DOM

I need some help. I was traveling down there to see a friend. The CHP in Anaheim came on the freeway with their lights on and went in front of me. They slowed down in front of me and put the spotlight in my eyes so that I couldn't see anything. It freaked me out. I was worried that I would hit something or someone would hit me. I pulled off the freeway and then the cop drove away and went to the furthest lane. I went on to the freeway then and thought they had the wrong person and realized that. Then they swerved all the way over the four lanes like they were going to ram the side of my car. Once again, they turned on the spotlight in my eyes so that I couldn't see where I was going or if I was even between the lines of the lane. There was a lot of confusion even with the other cars and it ended up that they wanted everyone to stop on the freeway. There weren't any hand signals from them, no speaker telling us to stop. We stopped on the freeway because a maintenance crew was finished and needed to get back on the freeway.
I got pulled over shortly after and given a ticket for not staying 300 feet behind the police car when they had their "emergency" lights on.
Any tips I can use to win this in court? I think that for a four lane freeway stop it would be necessary to have at least 2 CHP cars to stop everyone rather than swerving at cars and shining a spotlight in their face? What about closing only the left lane where the truck was and putting on the yellow caution lights on? So should I stop 300 feet behind a CHP officer if he has his lights on and he is writing someone else a ticket?

I need help because I am a poor college kid who cannot afford higher insurance rates or pay for a ticket.

DOM

Oh yeah, can anyone post the law or rule about the 300 feet thing?

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

1) Get a lawyer
2) Get the RCC? Code for California to confirm the 300ft thing.

Offhand, you're SOL but you never know

DOM

I hope not! That was very bad procedure that I have to pay for now.

BriGuyMax

iTrader: (1)

http://www.paynofine.com

Read up....you'll learn A LOT

BTW - they want you to pay like 15 bucks for their book....it's a VERY good book...but if you paypal me $5 I'll e-mail a .pdf file of the entire book.

Y2KevSE

iTrader: (13)

joaquink

I thought they had to do the "red robin" or "round robin" or something named like that when they wanted to halt all lanes. In essence, they have to have their strobe lights on and serpentine the lanes of the freeway. This is strictly from recollection and I haven't driven in CA for a long time but you might want to check that out. Certainly, hitting you with the floodlight at anything over about 5MPH is just ridiculous.

Follow the advice in the previous posts and you should be okay.

VeeQueue

iTrader: (1)

That's how they stop the entire freeway. They do that all the time. They swerve from the inner most lane to the outer most lane. You were ignornant of how law enforcement stop the freeway. I've seen you guys get pulled over all the time because you guys didn't know what was going on.

mtrai760

iTrader: (19)

I'd just go to court over it and claim ignorance, tell them you thought he was trying to run you off the road and how he was driving, maybe the judge will take it easy on you...

Jepht20

iTrader: (10)

just go there, be honest and polite and hope that they understand. or get a lawyer if you feel like paying. best of luck...i don't know what i would have done. i probably woudl have thought it was someone immitating a cop and pulled out my spot light and done it back to him.

ardika

iTrader: (3)

I got this experience too when I was in San Diego (business trip), and the car almost hit my left front side (rental car). Fortunately I could take the shoulder on the right (I am on the right-most lane) and....same as yours, I got that spotlight and it was BLINDING!

My dad once told me to look for shoulder marking whenever there is a bright light coming from the area in front of you (you know, those white/yellow line on each side of the roads). So, in that brief 3 seconds, I know where I am going.

What happens afterwards did not make sense. They swerve from right to left and back again for a good 5 minutes....(at this time all vehicles are about 100 ft from the cop's car) and the sirene lights were turned off. Then, people start building speed..resuming to 70-75mph cruising speed and...all of a sudden, the CHP does the same thing again..... this time I saw that an Accord braked relentlessly to avoid crashing to the car in front of him, that just changed lane into Accord's lane.

Man, I did not what's going on....and at this point I did not know why the CHP car was doing those swerving and all since the lights were turned off again and my exit came up.

That was confusing....and dangerous....

