A bullet-proof vest does not mean you’re bullet-proof. It just means most bullets won’t penetrate the vest.
But some will.
Same with radar detectors. You’ll be less vulnerable – but you won’t be able invulnerable.
Probably the greatest threat – the one radar detectors are least able to protect you from – is so-called “instant- on” radar. The problem isn’t that your detector won’t detect that you’ve been targeted. The problem is not detecting the radar in time to do much about it.
Here’s how it works:
Revenue collector parks on the shoulder or some other such place where – ideally, from his point of view – he can see oncoming cars before they can see him. He waits, finger on the proverbial trigger. His radar gun’s trigger. When he sees you coming, he pulls the trigger and a brief burst of radar emanates from his gun. Just as your radar detector detects the signal, it’s already bounced back to him, giving up your speed. You hit the brakes, but it’s too late.
He’s got you.
Most radar detectors need about 0.8-1.5 seconds (the better units being more sensitive) of radar signal before they’ll alert. The problem is the latest instant-on police radar can hit you with a burst so brief in duration – as little as .016 seconds – that your detector either won’t detect the signal or won’t detect it quickly enough to give you time to react.
Instant-on is most effective on lightly traveled roads, where there’s not much traffic. Because until it’s activated, you will get no warning – no matter how sensitive your radar detector is. And if you’re the only car on the road, the cop activating it has already drawn a bead on you. While radar is by nature diffuse – unlike a laser-based speed detection system – and so cannot tell which car is “speeding,” if you’re the only car around, it’s a difference without a distinction.
Busted.
Instant-on is less effective when there’s traffic in the sense that there are more potential victims. Thus, the chances of it being you are lessened.
There’s also another reason.
Your detector will detect the instant-on being directed at the car ahead of you. Which will give you time enough to cut your speed. This is why it’s wise policy to always find – and follow – a blocker car. Some other guy who is driving at about the speed you’d like to maintain. Let him take the bullet (so to speak) for you.
Laser is another big problem – even more so than instant-on radar because you will get absolutely no warning (the beam is virtually instantaneous) and also because – unlike radar – it is very specific. The light beam doesn’t diffuse as it reaches out to your car. If the revenuer is pointing his rig at your car, there will be no doubt (in court) that it was your car he ID’d as “speeding.”
High-end radar detectors can detect laser, but see points above. Times two. You will get no warning at all. Not even the little bit of warning you’d get if the cop was using instant-on (some of which would “leak” beyond the targeted car because – again – radar cannot focus on a specific car).
Thankfully, laser speed enforcement is fairly rare. So also instant-on. Most revenuers prefer to sit in their cars with their radar constantly on – and so, constantly radiating signal. A detector will pick up the signal while you’re still on the periphery of pork – leaving you time to adjust your speed before he gets a “lock” on you.
Hence the value of the detector. 
Look at it this way: A quality radar detector costs about $400 or thereabouts. If it saves you from getting even one speeding ticket, the thing will have paid for itself. Anything after that is putting money in your pocket by keeping it from being taken out of your pocket by they who exist to harass and collect.
Keep in mind that it’s not just the money you’ll be forced to fork over to the state/county (to help fund the revenuers, so they can collect more revenue). It’s also the hit you’ll likely take from the other half of this odious tag team.
You know – the insurance mafia.
Even one ticket for “speeding” can result in a not-small rate hike – whether you’ve ever filed a claim (or had one filed against you) or not. A perfect record – in terms of not having ever damaged your car or anyone else’s – is largely irrelevant. Insurance is not about “safety.” It is about legalized extortion. Traffic tickets provide the pretext for the theft (which, never forget, you’re not legally permitted to say “no” to – hence, theft) and the mafiosi of the insurance industry will seize any opportunity to jack up your rates.
Also keep in mind that while having one ticket (conviction) on your DMV record may not trigger the surcharge tsunami, a second one absolutely will. And in most states, a conviction remains “live” on your record for three years; sometimes five. That means if you get another ticket while the first one’s still active… you’re toast. And will be paying an extra 5 or 10 or perhaps even 20 percent more annually for “coverage” you cannot refuse.
This is why it’s critical to avoid that first ticket – and while a radar detector won’t grant you absolute immunity, it will absolutely increase the odds in your favor.
