A primary traffic offense, put simply, is a violation that allows police to make a traffic stop. Secondary traffic violations, on the other hand, don’t give police the authority to pull you over. Keep reading for details on how police enforce the different types of violations and examples of each.
Traffic Stops and Constitutional Protections
It’s generally illegal for police to pull a vehicle over without reason to believe the driver or someone in the vehicle has broken the law. In legal terms, the officer must have “reasonable suspicion” of a crime or traffic violation to justify a traffic stop.
The reasonable suspicion requirement aims to protect motorists’ constitutional rights to privacy and to guard against unwarranted police intrusions. The concern is that, without these protections, law-abiding drivers could be subject to groundless detention and harassment by law enforcement.
State Laws Give Drivers Additional Protections
By designating traffic offenses as primary and secondary violations, states have extended the rights of drivers beyond what the constitution requires. In essence, whereas a police stop for a secondary violation wouldn’t violate the constitutional rights of the driver, the secondary-violation stop would be illegal under state law.
So, to ticket a driver for a secondary violation, the officer generally must have stopped the driver for a primary violation. For example, suppose seatbelt violations are secondary offenses in a given state. Police in this state couldn’t pull someone over just based on someone in the vehicle not wearing a seatbelt. However, if police stop a vehicle for speeding (which is a primary violation) and notice the driver isn’t wearing a seatbelt, the officer could issue a ticket for speeding and the secondary seatbelt violation.
Primary Traffic Offenses
The majority of traffic violations are primary offenses. State classification systems differ, but common primary offenses include:
- speeding
- running a red light
- running a stop sign
- tailgating, and
- driving under the influence (DUI).
It is also possible for a primary traffic violation stop to be extended due to other suspicious activity. For example, a driver stopped for speeding may later be arrested for DUI if the officer notices the odor of alcohol, slurred speech, and bloodshot eyes.
Secondary Traffic Offenses
Secondary traffic offenses are generally considered less serious than primary offenses. Common examples of primary offenses include:
- distracted driving (texting and cellphone violations)
- adult seatbelt violations (child restraint violations are primary offenses in many states), and
- defective equipment (like a cracked windshield or broken taillight)
However, again, each state gets to decide how to categorize traffic offenses. So, what might be a secondary offense in one state could be a primary offense in another state.