Poll: Catch 22 Traffic Law Question...

[acemcmac]

meh, sorry for the obvious inconsistencies.... and please stop laughing... I haven't slept yet.... would have to rethink some of this stuff to be more specific...

and yeah... slower traffic keep right... my bad... srry...

can I just please get some honest responses here? this is not an anti-cop post... I just have yet to hear what we SHOULD have done to avoid getting pulled over... specifically from the cops on the board <glares at MacBaine>

I practically aimed this right at you and bradruth

just want to know how to be a better law abiding citizen when you guys are actually watching...

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Originally posted by: acemcmac
we were doing 65, on the cruise control

Originally posted by: acemcmac
with one of my buddies, doing about 70

So in reality you were doing about 75, right?

No. Why would I lie here? I told you the whole story and left nothing out. Please do not put words in my mouth. That was exactly how it happened. Cruise control was on because a few traps already spooked us, we were locked at 70 in a VW Passat. If any car on the road today should have an accurate spedo, it should be that car.

AHH! AHH!

Your words, not mine

wtf are you talking about??? threshold to pull over is 8mph? cop was doing 65.... we could have paced him at 65... I don't really give a sh!t... I'm not picking bones about the speed... I want to know wtf the right thing to do was

you're being as anal and dodgy as the cop on the highway was. If you were the cop, what was the right thing for us to have done to have not crossed you???

 

[Drakkon]

the law in AZ that ANYTHING reguardless of lane choice or situation if you go over the speed limit it is considered "speeding" (worked in city court where i would process too many of these cases).
also cops (at least in my area) see it as a fun game to see who will be the first person to pass them when they are going like 2-3mph under the limit. I saw one one time being an ENTIRE three lanes to a halt pratically (bumper to bumper) from going 60 in a 65 zone and finally one guy gunned it ahead of him and immediately lights came on and guy was stopped.
In your case it probobly would have been best just to pace the cop and just stay along with him until your exit. Also cops are allowed to pace you at ANY distance, not just with radar. Thats what the lines on the street are for, they are specifically paced far enough apart so that a cop can count off and get a rough estimate of how fast you are going, so at any time, front or back, side by side, they can "clock" you. And finally, at least in az, some of the unmarked "speed trap" cars do have 360 degree radar monitoring.

 

[Pciber]

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Originally posted by: acemcmac
we were doing 65, on the cruise control

Originally posted by: acemcmac
with one of my buddies, doing about 70

So in reality you were doing about 75, right?

No. Why would I lie here? I told you the whole story and left nothing out. Please do not put words in my mouth. That was exactly how it happened. Cruise control was on because a few traps already spooked us, we were locked at 70 in a VW Passat. If any car on the road today should have an accurate spedo, it should be that car.

Soo... i'm getting confused. were you doing 65 or 70?

BTW, even if you are in the left passing lane, the speed limit is STILL the same. 65mph. The reason there is a passing lane, besides to double the capacity of the road, is to pass people going under the speedlimit.

in a situation like you were in, you should have just cruised at the speed limit, next to the cop if thats the case. Just ignore the car behind you, he is probably cruising at the speed limit if he saw the cop, anyway. If he wasnt, and was getting anxious about passing you, well then, decelerate, get behind the cop, let that guy pass the cop, let the cop pull him over.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Originally posted by: acemcmac
we were doing 65, on the cruise control

Originally posted by: acemcmac
with one of my buddies, doing about 70

So in reality you were doing about 75, right?

No. Why would I lie here? I told you the whole story and left nothing out. Please do not put words in my mouth. That was exactly how it happened. Cruise control was on because a few traps already spooked us, we were locked at 70 in a VW Passat. If any car on the road today should have an accurate spedo, it should be that car.

german cars have the least accurate speedometers. GM vehicles have the most.

German speedos are purposely set to read high because of the stiff penalties for manufacturers with speedos that read low. My car is off about 2-3mpg at 70mph.

 

[Amused]

Never pass a cop that is doing the speed limit. If he drops below the speed limit, pass him.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: Pciber

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Originally posted by: acemcmac
we were doing 65, on the cruise control

Originally posted by: acemcmac
with one of my buddies, doing about 70

So in reality you were doing about 75, right?

