LEO experience I had awhile back.

[Aces and 8s]

This event occured back in 2007, but it has puzzled me ever since. Maybe the Cal Guns LEO faithful can shed some light on this.

I was driving home from the beach late one night, maybe 9pm if I remember right. It was pitch dark out. I was doing 70mph in a 65mph zone. One car a good 3-4 cars in front of me, and another car staggered to my right on a two lane highway. There was also a car behind me and it came up fast, I couldnt get over so I didn't. The vehicle behind me gets right on my bumper and continues to ride it for a good few seconds. I tap the breaks gently and the car backs off a bit, but then comes right back up again. Literally so close I cant see the headlights in my rear view anymore.

I am still pacing the car in front by 3-4 cars, but by this time the car staggered to my right side is ahead of the guy in front of me. So I'm irritated at this point and firmly brake check the guy behind me, he backs off and tosses on his indicators, being stupid and enraged by the tail gater, I drop a gear, punch it, and cut him off as he tries to pass.

Well, he lit me up...

So I pull over and think to myself , "wow, you just did all that to an officer. You idiot."

He walks up, asked for the papers, and asks if I know why he stopped me, to which I reply, "because I was speeding, I brake checked you, and cut you off." To which he asked , "ok, why did you do that?". I didn't really know what to say, so I just cotinued my honesty, "because you were tailgating me and I got upset, but I couldn't tell you were a police officer.", so he told me to sit tight.

He came back after running my information, told me to "be careful , and have a good night".
So I drive off, and he passes me a bit down the road, I see he was based out of a city 2 towns over and not CHP or SD. Not sure if that even matters.

Always thought the entire situation was odd , but I have refrained from brake checking people ever sense. Ha.

[IrishJoe3]

So I'm irritated at this point and firmly brake check the guy behind me, he backs off and tosses on his indicators, being stupid and enraged by the tail gater, I drop a gear, punch it, and cut him off as he tries to pass.
Well, he lit me up...

So I pull over and think to myself , "wow, you just did all that to an officer. You idiot."

Like a boss

I have noticed that some of my coworkers suck at, ah, driving. Between juggling a million things in the cabin and being the habit of driving aggressively to calls, sometimes they (we) have a hard time sitting back and cruising.

He probably didn't cite you because you were honest, and knew he was wrong too.

Just my 2 cents.

[Ron-Solo]

Yup.....

[Petro6golf]

ditto.

[XDshooter]

This state really needs to get serious about licensing motorists.

It's people like the OP that cause congestion out on the road.

MOVE RIGHT, it's the LAW in this state and even if it wasn't, it's the right thing to do.

[Notorious]

I will be the first to say that I see quite a few crappy drivers in black and whites... on and off the freeways. Most common offense is not signaling when they swerve in and out of traffic. Second is speeding.

Then again, I am not sure if everyone prefers my style of driving a black and white on the freeway... sticking firm with the speed limit in the fast lane... while a huge group piles up behind me.

[Aces and 8s]

This state really needs to get serious about licensing motorists.

It's people like the OP that cause congestion out on the road.

MOVE RIGHT, it's the LAW in this state and even if it wasn't, it's the right thing to do.

I guess you missed the first part of the story, I could not get over. Usually I would, but I couldn't. Not at first anyway. Hence, the tailgating upset me. I guess the guy in front of me should have been the on to get over realisticly.

[anto]

I guess you missed the first part of the story, I could not get over. Usually I would, but I couldn't. Not at first anyway. Hence, the tailgating upset me. I guess the guy in front of me should have been the on to get over realisticly.

Totally agree with you. I normally yield right for passing cars, but I HATE it when people tailgate me and there are open lanes or an inability to pull right. I saw two minor accidents this morning on the freeway, both had cars with smashed up hoods from following too close. People need to learn to back the F up when it's needed.

[NoNOS67]

I will be the first to say that I see quite a few crappy drivers in black and whites... on and off the freeways. Most common offense is not signaling when they swerve in and out of traffic. Second is speeding.

Then again, I am not sure if everyone prefers my style of driving a black and white on the freeway... sticking firm with the speed limit in the fast lane... while a huge group piles up behind me.