Personally, I think anyone who drives – and “speeds” (which is pretty much all of us) without a radar detector is like a person who goes for a walk through a really bad neighborhood in the middle of the night wearing nice clothes – and without a gun (or bodyguards with guns).
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Unlike a lot of people, I actually drive the speed limit plus or minus 5 mph. if I am on a long trip, I may drive 60 to save money on gas. On my trip from Virginia to Louisiana, I kept it at 60-65.
I can still remember driving in Charlotte, NC having the cops stop one car, issue the ticket, and then pull over another speeder. I wish the speeders would pay attention and deprive the revenuers some money.
Hi Herb,
I’d rather this business of punishing people for non-crimes such as “speeding” were thrown in the woods – and cops spent their time dealing with people who actually have caused harm to other people!
eric, you describe “pop” radar, something not considered reliable in this state so at least the DPS don’t use them. I don’t think I’ve come across one in Tx. Instant on is tough enough though. There is one thing you used to be able to do and that’s to brake very hard at the instant your detector squeals and they can’t get a lock on your speed. I have done this before. Once my dad was laughing saying the occifer was beating on his unit since it was going bonkers. They may not still have this problem.
I did as someone, maybe Mith suggested once and got an external speaker for my CB. It is boosted so it also has a power wire. I intend to install a detector in it with smoked plastic epoxied to the front and rear sides of the box to make it look stock.
Here in FL cops habitually keep their radars on while they are driving. The detector sounds off, and soon after you see the cop car going the other direction!
Regarding lasers, there is a product called “Veil” that supposedly reduces its effective range by diffusing the beam. It is a liquid that you put on the cops’ preferred targets (usually headlights). Learn more at stealthveil.com
Followup…in my area at least, the possession of a radar detector is considered illegal. (wouldn’t want to make them WORK for their papers after all!)
Any thoughts on the best way to hide/disguise one, so roadside checks and the like don’t take your tools away while still making it convenient to use/see normally?
Same here.
I use duct tape… rolled onto itself like a snake eating its own tail. Use it to stick to the dashtop… much lower profile and very easy to snatch and stash.
In this context, I guess it’s “good news” that there are very few roads so empty that you won’t get advance notice when the badge boy zaps the car ahead of you.
Know what technology worries me right now? Drones.
The expense of putting a “bear in the air” will soon be history.
Drones will do just a good a job of overhead monitoring and documenting, at a fraction of the cost. This will happen as soon as battery life improves enough to keep them in the air longer. Probably not too long.
MikeP, unless laws are changed, drones won’t be a worry in Tx. unless the drone operator is on scene and issues the ticket. We haven’t had air surveillance for traffic since the early 70’s because it’s hearsay evidence. Tx. speed limits are also “suggestions” and not law. Get ticketed for speeding and justice of the peace won’t have the wherewithal to fight a lawyer so they throw it out.
I’ve heard people say hiring a lawyer isn’t worth the money but some firms specialize in it and charge about what the fine would be. You keep you driving record clean, a big deal for me and my kind.
The problem is having to pay at all but it’s better to challenge the system than to roll over and take it.
DOT stops me yesterday and runs my license. He’s a lot nicer than he had to be since my history is clear except for a couple violations in the same tractor I was driving. Those were all technicalities. The last time(before yesterday)I got a level 2 check, I was in the same tractor that I rarely drive and the rookie DOT shithead hit me for 14 violations on Friday the 13th, red tagging both tractor and trailer). Yesterday I had 17 violations, most of which were present when I got 14 and only tow stuck(non-moving). They all can find something they can ticket you for…….right or wrong.
Your pre-trip didn’t find those problems?
You can do 5-over in Texas all day long. 9-over is doable most days, except for holiday weekends like the one upcoming. Just too crowded, and enforcement is zero-tolerance. If he pulls you, you’re going to get paper.