No. Why would I lie here? I told you the whole story and left nothing out. Please do not put words in my mouth. That was exactly how it happened. Cruise control was on because a few traps already spooked us, we were locked at 70 in a VW Passat. If any car on the road today should have an accurate spedo, it should be that car.

Soo... i'm getting confused. were you doing 65 or 70?

BTW, even if you are in the left passing lane, the speed limit is STILL the same. 65mph. The reason there is a passing lane, besides to double the capacity of the road, is to pass people going under the speedlimit.

in a situation like you were in, you should have just cruised at the speed limit, next to the cop if thats the case. Just ignore the car behind you, he is probably cruising at the speed limit if he saw the cop, anyway. If he wasnt, and was getting anxious about passing you, well then, decelerate, get behind the cop, let that guy pass the cop, let the cop pull him over.

70, but I assure you that it is irrelevant. The real question is which of the choices would have been less illegal. Failing to yeild to a motorist who clearly desires to pass you (pacing the cop), speeding up to get over to let him pass you or slowing down for any reason other than to avoid an iminent collision on a highway, unnecessarily risking a catastrophe.

 

[Pciber]

Originally posted by: Drakkon
Thats what the lines on the street are for, they are specifically paced far enough apart so that a cop can count off and get a rough estimate of how fast you are going.

thats funny, i always thought those lines were there so you knew which lane is yours.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: Pciber

Originally posted by: Drakkon
Thats what the lines on the street are for, they are specifically paced far enough apart so that a cop can count off and get a rough estimate of how fast you are going.

thats funny, i always thought those lines were there so you knew which lane is yours.

I think he's talking about the ones that run perpindicular to the lane lines... vascar it's called

 

[Pciber]

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: Pciber

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Originally posted by: acemcmac
we were doing 65, on the cruise control

Originally posted by: acemcmac
with one of my buddies, doing about 70

So in reality you were doing about 75, right?

No. Why would I lie here? I told you the whole story and left nothing out. Please do not put words in my mouth. That was exactly how it happened. Cruise control was on because a few traps already spooked us, we were locked at 70 in a VW Passat. If any car on the road today should have an accurate spedo, it should be that car.

Soo... i'm getting confused. were you doing 65 or 70?

BTW, even if you are in the left passing lane, the speed limit is STILL the same. 65mph. The reason there is a passing lane, besides to double the capacity of the road, is to pass people going under the speedlimit.

in a situation like you were in, you should have just cruised at the speed limit, next to the cop if thats the case. Just ignore the car behind you, he is probably cruising at the speed limit if he saw the cop, anyway. If he wasnt, and was getting anxious about passing you, well then, decelerate, get behind the cop, let that guy pass the cop, let the cop pull him over.

70, but I assure you that it is irrelevant. The real question is which of the choices would have been less illegal. Failing to yeild to a motorist who clearly desires to pass you (pacing the cop), speeding up to get over to let him pass you or slowing down for any reason other than to avoid an iminent collision on a highway, unnecessarily risking a catastrophe.

ok, let me spell it out for you.. if you are doing the speed limit, you are in the right, for this situation. eventually you or the cop would get past one another, due to slight speed differences, and you could get into the right lane. If you want to do it faster, decelerate. Now, this doesnt mean slamming onto the brakes and causing an accident, which wouldnt necesarily be your fault if the guy was following too closely, anyway, but let off of the gas and slowly decelerate.

 

[The Stigenator]

well i have had that situation in CA and not gotten pulled over.

Again the CHP can have moods. They can clock you going forward and backward (CHP and LAPD does that). Sometimes they only have one enabled though. Like if they are sitting on the side of the road they are clocking you with teh rear radar.

 

[Kelemvor]

Rule of Thumb: Never pass a cop while going over the speed limit. If it's 65 and you are going 65 and you begin to pass the cop, then keep going as you are doing nothing wrong. If you are doing 70 in a 65 and the cop is doing 65, then you should be doing 65. Let the other cars go by and they will get pulled over instead of you.

