The whole drama with the left lane discussion is....speed. It's the passing lane....keep it at that, it shouldn't have anything to do with the speed or be called "the fast lane" - that's why we have this issue, b/c folks think it's the speeding lane...speeding is illegal....and here we are. If you are in the left lane and nobody is in front of you but someone is behind you, get right. It doesn't matter how fast folks are going.
Do you "flash" to warn of police patrol ahead? Speeding content and rant.
- Thread starter Nayov
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Usually that driver in the left lane is driving next to and matching speeds with another vehicle in the right lane.
I've been that driver in the right lane with some NPC in the left lane matching speeds with me. Speed up or slow down a little, they will just do the same to keep right next to you. You have to speed up quickly; they generally won't do the same, and you've broken that magnetic attraction that was keeping them next to you.
You are not wrong in anything you speak of. I grew up in the Northeast so I am very familiar with NJ and all of that area.
There is absolutely revenue generated, no one can dispute that. My point is that cops take the brunt as "pirates" and things of that nature. Never once in my entire career did I ever sit in a "post briefing" where the Sgt or Lt told us that "x" needed more money so hit that area harder...never. Does that happen at a higher level than the beat cops? Probably, but any time you involve politicians its going to involve money and crooked ways to get it. I have; however, sat in MANY post briefings where Sgt's, Lt's, Capt's and higher came in yelling about the increase in crashes and fatalities and directions to stop it. How does a cop stop this? Patrolling and writing tickets.
Agencies get calls from citizens complaining about speeding and recklessness often and demands to increase patrols. What does that mean? Tickets. Should the cops just ignore those calls? Throughout every 10-12 hour shift I ever completed I would receive constant calls from citizens reporting speed. The agencies react to what the public complains of or wants to see. Never in any post briefing did I ever hear: "hey, lets go F.. with people over here or there so we can get some money for X." Different agencies and cops have different levels of what they are willing to deal with. One cop may be ok with 10 over, another might not. Perhaps that 10 over at the bottom of the hill started from a call from the old couple living in the house at the bottom of the hill concerned because people are flying by at 25 over or racing at night? Maybe the bottom of that hill is notorious for racing or crashes, or a blind or deaf kid lives in the house just around the bend?
Are there bad cops and agencies? Sure. Name me a single agency with all saints so I can put in an application.
Some state just ruled that flashing your high beams aren't protected speech. Some jurisdictions in Colorado can ticket your for this from what I've heard. Something to the effect of interfering with law enforcement.
Interesting. I don't live in CO but have friends who do. As looney as that state has become I'm shocked to hear that.
What I can say is this. If I ever got stopped and ticketed for that I would 100% take it to Court. That one would be easy to have "dumped" by a Judge but my guess is that rarely would you see that as a ticket but instead Probable Cause (PC) to make a stop.
Interesting...article I found about Iowa.
While it is not illegal to turn your lights off and on to warn of a speed trap, it is illegal to flash your BRIGHT lights at another motorist, as that is a safety concern.
They can't get you for turning them off and on, but they can for low/high beam flashing.
While it is not illegal to turn your lights off and on to warn of a speed trap, it is illegal to flash your BRIGHT lights at another motorist, as that is a safety concern.
They can't get you for turning them off and on, but they can for low/high beam flashing.
In Texas there are usually signs about every 5 miles or so stating "left lane for passing only", yet the entitled "I'm better than you" morons drive right by them in the left lane for miles on end (past many of these signs) when there are few or no vehicles in the right lane. I wish that the LEOs would pull-over and ticket these drivers instead of issuing speeding tickets (NEVER happens). The worst offenders in Texas are large pickups, Suburbans (Escalades, Yukons, Tahoes), and German luxury cars.
Where I was a cop, that was known as "lane loitering" and also illegal. However, the way the law was written made it very difficult to enforce. When that law was first passed, my Agency hit it hard because "lane loitering" is one of the biggest contributors to "road rage." Problem was that when those cites went to Court they were all getting thrown out because of the nature of the way the law was written. Doesn't take long for cops to stop enforcing something when they know it's not going to stick in Court because going to Court is a pain in the neck and a waste of time and effort if you know going in that its going to get dumped. I don't know how the TX law is written but shouldn't be too hard to find it. Look at the elements of the violation.
I think when people say that think speed traps are money grabs, they are not suggesting that the cops are dirty, but rather, the municipality is using speed traps as a major source of income.
When I lived in South Carolina, there was a small community that did just that. Society Hill, SC is a small town of about 450 people. The population was closer to 700 when I lived in SC. There is no industry, and only a little agriculture to support the community. Very little commerce. No real wealth, so most real estate is modest. But they do (or did) manage to replace their three police cars every 2 years. This was the incentive for the LEO's to aggressively enforce the 35 mph & 45 mph zones in town, as people traveling through town, primarily on SR52, between Cheraw and Darlington, or SR15, coming from Bennettsville.
As much as everyone knew that you better have fully reduced your speed, and be doing the posted speed before passing the 45 or 35 sign, and better not increase your speed before passing the signs, everyone sometimes forgets. And they were unforgiving.
Yes, safety is important in speed enforcement. But it would be all but impossible to convince me that taxation is not a major incentive, if not the primary incentive, for most municipalities. Are the officers incentivized to participate in it? In this case, absolutely. They were paid well. And who doesn't want a new car every two years?