I haven’t had a ticket since the mid-90’s, but with all the new laws (gotta love legislators who feel they have to work for their pay, by passing lots of new laws), I’d hire an attorney right off. He might be $100 more than the ticket, but that’s better than paying the insurance company an extra thousand over 3 years.
chiph, let me tell you about pre-trip. Pipeline companies want cushion sand Right Then. They call and we happen to live in the shinery. I get there earlier than the rest of the drivers and check oil and tires and clean glass. I don’t need to check the legalities of the trailer or tractor since I know for a fact they have many problems, the trailer didn’t even have the triple light bar in the center, got ripped off or fell off months ago. I knew I had a big leak on that tractor, the one I seldom use, but I can’t find it by myself and there is NEVER anyone to help, can’t step on the brake and make a tour of the rig.
When a couple more people show up we can go to the pasture with a few rigs and a backhoe and load them with sand, go fuel up(something I did every night before I had my fuel card cancelled by the boss). I guess he thinks I steal fuel. It’s so stupid since his equipment is the only thing I fuel with diesel. I will admit to using twice as much or more fuel as anyone else. I have to take out a tractor that’s empty so i fuel in the morning and whenever I get back in, maybe midnight at times. But, I always fuel before shutting one down. The other drivers fuel when they’re forced to.
My pre-trip is fuel, oil and cleaning my rig’s glass. We’re supposed to have a mechanic but that doesn’t seem to work very well. I don’t have time to fix tarps, fix lights, fix air leaks, adjust brakes and all that other stuff and get the requisite number of loads. I tried carrying tools but they disappeared as fast as I put them in, and with the price of tolls, I don’t need to fulfill everyone else’s tool needs.
I’m about to make a change. DOT was across the street from me today and I was waiting on another driver to deliver a key. He tried to get around the DOT but didn’t and got told the DOT kept waiting for me to hit the road but I waited him out. I was only waiting for the key but the second long list of violations in as many days on two different rigs was enough to keep me waiting and glad he got the other driver, the bosses right hand man(ass-licker).
BTW, I guess I’m the only driver who can check tires and air them when they’re low. Everyone but me comes in with ruined tires, sometimes new ones. I had a tire go flat fast right after i had checked them all. It was off the bead. I got my trusty starting fluid and blew it back on and then aired it up. Everybody else just drags them in ruined.
> I’m about to make a change.
You need to get out of there before any of their bad habits rub off on you.
All laser detectors aren’t equal just like radar detectors. Some can detect fragment light aimed at another vehicle. The bras they used to make for everything worked well, well enough they’d just stop you anyway just for having the bra and give you a bogus ticket since it was obvious why you had it.
The great thing about laser though is it’s not regulated by any authority so you can buy a laser detector/jammer that works instantaneously and is legal. I’ve seen one in action and it worked well, I believe a company in El Paso made that one.
You can also buy laser medical equipment. There is one that’s much like ultrasound but uses light. Some say they don’t work but too many testimonials and the use of them by professional sports teams would put that claim to bed I suspect.
The inverse square law as applied to microwave and laser light is an important consideration. Doubling the distance reduces the returned signal by a factor of about ten. A quick anecdote regarding laser speed measurement. When I was driving a Ford Aspire, a small car with no chrome and rounded body features my Valentine One saved the day on several occasions. The cop must have targeted me from a distance too great to get a useable return. The laser alarm blared and I lifted off the gas. Since the Valentine alarms for 5 seconds on a laser alert the 15 seconds of alarm I experienced would indicate that I received three separate doses of Laser.
It didn’t hurt that the cars paint was oxidized and faded and that the front license plate was crusted with road grime thus reducing the overall reflectivity of the vehicle.
K-
Nice summary article. I was just sitting here waiting for someone to pipe in along the lines of “well if you weren’t speeding, you wouldn’t get a ticket so just don’t speed.” Then I decided to put a few thoughts down before that person chimes in.
First, there is the concept of “no victim, no crime.” If no one’s person or property was harmed by my actions, then there was no crime committed. Why punish someone for something that didn’t happen?
Second, some might counter the above by responding that such risky actions increase the likelihood of someone getting hurt, so these need to be discouraged by law. Yet you have to realize that every action we take assumes some degree of risk. Where one draws the line, or sets a speed limit, is a matter of degree. How does one determine the degree of risk and who gets to choose the cutoff? To a great degree it’s arbitrary. It is not the duty of government to manage risk. That is the job of insurance companies.