 

[Frosty3799]

Ahh good ol' New York... passed a law that unmarked cars can't pull you over for speeding

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: Drakkon
also cops (at least in my area) see it as a fun game to see who will be the first person to pass them when they are going like 2-3mph under the limit. I saw one one time being an ENTIRE three lanes to a halt pratically (bumper to bumper) from going 60 in a 65 zone and finally one guy gunned it ahead of him and immediately lights came on and guy was stopped.

Well that would be a fun case to win in court, since I never knew it was against the law to pass a cop while you are going the speed limit.

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Originally posted by: acemcmac
we were doing 65, on the cruise control

Originally posted by: acemcmac
with one of my buddies, doing about 70

So in reality you were doing about 75, right?

No. Why would I lie here? I told you the whole story and left nothing out. Please do not put words in my mouth. That was exactly how it happened. Cruise control was on because a few traps already spooked us, we were locked at 70 in a VW Passat. If any car on the road today should have an accurate spedo, it should be that car.

The Passat will actually be doing ~67 when the dial indicates 70. So that makes the cop even more of an a-hole.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: Lucky
"slow down, breaking the law by acting retarded in a passing lane.... "


Even if whatever state you were in had a law against staying in the left lane, it wouldn't matter if you are coming up to an off-ramp. So I'm not sure what law you would have been breaking.

On all highways between DC and NY that I've ever been on, signs say "left lane passing only, slower traffic keep left" and some go as far as to remind you that it's the law.... we had no idea how far up our ramp was anyway... turned out to be 15 miles, we just knew it would be on the left....

Well, if it was coming up soon, you'd have at least seen an "Exit <x> 1 mile ahead...1/2 mile ahead, etc."

1) Slow down
2) Get behind cop
3) Let faster driver speed past cop
4) Watch cop pull faster driver over
5) Laugh hysterically and take :camera:s

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: Triumph

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Originally posted by: acemcmac
we were doing 65, on the cruise control

Originally posted by: acemcmac
with one of my buddies, doing about 70

So in reality you were doing about 75, right?

No. Why would I lie here? I told you the whole story and left nothing out. Please do not put words in my mouth. That was exactly how it happened. Cruise control was on because a few traps already spooked us, we were locked at 70 in a VW Passat. If any car on the road today should have an accurate spedo, it should be that car.

The Passat will actually be doing ~67 when the dial indicates 70. So that makes the cop even more of an a-hole.

he went down the whole routine... wanted to know if we had been drinking (my mardigras beads which I'm sure he saw me wearing as we drove past lent him to profiling?)

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
he went down the whole routine... wanted to know if we had been drinking (my mardigras beads which I'm sure he saw me wearing as we drove past lent him to profiling?)

Well there you have it. College-aged kids driving at 4 a.m. He didn't need an excuse to profile you, you gave him the opportunity to pull you over by speeding. It sucks that you have to get pulled over for doing something relatively harmless, but it also sucks when drunks kill people. Simple solution is don't give the cop any reason to pull you over.

 

[TTM77]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
meh, sorry for the obvious inconsistencies.... and please stop laughing... I haven't slept yet.... would have to rethink some of this stuff to be more specific...

and yeah... slower traffic keep right... my bad... srry...

can I just please get some honest responses here? this is not an anti-cop post... I just have yet to hear what we SHOULD have done to avoid getting pulled over... specifically from the cops on the board <glares at MacBaine>

I practically aimed this right at you and bradruth

just want to know how to be a better law abiding citizen when you guys are actually watching...

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Originally posted by: acemcmac
we were doing 65, on the cruise control

Originally posted by: acemcmac
with one of my buddies, doing about 70

So in reality you were doing about 75, right?

No. Why would I lie here? I told you the whole story and left nothing out. Please do not put words in my mouth. That was exactly how it happened. Cruise control was on because a few traps already spooked us, we were locked at 70 in a VW Passat. If any car on the road today should have an accurate spedo, it should be that car.

AHH! AHH!

Your words, not mine

wtf are you talking about??? threshold to pull over is 8mph? cop was doing 65.... we could have paced him at 65... I don't really give a sh!t... I'm not picking bones about the speed... I want to know wtf the right thing to do was

you're being as anal and dodgy as the cop on the highway was. If you were the cop, what was the right thing for us to have done to have not crossed you???

