What to do when pulled over by the Police

[Fishbone Jones]

The Germans have (well, now it's had) no speed limits on their major highways....didn't have that many problems did they? Nope.

It's not speed thats the problem (going 100 or 140, you get hit your just as dead), it's the quality of drivers on the road. There are ALOT of VERY bad drivers on the road. I can't get over how incredibly bad people are at driving. No signalling, not paying attention, not pulling over for emergency vehicles (my major pet peeve).

Until they do have an accident on the Autobahn. Then it's very likely about a 400-500 car pile up with fender benders at the rear and total demolitions of the front 50-60. Very few exceptional drivers there are pros. Most are the same type of bozo we have on our highways. Only difference there is, if you're a traffic regulator, holding up traffic in the fast lanes, they haul your ass off the road. Yep, the fast lanes. Nothing like a guy flashing his lights to make you move over at 180kph, but you can't see them because he's only four inches off your bumper.

 

[MommyMedic]

Simple math: Force = Mass times Velocity Squared. Meaning? Speed exponentiates the amount of force applied to your body. Don't underestimate how it wreaks havoc. Heavier vehicle and other changes don't have nearly the effect of speed increases.
The reduction in the time you have to react and avoid obstacles is a big issue as well. (More physics; the sooner you hit stuff the harder you hit it.) Since you can't change the stupidity of the drivers around you, you may want to give yourself more time and space between you and them.

But hey, I'm just a blonde bimbo, what do I know? I just drive a big ambulance truck down the middle of the road.  :
Great "vant" midget; as per my PM good on you for reminding people of the real big reason not to drive like an idiot - it's not about not getting pulled over, it's about not dying needlessly.

 

[KevinB]

Heavier vehicle and other changes don't have nearly the effect of speed increases.

Bingo.

[this is a dry by posting with nothing to do with the original topic - but I will wholeheartedly agree with the above poster ]

As for the topic -- when pulled over

Chris Rock has a good video on "how not to get your ass beat by police"

 

[Rayman]

The Germans have (well, now it's had) no speed limits on their major highways....didn't have that many problems did they? Nope.

It's not speed thats the problem (going 100 or 140, you get hit your just as dead), it's the quality of drivers on the road. There are ALOT of VERY bad drivers on the road. I can't get over how incredibly bad people are at driving. No signalling, not paying attention, not pulling over for emergency vehicles (my major pet peeve).

I think people need to stop getting their knickers in a knot over speed and look at the real problem, the quality of drivers on the road. The majority of accidents I've almost been in were not a result of speed, but rather some blonde bimbo yacking on her cell going down Hwy 400 or some soccer mom driving her Suck Utility Vehicle in the middle of a two lane road (yes, in the middle), or some retard with a civic equipped with performance tires  trying to drive in the winter.

Yeah, it's a touchy subject for me too. (I get 6 demerit points for a one time frig up while constantly bad drivers get to fiddle-frig their way around town giving me near constant heart attacks and they get bupkiss, and don't get me started on drunk drivers who get to stay on the road).

I have to agree with you its stupid people who pull out into the lane when theres not enough room to merge or how about those who do a left turn from an intersection and go straight over to the right turning lane thats blocked (I mean they havent even entered a lane-their car is still facing the direction of the other road) and try and push their little bumpers in to claim a spot. People who dont look when they're merging or changing lanes and yes those people who try and talk and drive at the same time that seem to push their way around the road.

 

[IN HOC SIGNO]

I think speed and bad/inattentive drivers are both the problem. I live on a street which is a cut through to a main road and honest to Pete you take your life in your hands trying to pull out some days because people are doing in many cases twice the speed limit.....it's a 50 and they are doing at least 80-100. That is just too fast...you don't have time to react when a little child runs out on the street or someone is backing out of their driveway. I live just around a bend so what happens is you look and the coast is clear...you begin to go and some idjit is right on top of you before you know it.