Unfortunately, that's the way it is with many laws/prosecutors/courts. I know how frustrating this must be.
When I drove a truck we would use the CB radio to let each other know where the cops were. When in my car I let the other cars get caught.
I think the issue is that there are often rules surrounding high beam use so you are breaking those by doing it. Using Waze to drop a pin where cops are is not illegal and would be protected.
I loved truckers when I was patrolling. I worked in a rural area with backup 45 mins away. I knew a lot of the truckers rolling through and they were pretty much my only hope if I needed help. In all my years I may have written 5 tickets to truckers. I stopped a whole lot but usually just had them slow it down.
Usually just speeding isn't inherently dangerous in itself, it's the aggressive drivers tailgating, passing unsafely etc. Most cops here are pretty relaxed about speed and try to get the aggressive ones.
(Just had this the other day, I was going about 10 over with a Jeep glued to my bumper and a sheriff deputy spun around and nabbed the jeep)
(Just had this the other day, I was going about 10 over with a Jeep glued to my bumper and a sheriff deputy spun around and nabbed the jeep)
This is almost like the other subject of speeding cameras. The public wants law enforcement as long as it doesnt affect them. With that said let's acknowledge that speeding cameras are now becoming more accepted but certainly not overwhelmingly so. I mean, if the public wants speed limits why would they object to speed cameras?
Same goes for states who enact laws such as you mention in excess of 85 MPH. If that was the case why not require new cars sold in the state to have a speed limiter at 85 MPH that the vehicle would not be able to drive over? Heck, make it even 90 Mph. How more affective could that be? Simple thing to program into the ECM.
Very profound and you are correct. On my old beat we had a small mountain community that was visited heavily by tourists and locals from surrounding communities. My unit attended their monthly town meetings where concerns of speeding, reckless driving, etc. were brought up often. Usually every few months the attendees would become angry with us because we "weren't doing enough" to stop the speeders on the mountain. So, as all police agencies do, we adjusted our patrol and began to really concentrate on the area of concern.
Well, it never failed, the next town meeting the same people who were yelling at us for "not doing enough" began yelling at us for writing THEM tickets for speeding! How unfair we were by "targeting" people on the mountain. That 5 or 10 mph over tickets were ridiculous, and that when they were complaining about speeders they were talking about "visitors" not them.
So we would back off on our patrol and sure enough in a couple months we would get the same complaint about speeders, etc. and the whole process would repeat itself.
During my career this is exactly how the vast majority of people look at law enforcement. They want something done about the crime, or the traffic, or whatever, until it effects them. Then those same cops are unfair pigs or pirates.
Each state enforces what they want and you can fight whatever one wants. You can succumb to being told what to do by public servants or you can stand up for yourself knowing no matter what you are in the right, even if you get a fine.
Much like the VA radar detector law, that for all purposes is ignored today, even by enforcement.
Federal judges have ruled on headlights many times on your protected free rights, you are a free person, do as you wish. No one can prove that you even were warning anyone about anything even in the extremely unlikely instant that in one of a handful of states you got a ticket for it.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...flash-headlights-warn-about-cops-ahead-n23846
https://www.danielrrosen.com/headlight-flashing-in-colorado/
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/flashi...-traps-protected-by-1st-amendment-mean-legal/
Much like the VA radar detector law, that for all purposes is ignored today, even by enforcement.
Federal judges have ruled on headlights many times on your protected free rights, you are a free person, do as you wish. No one can prove that you even were warning anyone about anything even in the extremely unlikely instant that in one of a handful of states you got a ticket for it.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...flash-headlights-warn-about-cops-ahead-n23846
https://www.danielrrosen.com/headlight-flashing-in-colorado/
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/flashi...-traps-protected-by-1st-amendment-mean-legal/
Yes, if the conditions are right, I will occasionally flash a few of the big trucks. My son is an OTR driver, and I spent some ant it myself. 
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I've never understood how the left lane can be the passing lane and the passing car isn't going faster than the car on the right. Honest question.
BTW - I fully respect the job law enforcement has to do, even in the very rare times I get pulled over my wife calls me "teflon" because officers normally do not site me. I always admit whatever it was that I was wrong because I always am.
Last time was a short couple years back, cooking hot weather, stuck in beach traffic about maybe 2 miles from our parking at the beach. My wife and I were on our Harley, I was getting concerned about the bike overheating, as I did what I have done in the past. Some people in their cars get pissed when you do this. Talk about being "petty"
I took the "bike lane" to the beach. All it is a line along the side of the road for "bikes" now we know that means bicycles but, well, I took it. Turns out I rode right past a ??? You guessed it. Bike Shop!!! *LOL* They called the cops.
I got pulled over a couple blocks further just as I was parking my bike at the beach.
After a long conversation on why I did what I did and now a second cop pulls up to assist him ... (that is when he explained to me about the bike shop calling them) I was there for quite some time 15 minutes or so, respectfully having a conversation.
Acknowledging I was wrong but why I was doing it. He took my license and registration to his car, as he was walking back I asked if I was going to get a ticket. His reply was "let me see if your a felon or anything first"
Ha came back, told me to stay out of the bike lane, not sure if it was a written warning or not, we thanked each other and he complimented me on the respectful conversation!
