A&Q about Lotus
Q:
I have had my Lotus Elise for about 3 months now. I got the first speeding ticket of my life, last Memorial day week end. I was driving in the Left most lane on a 4 lane San Diego highway. I always do. Thats the lane I feel safest in. I was driving home, cruising along. I see a car in my rear view mirror a good distance behind me, comming up on me pretty fast. I pull of one lane to the right. Yes, I actually yield to faster traffic. As the car closes in on me it pull over behind me. At this time if my first thought that somethings up. Oh yeah, sure enough its a cop. The cop follows me for another 30 seconds or so, an the flashing lights on. She pulls me over and tells me that she paces me at 82-84 miles per hour and that I then pulled over and was going 65. Keep in mind the average freeway speed in San Diego is probably some where in the 80 to 85 mile range.
Given that I am driving my Elise the smallest, shortest car I know of, on the freeway, driving in the leftmost lane, the safest lane for me, and the rest of traffic on the freeway, that I pulled over and yielded to faster traffic, I am flabbergasted that this CHP officer found it a good idea to pull me over and give me a ticket for speeding.
I quess the California Highway Patrol wants to see Lotus ELise driving in the slow lane going 65, in a jungle of SUV's where no one can see me and every one else is driving and average of 80 MPH. Thats there motto "Safety, Service, Security" and "Mini Sport cars drive in the right lanes, in the thick of traffic."
I few years ago I took a Motorcycle safety class sponsered by the County. There they taught me about safely driving a Motorcycle. A lot of good stuff, one thing in particular was that when operating a motorcycle, since most people can't see you, was to stay out of everyones way, and expect anything from those driving around you. This is how I drive my Elise. Its not a motorcycle, but the visibility thing applies.
When thanks to the CHP I finished my drive home no longer on the left lane, but in the slow lane driving 65. Thanks for making the Highways safer CHP!
A:
No offence, but I hate when people drive in the left lane; It is for passing. This doesn't mean you deserved a ticket though, just a pet peeve of mine.
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When are the going to change the motto's on police cars nationwide to better represent what they are really about? To serve and protect? My A55. They should say "to GENERATE, GENERATE, GENERATE, revenue"
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Originally Posted by SAElise
No offence, but I hate when people drive in the left lane; It is for passing. This doesn't mean you deserved a ticket though, just a pet peeve of mine.
Agreed. You didn't deserve the ticket but it is a violation to camp out in the left lane - even if you move out of the way when a vehicle comes from behind.
A:
SAElise,
I understand your point, however, its just not praticaly considering how people drive on congested California freeways for one idividual to treat the fast lane as a passing lane when no one else does. Also as a stated in my post a exit the fast lane when faster traffic was approaching behind me. I did not know it was a cop. I don't know if anyone can spot a cop from any other vehicle on the road or do I just need to get my suspension fixed. LOL
The point of my post is not to raise sympathy, about me get the penalty of the ticket. Its not going to break the bank for me. The point was about how a sport car of the size of the Lotus need to take the responsibility of avoiding traffic, and the hazards of traffic, just like a motorcycle does.
I get upset when I am driving in a passenger vehicle and a motorcyle is driving near me, and not taking the initiative to get out of the way. I believe driving a Elise safely, on the freeway, you need to have this same mindset; to stay out of the way of other traffic when possible.
I definitely would like to hear other peoples opinions on this. I am open to change my driving mentality, if it makes sense from a safety prospective.
A:
Thanks for the replies,
but keep in mind in California, "the left lane as passing only rule" is no longer the law. They scratched that, years back.
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Not to flame you but...I avoid driving in the "fast" lane as much as possible. As others have said, it should be for passing but I also think (but have no evidence to support it) that cops focus more on the fast lane (they think if you're in the "slow" lane you're going slower). I think most North Americans consider it a fast lane and not a passing lane. Staying in the fast lane and moving over when someone approaches from behind can still hold up the oncoming car. You probably wouldn't even notice a car coming up behind you going 50 miles faster than you until the guy is riding your bumper. its particularly dangerous if you're moving over as he's trying to take you on the inside... an accident waiting to happen!
I know many years ago when I was learning to ride a motorbike, the instructor said to avoid the middle lane (not the slow lane) because you are less visible (so small) and as a result more likely to get squeezed from lanes on each side of you. If there's nothing else around, you should stay as much to the right as possible.
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I still try and abide by the whole left lane passing thing... my cruising lane tends to be one over from the furthest left lane. But I usually piddle along at 75 mph no matter what because I'm generally not in a hurry and get no pleasure from going 85 vs. 75. When I'm on the freeway it's just to get somewhere. I drive through the canyons, even relatively slowly (I drive a Honda Civic right now and don't feel obliged to push it to the limits), for the more enjoyable driving.
A:
Originally Posted by Raynman
The point was about how a sport car of the size of the Lotus need to take the responsibility of avoiding traffic, and the hazards of traffic, just like a motorcycle does.
I get upset when I am driving in a passenger vehicle and a motorcyle is driving near me, and not taking the initiative to get out of the way. I believe driving a Elise safely, on the freeway, you need to have this same mindset; to stay out of the way of other traffic when possible.
I agree completely. When driving the Elise, I expect every other driver to do the stupidest thing possible and I'm always prepared for it. I have actually found this has made me a much better (more aware) driver when driving other cars as well.
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Your first ticket.Ah, yes, I remember it well. In my Dad's Riviera in 1972 doing 80 in a 65. Juvenile traffic court.
Now, many tickets later it still rattles the hell out of me.
But now, it seems the police are "escorting me" in the Lotus, hovering nearby....and just............watching.
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I just wanted to say in my original post "The left most lane" thing was meant to imply the leftmost "open" lane. In San Diego nowadays this is rarely any other lane but the "fast" lane. Also as far as the right most lane, it is not uncommon for traffic to be driving is this lane very fast, and they are almost always driving on each others a$$ leaving no room for people to safely enter and exit the freeway without driving like a bat out of hell to find a opening.
This is what peeves me about the CHP pratice of pulling the guy over (me in this case LOL) in the fast lane, driving courteously, yielding to faster traffic, when the San Diego freeways drivers have no respect anymore for driving under the "rules of the road".
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Originally Posted by LARRY22331
But now, it seems the police are "escorting me" in the Lotus, hovering nearby....and just............watching.
I got a police escort, sort of, when I had to re-enter the freeway from the shoulder after receiving said ticket. I think the CHP officer was afraid I would be crushed trying to enter traffic in anything less then the speed that she original pulled me over for. She followed behind with her lights on for a moment while I re-entered traffic.
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Yeah, that's rich. I can hear the officer now: "He'll be crushed in the little teeny cross-eyed car...it'll be my fault..."
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I very very seldom drive over 10 MPH faster than speed limit in the fast lane, I just feel more invisible in the other lanes. The left most lane is for passing only.
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I think some of the "left lane is for passing only" folks need to spend some quality time on the freeways of southern California. All lanes are busy pretty much all the time. In that environment I prefer to stick to the left lane as it cuts in half the number of idiots I need to worry about lanechanging into me, plus it give me the shoulder to work with should evasive action become suddenly necessary. When driving through the more rural areas, I use the left lane just for passing.
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...Not to mention just cruising along in that lane you can watch all the idiots try to zoom in and out of the other lanes to try and go faster - and fail horribly
Whenever I'm in the fast lane though, I swear it feels like I spend at least half my time looking into my rear view mirror watching for cops - in fact unless someone is driving right in front or next to me and I need to pay attention to them, most of my time is spent watching the mirrors, with minor checks every now and then to keep myself in my lane... I check enough to see something coming up ahead on the road, but my attention is usually directed behind me
Hah I didn't even know the left most lane was for passing on the freeway, here in California we don't have the luxery of an extra lane We'd need like 8 lanes in either direction for that in this state!
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Originally Posted by Raynman
She pulls me over and tells me that she paces me at 82-84 miles per hour and that I then pulled over and was going 65....I am flabbergasted that this CHP officer found it a good idea to pull me over and give me a ticket for speeding.
OK...I'll be the one to say it...regardless of what lane you were in.....you were going 82-84 in what I'm assuming was a 55 and you're flabbergasted that you got a ticket???
A:
I think it's much easier to get ticketed in the left lane. For one thing, cops are ususally targeting cars in the left-lane. It's also easier to hide behind someone else's radar shadow in the middle lane. Also another thing to consider is that a more indirect angle should give a lower radar reading. Police radar measures the doppler shift of a signal bouncing off your car. Your speed relative to the radar gun would be the cosine of the angle between your direction of travel and the radar unit. The greater that angle, the lower the reading.
By the way, I agree left lanes are for passing. Ignoring the radar vulnerability argument, one of my biggest pet peaves is seeing two or more cars traveling next to each other at the same speed, making it impossible to pass.
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So... anyone got any radar detector recommendations for california?
Cheers
MB
A:
Originally Posted by catapult
Not to flame you but...I avoid driving in the "fast" lane as much as possible. As others have said, it should be for passing...
Well, you're from Toronto, and aside from the city portion of the 401, ontario drivers are refreshingly polite when it comes to fast lane driving. Much like you'd see on the autobahn. I was driving on 401 from Kingston to Kitchener, and people see you coming in their rear view and they just moved well before I got close to them so never had to change my speed. It was sooo awesome!
(except through Toronto, but that's expected. It's so damn congested there, worse than LA)
Anyway, catapult... you really can't bring your Ontario ideals because although I would love for them to apply here in California, the driving culture is just very different. It's annoying I'll give you that, but it would take a huge cultural change (or tightened enforcement) to make it like Ontario. When you live here long enough, you just learn to accept that the only way to move through the flow of traffic is to weave. It's unfortunate because weaving adds a ton of danger because every lane changes adds some, but that's how it's done.
Some differences between Ontario and California laws:
A) You can pass on the right in California.
B) Slower traffic is suggested to stay right in CA, but it is not law.
C) in CA, when turning left onto a multi-lane street, you can turn in any lane you want. (from the right-most left turn lane only if there are 2 or more left turn lanes). In Ontario, you must turn left into the same lane that you turned left from. btw, I used to hate this law in CA, but then I realized how much better it is.
D) U-Turns allowed everywhere except where indicated. Same thing applies in Ontario, but if you pull a U-Turn, be prepared to get honked at. For some reason there's a no u-turn culture in Ontario. How bizarre because the law says otherwise.
E) In CA, if there are two right turn lanes, you can turn right on the red from either lane. I don't think this is the case in Ontario, but there are so few multi-lane right turns that it's essentially a moot point. However, seems like nobody in CA knows that you can turn right on red from both lanes...