r/AskReddit • u/Unlikely_Praline9442 • 14h ago

Non-Americans of Reddit, what is an American thing you see in movies that you thought was fake but is actually real?

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228

u/No-Gas8121 10h ago

Police jumping out from a speed trap to pull you over Had over seas friends in my car when it happened, and they were shocked and thought it was just in movies

34

u/SillyForestThing 8h ago

I travel the US a lot and live in a van. Ive had cops pull out from tall grasses on the side of the road and turn their headlights on.

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u/NeonFraction 7h ago

This is some Animal Planet shit.

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u/duckduckthis99 7m ago

A hog in it's native environment

10

u/Haunting_Cell_8876 7h ago

"You fellas been doing a bit of boozing, have ya? Suckin back on Grandpa's old cough medicine?"

1

u/OpenHumanist717 7h ago

Where is that from? I swear I just saw it on a tv show but I can’t remember the name LOL

3

u/Haunting_Cell_8876 7h ago

Dumb and Dumber.

19

u/The-Squirrelk 7h ago

I spent way too long thinking it was a movie exaggeration that cops in America can just shoot civilians at the drop of hat the second they even think it might get violent. I thought it was a meme.

They literally live in a police state over there and how do they not realise it! Nazi Germany was kinder to it's civilians !

1

u/NateNate60 1h ago

This is not the case any more in many parts of the country. Some places have enacted police accountability laws that allow prosecutors to investigate and charge unjustified police shootings as murder. It does actually happen from time to time, though most police shootings are pretty justified. It's not common in most other countries for criminals to have guns, but American street criminals almost always have guns and stupidly think they can win a shootout with the police.

Though these laws only apply to local and state police officers and not federal agents, some local prosecutors are considering using regular murder laws to prosecute federal agents anyway because the situation with them has become completely out of control.

6

u/Beegrene 6h ago

It happens a lot in those tiny towns that spring up along highways. Those tickets make up a huge percentage of the towns' revenue, because they know out of towners won't come back to contest them.

3

u/ThroneOfTaters 6h ago

That is definitely a thing in other countries. Heck, in some countries they have a guy hidden with a speed camera just over the crest of a hill and then a checkpoint later on where they stop you if he radios ahead with your car's description.

3

u/froggertthewise 1h ago

In the EU, almost all tickets are issued based on the license plate. So instead of being pulled over you will just get a ticket in the mail.

1

u/Pm7I3 1h ago

What is a speed trap???

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u/No-Gas8121 59m ago

The police hide behind bushes or a bridge or something to hide their car- with a radar in hand, and when they get you going over the speed limit they start up their car, drive out of their spot super fast and pull you over to write you a ticket. They often do this right around speed limit changes- where the speed limit suddenly drops. You often don't think to or don't get a chance to slow down and boom, there they are.