VeeTec

1. We are only hearing one side of the story, which sounds quite strange, like you're not telling us everything.

2. What does this have to do with Maxima Discussion?

NISMO808

iTrader: (2)

What does your SN have anything to do with maximas?

NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

I had something similar happen to me about 2 years ago..

Well, not entirely, but I thought it was pretty stupid on the cops behalf..

I was driving in the middle lane, then I got into the right lane.. all of the sudden a police car flies by me about 5 seconds later merges in front of me literally 3-4 feet from my bumper (I'm going around 40..) and hits the brakes.. I thought I was going to hit him in the back or lock up my brakes, thankfully I didn't.. so I thought i was being pulled over.. so i'm standing behind him.. he's not coming out... 3 min. 5 min, 7 min, nothing.. wtf.. (He never once turned his lights on during all of this or said anything) so i started to move the car slowly.. and i come around on the left side and move up and he says something on the loudspeaker like "you got the hint?" I pulled in front and stopped again.. then he said something about me passing on the right, pulled out, make a quick U turn and sped away.. I was sitting there thinking what just happened, trying to think back to see if i really did something wrong.. but no, I really didn't pass one car, i merged in the right lane going faster than the guy in the lane i was just in but i had not yet passed him when this guy cut me off nearly causing me to rear end the **** out of him.. i merged lanes because i was going to make a right turn down the street anyways.. what the ****..

oh well, i also don't like it when they tailgate you like crazy trying to get you to panic or speed up or something..

ardika

iTrader: (3)

Got this thing too. Was driving at 74mph on I-94 to Madison, WI.... saw the rear view mirror (always check my rear view every 8 seconds or so, together with other mirrors as well) and saw this car going around the same speed as mine (on the left lane) when I was passing the car on the right.

However, the second time I checked my rear mirror, I saw this state patrol car goind at least 95mph from the looks of how fast he approached the car behind me (the car behind me is about 60 ft from my car). I am already clear of the slow car I was passing, so I slowed down on the right lane.

Unfortunately, the car on the left lane did not see the cop car on time, so he stayed there for a while. The cop did not even wait for the car of flashed his high beam or something, but instead he just took him out by driving on the shoulder (of the left lane). When he was doing this, all sort of gravel flies...hitting the (1), the car on the left lane, (2) the slow car on the right lane and (3) my car.

He was very fast and I suspect there was an emergency or something. Later on, about 3 miles down the road, I saw the car on the right, behind another state troopers car stopping a guy on the right shoulder.

nadir_s

I saw this before at SFO, I was driving outta the airport and all of a sudden CHP cars and motorcylcles entered the freeway on the on ramp and started swerving through all the lanes and slowed us down to about 20 MPH... they were doing some sort of convoy because there was a couple limosines and a shuttle bus that some officers were following and driving by it's side. It was pretty damn interesting, i rememebred i took a pic of it too lol, ill try to see if i have it but i doubt anyone would care to see

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Let me get this straight - Cop comes onto the highway, gets in front of you with blazing lights up top, slows down then shines the good old spot light twards you -* yet *- you kept going? Next he has to start swerving all over the freeway in an attempt once again to get your attention, even shinning the good old spot light once again into oncomming traffic, yet you still don't stop?

If I remember correctly your supposed to YEILD to police cars and emergency vehicles. Even if your on the other side of a double yellow line. I believe it was taught in driving 101.

You probably ****ed that cop off pretty good. Consider your ticket an education expense and next time you see a cop all ablaze in the middle of the highway, stop and yield to him - it's the law.

Posts like this amaze me. Learn the laws of the road or take responsibility when you break them.


Even better is the title to this thread. CHP (WTF?) tried to run YOU off the road.

Yea, thats just what he did.

CKNY

iTrader: (1)

Comeon - give the guy a break. has this ever happened to you? personally i think i would **** a brick if a cop car shined a flood light in my face while driving 55+mph. that's irresponsible and extremely dangerous. something like that catches you off guard a little... what are you supposed to do? slam on your brakes and get rear ended going 50? there goes the back for the rest of my life. screw that. from this story - if this is how the officer behaved - it was dangerous and irresponsible.

