Undue attention to driving an old Honda?

[Baltothewolf]

I got pulled over 7 times in the what, 2 months I had the civic? It was the main driving force behind me getting my insight. I have had the insight for about 3 weeks now and the most I have gotten from a cop is 'what kind of car is that?'.

I no longer get dirty disgusting looks from people while driving slow, no more bright lights flashed at me, why? Because my car looks absolutely retarded and they EXPECT me to drive slow. Everyone thinks that civics are designed to go 'fast'.

[dirtydave]

I don't understand why you guys care if you get pulled over as long as your car and papers are legit you don't have to say a word to the police.

"Hello officer I have the right to remain silent, please respect my rights. Here is my paper work" roll the window down only half way keep your hands on the wheel and wait it out.

"Where are you headed?"
"Again no disrespect officer but I cannot answer that because I have the right to remain silent"

"On your licence it says you live on maple st is this correct?"
"Again no disrespect officer but I cannot answer that because I have the right to remain silent"

And turn on a camera. You can buy a video camera that can hold an hour of video for $30. Record them. I have had my rights violated and I have been beat up. I have 3 cameras in my car.

I wish I had my camera when I went into a abandoned house chasing my dog who got off her leash. Found her and I got thrown onto the ground and handcuffed by a off duty police officer who broke my thumb and forever damaged the nerves. Gave me no time to explain myself and when we went to court It was his word vs mine. I later got payback but I can't post that story in public.

[user removed]

dave, your post indicates you have said considerably more than "a word". Even though a law officer can shoot you dead on the spot, I don't fear them. I do respect them until they give me reason to not respect them, which I keep to myself and save for the judge. A cop can't convict me of anything.

Look them straight in the eye, without malice, and speak truthfully. After that the situation is totally in their control and they can make that a two hour ordeal with dope sniffing dogs and a detailed inspection of everything in your car, down to the pot seed that was left there two owners ago.

What we call hypermiling, is generally percieved as erratic driving by observers who do not understand our motives and objectives. When I am in traffic or in proximityto a LEO, I adjust my technique to be much less obvious to anyone but the most perceptive of observers, exactly what a very good LEO is trained to be. I adjust my technique to not be and impediment to traffic flow as long as that adjustment does not include illegal actions that would make me obvious.

In my younger and wilder days, I have had friends who were LEOs get me OUT of what could have been a bad situation, most of whom have retired now, local and state. I have also been assaulted by a LEO at a high school football game, without cause, who was later fired for abusing his power in that position, partially due to my fathers response to that assault.

It's been soo long since I have been stopped I can't remeber the year. There was a license and registration check a few years back but that was not the same as being pulled over.

regards
mech

[Xist]

I really do not know about erratic. Pulse-and-glide maybe, but if I am not doing that, I maintain my chosen speed, but watch everyone else speed up and slow down. I do not have cruise control, but I imagine that most other cars do, and I do not understand driving on the freeway and voluntarily not using it.

I randomly found this yesterday:

Reasonable suspicion: "Drifting back in forth in own lane, driving 10-15mph under speed limit, etc to make a stop to investigate DUI."

Reasonable Suspicion

Weaving and leaving your lane is an violation and they can pull you over for that. However, drifting back and forth within your own lane is legal, but not economical. I have had people drive me and after crossing into the other lane or the shoulder a few times, I say "Hey! Stay in your lane! The police will pull you over for that!"

They just laugh at me.

I remember reading the post of one Insight owner that wrote he had a thirty-five minute commute and he left the house early enough to drive 35 MPH for an hour and make it to work on time. I imagine that if he is driving thirty-five miles, he must have some freeway driving, and surface streets with much higher speed limits than that. As long as there are multiple lanes, people can pass you. When I coast to red lights, I often wonder if I could ever be pulled over for impeding traffic, when that is the entire purpose of the traffic control system.

Driving slower is usually more economical, especially since you are not speeding up and slowing down due to other traffic, and unless you are the slowest car on the road, you will be passing slower cars, so I do not agree with the argument that you are creating a dangerous situation by forcing cars to go around you. Everybody drives a different speed and does not necessarily drive a consistent speed. Cars always pass each other.

If driving 35 MPH is the only way to time the lights, then you are not holding up traffic, the lights will do that.

I do not think that driving slower than traffic is by itself erratic, what other hypermiling techniques could be considered that?

[j12piprius]

Originally Posted by Xist

Unfortunately, I was cited, multiple times, and needed to hire a lawyer

What were the citations for; did they make things up?

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by XYZ

Actually most cops are merely suspicious by nature... So they look for irregularities, and stop and question those who are irregular.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner.

"I'm not doing anything wrong" ≠ "What I'm doing does not match the actions of people who actually are doing something wrong." The problem is the difference between an ideal world and what you don't want to happen to you.

Ideally: If a cop sees you doing something that isn't wrong itself but matches the profile of someone who is, he'll investigate.
Where things can go wrong: When they see you doing something, decide it means you are doing something wrong and treat you as if they caught you doing it. If you're lucky, they figure out they made a mistake and "only" fine you for the things they used as a pretext to stop you.

In other words, the squeaky wheel gets detained, strip searched and held for the weekend. After the squeaky wheel pays a bail bondsman, lawyer, court fees and maybe manages to get his car back from civil forfeiture, the squeaky wheel can once again attempt to make it to the garage to get greased.

I got stopped once for something that it only looked like I was doing, but a white guy in a nice car who is polite, cooperative and friendly tends to find himself in the ideal world of police encounters. Since there's always a chance things can stray from the ideal world and even in the best case I still can't afford to randomly be 20-30 minutes late on any given trip, I try to be inconspicuous.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner.

"I'm not doing anything wrong" ≠ "What I'm doing does not match the actions of people who actually are doing something wrong." The problem is the difference between an ideal world and what you don't want to happen to you

Ah, yes. Feudal Japan, where the lord's samurai could kill a peasant for "acting otherwise than expected".

[Xist]

I like puppies. It is completely off-topic, but I wanted to say something positive, and I hope that at least most of you can agree with me, or at least understand my sentiment.

[XYZ]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner.

What's my prize?

Do I at least get thanks?

[user removed]

There ya go mate.

regards
mech