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I've been watching that too. I cannot say how relieved I am that no one graduated this week.
I was also amused and dismayed at the insistence of some of the contestants that you can't get in trouble for driving too slowly. I was taught that in
most jurisdictions in Canada you can get ticketed for driving so slowly as to create a hazard, which includes pissing off the people stuck behind you.
--
"Should we stop him?"
"No I think he's boring the random encounters away."
-- Fighter and Thief, 8-bit Theater
His Lovely Wife
Unregistered
Not sure if this is urban legend or not, but didn't someone and his friends once "block" a chunk of the 401 near Toronto by all driving AT the
speed limit - all in line with each other so no one could pass (3-4 across depending on the number of lanes). I remember hearing they were ticketed but fought
it because they were going the exact speed limit.
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I have heard of cop cars pulling the same stunt. Except in this case, the cops were forcing everyone to drive ~15 mph under the speed limit to clear up a
traffic jam a ways up the road.
I could see the guy and his friends being ticketed for obstructing traffic. Having a flow of traffic with speed variations by lane is safer than everyone in a
static formation. Granted, you could probably fight that in court.
I'm too tired to go digging through snopes right now, perhaps tomorrow.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
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Sweno: you are correct. Known as a "traffic break", it's a technique police officers are trained in, for the exact purpose you specify (and
others).
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_break , I knew what to look for because Mom was a cop  )
That said, unless they could demonstrate good reason, the goofballs in Lovely's example could (and probably would) be ticketed, and most likely would not
be able to fight it successfully in court. Penalties for traffic violations are based on the judge's opinion* more than they are on the exact rules. This
is deliberate because otherwise one could loophole the court system to death all day long. Judges are generally not stupid people, and no matter how earnestly
these individuals claim they were just following the speed limit, they'd be penalized for creating a traffic hazard. The most serious charge would likely
be reckless endangerment, granted -- which is not much in the grand scheme of things -- but still.
(* in the US; not sure about other areas)
--sofaspud
-- "Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
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Ah, yes the rolling road block. I remember reading somewhere when Volvo were developing their go-really-fast version of the 850, the test drivers would tootle
'round the Autobahn looking for 911's and whatnot. Cause once they'd found one - Operation: Slow Volvo commenced. Basically they'd box the 911
(or similar) in the fast lane and plant the accelerator to the floor, forcing the speedster in the middle to keep up with the Volvos.
--Rod.H
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Quote: Bluemage wrote:
Anyway, Pacific Northwest drivers don't seem quite that bad. A lot of people speed, but a much smaller number (10% or less, I'd guess) go more than
10mph over the limit. The worst part of driving over here are the people who take five seconds to go when stoplights change color, the people who can't
merge to save their lives, and the people who slow down (or stop) in the middle of a turn.
...yes, a lot of them are either on a cellphone or old. What's your point?
A mile from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, an old biddy in a Ford Explorer turned my mom's favorite car, a blue Volkswagon Dasher, into a charred
Civic when she failed to notice that the traffic had suddenly slowed. One of my brothers' seatbelts got jammed and he nearly burned up with the car -
thank God my dad was able untstick it. To this day, mom still gripes about stupid old drivers driving huge-ass SUVs.
Rod H: Re: Operation: Slow Volvo:
ROFLMAO!!!
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As one of the people who tend to drive at or slightly below the speed limit at all times , all I can say to anyone who is upset by my driving speed:
Suck it up. I'm not risking a ticket, or driving at a speed *I* don't feel safe at, just because you're an impatient ass who thinks the LAW is less
important than his need to be somewhere a few minutes sooner.
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I've sometimes daydreamed about having a system that could, at the touch of a button, project something like a neon sign in my rear window, reading, for
the benefit of anyone crowding me: "I'm doing the speed limit. If you want to go faster, you want to break the law." Alas,
it'd cost more than I'm willing to spend to design and install ... and it wouldn't be nearly as satisfying as hosing them with a flamethrower, or
letting them pass me and then putting an autocannon burst of DU into their backs. Why, yes, I am a Car Wars
fan homicidal sociopath (repressed); how did you guess?
-----
Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.
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I think both of you are missing the point of the original post, which pointed out someone doing 15 mph less than the posted limit. With no adverse conditions
to cause it.
That is, in fact, a violation of the LAW, though most cops will look the other way about it -- until and unless you start affecting other people. Or do you
not have laws about slowing the traffic behind you in your part of the country? Around here, if you're holding back 4 or more, you'll get ticketed
unless you pull over and let them pass.
We're not talking about speeders, we're talking about folks deliberately going under the limit by a wide margin.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
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for that matter, speed limits are primarily a revenue generation device.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
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Wiredgeek Wrote:for that matter, speed limits are primarily a revenue generation device. Hence the revocation of unlimited speed zones in various locations that once had 'em. But then inregards to the revocation of the no-limit that Australia's Northern Territory had, I can sorta see the point, I mean 100kph+ on barely graded dirt tracks is something very few cars and drivers can pull off. Then on the paved roads at night....natural selection apparently knocked into peoples heads 110 to 160 is the sweet spot. A little thing called wandering wildlife, y'know - kangaroos, livestock, snakes - stuff like that.
As to traveling at way under the speed limit, for some of the drivers around here. No for all drivers. It's become a fact of life, for I am in a state that starts fining at 3kph over. So in a world where the speedos are allowed a 10% tolerance, we've become very paranoid lot.
--Rod.H
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Quote:I mean 100kph+ on barely graded dirt tracks is something very few cars and drivers can pull off.
What?
I mean, seriously - what?
how bad are these roads? Are we talking about frequent man-eater potholes?
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
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In Austrailia, I'd think that 'man-eater potholes' is an understatement. IIRC, in desert climates like that, it's not rare to have a sinkhole
big enough to swallow a house just open up overnight.
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Wiredgeek Wrote:Quote:I mean 100kph+ on barely graded dirt tracks is something very few cars and drivers can pull off.
What?
I mean, seriously - what?
how bad are these roads? Are we talking about frequent man-eater potholes?
Hmm, during the wet that's a possibility. so how 'bout an google-recognised streetview of a main road intersection
http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&hl=en&i ... ,8.37,,0,5
or an intersection streetview of the major interstate to a very minor road
http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&hl=en&i ... 38,,0,13.2
If that don't work then
I think, the problem I was having with the google map links was that I was manually stripping out my address, and they don't like being embedded in this forum. They should work now.
--Rod.H
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Rod, both of the links go to a blank Google Maps page that warns "make sure all words are spelled properly".
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Trade ya!
I was looking for video showing the superior quality of Crappy Road you can get in Alaska, but I couldn't find any. I might have to bolt the camera to the
dashboard and go for a drive this weekend. At least in Australia, wildlife collisions aren't 'almost always' fatal.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
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And another reply, since Yuku has some problems with sanity when more than two embeds in a post...
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
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