Here in Tampa Bay, I’ve seen cops perform this strange maneuver - around 10 to 11 pm, 3 police cars will block all 3 lanes of the interstate (I-275) and slow down all traffic travelling southbound (northbound is fine). There is NO construction anywhere in the vicinity, there are no accidents, and nothing else going on. They don’t stop traffic, they just seem to make it really, really slow. The cop cars are still moving, but slowly. I’ve heard of cops (I think it was in Texas) that used this procedure to slow down rush-hour traffic, but at that time of night, traffic is sparse and I don’t understand the reasoning behind it. A search of local traffic and police reports yields nothing. I get off of work at 10 pm and have seen this the last 3 weeks. Anyone seen anything similar and why?
I doubt these ever make police reports but I’ve seen a few instances (not in Tampa) where cops have performed this maneuver while running interference for wide loads.One was an over head sign that’s usually posted on intersections (right turn,no left,etc.)
Just a guess but that time of night could be a good time to transport such a sign used to denote interstate exits. (They don’t usually assemble those on site like an erector set).
Any truck drivers on board could probably lend some insight.
One possible explanation is they are doing training. It makes for an easier time to teach people how to drive in certain scenarios on a road with little to no traffic, as opposed to doing ti in the middle of rush hour.
If it was only once, I would say that it might have to do that there was recently a chance on the interstate and they observed something being thrown from the vehicle, and the police were trying to find it and use it as evidence.
(I know, run-on sentence. It’s late. I’m tired.)
Sometimes our (Sydney) motorbike cops rush through Darlinghurst on the road from the airport, stopping at each intersection to halt the traffic to let a truck with a QANTAS container on the back roar through. I can’t imagine what is so important that it has to rush into the city from the airport.
2 reasons come to mind:
One they are in danger of loosing federal funds due to excess speed, less likely since the dropping of the 55 mph speed limit.
or
they wish to slow traffic ahead of a high speed chase to hopefully slow down the suspect
(or a 3nd reason that can’t be discounted)
They are being A-holes, power corrupts.
That sounds like the maneuver known here in Los Angeles as “running a traffic break.” Basically, one or more CHP (usually) vehicles will turn on the lights and gradually begin to slow down, weaving back and forth if necessary to convey the “don’t pass me” message to traffic behind. I believe they do this if, for example, they need to get a disabled vehicle out of lanes and over to the right shoulder with a minimum of hassle.
Started a suitable distance “upstream” of the desired location, they seem to do a pretty good job of opening a sufficiently large gap in traffic without totally mucking things up. I’ve been caught up behind one of these a few times, and often the reason for it never becomes clear.
It happens in more or less the same spot on a recurring basis, though? Who knows…maybe that’s not what’s going on. Or perhaps they’re rehearsing the maneuver; I suppose it has to be practiced sometime.
More info on traffic breaks here. Just scroll down to the second item discussed.