Instant Karma - Just add time.

[ApolloSZ]

This was brilliant.

So. Easter weekend. Traffic, naturally, is busier. I'm heading north to see family for lunch. This particular passing lane is very long. I'm in the right lane passing, and I see this raging moron race up behind me (most definitely speeding). Sits right on my bumper, and the minute a space opens on the left he swings left and floors it, passing on the inside about 120kmhs minimum. I see him weaving left and right, speeding etc, till he is out of sight.


Until the end of the next town, where he is parked up with a cop car behind him, and the cop reading him the riot act. Oh I laughed hard and long as I passed him. Hopefully it was a hefty fine, seeing as he had been caught after going through the town, which is fairly busy and often has quite a few pedestrians any day, let alone a holiday.

[Crossbow]

Isn't it nice to see that? I got to see that happen to a semi driver that narly blew my friends and I off the road, and we were going significantly over the posted speed. Apparently he preetty much did blow the cop off the road.

I really felt like calling his dispatcher and telling them he was going to be late to his stop...

[PepperElf]

mom once had a guy do that. on her bumper to the point where i think he made contact IIRC. oh and he passed her in a "no-passing" area.

she saw him again, a little ways down the road... pulled to the side with a cop car behind him.

[blas]

This is one of my favorite things about people from Minnesota and Illinois coming over here and trying to bully everyone else on the road with their "must go 80 mph at all times or my car will blow up!" attitudes.

Once they get off the main interstate and onto the highways that go to our smaller Wisconsin farming towns, cops are more than happy to let them know that we don't drive like that here.

It sure felt good, two weeks ago when I had to drop my parents off at a train station in Redwing, I was driving home on 94 and everyone was screaming around me when I was already going nearly 75, once we got back into my familiar territory, state patrol had a bunch of blue license plate drivers pulled over

[Talasar]

My favorite thing to do to people that drive like that is to is to find someone going at or below the speed limit and match their speed while their behind me. It never fails to amuse.

[EricKei]

On the flip side, I've met the occasional cop (in friendly, non-driving circumstances) who will go after the guy who is "only" doing the limit if everyone else is going 20mph over x.x Usually on the pretense that they're creating a hazard (!), but mainly because they're easier to catch and MUCH more likely to pull over.

I can understand this if someone was doing 20 UNDER the limit >_> That's a hazard...

[PepperElf]

My favorite thing to do to people that drive like that is to is to find someone going at or below the speed limit and match their speed while their behind me. It never fails to amuse.

Indeed - usually the trucks cos they often don't drive the full limit. Cos.... even if you weren't there, the vehicle ahead of you would still be going that speed anyway, right?

[Ophbalance]

On the flip side, I've met the occasional cop (in friendly, non-driving circumstances) who will go after the guy who is "only" doing the limit if everyone else is going 20mph over x.x Usually on the pretense that they're creating a hazard (!), but mainly because they're easier to catch and MUCH more likely to pull over.

I can understand this if someone was doing 20 UNDER the limit >_> That's a hazard...

That's not even remotely legal. And if they went to court, it'd be thrown out in a heartbeat. You cannot be forced into breaking the law just because everyone else is doing it.

EDIT: after thinking on this a bit, there is one way were it would be possible for this to happen. If you're on a multi-lane highway in anything but the right most lane, you're supposed to move over for traffic coming up behind you. Some states have laws that allow for fines for not following this rule.

[EricKei]

Oph -- Exactly. (in the US) If you're doing 10 under the limit in the far left/passing lane -- which is *technically* only supposed to be used for passing and nothing else, any cop that comes along will either get on the loudspeaker and tell you to move to another lane or just pull you over on the spot. The cops' justification for the really slow people in the case I mentioned is that, even in the far-right lane, someone doing 35 on a 75mph freeway really would be presenting a safety hazard; as for ticketing them for doing the limit...I'm not saying I agree, buuuuuuuuut this is neither the time nor place for debates of that nature ^_^ That's why we have our sister site, fratching.com

[mathnerd]

What amazes me the most about the OP is that somebody got a ticket for illegally parking in a handicapped spot. I've been forced to delay my errands more than once because all the handicap parking was full, with half of those cars failing to display a permit. Nobody around here will ticket those people. For me it's not a matter of needing a closer spot, but having enough room to get my son in and out of his chair. Regular spaces don't provide enough room for that.

