# Passing a LEO vehicle
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 15, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073 "2013-06-15T16:20:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/1 "2013-06-15T16:20:14Z")
Someone posted this on FB:
> [@](#):
>
> I got pulled over for passing a sheriff on Ave L [_Los Angeles County – JLA_] doing the speed limit!!! I was told no matter what speed they are going you NEVER pass a sheriff!!! WTF!!!
When I lived in L.A., I passed CHP cars all the time when they were driving under the speed limit. Is there any place in the U.S. where it is illegal to pass a law enforcement vehicle? I’m guessing there isn’t, as it doesn’t make sense.
EDIT: I suppose the title should say ‘LE vehicle’, though a LEO is driving it. But I think it’s clearer the way it is.
.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/2 "2013-06-15T16:23:45Z")
I think it’s a pretty safe bet that there’s more to the story then what’s been posted. Like, say, maybe the LEO car was going under the limit but had it’s lights on and was trying to create a rolling road block for some reason or maybe the facebook poster wasn’t actually going the speed limit but well over it, who knows. (Or, the LEO was just being a dick, that’s always possible as well).
For a data point, I’ve passed plenty of cops, usually because they’re going over or at the speed limit, but sometimes they’re going a hair over it and I’m just keeping up with traffic which is going a bit faster then that.
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### Author:  [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/3 "2013-06-15T16:24:16Z")
Did the police car have its lights on at the time? I’d imagine that would be some version of obstructing an emergency vehicle.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/4 "2013-06-15T16:39:41Z")
I can’t imagine the LEO had his lights on and someone passed him. No one can be that dumb. The deputies in that area have a bit of a reputation for being dicks. (Not so much when I lived there.)
Suppose the deputy wrote a citation that says, ‘This person passed me’? Is there any part of the CA vehicle code that would justify it?
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### Author:  [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/5 "2013-06-15T16:43:56Z")
Maybe it was a pretext stop? I’ve been pulled over twice for no apparent violation, but I appeared (to the cop) to be doing something sketchy. In neither case was I doing anything remotely illegal, nor was I ticketed.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/6 "2013-06-15T16:45:45Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> **I can’t imagine the LEO had his lights on and someone passed him. No one can be that dumb.** The deputies in that area have a bit of a reputation for being dicks. (Not so much when I lived there.)
>
> Suppose the deputy wrote a citation that says, ‘This person passed me’? Is there any part of the CA vehicle code that would justify it?
I actually saw someone pass a CHP officer doing a traffic break on Hy 17(between Santa Cruz and San Jose). He got stopped at the accident scene a mile further up the road.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/7 "2013-06-15T16:50:13Z")
> [@runner pat](#):
>
> I actually saw someone pass a CHP officer doing a traffic break on Hy 17(between Santa Cruz and San Jose). He got stopped at the accident scene a mile further up the road.
IME, it’s very obvious when they are doing a traffic break.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/8 "2013-06-15T16:53:49Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> IME, it’s very obvious when they are doing a traffic break.
I was right there, the CHP was doing the weave with lights going and the offender waited for the CHP to go right and ducked by on the left.
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### Author:  [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/9 "2013-06-15T16:57:35Z")
> [@runner pat](#):
>
> I was right there, the CHP was doing the weave with lights going and the offender waited for the CHP to go right and ducked by on the left.
Let me guess: he was driving a BMW? 😃
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/10 "2013-06-15T17:01:12Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#):
>
> Let me guess: he was driving a BMW? 😃
It’s an ugly stereotype to assume the model car by the driver’s behavior.
Porche. 😃
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/11 "2013-06-15T17:01:50Z")
> [@runner pat](#):
>
> I was right there, the CHP was doing the weave with lights going and the offender waited for the CHP to go right and ducked by on the left.
I’m not disputing anything you say. But in the case of the person who posted the comment, there is no indication that the deputy was doing a traffic break. Taken at face value, the deputy was driving on Avenue L at a speed below the posted limit. The person passed him, and he told her that it was illegal to pass a sheriff’s vehicle, no matter what the speed limit is or how fast the sheriff’s vehicle is going.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/12 "2013-06-15T17:08:33Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Suppose the deputy wrote a citation
Deputy? In the OP you said Sheriff. The difference may be vital. See, I passed the Sheriff, but I did not pass the deputy. . .
