Late Monday night, as we were traveling along Highway 101 on the central California Coast on our way back from Lake Tahoe, my daughter and our friend who was travelling with us started clowning me and calling me “the world’s dumbest criminal”.
All this because as I was driving in a 70 MPH zone and I came upon a California Highway Patrol Car in the LEFT lane with us in the right lane, both travelling in the same direction, I chose to pass his car. My daughter was saying “don’t pass him, don’t pass him.” I did and got pulled over.
He claimed he was going 72 and wondered why I passed him and I told him I was going 70 and wouldn’t pass a CHP car if I was speeding. He took my license and went back to radio in. They were laughing at me and I said “I’ll bet I don’t get a ticket”
I didn’t. He claimed that he had to go on another call and for me to drive carefully.
I’m curious though , how many people would pass him or just follow, even though he seemed to be going slower than the posted limit. (Part of me did just want to see what would happen)
If I was going to pass him, I would never pass on the right and I wouldn’t scream on by him, but kind of gradually ease on by, perhaps glancing over and tipping my hat to him.
Pull up alongside him, stay right with him as long as he’s right around the limit (within 5-8 is safe, I’d say), and keep looking forward. Eventually, he’ll see he’s slower than he should be, and he’ll take off out of there.
In 1971, on I 80, driving a 390 Cougar, I was behind a long string of cars doing about 99. The lead car was a cop. I passed them all, the lead car at 100 flat. (he was still at about 99.) Took a long time before he was a small spot in the mirror and time to put the hammer down. (Omaha to Evanston Wyoming in 10 hrs. flat-900miles/10 hrs = 90avg)— I did tip the hat!
I pass the police car as long as I won’t be going over the speed limit. I’ve never had a problem. I think it’s excessively paranoid to not pass when you won’t be going over the speed limit to do so.
But, there was that one time when I passed a cop car on a residental street, definitely going within the speed limit. All the other cars lagged behind, which I thought was silly. “I have nothing to hide!”, I thought, so I drove on ahead. And immediately got pulled over. Turned out I hadn’t put on my most current registration sticker, so it looked like my registration had expired. The policewoman, when discovering that I was a dolt who hadn’t attached the sticker yet (it was safe in my glove compartment) very graciously attached the stickers for me and let me go on my way. I thought that was nice.
Definately would pass. People who refuse to pass police who are doing less than the limit are a little too paranoid. And obstructing traffic. Some people slow down when they see an officer driving on the other side of a divided highway! I think some people just like playing with their breaks…you know, to check them out, make sure they work…every 100 yards…
If the officer has his lights flashing, and is creating a traffic break, that’s a different story.
I vote for passing. It’s a rare opportunity that a cop is actually going slower than I am but when it happens, I have no problem passing. I do, however, double-triple check my speed before I do.
I definitely pass if I’m still within the speed limit. Most folks seem to be overly anxious about cops and tickets. I’ve had two tickets in 35 years of driving. One for a “rolling stop” in a residential area, and once for speeding on the 405. I wouldn’t have gotten the speeding ticket but I forgot the cop was a couple of lanes over, got to thinking about something and accelerated without thinking about it. The cop told me he wouldn’t have pulled me over, but he knew I knew he was there. I told him I did know he was there, but had gotten to thinking about something and forgotten all about him. It didn’t help, he still gave me the ticket.
My 17 year old got in a huge argument with me recently. He had been given a “citation” by a cop for speeding and insisted it wasn’t a ticket, just a warning. He absolutely would not believe me until I made him call the police department and inquire about it. It was a good thing I was paying attention because he had only 24 hours remaining to either pay the fine or notify the court that he would be taking the driver’s ed course. Another 24 hours and he would have been in contempt of court with an even larger fine and no hope of getting the ticket off his record.
We are paying ~ $300 month in additional insurance costs for this one to drive, lord help us when our youngest gets his license.