Third, it is foolish to believe that government agents who develop and enforce these arbitrary limits do not have self-interests, either personally or corporately, in mind when these limits are decided on and enforced. Just because they are with the government does not mean they are angels. In fact, since they have a monopoly on legal use of force, and all monopolies lead to higher costs and lower quality, it could be argued that this is likely the worst way to determine the limits. If there were a private company hired to set and enforce all speed limits and fines in the country and paid for by revenues generated by such infractions, there would be a huge outcry. It would be obvious that this company would have every incentive to make the speed limits as onerously low as possible and the fines as high as possible to make as much profit as the market will bear before people stop traveling. There would be no real alternative. So why would government be any different?
Fourth, there is an established and growing body of evidence that higher speed limits reduce both fatalities as well as less severe accidents. Check out http://www.motorists.org if you’re interested in more detail. Most critics of this will say that “excessive speed” is listed as the number one cause of accidents on police reports nationwide. While this is true, it’s a bit like saying that gravity is the number one cause of plane crashes. If two objects are moving at zero miles per hour relative to each other, they cannot collide. Any difference in relative speed will, of course, increase the risk of a collision. But what most people don’t know is that police have a limited number of options to choose from when reporting the cause of an accident and “excessive speed” is the one they are taught to use as default. Thus lots of accidents happen at far below the officially sanctioned speed limit that still get labeled as “excessive speed.” Unless there is something glaringly obvious to the officer, and he is being thorough and taking their time to do a proper investigation, rarely are any of the other options picked off the paperwork. It’s just more time and hassle for them. This is a known problem with the data, and researchers are so aware of this that they generally disregard this data point as essentially useless. In most studies that have withstood peer review, the primary factor in motor vehicle collisions is speed differentials in flowing traffic between the fastest and slowest individuals in the system. A person traveling 65mph in a 70mph zone where traffic is averaging 80mph is far more dangerous than someone doing 85mph in the same traffic flow. Most studies indicate that 80mph is the average human comfort limit for speed in modern cars when measured. There are some that wish to go faster and some that would go slower, but the average speed works out to around 80mph and the distribution of speeds above and below this is much narrower. This was found to be true in Montana when they briefly had no daytime speed limits on their interstates back in the 1990s, but it is also true on the German Autobahn sections without speed limits. In both cases, accidents per mile driven were significantly lower than in the areas with speed limits.
Fifth, automotive crash data is generally gathered at speeds that are far below normal highway speeds, usually in the 30-40mph range. Though cars are truly safer now than they’ve ever been before, there is effectively no difference between a collision occurring at 70mph and 80mph. Not only can cars not cope with these sorts of impact forces, neither can human reaction times or even the human body. If safety were truly the priority, either all speed limits would be set at no higher than 30mph or all cars would be safety-tested at current speed limits of 55mph or 70mph. They aren’t because to manufacture a car that is capable of saving life and limb at those speeds is prohibitively expensive and impractical.
Sixth, consider that some people are simply better, more considerate, and more courteous drivers than others, and some vehicles are safer at speed than others. I know quite a few people who are unsafe at any speed, to borrow a phrase, yet drive to and from work daily. If we were to truly ticket people based on risky behaviors, they would have a lifetime sentence by now. Yet I also know plenty of conscientious drivers who pay attention not just to the car in front of them, but to what traffic is doing as far ahead as the horizon. People who do not text and drive, or pull over and park before making an involved cell phone call, or who stay out of the passing lane until they need to pass, but they tend to drive 5-10mph over the speed limit. IF they are involved in an accident, it is almost always the other person’s fault. Yet they would be ticketed, arbitrarily, not on the basis of safety but on the basis of revenue generation and bad timing to have passed by an officer.
People who support speed limit regulations as they currently stand are very much like the lady that called in to the Fargo, ND, radio station a few years ago to rant on why the deer crossing signs needed to be moved (https://youtu.be/jgGSLybhFOc). There’s a disconnect between reality and what they think is happening. Yet we have been taught since an early age that this is the truth, so we accept it blindly and without question.
