Crazy driving laws in your state or country

True in at least NC and SC. I don't see anything crazy about it, though. Most cars, except for the cops, seem to comply.

That's for dummies who don't know you must turn on your lights on in bad weather, which in pa both rules apply. I still see people driving with no lights, bad weather, windshield wipers on. The problem, I sometimes forget myself, because I have Chevys. But, I need to also turn on marker lights. Trouble is, sometimes I clean my windshield going down the road, but the weather is fine.

Greg

Chp never used radar when I was there. They were out looking for trouble on the highways, what their supposed to be doing, not setting on the side of the road.

Greg

Actually, this is not a bad idea, since headlights greatly improve your visibility in reduced-visibility conditions (rain, snow, etc.)

It is just as important to be seen as it is to see other traffic.

wow, that must have been the golden age. not so now. here in the bay area, they openly sit about at the side of the road with shiny new laser detectors merrily "raising revenue"* for cash-strapped cities and counties as hard as they can go. they even fly about in choppers lasering you too.

it's much easier than doing the dirty dangerous stuff like policing the streets of oaktown where the murder rate is currently averaging two per week.

• i really have a problem with this revenue generation policy. apart from the illegality, if you do the math, it's bullshit financially too. let's say a ticket is 0. it takes 20 minutes for the officer to stop you, give you the mandatory slow time "cool off", write the ticket, and give you the lecture before you're on your way. then he needs to get back into his hidey hole before he can go do it again. so let's say he writes two tickets per hour for 0 per hour.

each vehicular officer costs say $150k per year. that's roughly $78 per hour. their overhead in terms of hardware and admin is roughly 3x that for $234 per hour. now add the court costs, and ticket processing. at least $50 per hour for the no contests. multiply that to at least 10x for the contested ones which must be at least 5% of the overhead. now, add in the costs of the chopper guys, the freeway cameras, the on-road speed detector loops, etc. pretty soon, your $500 per hour is costing quite a bit more to collect than they're actually writing.

the whole thing is bullshit and completely misguided.

Unless you are using the wipers to clean off a squished bug before it dries on the windshield - turning on the headlights just for that makes no sense.

On the other hand, California is the only state in the US sensible enough to allow filtering on a scooter/motorcycle.

And 5 mph over with posted at 70 is well within the usual 'allowance' before ticketing.

Harry K

h.  Most cars, except for the cops, seem to comply.

chorus +

Sorta OT. Was an article in the auto section of my newspaper recently. Discussion of about DRLs. Oddly what was never mentioned as to why people didn't like them:

The stupidity of making them the high beam.

Harry K

Virginia is dumb like that. Speed limit on I-81 (and now other highways?) is 70, but 80 MPH gets you a "reckless driving" ticket.

nate

Filtering?

--scott

I believe that that's PC for "lane-splitting."

nate

I turn headlights on anytime I'm driving. It makes the car much more visible to people considering passing on a 2-lane road, pulling out from a driveway, etc. It's the law in Canada and a good idea here. It also develops the habit of turning lights off whenever turning the car off.

-- Patrick

I mounted mine down by the radio. Out of sight if anyone is making a quick look around for cars to steal GPS's out of but easy for me to see and also out of glaring sunlight. With the current quality of GPS antennas and receivers it has never failed to get a good signal.

I got a 70 mph ticket in Nevada, actually doing more. Ticket was $15 back in 70s.

Greg

DRLs are just a distracting nuisance. They produce glare. They are not needed. There is no valid research showing any long term benefits.

That shows how little you know. You probably don't use seat belts either.

I've read the research. They cause as many problems as they allegedly solve. Out here in the land of the blazing sun we do NOT need more bright shiny things glaring at us... the sun provides more then enough already from the metal and other reflective parts of cars. DRL's actually make it harder to see and judge traffic. If you need DRL's to see any car that can potentially cause you a problem you simply can't see well enough to have a drivers license. I know, I know, you are going to tell me how without DRL's you can't see a car a mile away from you but you can see them with DRL's. Well, when it's a mile away it may as well not exist - it's not a hazard to you. By the time it's close enough to even start to be something you need to be aware of anyone with even 40/40 eyesight should be able to see it at anytime headlights are not needed due to the general darkness.