Sam really deserved the ticket (Season 1) when he pulled over with Aunt Bee in Mt Pilot. I normally don't hit rewind when watching an episode for the first time, but I was curious to see what the officer saw before the Mt Pilot officer pulled Sam over.

What was I observed was the red taillights indicating an application of the brakes being applied~ Sam actually did a rolling stop vs a complete stop. Since this was shot on the 40 acres lot, it was the road which leads to the train depot. I couldn't tell if there was a stop sign or a yield sign. However, my point is that Sam's taillights were visible and lit up.

Sam receives a ticket for failing to signal. Of course, Aunt Bee makes a ruckus about the officer being wrong and Sam is unsure as to whether he signaled or not. Sam just wants to pay the 5 dollar fine, but Aunt Bee is beyond stubborn. They go to court with an expert witness, Goober. In the end, Sam pays the fine.

It concludes that the time of day, the officer wouldn't have seen the turn signal applied despite the viewer seeing the red taillights of applied brakes. I'm pretty sure that Sam forgot to use his turn signal.

The turn signal had just been seen previously in daylight when Sam tested it. That Sam showed it to the judge at the same exact time of the ticket at the very same location was pretty lame. The signal not seen by the judge was obviously because it was turned off by the crew not the sun. I remember seeing it as a kid and even back then thinking how stupid it was.