Always been curious about the turn signal thing. Is there a reason that most LE (in San Diego, anyway) don't use turn signals? Serious question...no smartass intent.

[whatpain]

I guess you missed the first part of the story, I could not get over. Usually I would, but I couldn't. Not at first anyway. Hence, the tailgating upset me. I guess the guy in front of me should have been the on to get over realisticly.

completely agree. not only that but california is one of the only states where 5 and 10 miles over the speed limit is the normal speed. i drove through ohio once and got pulled over for going 2 miles over. stop tailgating slow down and follow at propper distance. its not that hard.

[XDshooter]

Then again, I am not sure if everyone prefers my style of driving a black and white on the freeway... sticking firm with the speed limit in the fast lane... while a huge group piles up behind me.

You are one of those people that doesn't need a license. MOVE RIGHT law has nothing to do with SPEED laws.
Do the taxpayers a favor and start ticketing people who cause congestion. Speeders don't, people who don't move right and let a "huge group pile up behind" cause the most congestion.

I guess you missed the first part of the story, I could not get over. Usually I would, but I couldn't. Not at first anyway. Hence, the tailgating upset me. I guess the guy in front of me should have been the on to get over realisticly.

All I hear from you is that you weren't paying attention. You didn't notice the vehicle coming up from behind and keeping a car directly next to you is not a good idea. If so, just get ahead of the vehicle next to you and move over.

Totally agree with you. I normally yield right for passing cars, but I HATE it when people tailgate me and there are open lanes or an inability to pull right. I saw two minor accidents this morning on the freeway, both had cars with smashed up hoods from following too close. People need to learn to back the F up when it's needed.

If there are open lanes, then you need to move over. It reduces congestion.
Most accidents are not from following too close, they are from people not paying attention. Whether it's the vehicle in back or the person in front slamming on the brakes at the last second because they weren't paying attention.

[allright]

I would think 3-4 cars distance at 70mph is too close. I try to keep at least one car length for each 10mph.... or 1 second distance for each 10mph. I've been behind folks with a rear tire blowout, in the fast lane as the car swerves all over the road, and believe me you don't want to find yourself being too close to them. I've been on the road when the cars in front of me are bunched up and the guy in the front is not paying attention, runs over something large in the road. The folks following see it and start stomping on their brakes, try to swerve, etc...... usually ends up bad.

I drive fast too, but I leave plenty of room in front of me. If some idiot starts tailgating me and I can't pull to the right, I just take my foot off the gas and give myself even more distance from the car in front of me (because I know my vehicle, and it can stop pretty fast and is not all that heavy), because I can see the guy behind me is driving a vehicle that will not stop as quickly, and I'm not sure of the drivers SA and response time.... so now if I have to come to a quick stop, I have more time to give the driver behind me to stop. Essentially, I'm now changing my driving to make my life and the driver behind me safer, not to irritate them.

[9mmepiphany]

One car a good 3-4 cars in front of me, and another car staggered to my right on a two lane highway.

I guess you missed the first part of the story, I could not get over.

I thought you stated it pretty clearly, but I don't understand what you meant.

If a car is staggered to your right, but you had 3-4 car length available in front of you, why couldn't you speed up a little bit and move over?

If you didn't want to speed up to move over, why not just slow down and pull over behind the car beside you?

BTW: Brake checking someone...besides being extremely dangerous... would generally be considered the precursor to road rage.

[JackRydden224]

Since nobody asked....

What would be the right thing to do in OP's situation I would consider speed up to pass the staggered cars to the right but I would most definitely end up speeding. If there is CHP behind me while I speed then I'm screwed but if I don't speed up I'm blocking traffic with no other lanes to go.

[XDshooter]

Since nobody asked....

What would be the right thing to do in OP's situation I would consider speed up to pass the staggered cars to the right but I would most definitely end up speeding. If there is CHP behind me while I speed then I'm screwed but if I don't speed up I'm blocking traffic with no other lanes to go.

Speeding up would be better all around except for the probably speeding part. If you slow down then the vehicle behind you may have to slow down, but if you speed up then no vehicle needs to slow down and cause congestion.

Let's just hope that if any officer witnesses it, they will have common sense.

Situational awareness goes along way when avoiding tickets.