Police, right place right time.

[Tom_Barb]

Today coming home on highway 20 which is a road safe to do 50-55 but only has 2 places safe to pass. Today tho, we were in a long line of blocked traffic due to a few young people in a small sedan. they were having fun slowing traffic to 20 MPH.
Next I know the blinking lights were clearing traffic until he got behind the little sedan.. the State Patrol turn off the lights prior to getting behind them, followed them for about a mile, trying to pass they blocked the lane, then the lights came back on.
Next wide spot they pulled over, as did the SP.
Then we all got to pass.

It is illegal to block more than 5 vehicles in Wa.

[toedtoes]

MarkTwain wrote:
55 miles speed limit is not an ABSOLUTE NUMBER AND WAS NOT INTENDED TO BE AN ABSOLUTE. Read your DMV law manual regarding speed limits. Life is too short to be so annal??????

In California, the "speed limit" is just that - you cannot legally go faster than that speed. You can, and are expected, to go lower than that if the circumstances warrant it. Meaning, if it's night and storming and you can't see 5 ft in front of you, then you should be driving less than that speed limit to be safe.

On the flipside, there are laws against impeding traffic and unsafe driving. Meaning, if the circumstances warrant the speed limit, and you choose to drive less than half of that and you do not move over to let others pass you (and don't have your hazards on indicating a vehicle/driver problem as the cause for the slow speed), then you can be ticketed for impeding traffic or unsafe driving.

It goes both ways.

There is a grey area with impeding traffic and unsafe driving in that an officer could deem you as doing so if you are driving the speed limit when those around you are going faster. This usually is an issue in the fast lane of a freeway. It is up to interpretation and can be fought in court. They don't usually give out tickets for this unless the driver is purposely blocking other cars or showing other aggressive reactions to faster drivers - the cop will point out that it is not your job to force everyone else to obey the speed limit.

[Tom_Barb]

I can understand mountain highway no place to pass, guy ahead of me is struggling to do 25, I'll wait.

I can understand inability, but not blatant obstruction for no reason.

Today I noticed 7 SP in 10 miles, surprised how nice the traffic flowed.

[HuckleberryHunt]

Tom/Barb wrote:
Today coming home on highway 20 which is a road safe to do 50-55 but only has 2 places safe to pass. Today tho, we were in a long line of blocked traffic due to a few young people in a small sedan. they were having fun slowing traffic to 20 MPH.
Next I know the blinking lights were clearing traffic until he got behind the little sedan.. the State Patrol turn off the lights prior to getting behind them, followed them for about a mile, trying to pass they blocked the lane, then the lights came back on.
Next wide spot they pulled over, as did the SP.
Then we all got to pass.

It is illegal to block more than 5 vehicles in Wa.

Great to hear! I see this all the time and it's so aggravating.....and yes, the people blocking the lanes frequently are traveling under the posted speed limit and seemingly oblivious to the fact that they're clogging the road. It creates bad situations as there are many others who go full on "road rage" in these situations.

I won't bother to address the speeding issue. It's a different subject IMO.
Thanks for posting as I'm happy to hear that someone actually witnessed a WA LEO tag one of these offenders. I know they do patrol for it, but it sure is a frequent offense from what I see.

[Desert_Captain]

Lynnmor wrote:

MarkTwain wrote:
55 miles speed limit is not an ABSOLUTE NUMBER AND WAS NOT INTENDED TO BE AN ABSOLUTE. Read your DMV law manual regarding speed limits. Life is too short to be so annal??????

Are stop signs also a suggestion in California? How about no parking signs?

Old story...

A cop witnesses a guy roll though a stop sign merely slowing down before proceeding. He lights him up, pulls him over and begins writing him a ticket.

The guy goes off on the cop, ranting and raving... why are you being such a hard $$$, I slowed down, what is your problem etc, etc?

Finally having had enough of this guys nonsense the cop puts the ticket book down, pulls the guy out of his car and starts wacking him upside the head with his nightstick.

The guy starts freaking out, what are you doing he protests.

The cop smiles and says "Do you want me to slow down or do you want me to stop?

It's not the same...

:B

[Bionic_Man]

DutchmenSport wrote:
Blocking because you are driving 20 mph in a 55 mph zone... yes. I agree completely.

