Has anyone ever gotten a ticket for EOC?

[dwtaylorpdx]

I was messing around last night and found out that coasting in neutral is actually Illegal in my state. (Oregon) Its a old law.. Since obviously a hybrid does it...

But I got to wondering if all those un-powered coasting trips down Mt Hood in my younger days were legal... I used to ski a lot and had little money...

Dave

[Christ]

Hybrids don't technically coast out of gear, since the on-cycle of the engine (and thus, the availability of power, and the engagement of the gear) is instant.

The laws against coasting in neutral and coasting with the engine off are there for their given reasons. Old as they are, they're still there, and can be enforced. You'd have little luck trying to bring hybrids into light as a way of showing that it's not dangerous, because any Judge worth his ass would shoot it down, noting that you're comparing apples and oranges.

[Old Mechanic]

The laws against coasting originated in the 1930S when Plymouth came out with freewheeling, which disengaged the transmission from the rest of the drive train with a one way clutch.

You had to manually select the freewheeling mode when the vehicle was stopped.

The problem was in mountainous terrain, if you forgot to disconnect the freewheeling, you would loose the brakes on the downhill and kill yourself.

Brakes at the time were pitiful compared to modern vehicles, and the danger was real and resulted in some fatalities.

The laws still exist about coasting in neutral. Not so sure about engine off, but you would normally be in neutral if the engine was off anyway.

In fact some modern hybrids do exactly what was made illegal so long ago. You can argue that its a design characteristic of the Prius, but the legal definition in Virginia is coasting in neutral, without exception.

I know some policemen and asked one of them if they thought you would be charged with coasting in neutral. I was doing some testing on the road and wanted to know if he thought I could get a ticket for coasting in neutral. He told me if I was going a lot slower than the other traffic I should use my flashers. He did not even know about the law.

Govts are notorious for not cleaning the laws off their books.

regards
Mech

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

The laws against coasting originated in the 1930S when Plymouth came out with freewheeling, which disengaged the transmission from the rest of the drive train with a one way clutch.

You had to manually select the freewheeling mode when the vehicle was stopped.

The problem was in mountainous terrain, if you forgot to disconnect the freewheeling, you would loose the brakes on the downhill and kill yourself.

Brakes at the time were pitiful compared to modern vehicles, and the danger was real and resulted in some fatalities.

The laws still exist about coasting in neutral. Not so sure about engine off, but you would normally be in neutral if the engine was off anyway.

In fact some modern hybrids do exactly what was made illegal so long ago. You can argue that its a design characteristic of the Prius, but the legal definition in Virginia is coasting in neutral, without exception.

I know some policemen and asked one of them if they thought you would be charged with coasting in neutral. I was doing some testing on the road and wanted to know if he thought I could get a ticket for coasting in neutral. He told me if I was going a lot slower than the other traffic I should use my flashers. He did not even know about the law.

regards
Mech

I'm sure many don't, but it's still a chargeable offense, and ignorance excuses no one from litigation.

[Old Mechanic]

Tell you what (not being argumentive).

There is no one and I mean no one on this planet who could ever not be ignorant of literally thousands of laws. One of my customers is a tax attorney. In his office was a wall 20 feet by 8 feet covered with Law Books.

That was just Federal Income Tax Law. I would bet the rest of the many Federal, State, Local, and God only knows how many other laws would number in the millions of words.

It started out as "of the people by the people and for the people"

Now it is "of the attorneys by the attorneys and for the attorneys"

regards
Mech

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Tell you what (not being argumentive).

There is no one and I mean no one on this planet who could ever not be ignorant of literally thousands of laws. One of my customers is a tax attorney. In his office was a wall 20 feet by 8 feet covered with Law Books.

That was just Federal Income Tax Law. I would bet the rest of the many Federal, State, Local, and God only knows how many other laws would number in the millions of words.

It started out as "of the people by the people and for the people"

Now it is "of the attorneys by the attorneys and for the attorneys"

regards
Mech

I completely agree. I just wanted to point out that ignorance of laws is not an excuse. Unfortunately, it's the responsibility of the civillian to know and understand the laws applicable to any venture you find yourself in, no matter how nearly impossible it would actually be.

The key is to know the basic laws, and apply common sense to them. Most times, the rest of the laws are only there to aide in the enforcement of the actual law itself, because there are some stupid-clever lawyers out there that will take the time to find a cop or judge in ignorance of other laws, that most likely were written on stone tablets, bound in tome, and buried centuries ago, but because they've not yet been repealed, they're still enforceable, and thus, may help the case.

Sometimes, it's fun to pick a code in your local laws, and search for contradictions in the law.

[Johnny Mullet]

I never got pulled over for EOC and I have been using it more often actually. I did have an officer pull me over for my LED front turn signal lamps. He said they look too much like emergency vehicle lamps when they are flashing. I asked him if he pulls a lot of Cadillac's over because they also have LED lamps. He got my ID cards and said...............

"Be right back"

/me smokes a cigarette

"OK sir, please drive safely"

[Mustang Dave]

A co-worker's sister once got a ticket for coasting. She was stopped for speeding, but she told the LEO that she wasn't speeding, she was coasting. She only got a ticket for coasting, which I believe is a no-points ticket.

IMBFOS, but as I understand hybrids, most are in regenerative braking mode when they auto stop on a downgrade. That's not quite coasting.

Coasting on a downgrade in neutral (engine off or running) is prohibited in Arizona per ARS 28-895. So I don't coast on downgrades. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Johnny Mullet

I never got pulled over for EOC and I have been using it more often actually. I did have an officer pull me over for my LED front turn signal lamps. He said they look too much like emergency vehicle lamps when they are flashing. I asked him if he pulls a lot of Cadillac's over because they also have LED lamps. He got my ID cards and said...............

"Be right back"

/me smokes a cigarette

"OK sir, please drive safely"

That ****'ll kill ya.

[dcb]

Originally Posted by Christ

I'm sure many don't, but it's still a chargeable offense, and ignorance excuses no one from litigation.

But you are not required to bare witness against yourself either. I don't know how they could tell otherwise.