In most cases the speed limits are justified on our highways here and the limits should be respected. the people yacking on phones (not all of them are soccer moms or bimbos...most I see are business men and women and youngsters with boom boxes blaring and muffler making way too much noise).
Most people are not defensive drivers...they don't look far enough ahead to anticipate dangers and changing conditions. In my expert opinion there is a special place in Hell for drunken and drugged drivers. :rage:

 

[George Wallace]

You left out the idiots who are to scared to drive the limit and insist on driving 10 to 20 km under the posted speed in the left lane and are too scared to change lanes. 

Some will remember the two guys in Southern Ontario a few years ago who decided to drive the Posted limit, and drove side by side pacing each other on a two lane section of a 400 Series Hwy.  They were ticketed.

Speed is a problem, but not always just those who drive FAST.  People who drive too SLOW are a hazard also.

 

[Neill McKay]

Dur....okay.  Now, I'm no math god, but if I'm looking at your numbers, you are saying in good conditions (which I take to mean weather and no road covering like gravel or boxes of canned food (okay like WTF?))

A box of canned food in the middle of your lane can ruin your whole day!

Things do end up on the road from time to time -- bits of cargo off a truck, rocks from a hill next to the road, etc.  The taller they are the farther away you can see them, especially on a vertical curve.  If you drive too fast for the curve you won't have room to stop once you see them.

a person could go up to 130 km/h?  So, how is 19 over on a 100 km/h road so bad?  That is, like, still 11 less that the upper limit you said?  ???  Howz about a bit more help for the layman here? 

To be clear, I don't advocate ever driving faster than the limit.  Safe speed depends on a lot of factors, only some of which I've touched on here.  (Don't anybody tell a police officer who pulls them over "but a civil engineer said it was safe"!)

Every road is built to a certain design speed.  The difference between the design speed and the speed limit creates a safety margin.  If the speed limit is 100 the design speed is probably not 130.  It's more likely to be 110 or so.  If the speed limit is 70 or 80 the design speed is even lower.  In general, on a modern highway there won't be too big a gap between the design speed and the speed limit.  If there is, drivers will feel that they are driving too slowly for the road and will tend to speed.  So while there is some margin, it's not huge.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

The Germans have (well, now it's had) no speed limits on their major highways....didn't have that many problems did they? Nope.

It's not speed thats the problem (going 100 or 140, you get hit your just as dead), it's the quality of drivers on the road. There are ALOT of VERY bad drivers on the road. I can't get over how incredibly bad people are at driving. No signalling, not paying attention, not pulling over for emergency vehicles (my major pet peeve).

I think people need to stop getting their knickers in a knot over speed and look at the real problem, the quality of drivers on the road. The majority of accidents I've almost been in were not a result of speed, but rather some blonde bimbo yacking on her cell going down Hwy 400 or some soccer mom driving her Suck Utility Vehicle in the middle of a two lane road (yes, in the middle), or some retard with a civic equipped with performance tires  trying to drive in the winter.

Yeah, it's a touchy subject for me too. (I get 6 demerit points for a one time frig up while constantly bad drivers get to fiddle-frig their way around town giving me near constant heart attacks and they get bupkiss, and don't get me started on drunk drivers who get to stay on the road).

Well when you design cars for idiots, why are we surprised that they start driving? Hell they are making cars that park themselves, rather than forcing people to learn and practice. The Insurance companies don't help, there is little incentive to increase your driving skills. The driver education industry should take a page out of the PADI book and have a series of courses for people, those that take the courses get a discount on insurance.

 

[George Wallace]

Just a few points on the German Autobahn:

1.    Germans spend over 2000 Euros to take Driver Training in order to qualify for a Drivers Licence.  That covers driving on City, rural and Autobahn.  They also have to take First Aid Trg to get their licence.  Overall they are much better trained drivers than what we see here in Canada, where we see many immigrants from nations around the world who issue licences out of 'Cracker Jack Boxes'.

