Highway tailgater and etc - not a car mechanical question

Hopefully not and we can let natural selection take over.

I once GOT a ticket from a cop doing that very thing.

I personally think that that's a real a-hole move, but hey, if

I told the cop *exactly* what I did and that it was because he pulled up so close behind me. He just about had a stroke and said that I was accusing him of "entrapment." I said, "yes, I am." You should have seen the shades of purple the little Napoleon turned. But it was his word against mine, so I took defensive driving rather than fight it. No skin off my nose, I have to take the course every couple of years anyway to be authorized to drive company vehicles when I need to. And now I *slow* to *exactly* the posted limit if a cop pulls up behind me in the left lane, even if it means falling back in behind the car I was passing.

And if he DOES have his flashers on, I STILL slow down to pull over to the right, even if it means falling in behind. Its legal and safe, and completely un-ticketable.

In fact, there is a provision in which some state laws say that the car behind had "control of the lane" if he hits a car that rapidly pulls in front of him, it is thus the fault of the driver in front.

Mine was even better - I didn't actually exceed the speed limit, and I know this because I was a) watching my speedo and b) stuck behind a LLBer in fairly heavy traffic. He pulled me over and wrote the ticket anyway. He said that he paced me for 1/3 mile at 73 MPH in a 55... he was full of crap, he was never going that slow, and the next time I drove that stretch of road, I noticed that the speed limit was 65 up until *after* the point at which he turned on his lights to pull me over. So I went to court to fight it because I was all sorts of pissed... that's where I met this girl that had been pulled over by the same cop, she was walking around talking to everyone and it turns out this same cop had been pulling this same trick on lots of people, mostly people driving small, "sporty" cars. The cop didn't show the first time and the judge tried to get me to plead guilty, and told me that if I pled guilty I'd have to come back another day. Well I was SO pissed off at this point that I told him that there was no way I was pleading guilty because I honestly believed that I was innocent and that if I had to come back another day that's what I'd do. (isn't that the biggest load of horseshit you've ever heard in your life?)

on my second court date the judge asked everyone who was issued a ticket by that particular officer to stand, and then said "this is your lucky day, the officer in question won't be here as he is no longer in traffic enforcement, your tickets are dismissed and you are free to leave."

I would REALLY like to know "the rest of the story" as they say... I hope he got a righteous ass kicking from his supervisor and that it wasn't just a transfer or something.

nate

The law here says the speed limit sign is the MAXIMUM posted speed. IOW, you cannot under any circumstances exceed this. Period. Not to pass, not because there's an asshole cop behind you, not because you're late for work. Which sucks when you're passing someone on a two lane highway and they're going just slower than you and instead of riding their ass all day you'd just like to pass them... and not take all day doing it.

funny story -> my old Jimmy (125 hp 2.8 V6) used to make passing quite the challenge, so I'd lay back and take a "run" at the car I was passing and timing it just right on a two lane highway... I'd usually pass them and hit about 115 km/h (100 zone) before pulling back in (assuming the car I'm passing is doing about 90.) I did the same thing out of habit in my 2001 Trans Am. Once. Whoops. I'm not posting the speed I hit, but it was over the limit. Way over. Like 60 over. Maybe more. Of course, after I stopped giggling, I had to do it again. ;) (I now confine that to the racetrack...)

Ray

In this state, you MUST maintain adequate distance from the car in front to be able to avoid a collision. If you hit the guy in front of you, the burden of proof is YOURS, not his.

Now, swerving into another lane in front of someone who has control of that lane is a different kettle of fish.

We term morons like you "CCI" for cruise-control-idiot.

Pass and get out of the way, moron!

mph, and use left lane only to pass slower car than me, in which case, I do move

to left lane (I make sure to use blinker), pass slower car, and then use blinker again and move to right slow lane again.

What I am saying is I chose to put tailgater on notice so if he chooses to do it again next time, he'll think twice.

It certainly does. Doesn't it. Why do you want to know if I have children?

Yes, let natural selection take over. Tailgaters be aware. Road is to be shared and it doesn't belong to tailgaters.

Be very afraid if you tailgate next time. Big mistake if you think you own road. Who knows, next time, you might be driving off into median or something.

If you have to know, I do use accelerator so that car moves and no, I don't take 10 minutes to pass a beetle. Actually I see more beetle is as in Beetle Bailey. Passing isn't the same as blocking.

Well your always going to get alot of rants on this topic.

I would like to tell you that I have personally seen someone die horribly, from the same actions you took.

It's a gray area, it's hard to say who's fault with 100% certainty, but the guy that died in my mind was innocent of any mal-intention. The guy that did what you did, was guilty, and exacted his own justice, as a result several people were injurted, 100's of thousands of dollars of property was damaged, and a human life was taken.

A guy driving a late model camaro was going fast, really fast, tripple speed fast in some spurts on a local freeway. The road, his car, and him the driver were all very capable of the speeds he was traveling. None the less it was illegal, and he was in the wrong for going this fast.

So here is the complication, some guy like you, was having a bad day, looked in the rear view mirror, and saw that the other driver had basically committed to passing through traffic in a particular lane, since it was the only available window through traffic on a 4 lane highway, it was obvious where he was going to go even if he wasn't already in that lane.

The camaro driver carried on in that lane at high speed, and you could see him coming for a long long distance back on a straight stretch of road.

The f!@# A@!#$ decided, hey, I'm going to teach this guy a lesson for driving fast, he pulled in front of the guy when it was far far too late.

