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I saw a lot of those intersections, especially on or near the Cornell campus, where all I could think was "Man, they really didn't design this with the current traffic load in mind." Small city, mind you, so the traffic load was light overall, but just too much for some of these one-lane-in-each-direction, no-protected-turn intersections.
Wow, if the bay area didn't have protected left turns, we would all suffer exploding-head syndrome or something equally tragic.
Traffic Q&A
And there are also many injured every year as a result of car/deer collisions. Thank goodness for hunters who help to keep their population in check.
Deer are also a nuisance if you live in rural area near woods. You have to be careful about what you plant lest it be devoured by deer.
In early 90's on June day in late afternoon, encountered a deer crossing my path while going east on I80 in west Ohio on a sunny day. I was probably going about 65. Somehow the deer must have jumped the fence on right side of roadway and was running very fast from my right to left. I noticed at last instant, barely got to apply brakes a little and I saw it pass in front of my front bumper and heard a slight thuck sound as deer cleared my left front. I stopped at next gas/rest stop and looked at bumper and found some hairs (deer) on far left part of my bumper. Was a close call.
The short answer, he says, is if you are staged in an intersection and cause an accident you will probably be cited for obstructing the intersection.
Seems to me that police sgt. is overinterpreting the law. If you move into an intersection waiting to make a left turn ("staging" in his words), you're not "blocking" anyone, unless you nose into oncoming traffic.
How else can you make it through busy intersections with no left turn arrow? Interestingly, in L.A. of all places, protected left turn arrows are exceedingly rare. Who'd a thunk it?
Everybody knows what happened next. Right. The Aztek moves into the right lane, speeds up to my bumper, then passes me. I resume 55, cheered up for some reason.
A narrow two lane connector road, no traffic but me and a huge mid 70's Chrysler 5-6 car lengths ahead of me. Sunny, warm, nothing out of the ordinary. I notice the rear driver side door of the Chrysler open, a guy leans out, holds a beer bottle a few inches above the pavement and lets it go. It dances and skitters wildly in front of me for what seems like ten seconds before rolling off the road into a ditch (never breaking).
After resisting the urge to ram the car, I calmed down. I didn't have a cell phone at the time. Although there were no damages or injuries involved, the potential for tragedy was enormous. If you were in an unmarked vehicle and witnessed this, what could you have done? At the very least, it was littering. Harmless prank or assault?
I think you were most fortunate not to have that deer hit you head on. Also I have seen horses striking cars on the freeway and they also cause much damage to cars and people.
I was always very sad when an animal was involved with a car.
And my wife and I am softies for pets. I remember on two different occasions, bringing home to my family a stray cat. One was a kitten left to die out in the counrty, and the othe I found at the Shelter after I had taken a stray dog off the freeway.
At one time, we had 3 kids, 5 cats, 2 dogs, a wild bird my wife nurtured with an eye dropper (with Gerber's baby food), two guina pigs, and one tortose that whistled for lettuce.
Sorry about getting off track.
Hope all stay safe and enjoy the football game.
jensad
I honestly don't know what I would have done. I think you reacted in the right manner. I.e. you did not get rageful and start something with the guy, you would have reported it, which I think would have been good, if you had a cell phone.
JMO, there are too many people in the world that care less for others,and if given the opportunity may do harm to others. And many of them drives cars.
If I was in an unmarked care, ON DUTY I would have stopped them. If I was off duty, I would have maybe got their license and reported it. I would not have stopped them, because I don't know what to expect, and I never carried weapons off duty.
I speculate too much. I am glad you resisted the urge to ram the car... God knows who was in the car.
Hope all is well with you and all others.
jensad
And the beer bottle? Probably recently emptied. So in my scenario, we have 3 or 4 guys drinking in the car and having a good time. The joker in the back says, "hey, watch this" and drops the bottle out the door. Big laughs all around. "Whoo-hoo! Boy was that funny."
Should you have messed with them? Spoil their party? Not unless you have a death wish. Too bad though that you had no cell phone. I'm sure the local PD would have liked to crash the party. (No double meaning intended)
james
And James, it was a carload of guys. I guess I was lucky the bottle was empty. Now THAT would have...irked me.
