Q: May an officer require the driver and passengers to get out of the car, solely for safety reasons and without any individual reasonable suspicion of criminal activity?
A: Yes. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly and unequivocally held that officers may order the driver and any passengers to get out of the car until the traffic stop is over (Maryland v. Wilson, 519 U.S. 408 (1997); Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106 (1977) (per curiam)).
However, a handful of states have rejected the Mimms/Wilson rule on state constitutional grounds. For example, see Commonwealth v. Gonsalves (711 N.E.2d 108 (Mass. 1999), rejecting Mimms/Wilson); State v. Caron (586 A.2d 1127 (Vt. 1990), upholding exit order on the basis that police had reasonable suspicion that person stopped was armed and dangerous); and State v. Kim (711 P.2d 1291 (Haw. 1985), rejecting Mimms).