Another Traffic Pwning :)

[PepperElf]

Just today I was in the minivan with Mom & Dad. Mom made an offhand comment that there were probably cops out on the road... not that it mattered much for Dad cos he tends to drive under the speed limit these days. The road in question is 4 lanes but narrows down to two, and it's apparently typical for drivers here to speed up so they can get ahead of the other drivers before it narrows. In fact we had already seen one driver pulled to the side by the cops.

Well, right afterwards, Dad sees a white mercedes zipping up on his left, the driver talking away on her cell phone. I look down the road and see a cop car with flashing lights behind some other car and comment, "Sure lady keep on speeding!" haha!

Well obviously she slowed down once she saw the cops too... but it was too late. She had already passed the unmarked radar car and the cops had radioed ahead to the pickup cars. I think I saw a line of about... maybe 4 or 5 cop cars down the road. One of them waited until she passed and instantly flicked on the lights and pulled out behind her. She was so busy talking away on her phone that it took her almost half a minute to realize the cop was there for her.

We drove on, chuckling.

[One-Fang]

Hahahah. Oh I wish I could have seen that lineup of cars just waiting to step out!

Closest I've got was one time we got stopped at a routine booze check one night, and just past the booze bus was a line of empty vehicles ... owners caught and keys confiscated! Delicious.

[CorDarei]

i have a small problem with this...

how fast was she going over the speedlimit? was she driving reckless (minus the cell phone)...


i think that cops do that kind of thing just as a revenue generator. I understand they need revenue, i guess i just don't like the way they go about it.

[UncleImpy]

i have a small problem with this...

how fast was she going over the speedlimit? was she driving reckless (minus the cell phone)...


i think that cops do that kind of thing just as a revenue generator. I understand they need revenue, i guess i just don't like the way they go about it.

So what if they do? If you drive faster than the speed limit, you're breaking the law. You have zero ground to stand on to gripe about them singling you out for it, really. I could have sympathy if it was a couple of miles over, but the OP noted that the speeder was going fast enough to be noticably speeding. That's not 1-2-3 mph/kph over.

Just because its a no-jail-time-just-pay-the-fine offense doesnt mean the cops cant spend time busting people for it. Besides, I am ALL FOR people that break the law being the ones to pay the policemen's salary

[Geek King]

Forget speeding, is there still states that don't have a driving-while-talking law? The cell phone is enough of a distraction to warrent the pull over. Together, speeding and cell phone, the chances of an accident increase quite a bit.

[blas]

There needs to be more police patrol around roads like that where I live. People constantly do that.....speed up instead of merging when the lane ends. And you know they've probably lived here for years and are well aware that that lane ends.

[SnarkyPie]

Forget speeding, is there still states that don't have a driving-while-talking law?

Some states have yet to implement that law. I know that NY and CT are "hands-free" states, but PA still allows it. I occasionally answer my phone when I'm driving if it might be important, but only when I'm on a straight road with low traffic. Even then, it'll only be to say, "I'm driving, I'll call you back when I'm not."

[DeltaSierra]

I've never been stopped for speed or seatbelt infractions (knock wood) but last week I was hearing sirens all over the place on the parkway just above my house. Couldn' t figure out what was going on until I had to head out to the store. They had set up a speed trap at one of the intersections which was notorious for speeders. I counted 8 squad cars, 3 cycles and 2 unmarked vans pulling people over to the side. It was crazy!

[EmiOfBrie]

Forget speeding, is there still states that don't have a driving-while-talking law? The cell phone is enough of a distraction to warrent the pull over. Together, speeding and cell phone, the chances of an accident increase quite a bit.

The problem with that is studies are being released that say that it's the conversation itself that's the distraction, and a few states have even disallowed hands-free systems because of it.

However, by that logic, wouldn't talking to your passengers be the same distraction?

[Chromatix]

The theory seems to be that (most) front-seat passengers know when to shut up and when to expect a delayed answer, ie. when an obvious hazard shows up. Your phone buddy can't see this and therefore doesn't. So you can interrupt your conversation to think about the traffic at the appropriate moments, but the phone would interrupt you straight back, whereas a passenger doesn't.

Front seat passengers can sometimes be useful too - they can, if suitably trained, look out for oncoming traffic on their side of the car. Particularly useful on a blind acute junction - there was a nasty one I knew about in Wales, where the main road had to give way to traffic coming from their rear offside. With a slate wall in the way. Also useful when driving on the right side of the road (as opposed to the correct side, which is the left).

But if you've got screaming kids in the back and *lean* around your seat to tell them off - while still moving! - that's just plain stupid. So is texting - you need to look at the tiny screen to know when you've typed the words right, and you just can't focus on the outside world at the same time.

Before anyone brings up an analogy with aircraft pilots and ther radios, let me head that one off. Pilots are trained and assessed for ability to handle the radio at the same time as flying. Also, when flying, hazards generally do not show up with only seconds' notice - and when they do, you damn well know about it.

[protege]

Yesterday, I got to see some idiot in a Jetta nearly pwn himself. As I'm driving to work, I like to keep up with traffic. Traffic usually moves around 60mph even though it's only a 45 zone. I'm in the left lane--there's a slow-moving truck in the right. Anyway, as I'm nearing the truck, some fool in a VW is coming up behind me. Fast. Not only does he flip his lights at me, oh no. He whips the car into the right lane, nearly rear-ends the car 2 lengths ahead of me (behind the truck), then he whips the car into my lane...and nearly rear-ends the car in front of me! He had to slam on (nearly locking) the brakes just to avoid wrecking. I was back far enough all I could do was go What was he in a hurry for? To get off at the next exit (which leaves the highway on the left)--I was still going at the same speed when I passed him. Was it really necessary to drive like a fucking idiot?

[Chromatix]

On Top Gear, James May described his experience with commuting into London for a fortnight. The first week, he drove "like you two do, with your trousers on fire". The second week, he "drove like a Christian", letting people in front of him, generally being a good road citizen.

He says that the second week, he got there at least as quickly as the first. Cue the other presenters' ...

He's since been given the nickname "Captain Slow".

[One-Fang]

Since? "Since"? He's been Captain Slow since pretty much the first series, hasn't he? I don't think it was related to anything you saw recently unless it was a re-run.

I have one thing to say to people who claim catching speeders is a revenue gathering exercise - stuff the bast@rds then - don't speed! Pretty danged easy to spoil that game for the cops! Hahaha.

[mattm04]

Hahahah. Oh I wish I could have seen that lineup of cars just waiting to step out!

Closest I've got was one time we got stopped at a routine booze check one night, and just past the booze bus was a line of empty vehicles ... owners caught and keys confiscated! Delicious.

we were heading on the the highway one night las winter and near the on roamp they had a DUI check point set up. A few cars back one driver decide he didn't want to be involved with said checkpoint. Te cops were prepared they had an unmarked car hiding on a side street a little ways back to get the people that did that.

[Greenday]

Some jerk driving behind me yesterday was tailgating me and was on her cell phone. Being on a cell phone is illegal in my state. I drove past TWO cops, both of who looked right at her...and kept driving on. I cannot say how annoyed at it.