Usually I go 75 on 65 road when I want to be safe. Here the judge would let you go for around 10 over speed limit. And 65 in 55. But usually I go around 70 to 90 on roads I travel every day and still I keep a close watch out. Yes, I am a speeder and don't want to spend my life on the road. Only got accident once in parking lot doing about 15mph hitting a F*cking hispanic dude who can't even speak english.

I do believe cops can turn their radar back or some even have them in the back to catch speeder. I was doing 80 in 55 once and almost got my license surspended. The judge let me go with $100 fine and a load of points made my insurance extremely happy.

Now if I speed, I'll do it in the middle lane. If only 2 lanes then do about 10mph over speed limit.

For your delima.. try this lesson.. COP always right. Unless you want to fight it then goodluck to you. I don't have the time or $$ to fight them. If you see a cop behind you, slowly pull to the right and respect him. If a cop doing speed limit, do understand that he want a raise and will catch any1 doing over. Most unmarks don't want to waste their time catching speeders, but do respect them and slow down. I passed cops before, and was very careful that it's safe to do. I have seen cop doing 55mph and would let ppl go 60s pass him. All I can say is BE SAFE THEN BE SORRY.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: acemcmac
he went down the whole routine... wanted to know if we had been drinking (my mardigras beads which I'm sure he saw me wearing as we drove past lent him to profiling?)

Well there you have it. College-aged kids driving at 4 a.m. He didn't need an excuse to profile you, you gave him the opportunity to pull you over by speeding. It sucks that you have to get pulled over for doing something relatively harmless, but it also sucks when drunks kill people. Simple solution is don't give the cop any reason to pull you over.

you have a better idea for how to leave a superbowl party and get to work at 8am, 400 miles away?

I don't see the speeding as the problem... that was just a byproduct of the A B or C choice we made.... wouldn't they have all been equally wrong?

 

[Jack Ryan]

If you really were in the left lane for an exit then you should have just rode along side and gotten off your exit

 

[Jzero]

What road was this? I am unaware of any 65MPH roads in the Philly area.

Anyway, you should have dropped speed, let the car pass, and then if you honestly believed the exit ramp was coming up quick, gotten back in the left lane.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: Jzero
What road was this? I am unaware of any 65MPH roads in the Philly area.

Anyway, you should have dropped speed, let the car pass, and then if you honestly believed the exit ramp was coming up quick, gotten back in the left lane.

heading towards washington dc, as posted earlier

and yes, I95 south of philly is DEFINITLEY a 65 road... as is I295, I495 (DE), the turnpike and 202 around the turnpike. I could think of more. Try again.

 

[Rogue]

Don't know how it is elsewhere and someone already mentioned it, but so far it seems to be ignored.

You CANNOT go over the speed limit to pass someone! It's a common misconception that you can exceed the speed limit for a short period to do so, however, in most states you can't do it. Passing is intended only when a vehicle is going slower than the posted speed limit. Then, and only then, can you accelerate up to the POSTED SPEED LIMIT to pass.

Example: large truck is going 55mph in a 65mph zone due to a large load that's he's hauling. You may pass him, but you may only go 65mph or less to do so.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: Jzero
What road was this? I am unaware of any 65MPH roads in the Philly area.

Anyway, you should have dropped speed, let the car pass, and then if you honestly believed the exit ramp was coming up quick, gotten back in the left lane.

heading towards washington dc, as posted earlier

and yes, I95 south of philly is DEFINITLEY a 65 road... as is I295, I495 (DE), the turnpike and 202 around the turnpike. I could think of more. Try again.

202 in KOP is not 65 and to the best of my knowledge it is 55 or less all the way down to West Chester. Maybe it goes up after that, but I never ride it any farther. I guess I don't consider that far south of the city to be the Philly area when it comes to driving, nor do I consider DE or NJ.

Nonetheless, in all your smugness you discounted the solution, which was to slow down, let the other car pass, get back over. It's not illegal to go below the speed limit, and it is also not illegal to get out of the way when someone is overtaking you.

 

[Linflas]

I would rather go to court and explain that I slowed to move right and allow a tailgater to pass me than explain that I sped up to get in front of a car to move right to allow a tailgater to pass. I would be willing to bet that had you slowed down and dropped in behind the cop you would not have been stopped unless you did it so abruptly that the cop took notice of what you were doing.