Are they allowed to pull me over for this?

The burden of proof needed for a traffic stop is "reasonable suspicion". This is defined as anything that would cause an officer to suspect there may be a violation of the law. It doesn't even have to be correct, it just has to be reasonable. Going left of center, regardless of the reason, is a violation. Chances are, he never saw the animal so he was not aware why you swerved.

It is common for drunks to hold their breath and breath as shallow as possible to avoid detection. Officers will make conversation to force you to talk, which forces you to breathe.

As far as it being 4:00am, there are less cars on the road, so the officer will pay more attention to the cars that he does see. It is not profiling, it is just the officers has less to look at.

Emily, Katia and Anonymous PLEASE do not answer questions you have no knowledge about, your answers are TOTALLY wrong in every sense

Now to your question, ABSOLUTELY the stop was legal, and I am betting you were the only one to see the ground hog as well.

The state trooper has police authority state wide so he can follow you from border to border if he wants to and it is perfectly legal

It is 04:00 in the morning, that peaks my interest when I see a car just sort of driving around at 4:00

You swerved, ever think he was concerned about you being awake enough to drive?

And if he was looking for drunks, why is that bad? It could save your life in the future

Profiling, ah yes the catch all word for you making a mistake and somehow trying to blame the police officer for you getting caught

You did cross the yellow line and that is a traffic violation

Your car is full of people, that peaks an officers interest at 4:00 in the morning as that is not normal most the time

And asking if you have been drinking is not an accusation that is a standard routine question, same as asking if you have a drugs in the car or weapons, those are questions that can be asked LEGALLY.

So yes the stop was legal, if you got a ticket for driving over the yellow line that ticket is valid as well

You swerved across the yelloe line. Of course it was a good reason to pull you over. If another car was coming you both could have been killed becasue you wanted to save a groundhog. You could have wiped out a family of 5 for the sake of a groundhog. You are not a safe or thoughtful driver. I have taught my children that when an animal appears in front of your carand you don;t have tiome to check all sides and behind you you break gently to give them a fighting chance but never swerve. Human life and the value of your vehicle are always worth more than an anaimals life. I hope the cop gave you a ticket so this lesson would be impressed upon you. Don't swerve for groundhogs. If they don't know how to cross a street that their own look out. Survival of the fittest.

There is no limit on following a driver. I think some self important people feel they are being followed by the police when in real life they are driving on the same highway as the highway patrol in the same direction.

You committed the crime of weaving - which is crossing the lane line. The officer could have issued you a ticket for $200 and 4 points.

There are three thresholds for police to make a traffic stop. The lowest threshold is called reasonable suspicion. Reasonable suspicion is more than a hunch that the person committed or is committing a crime. Probable Cause is when the officer is 51% sure that you committed a crime and the traffic stop is to get more evidence. Finally, as in your scenario, you blatantly commit a crime right in front of the officer. He can pull you over and issue a ticket based solely on his observation of you breaking the law.

It is good that you bring up the deer scenario. In my state the state police actually have a advertising campaign at certain times of the year that drivers SHOULD hit the deer. Hundreds of people are killed every year when drivers swerve (to save a few dollars on their car) into oncoming traffic or into ditches. It is important that you develop good habits by obeying the law - even at 4am - so when the surprise deer jumps in front of you - you won't react wrong and kill yourself or someone else.

It is common, after 10pm, that officers have a heightened awareness of alcohol and drug impaired drivers. This is especially true of holiday weekends.

Well it is technically a traffic violation, and cops can pull you over pretty much whenever they want and then say in the paperwork you were "driving suspiciously" or some other bull.

What dud they give you for it? If you got a fine or something then you can appeal it but then you've got to somehow prove that you swerved to miss the animal

No it wasn't!!! If you passed an alcohol test swerving to avoid hitting a poor helpless groundhog shouldn't get you in trouble!!

well i dont know about where you live, maybe the laws different, but here u can only be followed for like a few blocks i think.. unless they "just happened" to be goin the same direction as u, then they can pull u over for anything if they have reason to.. (i think)

no that is not valid, if you write to them and youve had no offences in the past, they my be able to by-pass it