The person who says ‘just drive the speed limit’ is (almost?) always habitual speeder. They drive around with faulty equipment, don’t use signals, drive sloppy, and all the rest. They just don’t get punished for it. They squeal loudly if they are actually ticketed (which happens about every 30 years or more). They’ll even run to the news media to try and get their story on the air about how unfair some law or enforcement there of is after they are ticketed. Also they don’t like it when other people obey the PSL and impede them. That crowd is simply a bunch of hypocrites.
I just thought I would stop and see what idiots are still here. Yes Brent is. The guy that complains about other drivers when he does not have a clue what the hell he is doing. Like the time he complained about another driver who passed him and went into the right turn lane. Brent complained that the driver should not be there because he had the right to go straight from the right turn lane. Others do it he says so he has the right to drive poorly. Brent there are dozens of your posts that show you never did learn how to drive. Why is it Brent that an idiot that does not know how to drive like you has the need to complain about other drivers? WHY? Brent you should be in jail with your poor driving.
Clover,
Your comments are invariably fact-free but chock full of personal insults. Which is damning evidence that you haven’t got any arguments to present. Just your hurt feelings.
Poor ol’ Clover!
Clover,
Only you could claim that my passing another car entails them having to “adjust” anything. They continued on their (slow-moving) way, I on my mine.
Try and follow me now: I was driving faster than the cars I passed. As I passed them, the distance between the passed cars and my car increased.
The only thing they had to “adjust” for was their sense of outrage that I dared to exceed the speed limit.
Poor ol’ Clover!
Eric here are the facts. There were a half a dozen or more cars driving at or above the recommended speed of the road at a minimum non tailgating distance from each other. You passed two cars at the back and got in line. You pushed the two cars back. Not only did you push them back but you turned your camera back at them and called them poor drivers. Would a mentally sane person do that? Hell no. At the time you turned your camera back at them you were not driving any differently than they were. Would you call yourself a poor driver then? You were in fact driving more poorly than the cars you were making fun of because you added making others adjust for you to your poor driving.
Clover,
You don’t grok the difference between a fact and a feeling.
*yawn* Why do you lie Clover? Is it because you’re a despicable troll? I think so. Why don’t you cite your claim? Because it never happened.
Hi Brent,
I’ve had a long time to analyze Clover and have come to the conclusion that he doesn’t even realize he is lying – because he doesn’t understand what a lie is. Because he cannot distinguish between a feeling – and a fact.
We are dealing with a crippled cognitive capacity. This is why guys like you and I cannot establish communication with a creature like Clover.
It is literally like attempting to explain algebra to a pig.
I don’t get it. You go out of your way, way out of your way to thwart clover and then post her dumb ass. You could be having some intellectual intercourse with intelligent people but keep wasting time, effort and written breath with clover, a pea brain at best and something more malicious in all probability. It depends on how you see clover. I see her as evil, stupid and pig-headed. She does nothing constructive as opposed to almost everyone else on this blog. Hey Vern, I just don’t get it.
pigs contribute more positives than clovér. (at least one can get bacon & pork tenderloin from a pig)
Hi Eight,
Ooorgle and I have been wrestling with the spam filter, trying to strike a balance. The dilemma is: How to keep the spam out while not making it difficult beyond reason for real (new) people to get in. If we lock down the whole works, then no one can get in except the already registered regulars. So, we’ve had to accept letting some undesirables through in order to let the desirables in as well.
Like life, nothing’s perfect…
Eric,
I read some articles about Captchas and alt to Captchas
(the articles do not claim to have a total solution for non-human spam, but you might find some of this useful.)
Eric,
This antispambot is from WordPress
So Eightsouthman you call me stupid? Do you agree with someone riding in someone’s blind spot like Brent does? Do you believe someone tailgating and as Brent does, sees someone else changing lanes and he speeds up switches lanes quickly and stands on the horn trying to prevent the person in front from changing lanes?
Eightsouthman Brent has posted dozens of these videos of himself doing these and far worse things. Do you think that idiots and poor drivers like Brent are smarter than I am?
Eightsouthman if you agree with such poor driving then your IQ is half of what mine is.
It’s amazing how you can’t cite the actual videos. All the ones on youtube are still up.
Anyway, blind spots? Only idiots who don’t know how to set their mirrors have blind spots. It’s simple logic, have the view from each mirror overlap. Presto. Blind spots go away.
