Laws govern how we drive and dictate the penalties for failure to follow the rules. Though we all agree those laws are necessary to protect us from the irresponsible actions of others, we hate to see them applied to us. These legends speak to our desire to outrun John Law, either by escaping his clutches at a traffic stop or by beating the system through a technicality or clever ruse.

A second class of "highway laws" legends addresses beliefs that some very strange statutes are hidden deep in the books.

Slightly overpaying the fine for a traffic ticket will keep points off your driving record.

Hit-and-run driver leaves dishonest note on damaged car's windshield.

Drunk driver mistakenly attempts to flee from cop by taking his police car.

Sober patron staggers out of bar at closing time to lure police away from his drunken friends.

Motorist caught speeding by photo radar pays fine with picture of money; police send him photo of handcuffs in return.

Man whose personalized plate reads NO PLATE receives thousands of parking tickets.

You can avoid paying for domestic traffic tickets by obtaining an IDL (International Driver's License).*

A mail truck has the right of way over emergency vehicles.

American interstates were designed to be used as emergency airstrips in case of war.

Drug runner evades detection by driving a fast black car while wearing night vision goggles.

A driver must surrender his vehicle to a policeman who requests its use in order to chase a fleeing suspect.

U.S. interstates are numbered according to a pattern based on their direction and location.

Sucking on a penny will help someone who has been drinking defeat a breathalyzer test.

Mrs. James Brown once tried to beat traffic charges by claiming she was entitled to diplomatic immunity for being married to the "ambassador of soul."

Youths shoot a patrol car parked as a "speeder deterrent" on the one day it contains a real cop.

The man who penned the first traffic laws never drove a car himself.

Pranksters affix license plate stolen from a speed trap camera van to their vehicle and drive through trap, resulting in unit's issuing tickets to itself.

Quick-thinking cop has a bit of fun with a drunk stuck in the snow by pretending to run alongside his car.

Flashing your car's high beams at a traffic signal will cause it to change from red to green more quickly.

Placing tinfoil in your car's hubcaps or hanging a CD from your rear-view mirror will fool police radar.

Pregnant woman tries to beat carpool lane ticket by asserting her fetus counts as a second person.

Red cars receive more speeding tickets than do vehicles of other colors.

New York will be embedding strips in vehicle registration stickers in order to catch speeders.

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