drunk drivers, an officer will stand next to the road and use their arms or a small [device](https://www.policija.si/images/stories/NovinarskoSredisce/SporocilaZaJavnost/2020/simbolicne/IMG_6799_nadzor_prometa_stop_lopar.jpg) to gesture to you to pull over next to them.
There’s different ways for that, some pull you over by turning their lights and siren while driving behind you, sometimes talking through the car’s speaker, others try to overtake your car while the officer on the passenger side pulls out of the window a [traffic paddle](https://www.abr24.it/sito/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/polizia-paletta-2.jpg) to indicate their intention to stop you.
Thought these are far less common than the [traffic control points](https://www.farodiroma.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Foto-comunicato-02.jpg) where the two officers stand on the side of the road, one tasked with pulling over the cars while the other provides security.
Only been pulled over once here in Belgium while driving.
Police turned on it’s lights in front of me and took a turn of the highway to a parking lot. We stepped out of the car, had a chat and I got away with a warning.(I was speeding)
Other police interactions were static controls. Last one was a policewoman getting on the street indicating me to park and I had a breath analyzer test done. Just came from work at 6 pm so no idea how that was a good time to do it but whatever. Blew and was allowed to leave, didn’t take 2 minutes.
In Czechia they are either “patrolling” for drunk or speeding drivers. In that case they get behind you and flash their red/blue lights at you and a red light that reads STOP.
Or they can be stationed at a convenient spot looking for the same kind of drivers in which case an officer pulls out their handheld stop sign and signals for you to pull over.
You allways get a breathalyzer test (0% policy) and they always check if you have a valid driver’s license. Takes 3 mins on average with about 10 words spoken in total.
I’ve never been pulled over but i’ve seen people. Either they pull up behind you and use the blue blink for a second without soundor they pull up on the side and use what we call a lollipop that has written to pull over.
If you do a violation they sometimes ask you to come to the police car and see the recording of the violation.
Rarely any drama, shouting or weapons involved
I’ve never been pulled over in Switzerland (they don’t do it for speeding, which is pretty much entirely enforced with cameras, so there are just fewer reasons for it).
But in Germany and France, I’ve been stopped by border control multiple times. People always say borders no longer exist in Europe, but there are still border police forces who will sit on checkpoints close to the border at times. And since I was a young man driving from the Netherlands (and frequently in a larger group) I was immediately suspicious for weed smuggling.
They use those “Follow me” lights you described. The Germans locate themselves between two rest stops so they can easily drive back and forth between them, so they werent too annoying to follow. The French led me off the highway (which was already the wrong highway – I had taken a wrong turn) into a town, and I had absolutely no idea where I was. Thankfully they were friendly and led me back to the highway after they were done. The Germans were really gruff and unfriendly, and I think they were very certain they’d find something and didnt quite believe I was actually not smuggling anything.
In Luxembourg, police is very respectful and calm when they stop you.
I had the same experience in Germany, when i got stopped in Munich year’s ago early in the morning after a party.
I got also stopped with my motorcycle 3 week’s ago on Corsica (France), similar here.
I’ve never been pulled over in Switzerland (they don’t do it for speeding, which is pretty much entirely enforced with cameras, so there are just fewer reasons for it).
But in Germany and France, I’ve been stopped by border control multiple times. People always say borders no longer exist in Europe, but there are still border police forces who will sit on checkpoints close to the border at times. And since I was a young man driving from the Netherlands (and frequently in a larger group) I was immediately suspicious for weed smuggling.
They use those “Follow me” lights you described. The Germans locate themselves between two rest stops so they can easily drive back and forth between them, so they werent too annoying to follow. The French led me off the highway (which was already the wrong highway – I had taken a wrong turn) into a town, and I had absolutely no idea where I was. Thankfully they were friendly and led me back to the highway after they were done. The Germans were really gruff and unfriendly, and I think they were very certain they’d find something and didnt quite believe I was actually not smuggling anything.
I’m from Poland and I live in the Netherlands and you can see both ways. This you describe as American and German. Sometimes they use “lollipop” when they are on side of the road. Once in the Netherlands police agent on motorcycle showed me with hand to follow him.
Depends. Either they drive behind you and flash their blue lights and wave you out. On highways they tend to drive in front of you, lower a “follow!” sign on their rear window.
They also sometimes do alcohol controls on certain spots where a police officer will just walk onto the street and wave you out.
Sometimes they do so called “Planquadrat” where they set up these street stops all over an area to look for drunk drivers. We are a wine production area so that happens quite often.
In addition to the “Bitte folgen” (“please follow”) lights, German police also sometimes use the Kelle (ladle), which is a round plate on a stick. The plate has a red light in the middle and says “Stop Polizei” around it. It looks like [this](https://stock.adobe.com/de/images/polizeikelle-halt-polizei/52580012).
They mainly use that when they stop you on foot (they step out into the road with that thing in hand and wave it to the side, indicating you should pull over, like [this](https://stock.adobe.com/de/images/polizei-bei-geschwindigkeitskontrolle/50291021)), but they sometimes also use it when they are in a car. The passenger will roll down the window and stick the Kelle out of the window, or sometimes even just hold it up inside the passenger window while passing you if they see that you are looking over to them.
They tend to wave you in with hand or red light or come up behind with lights and sometimes sound on here .
I used live close to a police academy and there is season when you get stopped more then others, they often used on back road which was the main road for me to get in town, so yes I been stopped in the name of educations.
If it’s a roadside patrol, they’ll use their black-and-white striped wand to point at you.
If they are driving, they’ll pull up behind you with lights flashing and buzz the siren. If you don’t notice or understand that, they’ll use their loudspeaker to angrily say something “the driver of the black Ford, plate 745, pull over immediately”.