I heard that in California the cops have to pace you to get your speed instead of using radar. I also heard that they arent allowed to setup road blocks to catch drunk drivers.
Just wanted to get the whole truth out of that and mabye find out about some other rules that you guys have down there.

God bless,
Scott.

 

i dont live in cali anymore but i did for 14 years up intill 2 years ago and what you have heard is NOT true . they can peg you with radar all they want and they do check points for the drunks anytime they feel up to it . hope that answers your ?s .

 

haha, I laughed when I saw the thread title, but now it makes sense. I thought you were seeing if any califonians were on the website. They make up like half the U.S.'s population (exageration noted).

Ryan

 

Actually we make up about 10% of the population of the U.S.

And yes; stang66myway is correct. They use radar; also airplanes; and they do pace you.

They also have DUI check points on certain occasions such as New Years and other holidays.

But what doesn't make sense is that they tell you where these check points are ahead of time.


Trust me on this.

 

Our "Speed Trap Law" only prevents using a stopwatch and marks on the pavement for speed enforcement. Radar is ok, but is not commonly used by the CHP, and only where radar enforcement is posted. The other important thing to note is that speed limits must be based on an actual traffic engineering survey within the last five years to be radar enforcable. This mainly applies to city streets and county roads, preventing the use of radar as a revenue-generating tool. It seem that red-light cameras are the favorite for that. San Diego is bankrupt, so they have the highest traffic fines in the nation.

Jim

 

Hey Sierra, that's the best part (must notify where check points will be). I know we've driven around them a few times when I lived in Santa Rosa. Look at the paper the morning before going out, and see if they are running any check points.

Not that we were DUI'ing on the roadways, just like to avoid them when possible.

 

Naw, I never DUIed on the road; never . But it is nice to know ahead of time where they may have their check points.

BTW a DUI could cost as much as $8,000 over here.

Just out of curiosty, what's it like where you are now as compared to Santa Rosa?

 

Scott, I can mess with you here: I live in California, Maryland and the next town up from me is Hollywood! So yeah I'm from California....LOL

 

Moved back to MN. It's a change of pace. It's colder, slower (damn drivers here), but better. Santa Rosa was very nice, but more expensive. And I missed the thunderstorms (just had one here the other day). More on the way tomorrow. Going to sit on my porch at the cabin and watch it.

Later

 

They also have the local radio stations notifying the motoring
puplic as to where the statepatrol are set up running speed
traps. Its kinda nice to know when your driving a big rig, oops
but watch out for the bear in the air..

 

That's right.

You'll see white painted marks on the highway so the bear in the air can time you between the marks and see if your'e speeding; then radio it in to the cruiser below.

You may out run smokey , but not the radio.

 

hey ranger i used to live in santa rosa also now i am located near knoxville TN

ohhh what a cultural shock that move was lol but gotten pretty used to it now and cant say i would move back to cali .

 

Thanks for letting me know. I have a buddy tell me that they werent allowed to use radar, so mabye i'll shove it down his throat for being stupid.

Up here we have the markers on the highway as well, but they dont seem to use it all that often, more out in the prairies where everyone drives at about 160 km/h (I think thats about 90 or 100 in mph).

 

If things haven't changed in the last 20 years...

The CHP can only use radar in areas where the local folks have requested it, paid for the equipment, and other speed trap laws don't apply. Otherwise it's either bear in the air, or following and clocking which requires a certain distance...if you see them and slow down, they can't get you.

The CHP is pretty professional, and are more interested in you paying attention. Meaning you can be speeding pretty fast but if you slow down immediately when you see them, they'll let it slide. In my experience, they give tickets to those who are both speeding AND spacing out.

Local cops can use radar on any road...but if it can be proven that a majority of the traffic on that road regularly exceeds the speed limit by 10mph or over, radar is out...unless it's within 1/4 mile of a school.

The speed trap laws are problematic, there are huge loopholes. For instance, the road I live on is a "loop" of about a mile, beginning and ending on the the same crossroad. It is curvy and hilly. Since it is unincorporated county, the CHP administers it.

Speeders love this road. Speed limit is 30, but the same morons fly by at 50+...making it VERY dangerous to pull out, because I can't see them approaching and they can't see me until they're on top of me. (You FTE hot rodders who complain here about tickets on a country road, you paying attention?). People are unable to take a wilk down a country lane because of these selfish SOB's.

When I complain to the CHP they tell me they can't do anything, because the road is "too short for legal radar" (WTF?) and the terrain makes it impossible to follow and track/clock unseen. So, basically the speeders get a free pass, although they may not know it.