Top 11 excuses male and female drivers give police when pulled over A women reverses her car into a creek from a car park off O'Connell st Nth Parramatta. The women was able to escape without injury unlike her car, resting upside down in the creek. Picture: Ross Schultz Source: Supplied DRIVERS' excuses probably have little bearing on whether they're ticketed when they're pulled over for speeding, running red lights or other infringements. But of course, that doesn't mean that drivers will ever stop offering alibis. The folks at Insurance.com in the US recently surveyed motorists about the excuses they've given police officers. And it produced some surprising results in terms of what drivers think will help them avoid getting a ticket. Here are that survey's top 11 responses, along with some helpful translations: I couldn't see the sign telling me not to do it. Translation: "If you'd cut back the trees, I'd have known this was a school zone!" I'm lost and unfamiliar with the roads. Translation: "Please, take pity on poor little me!" I didn't know it was broken. Translation: "Really, I've been meaning to get it fixed!" Everyone else was doing it. Translation: "Hey, why are you picking on me?" I'm having an emergency situation in my car. Translation: "Officer, I just spilled coffee in my lap, and it's VERY hot!" I missed my turn/exit. Translation: "Obviously, I need to get where I'm going, right?" I had to go to the bathroom. Translation: "Surely it's okay to zip through intersections when you have to pee?" I didn't do anything dangerous. Translation: "Hey, it's not like I was doing doughnuts on a pre-school lawn!" I was on my way to an emergency. Translation: "And my emergency is far more important than any emergencies I might've just caused!" My GPS said it was the right thing to do. Translation: "It was peer pressure, okay?" I'm just helping out; I wasn't even supposed to be driving. Translation: "Which would you prefer: me cruising five miles over the speed limit, or my drunk friend here ploughing through a red light?" To make things even more interesting - and contentious - surveyors kept track of respondents' gender, and we were surprised to see which was the top excuse favoured by men, and the top one for women. Any guesses? For women, 65 per cent blamed their bladders and went with "I had to go to the bathroom' - for men, a whopping 90 per cent shifted the blame, choosing "I'm just helping out; I wasn't even supposed to be driving." See the popularity of the other excuses at carsguide.com.au