There are lots of hills and blind curves on this road, and the 5-mile stretch I typically use has no passing zones at all. It really wasn't safe to go 55 mph in most spots before. Also, there are not many suitable places for pulling off, which I sometimes do if someone's riding my bumper.
This guy didn't ride my bumper consistently, but then suddenly decided to pass on a blind curve. Luckily, no one was coming the opposite direction.
This got me to thinking -- I don't believe I've ever been passed on a double yellow line where an oncoming car DID appear, at least close enough for one of us to take evasive action. Luck?
My wife encountered an inconsiderate motorist and a probably a human lacking in care/emotion. This was in early 90's on I90 about 1 mile east of full interchange and truck stops when she was going to work in morning. She spotted a dog (maybe about 60 pound frame) and some kind of mix along side of road on her side. She thought of stopping to pick up but did not as she had to go to work. Coming back home in late afternoon, she spotted same dog on her side of road approx at same mile marker (dog crossed median) and stopped on shoulder and was able to lure into car. Dog did not have collar or tag. She brought home then speculated that someone might have dumped dog on side of road and then drove off. Dog was loyal and was waiting around, at least 9 hours, the area for owner to come back.
We made posters about dog and put up at restaurants at truck stop but no one called after many weeks. We had the dog for a while, was very well behaved, and finally wife found home for dog with a lady. Wife kept in touch with that lady and she had dog for many years, until it died of natural causes.
Now, what kind of inconsiderate person would leave an animal on side of road - interstate no less. How low of a human being is that? Inconsiderate on many levels, not only to the animal, but to some motorist that might inadvertantly hit the dog.
There's a similar stretch of road here. Two lane, 45mph limit, occasional passing zones between blind spots.
Apparently going 5 mph over the speed limit isn't enough for some folks who can't wait for the next passing zone and a safe place to pass. There's no evading to be done other than to get on the brakes and save THEIR necks as well as mine when they try to make the pass without enough time or space to avoid the oncoming traffic.
Apparently going 5 mph over the speed limit isn't enough for some folks who can't wait for the next passing zone and a safe place to pass.
We have a 2-lane US numbered highway with some curves, dips, peaks near us that is about 95 % double yellow. A number of years ago, I or wife, would encounter same guy passing in double yellow in late afternoon coming home from work. We talked about it and how dangerous. Finally, on one day when this guy passed me in double-yellow I got his license plate number. Since we had a state trooper living in our neighborhood and on way home, I stopped at his house and found him cutting grass. Told him about it and he said he would and he did take care of this. From that day on, wife nor I never encountered that double-yellow passer again.
My wife and I volunteer for an animal shelter that specializes in stray hounds (a lot are former abandoned/abused hunting dogs). A lot of the ones that are found running along the main highway often have pellets or bee-bees (at least 1 or 2) lodged in their sides (most of the time, they appear to be fresh wounds). I guess some sickos use the stray dogs for target practice as well.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Also got to merge onto the wide open highway at 43mph, I love how people drive here.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
click Here Video
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I think this has no use to deter the aggressive drivers as by the time the 911 call center report this to the patrol car, the aggressive drivers will be long gone.
Anybody think this will be useful or not?
I actually saw him get pulled over after calling - they asked for details, like what direction I was heading and what mile marker I was near at the time. Good service, but it would be difficult to implement in urban or suburban areas.
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I am sure it is a nice waste of money though, don't give the WSP any ideas.
Wow that looks like bungie (sp) jumping sideways. I wonder how long it took for her to stop?
Good luck to all and stay safe.
jensad
Were they wearing brimmed hats, or caps with flaps and smoking cigars? :P
The other car had an old couple. They could have been camped in the carpool lane, but I guess that was just a little too risky for them.
Im traveling East on I-88 [IL] heading towards chicago on a saturday night. Traffic is low density so its easy for me to hop around LLC's since im traveling faster than the majority of traffic. Then i come up to a small pack of cars all traveling the same speed. I soon realize why, a patrol cop is ahead of the pack cruising at a smooth 65mph [SL = 55mp]. He is in the middle of 3lanes going the same direction.
