begin quoting Ralph Shumaker as of Sun, Feb 25, 2007 at 11:06:15AM -0800: > Stewart Stremler wrote: > > >Haven't you noticed that a cop car on the highway tends to induce a > >traffic hiccup? > > Which is the perfect chance for them to nail tailgaters and people who > block the fast lane. Why don't they? If they can get people to get out > of the way, it would be easier for speeders to get through and be caught.
Nobody passes a cop on purpose. ALL lanes tend to block up if traffic is heavy enough, and the cop isn't going at the speed that most everyone else wants to go. This is the most reliable way to identify a cop car from a distance, especially the ones that don't put the light bar on top. Look for a traffic bunch-up where the leading edge is pretty much a straight line -- and nobody is trying to zip around. Sure, it might be (# of lanes) of scum-sucking deformed offspring of a rat and snake deciding to cooperate in "slowing down those damn speeders" (and thus encouraging tailgating), but chances are just as good it's a cop. If traffic density is light enough, sometimes people *do* pass the cops. The cops give 'em a ticket, nominally for speeding, but really (to my mind) for Not Paying Attention. -- It's a fair cop. Stewart Stremler -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