There you go Brent. One of the first things drivers should learn is to stay out of someone’s blind area as much as possible! You say it is your right to be there and you require others to compensate for your poor driving. I think that Eightsouthman is a truck driver. Ask him if you have the right to drive where ever the hell you feel like and you want truckers to look out for your poor driving. Brent I do not have to look up your old videos . You look them up. Almost every video where you are complaining about other drivers you in fact are driving poorly yourself. If I were to rate your driving it would be a D-. Anyone who wants to make others to compensate for your poor driving is stupid.
Clover,
It’s fascinating that you reverence some laws but ignore those you don’t feel like obeying. Like, for instance, keeping right and yielding to faster-moving traffic.
And of course, you also “speed.” But your “speeding” is not (as you see it) “dangerous.”
Poor ol’ Clover!
Eric because you are breaking the laws more than anyone else does not give you more rights. You say that someone like me has no right to pass because it may slow someone driving 30 mph over the speed limit. Eric if you feel so strongly about following laws and keeping right to allow faster drivers through then why don’t you follow the speed limit? It is also a law. Libertarians make up their own laws. Eric I was around when the keep right laws were put into place. The reason for those laws were to keep truckers from protesting and driving 10 mph under the speed limit across all lanes. They were not put into place so that people can drive 30 mph over the speed limit unimpeded.
Geez Clover, you just like to make up shit and pick on everyone around you. When evidence presents itself clearly, you invert it to suit yourself so you have argument to make yourself as superior as possible. Sounds like every ex-GF out there. A narcissistic lying troll. Let’s see if you can pick out a real victim here:
I never indicate unless not doing so would cause an inconvenience to another, for example:
1. If they can’t see my indicator;
2. If I’m in front of them and moving faster leaving the freeway;
3. Entering the freeway because I always enter faster than them. Besides, there’s no point because it’s a given I’m merging – what else would I be doing?
4. Anytime it would be irrelevant to anyone else.
That forces me to look and consider the situation carefully, rather than blindly switching on the flashing insurance policy as many of your ilk do and tangle with metal.
I completely ignore speed limits, because in this country they’re only rules and are not actually assented as law. I also ignore speed cameras because my car and bikes aren’t registered and therefore not legally considered “vehicles” (a commercial legal term) and, I’m not doing anything commercial on a public road. I know your position here: “Wot if ya prang, ya need insurance ya babykilling poohead”. I need NOTHING! Especially a form of legalised gambling that’s essentially wasteful to me. It’s others I have to be wary of and the fact my car and bikes are always mechanically in top condition and I don’t unnecessarily fuck with indicators or stare at my speedometer that can’t tell the future in the first place makes any accident my fault a virtual impossibility.
I don’t have a licence either because, again, I’m not doing anything commercial and, I’m not a “driver” in the legal sense, which is a commercial term under all legal dictionaries. I’m a “traveller”. I pay fuel excise which is supposed to pay for the roads so I have every right to use them.
I ignore traffic lights unless there’s someone at the intersection that would cause a danger. Same with red light cameras because I have my own custom unregistered plates. Besides, none of those photos show me behind the line while it’s red so there’s no proof I went through on the red.
I treat stop signs as give way because stop signs are antiquated bullshit where it used to require stopping before first could be engaged in ancient gear boxes.
I never pay traffic or parking fines, if they even find their way to me because under S. 8(12) of the Imperial Acts Application Act (Oz) they’re completely unlawful and therefore null and void ab initio.
I ignore roadwork speed limits when there’s nobody working on them because not only is there no danger to anyone but myself, the law was passed that they can be ignored in such a circumstance.
I rarely keep left (right in the U.S.) because I’m usually exceeding that unlawful, arbitrarily meaningless and dumbed-down number on a post.
I’ll park on the side of the road pointing in the opposite direction if I want when there are no lines marked dictating parking spaces. There’s no valid reason not to. This doubles as entertainment when so-called parking “authorities” attempt to extort money from me. In fact, I’ll dump the thing anywhere and across all 4 parking spaces in a largely empty car park just to infuriate statist posers like you who simply can’t stand others doing things you wish you could – such as expressing personal freedom. You’re probably the brain-fart that leaves trolleys in empty spaces.