[Ophbalance]

someone doing 35 on a 75mph freeway really would be presenting a safety hazard; as for ticketing them for doing the limit...I'm not saying I agree, buuuuuuuuut this is neither the time nor place for debates of that nature ^_^ That's why we have our sister site, fratching.com

That is likely a ticket-able offense as most streets (in the US at least) have a minimum speed limit. It's not usually posted, but it's typically 10-25 MPH lower than the maximum limit (which is what is posted on the signs). At least here in NC, 45 MPH is the minimum for a PSL 65 MPH.

I just personally look forward to the fight should I ever be pulled over for driving within the law someday . I doubt it will happen, but you never know.

[EricKei]

This does remind me of one of the speed traps near my old house (used to sling pizzas for a living...The first thing you learn is the map; the second is where all of the speed traps are, and when) -- The speed limit on the entire street (from <main drag> up to the lakefront) was 35mph. In one 6-block stretch of it (only), you could see people getting pulled over for doing 37mph. Everyone who used this road regularly drove exactly 34 whenever possible

[AccountingDrone]

On the flip side, I've met the occasional cop (in friendly, non-driving circumstances) who will go after the guy who is "only" doing the limit if everyone else is going 20mph over x.x Usually on the pretense that they're creating a hazard (!), but mainly because they're easier to catch and MUCH more likely to pull over.

I can understand this if someone was doing 20 UNDER the limit >_> That's a hazard...

MAy I point out *my* bugbear?

It is *speed limit* NOT *required speed*. It is legal to drive up to [down to?] a certain speed UNDER the LIMIT. If I bloody well want to drive 45 in a 55, I am legally given the right to in most districts of the US, and you can bloody well piss off. Pushing people to drive *over* the speed limit is actually illegal as you are effectively forcing someone to break the law. [And as a corollary to the minimum speed is that you have to turn on your hazard lights if you are going to be driving under the limit by the specifies amount. So I can in fact drive 5 MPH in a 55 as long as I have the hazard lights on. So bite me .... ]

Why yes I get pissy if people flip me off for following the law. I almost always actually drive according to the law if you may like to know.

[mathnerd]

MAy I point out *my* bugbear?

It is *speed limit* NOT *required speed*. It is legal to drive up to [down to?] a certain speed UNDER the LIMIT. If I bloody well want to drive 45 in a 55, I am legally given the right to in most districts of the US, and you can bloody well piss off. Pushing people to drive *over* the speed limit is actually illegal as you are effectively forcing someone to break the law. [And as a corollary to the minimum speed is that you have to turn on your hazard lights if you are going to be driving under the limit by the specifies amount. So I can in fact drive 5 MPH in a 55 as long as I have the hazard lights on. So bite me .... ]

Why yes I get pissy if people flip me off for following the law. I almost always actually drive according to the law if you may like to know.

I live as far out in the "country" as you can get in my county, which is far better known as a party city. We do have an agricultural area, and I live in the middle of it. Anyway, anybody who's upset about slow drivers best not drive out here, because getting caught behind farm tractors or small tractors pulling "plant trains" (5-10 flat bed carts full of potted plants being pulled by a single small tractor) is an every day occurance.

[Ophbalance]

MAy I point out *my* bugbear?

It is *speed limit* NOT *required speed*.

I'll second that. We all tend to collectively forget (outside of driver's ed) that LIMIT implies RANGE. A starting and ending point. The maximum being what's posted, and not really a goal.