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/13 "2013-06-15T17:40:05Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> No one can be that dumb.
You just qualified. 😉
Seriously, you wouldn’t believe how freaking stupid some of your fellow citizens are out there. On and off the highway.
If the squad car in question was going below the limit and not operating in any form of code, I know of no law that would make it illegal to pass it any different from any other vehicle on the road. It is, of course, impossible for me to know the regs for all 50 states.
It’s entirely possible that the cop was just being a rooster inhaler that day. I don’t deny it’s been known to happen.
ETA: I’ve been driving down the freeway in fully marked squads going at or even above the posted limit and people have flown right by me. When I pulled them over they insist I can’t because even though the freeway in in my jurisdiction I can’t enforce it because I’m not a State Trooper. Hows that for stupid!!! I love when some bimbo educates me on what I can and can’t do.
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### Author:  [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/14 "2013-06-15T19:00:41Z")
There is one screwy bit on the Interstate near here. The speed limit drops to 55 in town, but nobody since time has began has slowed down at all, everybody(including me obviously)keeps going 70-80. The was an ambulance company that had had several accidents. In order to make their insurance happy all their drivers were put on a strict 10MPH over the posted limit maximum, enforced by GPS. So they actually do it. So on that section of road there is occasionally an ambulance responding to a call with it’s lights on, getting passed by everybody.
It is a very odd feeling. I’m flying down the left lane at 80, come around a corner and see an ambulance there with it’s lights on in the right lane, I never know what I should do.
We will ignore the asinine suggestion that I go 55 in the first place.
Do I hit the brakes to drop from 80-64? in time to stay behind it in my lane? That seems very unsafe because the sudden back-up I will cause in the fast lane.
And every lane is going faster than it, to some extent, and It’s also not safe to whip across three lanes to fall in behind it.
So I, like everybody else, just pass it at speed and keep on my way, but feel guilty about it.
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### Author:  [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/15 "2013-06-15T20:28:13Z")
I never pass one, but I’ve never seen one doing the speed limit in Orlando either. They are usually 15-20 MPH over and passing me when I’m doing 10 over.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/16 "2013-06-15T20:58:27Z")
Passing a Low Earth Orbit vehicle means you’re going at least 17,000 mph. Guaranteed ticket.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/17 "2013-06-15T20:59:25Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> I’m not disputing anything you say. But in the case of the person who posted the comment, there is no indication that the deputy was doing a traffic break. Taken at face value, the deputy was driving on Avenue L at a speed below the posted limit. The person passed him, and he told her that it was illegal to pass a sheriff’s vehicle, no matter what the speed limit is or how fast the sheriff’s vehicle is going.
From the California Driver’s Handbook:
> [@](#):
>
> Driving faster than the posted speed limit or driving faster than safe for current conditions on any road is dangerous and illegal.
If the sheriff felt he was driving at the maximum safe speed for the current conditions, anybody who passed him was breaking the law. If he said it’s always illegal to pass a sheriff, he would seem to be assuming that sheriffs will ALWAYS be driving at the maximum safe speed, which is doubtful. This sounds like the kind of case where people try to argue it in court and the judge (a) dismisses it or (b) throws the book at them.
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### Author:  [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/18 "2013-06-15T21:11:22Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#):
>
> Let me guess: he was driving a BMW? 😃
Good guess. What’s the difference between a BMW and a porcupine?
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### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/19 "2013-06-15T21:43:35Z")
😉
> [@obbn](#):
>
> Good guess. What’s the difference between a BMW and a porcupine?
A porcupine’s prick’s on its outside.
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### Author:  [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-a-leo-vehicle/661073/20 "2013-06-15T21:48:33Z")
> [@jz78817](#):
>
> 😉
>
> A porcupine’s prick’s on its outside.
You win one free internet!😃
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