I’ll also park in designated “parent” or “female-safe” spaces where it’s implied that they have a child and pram or that there’s overhead lighting so rape is more difficult. Why the fuck are they more special than me?
I’ll go the wrong way down a street if there’s no traffic. No harm done.
I’ll answer my phone on the move because it’s no different than talking to a passenger, but I rarely get calls anyway.
I flash oncoming cars if there’s a scamera in the area.
I don’t stop for cops anymore, because under common law they have no right unless they can prove I have, or am going to harm an actual human and, common law is always superior to mere Statute. Same with breatho stops. They have no right to presume guilt before innocence which is unconstitutional.
I’ll cross double lines any time I want providing there’s no danger to others. Fuck any legal nonsense regarding that. I use the whole road around corners.
I’ve removed my broken CAT and replaced it with a plain and cheap straight-through muffler, because CAT’s are expensive, rob some power and convert CO to CO2. Do the greenies want safe air to breathe or have their precious lie called global warming? I don’t care, I just took the cheaper and better route.
I flick my smoke butts out the window because they’re rollies and therefore biodegradable. Tantamount to bird shit really.
I’ll cross at points on the freeway if necessary even if they’re marked “Emergency vehicles only” because I fucken paid for it. In fact, if I’m on the bike at night on the freeway and I see a cop hiding on the median, I’ll use one of those crossings, switch off my headlights and buzz him at 240k’s.
I never pay road tolls because:
1. All roads are created in Fee Simple, meaning a myriad of taxes are used to pay for them (not just fuel excise) in the first place and;
2. The grabbermint create a “private” company that supposedly “owns” that toll road and then fraudulently charges (taxes) everyone yet again to use them – with GST on top. Fucken arseholes.
Conversely, I won’t do things that your ilk are constantly guilty of:
1. Tailgate like a moron;
2. Road rage like a moron;
3. Hog the passing lane next to another – even a semi;
4. Pass someone and then stamp on the brakes because the one now behind is somehow guilty of “speeding”;
5. Weave all over the road because speaking to a passenger somehow demands eye contact;
6. Weave all over the road because you’re fucken useless anyway;
7. Annoy people with high beam everywhere;
8. Stop at the lights 10 feet from the line;
9. Creep at the lights constantly and then be the last to go;
10. Stamp the brakes when another is 100 feet behind because you have no spatial awareness and think he’s too close;
11. Scrape cars every fucken time you use a parking spot;
12. Scrape every fucken post at a servo;
13. Go way under the speed limit at every opportunity;
14. Use indicators when not required;
15. Use indicators opposite to turn direction;
16. Leave indicators on for more than 100 metres, sometimes for entire trip;
17. Park in disabled spaces by “borrowing” someone’s tag;
18. Take up a lane in a car park for ages waiting for the other to vacate because it’s minutely closer to the shop door than the other space just 30 fucken feet away;
19. Fail to park in less than 2 attempts because you’re fucken useless and scrape both cars in the process;
20. Leave your trolley in an empty space or worse, arbitrarily anywhere so the wind can blow it into someone’s car;
21. Get in the way of a turning semi;
22. Give way to everyone on a roundabout – even traffic on approach – when there’s nobody there but crickets;
23. Creep at the lights as if you’re impatient or important and then stall it like the moron you really are;
24. Swap lanes without looking because you think your indicator absolves you of fault when you clobber that biker – if you even used your indicator;
25. Annoy or beat up cyclists because you feel they’re a lesser being or you just have a sense of entitlement;
26. Double-park your fucken hummer-like POS in a crowded street to pick up your kids because they’re your kids;
27. Drive with your foot on the brake, illuminating your brake lights because you somehow think it’s safer;
28. Be so fucken lazy as to shovel your Macca’s rubbish out your car door even though there’s a bin not 10 feet away because you feel it’s someone else’s job to clean the car park.
29. Take corners too close to the dirt kerb and shower that biker behind you with rocks because you’re too useless to even see him;
30. Pay traffic fines like the sucker you are, ensuring the fraud continues;
31. Travel around with flat tyres because you have no idea how to use the tech-fangled air hose at the servo, so you get them done on your yearly service;
32. Break down at the lights because you have no idea how to check your radiator level;
33. Drive and park by braille;
34. Drive with the hand brake on;
35. Fail to give way at intersections because, well.. you can;
36. Honk your horn incessantly at every minor infraction someone else is doing, even if it has no impact on you and, hypocritically, you do all the above and more at every opportunity.
