My two pet peeves when driving are people tailgating when you are doing the speed limit or above and not using blinkers. Now, on the way to work this morning in the rain I was driving in the left lane of a 4lane divided highway(center turn lane)(and for those who complain about people driving in the left lane I was gettin prepared for the left turn I was making shortly)anyway,I'm driving along minding my own buisness when a black car pulls up right on my bumper. i didn't notice at first since he was so close i couldn't see him. so i check my speed and noticed i fell to 60 instead of my usual 65-68 so i sped up only to find out he is still on my tail.(mind you we are the only ones on the road)So now i'm iritated and refuse to move over. then this guy pulls halfway into the turn lane i gues he figured i couldn't see him. and that's when i noticted he was a state trooper in a camaro. so i check my speed again and i'm doing 72 so i pull to the right lane and he flys by me. now my question is is it really neccasary for police to tailgate like that. i'm sure he would give me a ticket. and if he was in that much of a hurry couldn't he have just put on his lights. anyway i just need to vent to someone. thanks



Dan

 

I'll echo that pet peeve! If a person has ever been rear ended by someone, I'd think they would agree as well. Of particular concern to me, sedans following a truck so close that they can not see traffic beyond the guy they are tailgating! An invitation to disaster. Even if it's just a minor bump, who welcomes the pain of a scratch! Sadly, I had an encounter with a fellow F150 literally drafting my tail at 70 mph in the left lane with so much traffic there was no where for me to go to get out of his way. When I was finally able to move to the right lane, he pulls up to my left and I took the opportunity to express my thoughts to him. And of course as is the attitude of so many younger drivers, they're never in the wrong, they simply expect everyone to get out of they're way. The coarsening of society is ever evident in the attitudes of drivers. As for law enforcement driving as such, nothing burns me more. But hey, they have always seemed to attract personalities with this attitude. Sad. Life is way too short. I just get out of the way of these folks and try my best to let them run into someone else. Meanwhile I'll just whistle on down the road and enjoy a great truck!

 

He might of been running your plate for wants and warrants, since it was raining he probably had to get close to read your license, or your car matched a description of a vehicle just used in a hold up, or something else, you never know.

 

Here in Maryland, this is a real problem. The 'Smokies' run down the road like they own it.

I was driving to work several months ago, in my old '88 Caprice, when I looked back and there was a car right on my bumper! (4 lane divided highway. Route 301, to be exact.)
This guy was soooo close, I could see that he needed to have his teeth cleaned.
I couldn't get over to the right lane (someone was already there), so, I just kept my speed up. I couldn't accelerate because a lil pickup was in front of me.
Finally, I was able to get over.
What was the car? A shiny (marked) Maryland State Trooper's Crown Vic! Right behind him was another Crown Vic, plain gray wrapper.
These 'road warriors' passed me and the pickup, then hit the gas.
Well. . . when these guys went by, I got license plate #s.
In MD, each 'barrack' is issued a particular Letter designation (example- Waldorf/LaPlata is barrack "H".) Well. . . I was well into Prince George's County (barrack "L" territory) so, I picked up the cellphone and called barrack "H" and filed a complaint. The 'duty sergeant' wanted to know WHY I was questioning the police?
Duh. They were speeding!!! They were out of their patrol area!
The law affects them, too, bonehead. Duh.

(A little background. . . . Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia have an ongoing program called "Smooth Operator" where they want 'citizens' to call the local police station and report 'road rage' and 'aggressive drivers'.)

Well, that's what I did. I reported the dang aggressive cops!


Bottom line. I wrote a letter to the commander of the Maryland State Police (MSP) and stated that IF troopers were going to speed, and IF they were expecting 'us' to obey the law, they should too.
I told them who I was, where I live, and that I was very much 'pro-police', but, IF they want me to obey the law, then the police should look in the mirror at themselves, too.

I received a 'thank you - but no thanks' letter from the commander of the MSP - (Col. Mitchell at the time) saying that yes, they should look in their mirrors. (To see me!!!!)

Because of this little 'run-in' with MSP, I have lost a LOT of respect for them.


Lastly. . . No they were not running a call. They were 'in transit' to a 'Training Class' in Baltimore.

 

Well, YOU'D be speeding, too, if you had the opportunity to shoot a 50 cal BAR at a poster of Osama bin Laden for 'gun training', too, wouldn't you?
Aside from that, I fully agree with you on all counts...

 

Never fly in oh-so-politically-correct Orygun. Firestorm going on right now in the City of Portland over high-speed pursuits. Clackamas County just settled a 7-figure lawsuit over an unmarked car that caused a major wreck on an Interstate in a similiar situation (guy was flying, not on call, hydroplaned and took out a couple of vehicles).

