From:  (Christopher J. Amow)
Newsgroups: ca.driving
Subject: Re: Nighttime ticket avoidance!
Date: 24 Nov 92 02:24:32 GMT
Followup-To: ca.driving
Distribution: ca
Organization: Hewlett Packard, San Diego Division
NNTP-Posting-Host: hpsdr170.sdd.hp.com

In article <21012@fritz.filenet.com>, ung@felix.filenet.com (Bill Ung)
wrote:
> 
> In article <1ee71fINNmau@hpsdlss3.sdd.hp.com> (Christopher J. Amow) writes:
> Well, what's your usual "cruising" speed?  65?  70?  80?  95+?

If I am confortable and there are good driving conditions I like to go   
75 < x < 95
and maybe faster in the summer on the right beautiful day (you would be
surprised what a Nissan Sentra can do!)

> 
> From what I've been told, and what I've experienced, if you're doing 70
> on a freeway, chances are, CHP will leave you alone.  Although the speed
> limit is officially set at 55, the CHP knows the roads were designed to

The CHP officer I talked to said that informally they go after the 20%
fastest cars on the road - naturally they can't stop everybody, so if the
main body of cars was cruising pretty fast you would be pretty safe.

> handle 70 MPH traffic.  As long as 70 MPH is safe (ie: it's not raining
> heavily or foggy or traffic is moving at 40 and you're doing 70), they'll
> keep looking for someone who is seriously breaking the law.  CHP seems to
> be more concerned with your welfare than making quotas or generating
> revenues.  This was told to me in traffic school and has been confirmed

I don't know about THAT!  I got stopped a couple months ago for a
'following too close' which was clearly B.S.  (everyone started slowing
down and clumping together because they saw HIM!)
I ended up taking it to court and he didn't show.  Now that isn't speeding,
but he seemed pretty anxious to give a ticket out.

> on several occasions by CHP officers on the road.  They all leave me alone
> while doing 70.  Sometimes you can get away with a bit above 70, but I
> wouldn't push it.
> 
> |I feel pretty comfortable during the day - although I did get burned once
> |by a patrol car just getting on the highway.
> 
> The traffic school guy said the way the CHP works is the ENTER the freeway
> doing 70, then the tag the first guy who PASSES them.  The logic is, if
> you PASSED them, you were obviously doing 70+ and at that point, are (in
> their opinion), breaking the law.  I won't debate that point here.
> 
> |Any tips on recognition - I guess they are starting to phase in top bar
> |lights...
> |(and is radar detection significantly useful ?)
> 
> Ummm, paranoia always seems to work okay .. if it resembles a CHP, better
> slow down and check first.  Then again, if you're following the 70 MPH
> rule-of-thumb, you probably won't have to worry about it quite as much.

Now that you mentioned that, some guy wrote in saying he could recognize
the light signatures, etc. in the rearview mirror.  So my questions are
this: (sorry I forgot your name) 1) Do you actually slow down everytime you
see what could be a Mustang, Caprice, Camaro, whatever-the-hell-else they
are using?  and 2) Do you EVER actually get to exceed 55 mph while doing
this :-)

Personally, I think they should have to use VW buses :-)  That would be a
little easier to spot.

> |
> |(I dislike CHP almost as much as insurance companies!)
> 
> I dislike local cops a LOT more than I dislike the CHP.  I've seen them
> do really good work (ie: public service) and some of them don't deserve
> the bad rap that just goes along with law enforcement in general.
> 
> Bill Ung
>   ung@filenet.com

Now that you mention it, you know, you're right!!  I feel like I am leaving
someone out!

ALL NEW SUCK LIST
------------------
1. insurance co.
2. local cops
3. CHP
4. Saddam Hussein



It's a JOKE damnit!
Chris
Newsgroups: ca.driving