There is no man made machine that could have stopped or even slowed down to less than lethal impact speeds.

WHO put them in this situation by his own will? Yes, the man who decided he was going to teach everyone a less that day. He literally caused an accident that never would have happened that day, on that stretch of road, at that very instant.

He waited until the man had no were else to go, and cut off his window, he had already commited beyond the point of return, and because of this jerk, an accident was not avoidable.

The man did as best he could to avoid the car that swerved in front of him, the guy actually missed several cars and hit the wall on purpose to miss them, his car then flipped over, and landed on HIM!!! (T-tops) the car then proceded to sit on top of this poor guy, and drag him down the freeway for over 1500 ft.

Basically this guy was the worlds biggest grease stain on the freeway, being ground down to nothing by his car as it crushed him down the paved freeway; because some asshole decided he could play judge jury and executioner, and in one swift moved he caused alot of harm to alot of people.

If that was my son that died, I would have beat that instigators ass to a bloody pulp with my bare hands.

I don't give a shit if he was driving fast, there is no excuse for the malicous actions captain speed enforcement took, and he is at fault. The sad thing is that he gets to live the rest of his sad pathetic days, while his lunacy ended the life of another.

I may tell another story about my pet peaves on the E-way, but that's enough for my blood pressure for now :(

think you own road. Who knows, next time, you might be driving off into median or something.

Wups! This little bit further on is better and more applicable:

"Interstates raise similar questions. When a car paces itself with a slow-moving semi (as we saw at least a dozen times on our recent vacation) and refuses to pass, does the driver not see all those cars in the mirror? Or do we have a self-appointed amateur cop on our hands, who thinks it's immoral to go faster than 64 mph?

My guess is the driver is simply too lazy to pass the truck, disengage cruise control or put on a turn signal and move over. This would require physical motion, as well as a small amount of judgment. It's just too much work. Besides, in the right lane you have to deal with merging traffic. Better to stay in the left lane all day, and let people sweep around on the right. If they can.

This sort of lethargy has led to an interesting condition on American I-roads: Our Interstates have now reversed themselves.

Yes, the right lane has become the fast lane, while traffic moves in a solid, slow train on the left. Barb and I breezed almost all the way across Indiana in the right lane of I-80/90, passing bumper-to-bumper traffic on our left. Occasionally we had to merge left and go around a slow car, only to observe a full mile or two of absolutely empty right lane. But no one would move over, probably for fear of having to make a passing decision sometime in the future. Or being cut off and losing a place to someone else. It's amazing. On a busy highway, nearly half the pavement goes unused.

I don't know what you do to change this. I suggested in a column a few years ago that we needed more emphasis on lane discipline in our high school driver's education courses. Students could be asked to repeat, at least three times a day, "Stay right except to pass," and that phrase could be emblazoned over the classroom door. I got several letters informing me that I was revealing my old age. "There are no driver's ed courses in most high schools any more," I was told. "It's a thing of the past."

Let's take your story on face value. Why is it that an average joe driver minding own business has to be chased out of lane just because some wacko decided that a lane has to be available on short notice? Worse, somebody has to come up with some story about pulling right into the nose and think all cases are same. You are talking about apples and oranges.

No matter how you slice it, let's face it, all you folks who take the side of tailgater are egoistic roadsters who think road is yours for keep, and any vehicle slower than you in front of you are at your mercy. Tailgater is not a guy who goes triple faster than speed limit and get cut off at the last minute. That's an apple.

Tailgater is a guy who goes fast enough but had plenty of time and distance to slow down to let vehicle in front to move to the right (slow) lane, but decide to put his vehicle right behind the rear bumper of slower going front vehicle, so that the other driver felt threatened as if being chased out, and decided not change lane on a split of moment decision. This is an orange.

I don't see how your apple story compares to orange, except for your apparent inclination to declare road you travel as your own.

If you flip the card, here's one thing you know to be true deep in your heart but you don't say, that regardless the guilt of guy who cut off in front, Camero guy in your story may not be dead if not for speed (triple speed fast, you wrote). You don't bad mouth about speed. You rant about what gets in front. You love pleasure but you ignore potential consequences in a world full of traps.

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

I know in some states it was (and still maybe) illegal to pass on the right. When I lived in Alabama I came across this phenomena. I spoke to a few people who where born and raised in Alabama and some said that is what they were taught by their daddy. Never pass on the right. One even implied that I was a dangerous driver becuase I admitted I passed on the right.

I wasn't insulted because these are also the idiots that parked on the right hand side break down lane on a 4-lane interstate to watch a fireworks display.

Versus *WOULD NOT BE DEAD*, regardless of how fast he was moving, if it weren't for the self-appointed cop pulling out in front of him.

*SPEED* is not the root cause of wrecks, although it can contribute. On the other hand, a prime cause of wrecks is idiots not moving at the prevailing speed, and even worse, deciding that they're going to be the one to "teach that speeder a lesson". In a nutshell, move at the speed of the traffic around you, and unless you're actively passing, *GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE LEFT LANE!* And even more important: Unless you've got a badge and a gun and drive a vehicle marked "Sheriff", "Police", or similar, *YOU ARE NOT A COP*, and it isn't your business to be "teaching speeders a lesson", regardless of how fast they might be going.

Follow that one simple rule - Move with the current flow, using proper lane discipline at whatever speed that might be - and barring mechanical failure or a drunk, chances are good that you'll never even have a "close call", let alone an actual wreck.

And leave being a cop to the cops.