 

If the speeding is a problem call the mayor (for city cops) or the governor (for state cops). They are not allowed to run over the speed limit without their lights on, and cannot have their lights on without having probable cause, IE emergency, or traffic stop.

 

I read a similar story on a Mustang message board about a Mustang driver in San Antonio, TX. He said an undercover cop car tailgated him. Then pulled up next to him and was gunning the gas pedal like he was inviting the Mustang to race him.

The child in you would think if he's the one initiating it, then why not? Then the adult in you reminds you that he has a badge and you don't.

 

I wonder how if you 2 were the only ones out there why you were in the left hand lane already? Cops aren't supposed to pass on the right and your not supposed to be driving in the left.

Yeah cops speed. I speed. The majority of us speed. But they do tailgate to get your info and let you know they are there. How come you didn't move over to the right as you obviously weren't at your turn off yet? They may not be perfect but they have certain rules that they work by like all of us. They help keep order as best they can and that includes people who drive in the left lane.

 

A few years back on Halloween I had a similar experience. I was out trick or treating with my kids. We lived in a small town of about 6000 people. There were young kids everywhere when out of nowhere an Oklahoma Highway Patrol car came through town going at least 90 MPH. He did have his lights on but I thought no emergency was worth driving like this on a night when you know kids are out on the streets. I called the troop supervisor from our area and he was very appologetic and agreed with me that the trooper should have been more cautious and he would have a talk with him. He said the trooper was on his way to a homicide about 30 miles away.

 

I'd have to agree with Spaznaut. If you were going 60-68 in the center turn lane then you were in there too soon.

 

Is it wrong that they speed for no reason? Probably. Hey, alot of us speed. If I'm already doing 5-10 over the speed limit and a police car comes up behind me, guess what? I'm gonna slide out of the lane and let him buy. The more distance between he and I, the better. I have having a police car behind me, watching the rear view mirror, waiting for the lights to go. Not for me... I just let him go. Who's to say that unmarked isn't looking for someone that committed a crime? Sure there are plenty out there that speed needlessly, but I don't argue with it. It's the ones that don't pull out of the way that I see get pulled over. Besides, if you're in the left lane and someone wants to pass you, no matter how fast or who they are, you should move out of the lane.

 

If a cop car that is doing over the speed limit without his lights on I will speed up and stay with him I know that isnt the right thing to do but he is speeding too. and other cars that will tailgate me on a 4 lane highway (2 lanes on each side) I will slow down and get by a slow moving car that will make them very mad or just hit the brakes.

 

i cant complain too much, the state cops around here do speed but on the other hand they ussually wont touch ya under 75(65mph limit), unless the weathers bad or theres alot of heavy traffic or slow traffic. alot of times they'll give you a warning such as tapping there brakes a few times. and they usualy dont tailgate but what we do have now are road rage cops.

road rage seems to be an ongoing problem around here and the cops go around and will tail gate or shine there high beams or whatever to try to get u to do something. happened to one of my buddies, car comes up behind him late one night with one headlight and starts tailgating. So he mves over, same thing, speeds up a little, slows down alittle no change. He basicly does everything safe to try and avoid anything and the car is still tail gating real bad. At the time he had a olds cutless with a built 350 so he stood on a go pedal for a sec and go he did, up to maybe 75 or so and jumped off the next exit, the car followed and turned on his lights, got him for reckelss driving i believe. he took it to court and it got thrown out but stuff like that is BS as far as I'm concered.

 

Not to argue but i beg to differ. I travel 95 quite a bit from NC to MD and if I am in the left lane doing 80 in a 70 zone and the traffic in the right lane is doing 70 and a line of cars wants to go faster than me i am supposed to get in the right lane slow down and hope i can get back in the left lane to get around the consistantly slow traffic in the right lane. What makes the people behind me so important.(i understand how the law works left for passing right for travel) but with your theory if i want to do 90mph down the left lane everybody should get out of my way so can have a clear path? if that is the case then the right lane would be hopelesly blocked with traffic. I probably should have gotten over when he first came up on me but, in the same instance he shouldn't have tailgated me (it is illeagal even for him) i understand two wrong don't make a right. but my whole point was that this is an all too common happening from the law enforcement community. I'm not downing the LEO's out there I just think that they should follow the same rules and regulations that the rest of us are supposed to adhere to. It shouldn't be do as i say not as i do it should be look at me i am a profesional driver this is the way you should be driving. After all like it or not they are role models that some people look up to and are expected to act appropriatly. JMHO

Dan