Let's Talk about the Calgary Police Service

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

If the driver you’re passing speeds up making it difficult, go back behind them.

When I come to power, doing this won't even be a fine. You get pulled over, the cop just walks up, tazes you, and leaves without saying a word

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

You should just continue your overtake, but if it takes more than 30 seconds to a minute, you should probably just hit the accelerator a bit and get back over. If you doddle in an overtake for 2-3 minutes, I don't think that's really appropriate. The left lane is to be shared with everyone, by you occupying the spot for an extended period of time, that's not sharing. No cop is going to give you a ticket if someone is riding your bumper and you accelerate to get out of their way.

I should add that it's not taking me 2-3 minutes to perform this overtake. It's more like 20-30 seconds at the most. What happens is that the speeding driver behind me gets annoyed because he has to reduce his speed to 110 for a few seconds while I complete my pass and then safely pull back into the right lane once there is sufficient clearance between me and the slower traffic behind. I'm not trying to be a vigilante traffic cop and prevent him from passing, but I don't think it's reasonable that he should expect me to also violate the posted limits just because he's an impatient speeder.

[nik-]

Yeah, speed up a tad to finish the pass, go back into the right lane, hit Resume. It's insanely easy and it's not a mortal sin. They can also wait a few more seconds. It's not their right to drive as fast as they want without any impedances, but it's not your job to needlessly drive in front of faster cars because "the speed limit is X!". A reasonable duration pass is not needlessly.

It's also easy to check your rear view to see if someone is coming up on you when you're about to pass and make a judgement call as to whether you should just wait 20 more seconds to make your move.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

I should add that it's not taking me 2-3 minutes to perform this overtake. It's more like 20-30 seconds at the most. What happens is that the speeding driver behind me gets annoyed because he has to reduce his speed to 110 for a few seconds while I complete my pass and then safely pull back into the right lane once there is sufficient clearance between me and the slower traffic behind. I'm not trying to be a vigilante traffic cop and prevent him from passing, but I don't think it's reasonable that he should expect me to also violate the posted limits just because he's an impatient speeder.

You should be accelerating to pass when entering the left lane. It should be taking you 7-10 seconds to pass like a passing maneuver on any untwined road.

So yes you should break the “law” to improve road safety for everyone or choose to sow down to the prevailing speed of the person in front of you.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Yeah, legally you should maintain the speed limit even when passing, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to speed up a bit to make your pass. As Fuzz said, tho, if you can’t make a pass within 30 seconds you probably shouldn’t be passing. If the driver you’re passing speeds up making it difficult, go back behind them.

A similar scenario was on my written driving test and the one question I got incorrect for answering that it is ok to temporarily exceed the posted speed limit to make a pass on a two-lane road.

I'm a habitual speeder anyways, so it's kind of moot for me, but regardless of the law, my experience tells me that the safest pass is the one that takes the least amount of time, whether on a two lane country road or a multilane highway.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by nik-

It's also easy to check your rear view to see if someone is coming up on you when you're about to pass and make a judgement call as to whether you should just wait 20 more seconds to make your move.

I was actually just going to bring that up too. If your move causes someone to have to hit the brakes, you cut them off

[chedder]

Yes, you should definitely speed up to make your pass. If you're trying to pass the 105 guy by going 110 you're doing it wrong. Going 120 on a divided highway for 15 seconds isn't going to kill you or anyone. Also, if you see there's a guy doing 130 behind you, you shouldn't have gone out to pass anyway. You should have waited until he was by you then pull into passing lane once it's clear.

[81MC]

Nothing worse than just humming along, when some Johnny Speed Limit has to pass the slightly slower moving vehicle before you pass them. Like, why not wait the 10 seconds for the faster moving vehicle to pass both of you?

Obviously some guy coming in extra hot is always going to be an exception. But if a guy is coming at you 130, just wait a few seconds to make your slow pass.

Also, why not speed up a little bit when passing a vehicle? Call me crazy, but these goofs who will pave a vehicle for longer than necessary are kind of mindless. I can’t think of a more dangerous place to hang out on a highway than immediately beside another vehicle.