This annoys me since the patrol car is essentially bullying everyone to go the same speed. While i know technically I'm speeding and its "wrong", who doesn't speed? So the left lane is open and i decide to creep towards the cop car literally going 1mph more than him. When i get to maybe 2car lengths behind him in one lane left of him, he IMMEDIATELY JERKS into my lane!! I was like "woah, WTF, maybe he got a call ...". He turns on the light in his car, looks for something, turns it off then goes back into the middle lane. Obviously when he jerked into my lane i backed off.
Maybe a few minutes later i begin the creep attempt again. [Fyi, i've done this before with other highway patrol cars, I guess the one's I had passed had some respect for how traffic should move on roads and dont blindly enforce the SL.] OK, so again I get to about 2car lengths behind him. Guess what, he jerks back into my lane, slows down abrubtly while flashing pursuit lights w/o sound. Does this for a few seconds and then goes back to the middle lane. At this point I slowed down considerably, and just hanged back. Thankfully he turned around just where I-88 merges with I-290... so the rest of my trip wasn't hindered by a bully.
SO, everyones thoughts?? I know i was technically speeding and all, Ibut I check my surroundings and move so faster traffic can pass [im not an LLC or LLB]. How many of you guys have seen this kind of patrol behavior?? This is my first time witnissing this behavior considering I travel on the two above mentioned highways ALOT.
I understand my actions were gutsy and I wouldn't be suprised if many of you say "Oh he shoulda let you pass and then given you a ticket". But, from a drivers perspective, i think this bully-patrol behavior is unjustified and for the conditions [low density traffic, clear/clean roadways], My speed was safe.
I just thought I'd throw this out there, enjoy!
IMHO, a ticket for going 10 mph over is more than justified. There are some around here who will get on your case if you are going a couple over.
You asked... I doubt if I'm the last one you hear from about this.
I agree. I have seen several instances on local 2 lane (each direction) highways where the speed limit is 55, and people run all day at 70 - 75 without incident, where a cop will try to "pace the field" at 60.
I have noticed, when the cop does this, 4 things happen:
First, Cars bunch up quickly, typically in both lanes, especially if the cop is sitting in the left lane.
Secondly, if anyone tries to merge onto the highway from an entrance ramp, and this cluster is going by, it becomes more difficult for the merging car to assimilate with the group already on the highway.
Thirdly, there seems to be a fair number of drivers that become nervous when law enforcement is around. I don't know how to describe it, other than I see a few drivers that seem to tense up, and become a little twitchy.
Lastly, as soon as the officer exits the highway or turns around, some of the cars accelerate at the speed of light, others want to accelerate, but are blocked in by a few drivers that continue to hover around the speed the officer was pacing the field at, an others that have frustratedly been running at the back of the pack start weaving in and out of traffic in an attempt to break away.
As a racing fan, this reminds me of the effect restrictor plates have on NASCAR stock cars at the restrictor plate tracks. The restrictor plates force all the cars to bunch up and it becomes a matter of which driver is going to make the first mistake, that triggers a wreck.
First off enforcing the law is not bullying you into obeying it.
While i know technically I'm speeding and its "wrong", who doesn't speed?
So your defense for doing wrong is that everyone does it?
Thankfully he turned around just where I-88 merges with I-290... so the rest of my trip wasn't hindered by a bully.
FWIW I-88 is a Tollway while I-290 is not. The Tollway is patrolled by a different State police district than the freeways so this trooper had to turn around.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
He wasn't causing the rolling road block. Everyone else there was because they thought that it was ok to do far more than 10 over the limit but didn't want to pay the cost of doing so.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
That may be, but unfortunately, an officer pacing the field in the manner I see around here isn't going to cure this. I am just saying they need to try to enforce the law in a different manner.
I saw a fancy low, wide sportscar for two driving at 1-20 mph on snow-covered I75 at north edge of Cincy. Does Porsche have a two-seater?
The road is filled with people traveling at 35-40 on packed fluffy snow and this idiot is tooling along in his expensive little two-seater. If he buys a car that he can't drive when it snows, sstay home that day. The snow was forcast for over 24 hours in advance!!!
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I suspect that you have a predisposition to disliking highway patrol cops when they interfere with your attitudes regarding driving. And it seems to me, that you righteously decided that you should decide how the traffic was to flow. And that is fine as it is your opinion.
