Posts: 1,455
Threads: 148
Joined: Mar 2010
The Police could fill the State coffers with money by just cruising the main highway and ticketing everyone they see changing lanes with no turn signals. They would stay so busy they wouldn't get lunch or bathroom breaks. How about those passing other cars on the highway that switch lanes two or more times within 100 yardsYou.ve all seen them. Darting lane to lane bumper hugging AND no turn signals. These dumdums are gaining a few seconds and endangering lots of people in a short distance. Seems like, though the drivers book says use your turn signals, people here seem to believe they are optional.
Jon in Keaau/HPP
Jon in Keaau/HPP
Posts: 378
Threads: 7
Joined: Oct 2011
One of my guilty pleasures is encountering one of these people on the highway. They tailgate and than pass with a look at the old fart. They then get stopped at a light and I pass them breezing through the green light while they are accelerating. Of course they pass again but usually no look.
Driving like this says to me that you don't care about me and you are much more important as you are willing to risk my well being to save seconds.
Posts: 378
Threads: 7
Joined: Oct 2011
Hunt Stoddard wrote:
"Edited to add that I know of one very civic-minded woman who is now in her 70s who was given a ticket for hitting 80 on long stretch of the improved Saddle road by a particularly--I would say with reason--sadistic cop. In a modern car, on an open road, in open country without a soul in sight, 80 is not hard to do. In fact, I doubt it's an overstatement to say that one can blithely reach that speed without a second thought. This is the kind of situation where I think cops have something of a duty to exercise common sense. This woman had to go before a judge and then hire a lawyer, luckily only at an expense of about a thousand dollars to clear the situation. This was all, of course, fully realized by the cop who wrote her ticket."
Well this makes me think you are having a bit of fun here.
Posts: 297
Threads: 12
Joined: Jan 2012
Over the years, I have concluded, Some folks just can not stand being behind another, no matter what the speed.
Posts: 3,188
Threads: 216
Joined: Sep 2007
mass increases the square of the velocity - good thing to remember as the needle tops 80 on saddle road .... and one enters the cloud bank hiding that semi...... good luck
Posts: 2,481
Threads: 10
Joined: Feb 2008
quote:
Originally posted by Hunt Stoddard
given a ticket for hitting 80 on long stretch of the improved Saddle road by a particularly--I would say with reason--sadistic cop. In a modern car, on an open road, in open country without a soul in sight, 80 is not hard to do. In fact, I doubt it's an overstatement to say that one can blithely reach that speed without a second thought.
My situation EXACTLY, except I can't say that the cop was being sadistic. My point is that I was in a Chrysler 300 rental car going downhill on that new stretch of road with multiple lanes, wide open spaces, not a car in sight. In that car if you let your foot off the gas while going downhill you still go way fast. I tried it later and got up to 76 before I bailed on the test, fearing of course another ticket. I am basically a very law abiding guy. Generally I am unsympathetic to excuses like this which in my case was that I was unfamiliar with the car, which was like a space ship compared to the old cars I normally drive. In them I have to give them gas even going downhill and the wind noise would be terrific at that speed.
It's all a bunch of talk and we are all responsible for for keeping track of our own speed, but it is also relevant when my story matches another driver's so closely. I'm not saying we didn't deserve tickets, instead I am challenging what I perceive to be the attitude that "that won't happen to me".
Bullwinkle, kinetic energy = 1/2 mass times velocity squared. Twice the velocity means four times the energy. The mass stays the same.
Posts: 3,188
Threads: 216
Joined: Sep 2007
keeping that rental in third rather instead of over drive 4th .... keeps the speeds in check ..... I still drive a stick - moving it into sixth is affirmation we are on saddle road...... back way down for cloud banks and orange chargers.....
Themore I think about getting on the anti speeding band wagon - the more likely I'll end up with a karma ticket - I'll stay low pro on this one ......
Other to comment the same is true on dirt roads ..... trucks with mild lifts and modified front suspension go really well on gravel roads - next thing ya know there is lot of dust and we are going 50 - coming up on aunties little white econo box really fast.... nevermind the loose dogs.........and kids.
its about the equipment .......
Posts: 358
Threads: 68
Joined: Nov 2011
"It's all a bunch of talk and we are all responsible for for keeping track of our own speed, but it is also relevant when my story matches another driver's so closely. I'm not saying we didn't deserve tickets, instead I am challenging what I perceive to be the attitude that "that won't happen to me"."
I agree for the most part, with caveat. For the others who think I'm making a silly point, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. The 80 and above law, which kicks in all kinds of other onerous legal conditions, was designed to deter habitual speeders (as in deliberate), racing, and so on, not people who momentarily hit 80 because they drive a car designed to go 150. The cop could very easily wrote the ticket for 79, instead he made it 80 specifically to cause grief. Others will howl, but I call that irresponsible. Realizing that, which finally took a lawyer, is what eventually convinced a judge, but it starts with ego driven cops.
Let me give you another perfect example, this one from CA a few years ago. I was stopped at a 7-11 frequented by cops to drink coffee, etc. This guy and his friends drive up and park in a handicap spot that had a sign obscured by shadows at night. Cop walks over to the guy as he's entering the store and hands him a $275 ticket for parking in a handicap zone. Sure the guy could probably take pictures and get the ticket dismissed in court. What I'm saying is that responsible application of law enforcement starts with the cop.
This has nothing to do with my situation and others described here. In fact, last night I tested the difference between 35 and 50, and yikes, yeah, there really is a huge qualitative difference. You feel much less able to respond quickly. Yes, the same argument could be applied to 80 and open road, but that's kind of the point of "open road." It means you have visibility for hundreds of feet in front of you. Ever since the 70's and imposition of the 55 limit, people have either forgotten, or been raise in the era of low speed limits. They fail to realize that limits of 75 and 80 were not uncommon highway speed limits (but probably not on BI). On a straight, open road, modern cars can easily go 100. In the mid 2000's I drove a Lexus SUV in Utah and got it to 110 and barely thought I was going over 40. The only real indication that I was flying was when I looked to the side and saw cacti going by awfully fast.
Posts: 378
Threads: 7
Joined: Oct 2011
And Saddle Rd is definitely not I80. 80 miles per hour on Saddle Rd is grossly irresponsible and endangering me and many of my friends who use that road often. It is not a limited access "open road." People are coming onto the road and going off it along it entirety. There are also numerous tourists who are somewhat disoriented anyway. Agree to disagree or not, saying that 80 mph anywhere on the Big Island is okay is pretty irresponsible. Watch you gas consumption increase as well.
Posts: 358
Threads: 68
Joined: Nov 2011
I'm not advocating 80 on any BI highway. I can't give any more info, but suffice it to say that two minutes with the person I mentioned would inform anyone that she isn't in the cohort of people intended by the dramatic penalties of the over 80 law. She's a person who happened to tip 80 on a stretch of road that can lull people to that speed, a stretch that was specifically targeted by an unscrupulous cop for that purpose. Like I say, if you still think that is "fair" then I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
|