As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one real law:
Do no harm or threat of harm to another’s life, liberty, property or rights.
Where’s the victim in that?
What’s a bet Clover, you’ll somehow manage to dishonestly turn something around in here and accuse me of it.
Rev,
That was epic, marvelous, superior in every way!
Thanks eric. I had some help by Clover.. 😉
REV, great post. I’ll have one(or several) of whatever you had…..hope it’s cold and bubbly but I ain’t picky.
Thanks 8SM, but I don’t expect Clover to answer to that. For some reason s/he never tangles with me. Probably because it’s the raw truth and to do so might be dangerous.. 😉
A couple-three years ago Texas A&M, who it seems always gets the contracts for such, produced a traffic speed/danger report for the state. They found, for the umpteenth time, that speed had very little to do with accidents but differences in speed were almost the sole cause. 90 mph isn’t dangerous if everyone is traveling that same speed. 40 mph is very dangerous if people are trying to do 60(a thing i see nearly every day on a stretch of road you could easily do 90 on but is posted 45 with plenty people wanting to do 60).
Finally something happened in the lege, probably oil companies complaining they aren’t selling enough oil(I notice yesterday from the day before gas prices dropped a dime)and all of a sudden there were no “night” and “day” speed limits or “trucks” and “cars”, just 75mph nearly everywhere on those roads we used to pay revenue for doing over 55mph. And some interstates are 80-85.
It only makes sense and always has for Texas. It’s a long way anywhere and it wastes peoples time and patience dogging along. They’re making up for lost revenue from cars by making things that have never been an issue for trucks.
Just measured my DOT ticket from yesterday at 34″. It has 17 infractions, one of which was going to red tag the rig if I couldn’t fix it. I talked the book keeper there into letting me come in and get parts and use their tools so I could fix the problem. Naw, it wasn’t hot or anything and I’d only been on the road half again as long as legal. The guy was nice enough to let me drive it 15 miles to where I could fix it. Some of it was bullshit(hence the new laws)but the rest was legitimate concerns……and that didn’t even cover the tarp on the belly dump that wouldn’t crank back up. I parked it at the yard and refused another load.
The book keeper was at the supply/repair shop for parts such as I needed. Sorry, didn’t realize everyone couldn’t read my mind.
Your post was well thought out, somewhat researched, and logical. It has no place in a court of law. Use of forensic tools such as radar is a bow to our ability to use tools. Instead of relying on the judgement of an officer, insert a machine that is perceived to be infallible. You say you weren’t speeding? Well, enforcer Jones has got this machine here that says your speed was above the speed showing on this here sign. It doesn’t matter one lick if you have ability, or a car designed for speed, or even that the speed limit is wrong. The machine and the sign are what they are, and you “chose” (by being behind the wheel) to violate the law.
And besides, there’s enough cash flowing in society that even an under-$15/hr worker can usually get the scratch together to pay the damn fine, and maybe take the time to plea bargain a lower sentence or get points removed.
The human belief in magical devices and animals. Thousands of years go by and nothing really changes.
Holy statist nonsense Batman.
above comment is in re. to Eric_G’s post, not yours Brent.
Not enough sarcasm, I guess. Next time I’ll pour it on a little thicker.
Sorry, my bad. My reading comprehension needs some work apparently. Although sarcasm is sometimes hard to pickup and convey via text.
I certainly agree that slow drivers can cause accidents. Around here (southeastern PA), there are lots of absurd 25 mph speed limits. Everyone with half a brain does 40, but when a “safe, sane” driver does 25, it makes everyone else crazy, causes anxiety and a desire to “make up the time” at the first opportunity. Traffic engineers are morons. I hope Eric writes a piece about them soon.
Hi Steve,
It’s not traffic engineers; it’s bureaucrats (seeking “revenue”) and egged on by “moms” who are “concerned” about “safety.” As a result, speed limits are typically dumbed down to absurd levels on the theory that slower is always “safer.”
When, of course, it’s not.