Has anyone ever gotten a ticket for EOC?

[tasdrouille]

Here, I've been told coasting in neutral or eoc might be illegal under the following article:

327. Any rate of speed or any action that can endanger human life and safety or property is prohibited.

I just spent some time researching case law for decisions related to this article and coasting and came up empty handed. However, I found out that even tailgating does not fall under article 327, it would take tailgating at very high speed, so I can't believe coasting in neutral or eoc could be considered more dangerous than that.

[P3T3R5ON]

I figure I would chime in on this as I am now doing it a lot now.

My drive starts at 1,581 ft and peeks at 4,804 ft and then stops at 2,497 ft over a total distance of 64.6 miles.
Going to work it is 22.8 miles from the start to the peak and 41.8 miles from the peak to the base/end.
Going to work, the uphill climb is not drastically steep up until the last 700 ft climb or so. From the peak to the end there are only a few small steep downhills that are coast-able.

However, the drive from work to home is far better, dropping over 3,000 ft across 22 miles is highly advantageous for coasting! Of that 22.8 mile stretch to home, about 65% of the drop is coast-able, the other 30% is to flat to keep a good enough coast going to maintain speed to avoid being run over by semis coming downhill.

So I have only just now begun trying to EOC the best spots of my drive home and I started thinking about how it can be illegal as I have actually been scolded for doing it before (coasting with engine on though).... only reason I was pulled over was I ended up doing about 80 in a 65. Now I understand the ramifications of not having your vehicle at 100% controllable in a split second to avoid a hazardous condition, thus I understand the reasons that 15 states have laws against neutral coasting, let alone EOC. However I believe it to be a highly situational issue! New cars all have the little black box that stores the vehicles last known driving feedback prior to an event (crash, airbag deployment, etc). Should a vehicle be neutral coasting or EOC and be in an accident which shows that the driver was sacrificing control and stability for the purpose of increasing efficiency against the law... yes, this individual should be held accountable for his/her actions. In essence, this offense needs to be labeled as a secondary offense, meaning you can't pull me over for it but you can pull me over for speeding and then give me a ticket for neutral coasting.

There are far too many new cars that are built to be much quieter while at highway speeds and in town, including tires ment to reduce road noise as well. My car being one of them, in idle I can't hear my car from 30ft away on a calm day. There are very few possible ways an officer can pick out a car that is off, let alone in neutral. Yes he can check tailpipe emissions on a cold day (I'm in So Cal... what cold days?) The road and wind noise off your car and other cars is enough to cover the lack of engine noise from your car.



In California the law is stated as:
"The driver of a motor vehicle when traveling on down grade upon any highway shall not coast with the gears of such vehicle in neutral."
(A law from 1953)

I wasn't in neutral, I was in 5th gear with the clutch depressed.

[user removed]

So every Prius in the country is illegal since they EOC automatically?

I think Va still has one of those laws dating back to the 30s when Plymouth offered freewheeling.

regards
mech

[Fat Charlie]

My engine was off the last time I got stopped for doing 17 over. I left it off as I pulled over. Cops seem to like it when your engine is off then, so engine status never came up.

[P3T3R5ON]

Whenever I get pulled over I turn the car off and only have the flashers on, minimize the threat of shenanigans. Guess that is a good way to cover doing EOC.

[Baltothewolf]

Tbh this entire argument is silly. How do they prove your engine was off? Like really?

[Fat Charlie]

The same way they prove anything: state that something is true and get believed.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by Baltothewolf

Tbh this entire argument is silly. How do they prove your engine was off? Like really?

Cold engine?

[Joggernot]

Originally Posted by P3T3R5ON

...New cars all have the little black box that stores the vehicles last known driving feedback prior to an event (crash, airbag deployment, etc). Should a vehicle be neutral coasting or EOC and be in an accident which shows that the driver was sacrificing control and stability for the purpose of increasing efficiency against the law... yes, this individual should be held accountable for his/her actions. In essence, this offense needs to be labeled as a secondary offense, meaning you can't pull me over for it but you can pull me over for speeding and then give me a ticket for neutral coasting.

Dumb question 101: Can the black box be bypassed or removed? What would that do to tuning, etc? They aren't required by law, so removal should not pose legal issue...right?

[elhigh]

This is the beauty of EOC with the old truck. No black boxes.

And OM's statement re: the Prius is spot on. It will coast in neutral automatically if you don't have it in B, old SAAB Sonnetts, 93, 95 and 96 sedans had a freewheel built in. Let off the gas, they were coasting.

It's a dumb law. Especially since the vast majority of everyone that isn't a hypermiler goes with the no-brains-needed automatic and only treat Neutral as that tiresome waste of space between Go and Go Backward. They have no interest in neutral coasting, and the more engaged drivers that are doing it are almost certainly a lot more aware of their situation than other drivers.

[edit seven hours later]

I remember spotting this but having to run off and do work stuff:

"Quote:
327. Any rate of speed or any action that can endanger human life and safety or property is prohibited."

That is the most worthless piece of crap ever set down on paper. By that description, all motor vehicles and their operation are outlawed immediately and forever.

It's the ultimate ecomodding law! Start walking!