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then why does the officer need to search/access the vehicle?

I never said anything about searching the vehicle. I want to get a look at what's in plain view and get the window down. I also check their registration, insurance and DL. If everything is in order then I usually cut them loose in less than a minute. We don't "toss" the vehicle during a stop. There's no need to do that.

...this stop sign is honestly in the weirdest place I've ever seen one.

Officer happens to be sitting there

I doubt if it was happenstance - every officer knows where those "weird" stop signs are. I can take you to plenty of them I know about and we could sit there for 10 minutes and watch dozens of cars run them. I don't usually write tickets for them - I primarily use them for PC to contact the driver and access the vehicle.