Sudden slow downs. Why?
 

Two lane highway, posted 60, flow 65-67, few passing chances

Happens constantly, traffic moving comfortably along when it goes over
a hill or around a corner and suddenly slows to 60. Yep, cop car
parked on shoulder.

WTF is the point of slowing to the posted? If he wants you, he already
has you as soon as he sees your car. His radar is far faster than your
reflexes. It is too late to slow down. The likelyhood of getting a
ticket (at least on this highway) doing the flow is extremely remote
anyhow.

Now I can understand people slowing for a cop cruising at the posted or
just above it as he might be trolling for an easy ticket.

Harry K

Harry K wrote:

> Two lane highway, posted 60, flow 65-67, few passing chances
>
> Happens constantly, traffic moving comfortably along when it goes over
> a hill or around a corner and suddenly slows to 60. Yep, cop car
> parked on shoulder.
>
> WTF is the point of slowing to the posted? If he wants you, he already
> has you as soon as he sees your car.

Then he's not taking the time to visually estimate the vehicle's speed
*BEFORE* confirming it with RADAR.

"Harry K" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Two lane highway, posted 60, flow 65-67, few passing chances
>
> Happens constantly, traffic moving comfortably along when it goes over
> a hill or around a corner and suddenly slows to 60. Yep, cop car
> parked on shoulder.
>
> WTF is the point of slowing to the posted? If he wants you, he already
> has you as soon as he sees your car. His radar is far faster than your
> reflexes. It is too late to slow down.

Not necessarily. The radar is pretty fast, but it's being operated by a
human being (who probably has slower reflexes than YOU do) and even at best
it still takes a second or two to process, during which time it is still
measuring your speed. If you slow quickly as soon as you see a cop, you can
easily bleed off 5 - 10MPH or more before he actually gets a measurement of
your speed. Oh, and that's assuming that the cop doesn't estimate your
speed first. That is, a cop can't use radar or lidar before he suspects
that you are speeding. So assuming you came around a blind corner and a cop
measured your speed as soon as he could see your car (before your entire car
was visible for at least a few seconds), then the ticket should be tossed by
the judge, as there was no probable cause for the cop to use speed measuring
equipment on your car until several seconds after the cop could clearly SEE
your car.

What annoys me is when the cop parks out in plain view on a long
straightaway and traffic flowing 20 over suddenly slows to 20 under. I
mean, yeah, a cop is watching you, but 45 in a 65 is borderline illegal,
also!!! -Dave

> WTF is the point of slowing to the posted?

It's simply a natural reaction to behave when The Man ® is watching.

Make sure you use the handbrake when you do this though; those brake lights
are an admission of guilt ;)

> That is, a cop can't use radar or lidar before he suspects
> that you are speeding.

Oh come on. Let's talk about reality. The reality is that cops sit on
the side of the road with their radar on waiting for the numbers to
register higher than the speed limit. Then the christmas tree lights
up and he gets one more for his monthly quota. No probable cause
necessary.

"Larry Bud" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>> That is, a cop can't use radar or lidar before he suspects
>> that you are speeding.
>
> Oh come on. Let's talk about reality. The reality is that cops sit on
> the side of the road with their radar on waiting for the numbers to
> register higher than the speed limit. Then the christmas tree lights
> up and he gets one more for his monthly quota. No probable cause
> necessary.
>

Then the ticket should be tossed by the judge. Yeah, I know, when pigs fly.
:) -Dave

"Larry Bud" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>> That is, a cop can't use radar or lidar before he suspects
>> that you are speeding.
>
> Oh come on. Let's talk about reality. The reality is that cops sit on
> the side of the road with their radar on waiting for the numbers to
> register higher than the speed limit. Then the christmas tree lights
> up and he gets one more for his monthly quota. No probable cause
> necessary.
>

Yep, that's the way they do it here. The "tag" just about everybody that
drives by.

James C. Reeves wrote:
> "Larry Bud" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>
>>>That is, a cop can't use radar or lidar before he suspects
>>>that you are speeding.
>>
>>Oh come on. Let's talk about reality. The reality is that cops sit on
>>the side of the road with their radar on waiting for the numbers to
>>register higher than the speed limit. Then the christmas tree lights
>>up and he gets one more for his monthly quota. No probable cause
>>necessary.
>>
>
>
> Yep, that's the way they do it here. The "tag" just about everybody that
> drives by.
>

I've seen a lot of drivers who apparently don't know their true speed
and/or what the speed limit is - they will slow to 55 in a 65 for
example when seeing a cop, which causes no end of chaos behind them...
the aware drivers will slow to the speed limit, then notice that the
vehicle in front of them is still slowing...

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

Harry K wrote:
> Two lane highway, posted 60, flow 65-67, few passing chances
>
> Happens constantly, traffic moving comfortably along when it goes over
> a hill or around a corner and suddenly slows to 60. Yep, cop car
> parked on shoulder.
>
> WTF is the point of slowing to the posted? If he wants you, he already
> has you as soon as he sees your car. His radar is far faster than your
> reflexes. It is too late to slow down.

Radar takes a couple of seconds to get a fix. Then, the cop has to
visually identify which car is going the fastest. If there are 2
cars in the vicinity, (including cars on the other side of the road),
the radar will only indicate the speed of the fastest-moving one.
The cop must identify which of the cars he can see is the one that
was speeding.

Laser guns (LIDAR) don't have this problem.. although I managed
to get lasered and not get a ticket, the other day. The cop must
have not been paying attention, or something. I braked as soon
as my detector went off, and noticed that he kept the gun trained
on me all down the length of the straight (usually, lasers hit you
once and stop).

> The likelyhood of getting a ticket (at least on this highway) doing
> the flow is extremely remote anyhow.

Still happens.

On Mon, 11 Jul 2005, Ted B. wrote:

> a cop can't use radar or lidar before he suspects that you are speeding.

And I'm sure cops never *ever* do something they "can't" do, right?