Testing a cop is not too bright. And as you mentioned, "Maybe a few minutes later i begin the creep attempt again. [Fyi, i've done this before with other highway patrol cars, I guess the one's I had passed had some respect for how traffic should move on roads and dont blindly enforce the SL"
Indeed, you "tested" the cop ahead of you and are fortunate you did not get a citation. Indeed, the cop let you know he/she knew of your existence by "lighting up" his/her patrol car.
And the reason he/she did not use his/her siren was due to the fact that you and others probably would not have heard it as sound travels slow. Ex: at about 65 miles per hour, a patrol care siren is not heard by a car ahead of the patrol car. As a result most of us never used our siren for that reason and another reason. Using the siren at times causes drivers to do unsafe things.
Example I had was a woman driving thru the Caldecott Tunnel heard my siren (due to the echo in the tunnel) and stopped in the right lane of two lanes. There was no shoulder.
I had previously had the red light on for one mile prior to the tunnel, and siren on for 1/2 mile prior to the tunnel She did not stop. Now inside the tunnel I had the job of then getting out of my car, getting her to get thru the tunnel and then stop on the right shoulder.
Getting back to you situation, I cannot say why the mean old patrol man/woman was driving over the speed limit, but then neither did you know. And for all you know, he/she could have been day dreaming, going to another accident call, or going home for dinner. And he/she was breaking the law, and if you were so concerned about the law, I (honest) believe you should have made a citizen's arrest on the cop. At least then you would have found out the reason why he/she had violated your ego, and your right of passage of driving the way you want.
And yes, you got to me and this is my reply. Now that I feel less angry, I hope that you have a safe and peaceful day.
Good luck to all and stay safe.
jensad retired California Highway Patrolman
I want to appologize for this last statement in my previous post, "At least then you would have found out the reason why he/she had violated your ego, and your right of passage of driving the way you want".
I did not intend to demean you in anyway, and for that statement I am sorry.
jensad
I somehow doubt that is a valid explanation, as the speed of sound in air is roughly 750-780 mph, depending on temperature and altitude (air density). So unless people in California drive really, REALLY fast the sound of the siren WILL overtake them. :P
james
As the retired officer said, some folks don't even SEE the lights (as in literally a dozen flashing) when the lighted patrol car is DIRECTLY behind!! SIGHT of course being mandatory for driving!!???
You got me. I am a Leo, and I do get tired of blaming the old police officer for the ills of the roadway. There are people who should not be police officers, as there are drivers that should not be driving.
"can you be surprised if someone is "predisposed to disliking highway patrol cops?"
It brought back negative situations and negative consequences for me as a patrolman and I just let it out and I said I was sorry for the judgment. Its over, and I go on.
Good luck to all and stay safe.
jensad
And yes, I am much more mellow now. Not much gets to me, but its over.
In a way it's interesting because, rather than doing some kind of speeding-ticket-revenue-generating thing, this officer wasn't even letting anybody give him that chance.
From your description, I don't think I agree with this officer's actions. For all the reasons mentioned in this thread, cars will bunch up, and people will start acting nervous. Dangerous conditions will result. Regardless of the merits of people's behavior in these cases, you can't change human nature in a crowd; you can only work with it.
I had a strange thing sort of like this happen a few weeks ago. I was going down 101 south at night (it was totally empty) with the cruise set at 75 (SL 65) as usual. I noticed a crown victoria coming up slowly behind me, so I turned off cruise and slowed down to 65. The officer got up close behind me, hovered there for a while, then took an exit ramp. When he was well off on the exit ramp, and in my peripheral vision, he turned on his lightbar for about a second.
I wasn't sure how to interpret that. It might not have been directed at me at all (he was barely in my field of view by that point). Or maybe some kind of "you're lucky you saw me coming" warning? I don't know. I routinely drive 10 over the limit with the expectation that I will not be stopped. I got a 75-in-a-65 ticket precipitated by several factors last year (not just the speed), and I fought it and won.
Anyway, odd story. I've never seen an officer doing what you describe. I also don't think it was a very good idea, as law enforcement strategies go.