Driving in the passing lane

[dkwolf]

Even better is when commander hyperdrive passes you at a hundred mph. Then a few miles later you pass him as he sits on the shoulder talking to a policeman

I'll confess I never drive the speed limit, but the most I'll push it is 5-7 over the limit. That's pretty much the standard everyone drives around here, and I've had officers from four different agencies (three county sheriff's and the state patrol) tell me they don't even waste their time on 7 over.

But the guy that blows by me like I'm standing still...yep, I find myself hoping they get a friendly roadside chat. I've even arranged said chat before - I was on my drive home, and a car blew by me going close to 80. Uphill. In a no-passing zone. I knew that we were about three miles outside of town, and that for the past two weeks, one of the town cops had been sitting in a parking lot on the west side of town running radar. It just happened that I had the non-emergency number for the dispatch center (I had been dating one of the dispatchers not too long before this) in my phone, so I called in, gave the description of the car and said "If Stacy is sitting out in [parking lot], he might want to keep an eye out - she'll be there in about two minutes."

Got a good chuckle as I topped a hill and watched it unfold - he had timed it perfectly so he met her at the city limits, spun around and lit her up. I ran into him later that week at the rec center and asked him about it. He clocked her at 78 in a 55 (lucky for her she hadn't hit the 45 zone yet). Her excuse? It was her husband's car and she wasn't used to driving it. Except she had driven from Colorado -- she had at least 8 hours to figure it out before she hit our sleepy little town. Cop said that one wasn't a cheap ticket for her

 

[Newgene]

I despise coat-tailers. You know, the ones that will drive EXACTLY the speed limit... right up until the moment you pass them. Then they'll match your speed. I *know* their logic - if he's in front, they'll pull him over first. News flash - you rarely get stopped from the front. Even if you meet a cop on the road, he's going to have to turn around. And then...who is he going to come up to first?

I'm not a copy anymore, but I worked part-time for nearly 10 years. It was always a challenge for a lot of cops to see if you could pull over more than one car at once. It's actually pretty easy. You spin around and throw the lights on. The guy in the back immediately gets over to the side of the road and stops to gladly let you go get his friend. You proceed to go get the lead car pulled over. Then, when mr. tailgater slowly creeps by thinking he's in the clear, you motion him over. 9 out 10 times, you get them both, and you didn't even have to a do a traffic stop twice. The only real danger is that it usually leaves you parked in front of a car you have just pulled over. From a safety standpoint, you are on the wrong side of the car. No big deal. It's actually better to ticket the guy following because he's willing to do whatever speed anyone else is willing to do with no limit...and he'll do it on someone else's bumper nonetheless.

Another pet peeve is people who won't dim their bright lights in your face when you flip yours at them. I know it sounds crazy, but that was an AUTOMATIC ticket, but that's a story for another day.

 

[Newgene]

I'll confess I never drive the speed limit, but the most I'll push it is 5-7 over the limit. That's pretty much the standard everyone drives around here, and I've had officers from four different agencies (three county sheriff's and the state patrol) tell me they don't even waste their time on 7 over.

But the guy that blows by me like I'm standing still...yep, I find myself hoping they get a friendly roadside chat. I've even arranged said chat before - I was on my drive home, and a car blew by me going close to 80. Uphill. In a no-passing zone. I knew that we were about three miles outside of town, and that for the past two weeks, one of the town cops had been sitting in a parking lot on the west side of town running radar. It just happened that I had the non-emergency number for the dispatch center (I had been dating one of the dispatchers not too long before this) in my phone, so I called in, gave the description of the car and said "If Stacy is sitting out in [parking lot], he might want to keep an eye out - she'll be there in about two minutes."

Got a good chuckle as I topped a hill and watched it unfold - he had timed it perfectly so he met her at the city limits, spun around and lit her up. I ran into him later that week at the rec center and asked him about it. He clocked her at 78 in a 55 (lucky for her she hadn't hit the 45 zone yet). Her excuse? It was her husband's car and she wasn't used to driving it. Except she had driven from Colorado -- she had at least 8 hours to figure it out before she hit our sleepy little town. Cop said that one wasn't a cheap ticket for her

Actually, while it's still fresh in my head, I remember many times I was glad to either be a cop or know folks who were. I remember distinctly one time when I was a cop and I was driving back to MS from LA (off-duty of course), and there was a relatively deserted section of highway people drove through. It's a 65 zone and many people will flat out fly through there. I was in a similar situation that we have talked about here where I had to pass a slow car. I was passing them when some a-hole a truck flew up behind me at about 90. I was making my way in front to get over even though there were cars in front still. After he flashed his lights frantically and swerved, I had enough. I just drove on up to the next car as I planned originally. By then, this guy was in a full blown panic attack. I proceeded to get over exactly as originally planned, but he decided to pull up along side of me and give me the one finger salute while screaming. I gave him the same friendly wave back, and he decided he was going to try to swerve at my car and everything else. I just slowed up and let him go by because by then my wife was in my ear the whole time. So, he proceeds to cruise up along side the car in front of me and slow down to their speed. By then, the car in front of me gets spooked and slows down to about 50. Now, we have two cars sitting there doing 50 because the jerk wouldn't just go on.

So, this continues for about 5-10 miles, while they are heading in the direction of the city I worked in. I was thinking to myself there is no way this guy is going to drive into the city because my luck never pans out that way. However, as we got closer, I stayed far enough back for him not to think anything of it, but I called the officers who were on shift. I was on the phone with one waiting right at the line, when he passed him. I witnessed the guy in full rage, but it was outside our city. So, my buddy gets behind him and follows him for a while. Now, he's acting like a saint and trying to make it to the very first gas station he can find to get away from the cop behind him. He swerved a few times while in the city, and he was pulled over. I pulled in behind them, and then we got him out of the car. I identified myself and asked him what the hurry was all about. He had the immediate oh s^^&t look on his face and went into full blown apology mode. He actually went to jail because he was pretty tanked.

Moral of the story. Don't go into full road rage on a cop, while drunk, and then try to drive through the city in which they work. Yeah, I miss those subtle moments about the job, but it truly is a high-risk, low reward job. You have to truly love it to do it.

 

[russrob81]

Had a guy today pull straight into traffic didn't bother to merge onto a 50 mph highway in front of me then proceed to do 35

 

[Jacob_Marley]

There's a reason why a common description of the left lane had a monetary amount attached to it ... "the Fifty-Dollar Lane" (ok, so that was years ago; I guess it's the $250 dollar lane now).

 

[Jacob_Marley]

Back in the day if we were going lights-and-siren somewhere and we'd come up on a slow driver in the left lane, it was often "Little ol man with a hat or Little ol lady with a scarf"

 

[dkwolf]

Back in the day if we were going lights-and-siren somewhere and we'd come up on a slow driver in the left lane, it was often "Little ol man with a hat or Little ol lady with a scarf"

One of the firefighters when I joined the department is also a deputy sheriff. We were talking one night about cars not pulling over for emergency vehicles, and he told us he once had to stop some little old lady for some violation. Said he was behind her, lights and sirens, for six miles and she never saw him. He finally had to pull up along side her to get her attention.