2.    The only places on the German Autobahn that one can drive in excess of 160 kph is in areas that have 6 to 10 lanes.  Any area with only two lanes is so heavily travelled that the right hand lane is bumper to bumper trucks, and the left lane is all cars travelling at the speed of the slowest car.

3.    Any accident or slow down on the Autobahn causes a 10 to 20 Km "Stau" within a couple of minutes. 

4.    Almost all Trucking from the former Warsaw Pact countries pass through Germany.

5.    Flashing headlights are a thing of the past, and now against the law.

6.    German drivers follow the "Rules of the Road" and have much better driving habits.  They for the most part have signal lights that work.

7.    French cars very seldom have Yellow headlights these days, so you won't be flashing you lights at them any more.    ;D

 

[Kat Stevens]

Q:  Why do they have yellow headlights in France?


A:  So you can hate them in the dark, too.  (from a very old, very drunk, German landlord)

 

[Rayman]

I read an article in a import car magazine a while back comparing some European countries licensing programs vs that of most of the Western world. The author stated that in some places it does cost 2000 or more Euros like what George stated, but also takes years to obtain-rather than the 20-60 bucks most of us pay on our lunch break to renew ours. Now most new drivers have to go through a stricter system to get their license. In Ontario where I first got my drivers license its one year with someone else and no one else (basically an instructor only) unless you take a drivers ed program which shortens the term to 8 months. Then you spend one year with your G2 which is like a full G class but if youre caught doing something its harsher penalties. Then G-youre fully licensed. Insurance companies offer SOME kind of discount (not all that much really since ive been driving since I got my G2) for taking drivers ed. However I left not even knowing how to drive a standard-that was a 400 dollar option on a 300 dollar course. All these creature comfort cars I agree are a bad way to go. They take the skill out of driving. The cameras and sonar type sensors they put on vans and SUVs now however I can agree with seeing as people get these things after being used to a car the size can make things interesting. However my first vehicle was a 98 Safari... so I had plenty of practice.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

My first cars were landrovers, no power anything and double clutching all the way. Good way to learn.

 

[geo]

Anyone remember when we weren't allowed to take out SMP vehicles on the Highway?

Heh.... And those nifty "MAX 50 MPH" bumper stickers... on the DND carryall that zips past you doing waaay more 8)

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I remember my WO driving a Deuce (downhill) above the speed limit, explaining to the officer that breaking the speed limit in one was not a crime, but a "Bloody Miracle!!!)  ;D

I remember getting up to 70mph+ in a Deuce and feeling it doing the "shimmy" That was on the long hill down to Yakima. 

 

[geo]

Yup... doing 70 MPH in a deuce was highly unlikely.  You had to be a real magician to coax everything out of her... Many tried and few succeeded

 

[Colin Parkinson]

It helped to have a 105mm behind you and a long steep hill.....

 

[Thompson_JM]

Yup... doing 70 MPH in a deuce was highly unlikely.  You had to be a real magician to coax everything out of her... Many tried and few succeeded

Some of the MLVW's from meaford can barely do 70 KPH anymore!!

I was lucky enough to be in a Rocket Truck the other day.... yup... got it up to 93! 95 going downhill with a load and tail wind.....

 

[Nfld Sapper]

Had an MLVW SEV  do 100 in the traning area before  >

 

[chrisf]

The trick is to find a long hill and throw them into neutral once you've maxed out what the engine will handle... not that I've ever done it in an attempt to speed up a road move (Disclaimer: Really, don't try it)

 

[Thompson_JM]

The trick is to find a long hill and throw them into neutral once you've maxed out what the engine will handle... not that I've ever done it in an attempt to speed up a road move (Disclaimer: Really, don't try it)

yeah, Hillbilly overdrive is all fun and games until you put the thing back into drive, and the Driveshaft comes flying off, or god knows what....