[Scornfire]

Seriously, people who pass going 1-2km/h faster than the person in the right hand lane are my biggest bane. I've actually seen someone take 2m, as soon as they got over it took me all of 5s to accelerate, get in front of them and get back in the right hand, stop holding up the entire damn highway

[PepsiFree]

I don't think it can be overstated how important (and easy) it is to avoid people tailgating you while you pass by simply making sure it's safe to pass (i.e. looking in your mirrors).

At 110kmph, you should be keeping 2 seconds between you and the car in front of you, or about 60m (calculated based on how long it takes you to pass the same point in the road). Let's say you decide to pass, and a vehicle is coming up at 130 behind you. They're moving at 6 meters by second faster than you.

If they reach you within 10 seconds, they were only just over 2 seconds (70m) (or "1" safe following distance) behind you, so you did not safely check your mirrors before passing. If they reach you within 20 seconds, they were only 4 seconds (or about 140m) behind you, and again, you did not safely check your mirrors before passing. If they were going faster, lets say 150kmph, they would have be within unsafe distances even faster, and you would see the difference pretty easily if you check your mirror. Even then, they would reach you in 20 seconds at 220m away, which is not that large of a distance on the highway.

So, basically, I think basic math says that if someone comes up on your while you're passing another car, it's probably 100% your fault.

[Fuzz]

The worst is when you are passing someone, and someone in front of you is not passing quickly, then someone rocks up behind you and sits 5 feet from your bumper, like there is anything you can do to change the situation. Give me some ####ing space, man.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

The worst is when you are passing someone, and someone in front of you is not passing quickly, then someone rocks up behind you and sits 5 feet from your bumper, like there is anything you can do to change the situation. Give me some ####ing space, man.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIT_maneuver

[Flamenspiel]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

The worst is when you are passing someone, and someone in front of you is not passing quickly, then someone rocks up behind you and sits 5 feet from your bumper, like there is anything you can do to change the situation. Give me some ####ing space, man.

It sounds like you were following too closely, the onus is on you to maintain that space in front of you and avoid getting boxed in.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

It sounds like you were following too closely, the onus is on you to maintain that space in front of you and avoid getting boxed in.

Where does he indicate how closely he was following?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

It sounds like you were following too closely, the onus is on you to maintain that space in front of you and avoid getting boxed in.

Reading comprehension fail?

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by nik-

This is honestly irrelevant. If you're in the left lane and someone is coming up behind you going faster, move over. You're not there to enforce speed limits, don't be Paul Blart.

I see you didn’t bother reading the post I was responding to. I mean, I quoted it and everything.

Fuzz said he wants a system more like Germany. If Calgary was in Germany, everyone who routinely drives 10-15 km/hr over the limit would get ticketed way more often than they do now. Because the German system is stricter on licensing and stricter on enforcing speeding and other traffic regulations.

You’ll note nowhere in my post did I say anything about how I drive or how other people should drive.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I see you didn’t bother reading the post I was responding to. I mean, I quoted it and everything.

Fuzz said he wants a system more like Germany. If Calgary was in Germany, everyone who routinely drives 10-15 km/hr over the limit would get ticketed way more often than they do now. Because the German system is stricter on licensing and stricter on enforcing speeding and other traffic regulations.

You’ll note nowhere in my post did I say anything about how I drive or how other people should drive.

Pretty sure people get ticketed plenty if they regularly go 65-70 in a 50 here, too.

If you’re talking highway, though, then they’d be fine, since they’d like be under the German speed limit!

[Coach]

I’d happily take a 30 min test to renew my license every 5 years if it kept the people off the road who very obviously should not have licenses.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Coach

I’d happily take a 30 min test to renew my license every 5 years if it kept the people off the road who very obviously should not have licenses.

I want one aspect of the test to be "Park in the middle of this parking spot" and watch all the pick-up truck drivers be forced to take the bus for a few weeks until they finally figure it out.

[troutman]

What bugs me - they set a photo radar trap in a construction zone in the evening when no one is working, and don't enforce #### when most people speed through a construction zone at rush hour.