No, I don't want to know how to fight it. Yes, I'm going to pay it.
Now that's out of the way, I'm actually genuinely curious as to the purpose of this law.
Some background:
I was meeting a friend in Boise, ID to trade a bunch of Insight parts(batteries, of course). About 3 hours away from my destination, the interstate was closed due to truck carrying hazardous material wrecking. A couple of people I talked to said it could be up to 8 hours before it was open again, so I got in touch with my friend and we just decided to cancel.
About 2 hours later, he calls me and says the highway has been re-opened. Kinda sucks, but we're still relatively close to eachother in the scheme of things.
After driving for about 8 hours, I had about 1/8 a tank left(~100-160mi range), but I was heading back up into the Blue Mountains and had to pee. I had driven 10-15mi when I decided to stop and get gas in the tiny little town of Arlington, OR. By this time I was somewhat frustrated and in a rush so I could get home at a decent time.
When I pulled back onto the highway, I accidently got onto the interstate going the wrong way(gotta love unfamiliar areas). Fuck this, I said - I'm not going to drive 10-15 miles back to the same exit I had used to turn around previous, wasting a good 20 minutes.
So I pulled over, waited until the coast was relatively clear(I would estimate a good 2mi of visbility in both directions, I was on a little hill), and pulled a U-turn across the highway median(gravel). I did note there were a group of oncoming cars approximately a mile away. There was a sign saying "Authorized use only" at this particular break in the grassy highway divider. There was a break about half a mile or so back that had no sign, but I missed it.
As I get up to cruising speed, I note the faint flicker of red and blue lights coming from a SUV in my rear view mirror. FML.
Officer was very nice, obviously a veteran. He even admitted to not liking to write tickets like this, but "he saw me do it". Yeah, just my luck - out in BFE, and there happens to be a cop in the next group of cars. 😉 $260 ticket. He said "Sorry" as he handed it to me.
So, can someone tell me what the purpose of an ordinance surrounding "Driving on a highway divider" is? ORS 811.430
I can't imagine it's much of a revenue generator, so there must be a legitimate reason.
If it's just simply because the maneuver is dangerous, I wish these things weren't so black and white. It was clear, sunny, and I had literally miles of visibility in both directions. While it certainly could be dangerous if you're a complete moron, it definitely was not in my case. What is the "Authorized use" that these gravel areas are so importantly reserved for? To give the police a place to sit and catch people speeding? Maybe that's it.
Common sense needs to be brought back to law enforcement. I see this in the same view as "No Tolerance" policies; we all know how well those work.
Now that's out of the way, I'm actually genuinely curious as to the purpose of this law.
Some background:
I was meeting a friend in Boise, ID to trade a bunch of Insight parts(batteries, of course). About 3 hours away from my destination, the interstate was closed due to truck carrying hazardous material wrecking. A couple of people I talked to said it could be up to 8 hours before it was open again, so I got in touch with my friend and we just decided to cancel.
About 2 hours later, he calls me and says the highway has been re-opened. Kinda sucks, but we're still relatively close to eachother in the scheme of things.
After driving for about 8 hours, I had about 1/8 a tank left(~100-160mi range), but I was heading back up into the Blue Mountains and had to pee. I had driven 10-15mi when I decided to stop and get gas in the tiny little town of Arlington, OR. By this time I was somewhat frustrated and in a rush so I could get home at a decent time.
When I pulled back onto the highway, I accidently got onto the interstate going the wrong way(gotta love unfamiliar areas). Fuck this, I said - I'm not going to drive 10-15 miles back to the same exit I had used to turn around previous, wasting a good 20 minutes.
So I pulled over, waited until the coast was relatively clear(I would estimate a good 2mi of visbility in both directions, I was on a little hill), and pulled a U-turn across the highway median(gravel). I did note there were a group of oncoming cars approximately a mile away. There was a sign saying "Authorized use only" at this particular break in the grassy highway divider. There was a break about half a mile or so back that had no sign, but I missed it.
As I get up to cruising speed, I note the faint flicker of red and blue lights coming from a SUV in my rear view mirror. FML.
Officer was very nice, obviously a veteran. He even admitted to not liking to write tickets like this, but "he saw me do it". Yeah, just my luck - out in BFE, and there happens to be a cop in the next group of cars. 😉 $260 ticket. He said "Sorry" as he handed it to me.
So, can someone tell me what the purpose of an ordinance surrounding "Driving on a highway divider" is? ORS 811.430
I can't imagine it's much of a revenue generator, so there must be a legitimate reason.
If it's just simply because the maneuver is dangerous, I wish these things weren't so black and white. It was clear, sunny, and I had literally miles of visibility in both directions. While it certainly could be dangerous if you're a complete moron, it definitely was not in my case. What is the "Authorized use" that these gravel areas are so importantly reserved for? To give the police a place to sit and catch people speeding? Maybe that's it.
Common sense needs to be brought back to law enforcement. I see this in the same view as "No Tolerance" policies; we all know how well those work.
Last edited:
