[taibanl]

Originally Posted by Deep_Blue

Police can also claim (perhaps legitimately) that they were headed to an emergency situation where sirens would have blown their cover.

Except it cant be that much of an emergency if they have time to respond to an ordinary traffic stop

[e90335iftw]

I remember this situation happening to me when I was driving to BC. Followed a cop in a undercover tahoe for about 25 min driving 150 km/h and exceeding up to 170. I knew it was a cop and just incase he would decide to pull me over I had him on video.

If the cops can drive at 150 km/h for no damn reason. then i sure as hell am going to do the same.

[Deep_Blue]

Originally Posted by taibanl

Except it cant be that much of an emergency if they have time to respond to an ordinary traffic stop

Not sure a cop would view someone chasing him at 90+ as ordinary

[ny325]

In bergen County, we have township police, county police, and occasionally you would see county sheriff. Who is going to stop who?

[Grendeltouring]

I had the most laughable exchange I've ever had with a cop recently, was 20 or so miles north of Portland on I-5 going north with three lanes each way at that point. I noticed a huge diesel Ford truck holding up quite a few cars in the left lane, he was going 75 in a 70. The right lane was completely clear so I took it, was going 77 indicated by my Passport Max's GPS speed display - don't go much faster than that on that stretch of road as the WSP doesn't like more than 10 over. When I went by the truck I noticed that it was a Sheriff from some little county down there, and when I went by I drew quite a few other cars around him that thought they'd follow me.

About 5 miles later I see the guy weaving through cars without indicating trying to get to me, and he flips his lights on while about 100 yards behind me. At this point the left two lanes were clear (as he wasn't holding people up anymore), so I figured that if he was in a hurry to go somewhere that he could use the other two lanes. He continues to drive with his lights on for another mile or so, then gets up to 30 yards behind so I pull over.

Saunters up to the car, and tells me that I was going 90 mph. Completely untrue, never exceeded 77 and I inform him of this, he then tells me that my speedometer must have a serious malfunction. I tell him that it's an '11 BMW with stock wheels/tires and I knew exactly how fast I was driving. We argued for about 5 minutes, then he actually has the nerve to tell me:

"I don't know how you're going to get back on this busy highway safely" which completely sets me off. I tell him that he's the pillock who put both of us on the side of an interstate, and told him that I wasn't sure if he was aware that I pulled over quite a bit into the grass for both of our well being (always do that). He didn't give me a ticket. Very nearly told him that if he was going to say anything else that I was going to demand a highway patrol officer as a witness because I didn't trust what he was going to do.

So if you're driving in southern WA on I-5, beware of an older Sheriff in what looked to be a lifted Ford F-whatever50.

[kfriceman]

Originally Posted by flexinator

Thanks for the info. Perhaps you can detail proper following distance. I now realize how lucky I am for the cop cutting me a break, thanks for your insight into this situation.

A rule of thumb is one care length for every 10 MPH of travel, i.e. 70 MPH = 7 cars lengths.

-Kevin

[Meeni]

Another way to count distance: count 3 seconds between the previous car and you passing a fixed point. If 3 seconds or less have elapsed, give more space.

Now, why were you speeding in front of the police and thinking it was a good idea ?

[Amini77]

There was no way for him to give you a ticket. He can't determine your speed when you're behind him. I had an officer pull me over for thinking I was speeding because he heard loud cars on the other side of the block. Which was actually 2 335's, I was just behind them cruising. So he wanted to write me a ticket but there was nothing he can do or prove, he told me "you're lucky I have somewhere to be right now, I'm letting you go" dude no...you just don't have anything to prove against me.

[jsrbrown]

Oh he could have ticketed you alright. Made you come to court just to fuck with you. part of their job is to observe! Like any other profession, there are guys that try to do the right thing and guys that have an inferiority complex with something to prove.

I don't get the passive aggressiveness I see in some drivers.... Would you want someone fucking with you while you're trying to work?

Best to let sleeping dogs lie....

[MrPig]

Originally Posted by vitriol

In New York, cops can basically speed all day long. They are specifically authorized to do so by New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law section 1104.

In Toronto; cops stop at a red, turn on their flashers, plow through said red, turn off their flashers and continue on their merry way. It's disgusting the stunts they pull and then issue you a ticket for an 'illegal right' because of traffic calming streets (you know, the ones without any schools, community centres or anything that warrants calmer traffic).

[upstatedoc]

Dude! What's with all these brushes with the law.

Seriously though, I had a buddy many years ago (20+) who right out of college joined the sheriff's dept and told me that routinely on patrol they would go into "intercept mode" whereby they would cruise at 20-25 mph over the speed limit in the hopes of catching up to someone up to no good (speeding, reckless driving etc). And it was all perfectly legal. This is what he told me.

[Delta0311]

Legally he can only speed when responding to a call. So in other words they can speed when ever the hell they want because you have no way of knowing if he is or isn't responding to a call. Although in my area I rarely see them speeding.

[Gizm0]

This thread made me think of this video I watched on youtube a while back... a guy chasing a cop doing over 100mph...

[flexinator]

After watching that speed kills your pocketbook video, (

) I got fed up with the cop ripping by me at 90. I was not passive aggressive with him in my car, I kept a pretty far following distance. It was clear to me during our interaction that he was mad that I knew he was wrong and wanted to call him on it. I am frustrated so many of the people on here think its ok for cops to do whatever because "what are we going to do about it". This happened 2 miles from my office. I'd love to appear in front of a judge and hear the cop explain why he ticketed an otherwise upstanding citizen who was following his cruiser at a very safe distance. Tickets in general are bullshit unless you are driving at crazy speeds on in an unsafe manner or in bad weather etc. My only tickets are on big open highways on sunny days with no traffic. I am only a danger to myself. I'll also note, I have 2 tickets to my name over 13 years of driving and no accidents.

[The Cleaner]

Not sure what the argument is, if your doing 65 and a cop passes you at 90 then you drop in behind him then pace him.... you are doing 90. I'd have ticketed you in a second.

[techietaichi]

Ah yes, the police. "To protect and serve".....when they feel like it.

[flexinator]

Originally Posted by The Cleaner

Not sure what the argument is, if your doing 65 and a cop passes you at 90 then you drop in behind him then pace him.... you are doing 90. I'd have ticketed you in a second.

are you a police officer? If so, if you were driving 90, which is a traffic violation, why is that ok? Why am I more wrong than you, deserving your wrath.

[The Cleaner]

Originally Posted by flexinator

are you a police officer? If so, if you were driving 90, which is a traffic violation, why is that ok? Why am I more wrong than you, deserving your wrath.

A police officer has to speed to catch speeders, in fact he will have to speed even faster than the speeders to catch and pace them. So given this, a cruiser doing 90 maybe looking to catch up and pace vehicles traveling ahead on him. Not all police lay in wait, catching up to and pacing speeders is a well establish method of finding violators. If someone chooses to make the job easy by actually pacing a police cruiser it makes the job easy.

[flexinator]

catching up to a car to pace them is one thing. speeding for no reason and then attempting to guess the speed of the car following them is another. I was not speeding. The cop was speeding. I followed him. At that point I may have been speeding, if the cop was anyway. Why can't you admit that he was in the wrong.
Police officers do not "have to" speed to catch a speeder. In fact by law they are bound by the same rules as the rest of us, until they witness a crime and are responding to it, typically with emergency lights on, but not always. This guy cruising at 90 yesterday was blatantly ignoring the rules, and was annoyed that I brought attention to it.
wow.

[Deep_Blue]

Originally Posted by Gizm0

This thread made me think of this video I watched on youtube a while back... a guy chasing a cop doing over 100mph...

Biggest idiiot i've seen in a long time...

"come at me, i got Honda Civic on my side!"

[The Cleaner]

"catching up to a car to pace them is one thing"
"Police officers do not "have to" speed to catch a speeder"

This makes no sense, glad you got out of your ticket.

[drF80]

This is a good example of abusing the power.
By law, the cop off duty or not needed to speed up (no lights) should also obey the law and limits just like we are supposed to do.
However, if he does not, that gives OP no right to break the law, too.
What were the OP's options -- well, most likely is to bitch to himself and forget it and continue following the speed limits.

Earlier this year, I got a ticket for not using a blinker (on a 5-turn zig-zag road in our community). I always use the blinker, so, I am not even sure I missed it. I did not argue. $160 ticket!
However, what really pisses me off it that I see cops daily making turns or switching lanes with no blinker. I was thinking of catching them on video and filing a complaint, but learned that most likely it owuld lead to nowhere...