I gotta ask myself.. is this about harassment .. or is it about encounters?

If you say you are going 71 in a 70.. Yes, that in itself is BS. But let's consider the circumstances. You know the limit is 70 and you see 2 marked vehicles cruising together going 70... so you decide to push it and pass them at 71. Now, say what you want..but you are pushing your point AND you are violating the limit. You know it. They know it. Everyone holding back behind them watching the parade knows it. Had they wanted, they had every right to ticket you fair and square. Think about it before you respond. Weren't YOU pushing it with them to prove a point here? Do you really think you could have gone to court proving that you were doing 71mph in a 70 and .... you really don't think the judge wouldn't have blinked an eye before he found you guilty?

If you wanna prove your point you should be prepared to pay a price. All you got was a warning and you were....lucky. Sorry, this could have cost you time, money, and points. By passing them you make a point of what you did...and they let you off with merely a stop. You got off... easy. I could tell you some tales but I just want to put this in it's proper perspective. I hope you consider this, as if you do this with any regularity, I guarantee that you will see different results. [Most cops I know would declare that you failed "the attitude test" and would relish meeting you in court after they give you a ticket for the speed, then check you and your vehicle for every other possible violation they could write up. "A man's gotta know his limitations."]
:->
JR

 

In I were in John's situation, when the cop asked me why I passed them, I would have said that it's because it's more dangerous when people bunch up on the highway. The likelihood of an accident goes up when one is in close proximity to others and that it's safer if the traffic spreads out. The cops should have looked in their rear view mirror and seen the convoy they were creating.

I would also have asked them when the last time was they had their speedometer calibrated. Due to speedometer error, they could easily have been going below the speed limit.

It was total BS for them to pull John over. It clearly sounds like power trip thing.

 

And, how do I know what speed they were going? The DPS in Texas is known for going slower than the speed limit, sometimes as slow as 50mph and hanging in the left lane so they can turn around quick to nail the opposite traveling people. I'm over it, but it just ticks me off. A crawling-walking speed overtake could literally be a tire inflation differential. I had no clue they were going 70 until he told me... (Unless you think I was able to read their speedometer in their cars!)

John

 

next time just call them "traveling meter maids"

 

To serve and protect.
Not create a revenue stream.

I am pro police. They have a horrible job dealing with the dregs of society. I am anti-convoy creating 1mph differential passing and pull-over.

The key should be the flow of traffic. If they are creating an artificial choke of the flow, they are doing more damage than good.

 

this all sounds great to ,i lost my keys today and can't pass anyone !!!!

 

One of the reasons I like living in Canada. Our cops are a bit on the 'relaxed' side compared to the 'boys down South'. I've never passed them to make a point, but if they're doing 60mph in a 60 zone, and the normal flow of traffic is 65, I'll ease past them and all I've ever gotten is a thumbs-up! A judge would laugh them out of court for such a small variance without mitigating factors (bad weather, heavy traffic, etc.). But as you get faster than that, they're paid to become even more ****. I had one yell at me that changing lanes above 65mph was dangerous. I told him if that was the case than he'd better turn in his license. I think he actually thought about it after I said that. But I don't care what speed they're going, it's what speed I'M going, which is usually 'reasonable and prudent'.

But our cops are starting to go more US-style in that they're revenue generators. I have a court date next month because I was tagged doing 80kph in a 50 zone RIGHT at the sign. It's 1/4 mile away from a toll booth, on a 4-lane highway (2 going one-way). The truck in the slow lane jumped on his brakes (must have picked up the speed trap) causing a merging car behind him and everyone else to panic-stop. I just stayed the same speed to safely allow the traffic someplace to go. If they value revenue over safety, I'll be found guilty. There'll just be a lot more accidents when I start obeying EVERY traffic law to the letter.

I've fought these before, though. A judge once told me he thought what I did WAS safe, but it would set a bad precedent if he found me innocent. Usually the end question was, "Were you above the posted limit?" If the answer is 'yes', then they have you.

 

lots of drivers in my town will flash head on drivers to let them know that there is a trap. I have seen motorcyclists do the wirly bird signal with their hands for the same reason. It worked several times. Crime is on the rise and we have cops pulling over law abiding citizens for going safely over the posted speed limits, instead of going and keeping the community safe. "To serve and To protect" ? right?

 

Had 2 separate incidents today. Around 4PM, on my way home and came to a stop at a light. Felt someone looking at me. Turned my head to the right and see a teen in a Toyota Camry yelling something. Rolled down my window and he instructed, "Rev your engine, I want to see how the Turbo sounds." I informed him that I am running stock exhaust at the moment and you can't really hear anything. Light turns green and I thought that was the end of it. The guy proceeded to pace me for the next 4 blocks. As in, if I slow down, he slows down, and if I speed up gradually, he would do the same so he stays side by side with me. We catch another traffic light with cars in front of both of us. "Let's run," he instructed again. Keep in mind that it is Monday afternoon in SoCal. Run where? I told him traffic is too heavy. To which he sneered, "Not like you are driving a GTR." I didn't know how to respond to that. I was trying to be polite the whole time and this kid now thinks that I am too good to race him.

Around 10PM, heading home from the gym, a late model Chevy sedan with about 5 teenagers crammed inside pulls alongside me. 2 or 3 of them were yelling something and gesturing to me at the same time. I was doing about 50 (in a 50 zone) and with them talking over each other, I couldn't make out what they were saying. I just smiled and tried to go my way. Like the kid from earlier today, they started pacing me. I actually had to pull away from them (not difficult when its a Turbo vs. a Chevy sedan with 5 passengers) as I didn't like the idea of 5 kids following me home late at night and/or know where I live.

I am going to sound old here, but when I was their age, when I see a nice car, I just say to myself I'll one day own one, perhaps give the owner a thumbs up if he/she happens to look my way, not follow the owner all over town trying to instigate pointless races and be a nuisance. Kids these days...

 

stupidity is not limited by age my friend, i have had several of the same type of encounters and all the instigators have been older than me.

One day in college I had taken a nice trip through new paltz and up into the mountains with a buddy of mine, kind of the get lost in the afternoon just driving, I pulled into a shanty looking gas station to try to figure out where I was and felt as if i Was in the deep south. The locals were gawking at my M3 as if they had just seen a Ferrari or something crazy super rare, my m3 was nice but nothing super car like about it. they said, "it looks fast, how fast is it" and other derogatory things as well. Just smiled and walked away.

When i was gassing up the m3 one afternoon another 'hater' or ***** said to me, "ooo daddy let you take out his car today?", I just simply smiled and responded, "No this is mine, you should see what my father drives", at this point he became irate and agitated I simply said, get an education and better job so you can achieve more in life and got in the car and drove away. About 3 minutes later I see the guy in my rear on my ***, one downshift down a straight road and I never saw him again.

 

There are a lot people that have nothing better to do, my very young daughter always wants to know why everybody always looks at us and why the little cars with fart cans always want to race us? I just reply to her "I must look like Mario Andretti"

 

Thats funny, is her next question who is mario andretti? or have you taught her the ways of the force already

 

For me it's kids in winged Eclipse's riding my bumper. I pull over and let them by, then they go much slower than we were going before...

 

It's funny, she knows the different types of racing, Nascar, Indy, GT, etc, when I do occassionly jump on the throttle with her in the car she says "blowing the carbon out again dad?" knowing she has no idea what I'm refering to

 

How are you enjoying your new steering wheel, big difference driving? more comfortable? looks sharp