But if you are driving 55 in a 55 mph zone and you have ten thousand cars behind you .... you are NOT blocking them. Just because they want to break the law and speed, does not mean you have to move over for them, because NO ONE EVER!!!!! should be driving faster than the posted speed limit! If you do, you are breaking the law. Just because you are not getting pulled over for doing 60 in a 55 does not change the fact ... you are breaking the law.

You're the kind of driver that causes road rage. It is not your job to enforce the speed limit (or any other law). If you are holding up more than 5 people, let them pass.

[Lynnmor]

A few years ago I was traveling north on I95 somewhere in New England and was slowed to a crawl by a jerk doing a rolling roadblock similar to the OP. A cop came up the shoulder on my left side and needed to get to the right shoulder, so I left a gap and waved him over. It was really cool when, just as I got to the scene, the cop broke out the window behind the driver and filled the car with what I believe was tear gas. Yes, the DW got a few photos. :B

[Lynnmor]

MarkTwain wrote:
55 miles speed limit is not an ABSOLUTE NUMBER AND WAS NOT INTENDED TO BE AN ABSOLUTE. Read your DMV law manual regarding speed limits. Life is too short to be so annal??????

Are stop signs also a suggestion in California? How about no parking signs?

[suprz]

BobsYourUncle wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
I can't drive.......55

Oh NO!

Take my license, all that jive
Oh YEA!

Gonna throw your a$$ in the city joint!

"looked me in the eye and said, ya get my point? "

[Campfire_Time]

MarkTwain wrote:
55 miles speed limit is not an ABSOLUTE NUMBER AND WAS NOT INTENDED TO BE AN ABSOLUTE. Read your DMV law manual regarding speed limits. Life is too short to be so annal??????

Actually, it is. You need to re-read those regulations. Your interpretation of the DMV manual is not the state statutes. It's not what a judge bases his/her decision on. It's why you can get a ticket for doing 57 in a 55 zone and why a judge can make it stick if he/she wants to be a snot about it. If there were vagueness in the law, then no one could be issued a speeding ticket.

Will you really get a ticket for 57 in a 55 zone? Probably not and of course that would be stupid unless you are driving in an unsafe manner. However any trooper will tell you that if you are doing 65 in a 55 zone and ALL the traffic is doing the same and driving in a safe manner with good distance between vehicles, they will leave it alone. That's the leeway you are talking about, not anything in written law. But if the traffic is doing 57 and you are doing 65 because you perceive this is your right, and you get caught, you are getting a ticket.

About reasonableness, when not towing do what the traffic is doing and do it safely. When towing be reasonable about speeds and stay out of the way of faster moving traffic.

[Old-Biscuit]

Tom/Barb wrote:

BobsYourUncle wrote:
Gonna throw your a$$ in the city joint!

YEP! when you break the law.
It is against the law to impede traffic.

:S

'WE' have been posting the lyrics to Sammy Hagar's "Can't Drive 55' song

[Tom_Barb]

BobsYourUncle wrote:
Gonna throw your a$$ in the city joint!

YEP! when you break the law.
It is against the law to impede traffic.

[Tom_Barb]

MarkTwain wrote:
55 miles speed limit is not an ABSOLUTE NUMBER AND WAS NOT INTENDED TO BE AN ABSOLUTE. Read your DMV law manual regarding speed limits. Life is too short to be so annal??????

Some folks have places to be, the speed limits is 55MPH. not 20, these kids were having fun blocking traffic. They had well over 50 cars backed up, this does cause accidents, They got a ticket for it, great guys the SP

[Tom_Barb]

SidecarFlip wrote:
I can't drive.......55

easy.. pull over

[Tom_Barb]

DutchmenSport wrote:
Blocking because you are driving 20 mph in a 55 mph zone... yes. I agree completely.

But if you are driving 55 in a 55 mph zone and you have ten thousand cars behind you .... you are NOT blocking them. Just because they want to break the law and speed, does not mean you have to move over for them, because NO ONE EVER!!!!! should be driving faster than the posted speed limit! If you do, you are breaking the law. Just because you are not getting pulled over for doing 60 in a 55 does not change the fact ... you are breaking the law.

No one implied we wanted to break the law or speed, but 20 in a 50-55 zone? SP didn't like it either.