Victim64

SN's are supposed to be Maxima specific?? I think NOT!

bill99gxe

iTrader: (1)

Based on the way this story is told, and the way I am comprehending it, I disagree with Tom's contention.


If a cop turned his lights on and got in front of me only to slow down and shine the spotlight in my face, I would immediately start mentally jotting down notes of the situation that caused me to have an accident as that is just plain stupid and unnecessary on the cop's part. That's a good way to hurt a lot of people and cops of all people should know better than that.


It's why there are license plates and why cop cars have lights, sirens and PA systems. If DOM didn't pull over, I could understand the subsequent "trying to run him off the road" portion of the occurrence after getting back on the freeway.


DOM,

Get a lawyer. Be VERY upfront about everything. Relay your contention about concern for your safety and other vehicles around you based on CHP's actions. Emphasize that you pulled over and they went away. Emphasize their subsequent actions, what they did and did not do to maximize highway travelling safety.

deezo

iTrader: (3)

I agree, the CHP should have communicated better than just shining lights in peoples eyes while they're driving. I know I'd be pretty ****ed off.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

I guess I was the only one who read between the lines on that post. We're hearing one side, I'm sure the other might be quite different. Perhaps I'm wrong to make such an assumption as well.




But looking at past history of other members and people in general, my thoughts are thinking in favor of the CHP.

deezo

iTrader: (3)

No doubt if there is an emergency and if motorists see flashing light coming up from behind, they should prepare themselves to let the emergency vehicle by. We haven't heard both sides but to flash the spotlight into a persons eyes while they're driving (if this happened at night) is irresponsible on the officers part.

nadir_s

That is true, instead of flashing a light in his face, they should have used their speakers. They wouldn't flash lights in face as communication. The only time i've had the spotlight on me was when they were behind me... it was like 2AM and i was coming home from dropping my parents off at the airport and he pulled me over because the speed i was travelling at was fluctuating and he thought i was drunk of something. He was behind me, then all of a sudden the spotlight comes on, scared the **** outta me, kinda blinded me from the rearview mirror, then he had the lights on. I pulled over, he came over asked me where i was coming from blah blah and let me go. It was hella scary, especially that spotlight coming outta no where. Anywho, good luck

NISMO808

iTrader: (2)

You missed my point.

StygianMax

iTrader: (8)

What the officer did flies in the face of their obligation to ensure & preserve safety for the public. I work for a provincial road authority in Ontario, Canada & know a thing or two about the obligations of our staff to the public. Safety is paramount! It ought to be the same for the police force (as obvious as that sounds). What the copper did to try to create space for the trucks does not sound like a safe procedure at all. Shining the light into you face makes even less sense (okay, I'm trying not to use the word "stupid").

When there's a temporary road closure here on our 3 lane divided freeway, they use 2 cops cars which gradually slow down after turning on their flashing rooftop lights. That's referred to as a "rolling closure". The idea is to not do something unexpected that freaks the motorists out causing them confusion & that might result in them doing something unsafe for themselves & others around them.

Good luck in you fight!

VeeQueue

iTrader: (1)

What you're suggesting is ignornance is acceptable. They teach how law enforcement stop freeway traffic flow in driver's ed... before you obtain a license. Initially DOM didn't know what was going on, because he continued to drive. I could somewhat understand the first spotlight shined to his face (from an ignorant person's point of view that is), but if DOM did not proceed like he did (again, out of IGNORANCE), the cop would not have shined the light into his face the 2nd time. People tend to stare straight ahead and try not to make eye contact when cops are next to them . When cops want your attention, indirect light does not convey HEY, YOU like light shining directly at you. I've been pulled over before when a cop tried to stop myself and another car. I didn't realize he was trying to pull me over too until he used the spotlight to shine into my cabin to direct me to follow the other car to the roadside.

Also, when you are traveling full speed on the freeway, it is very difficult to hear sirens or someone shouting from their PA system. This is why they teach you to always check your mirrors to be aware of your surroundings.

Sounds like the cop lit the spotlight on DOM's face the first time because he didn't slow down, oblivious to a CHP patrol car slaloming in front of him to stop the traffic. The second time was definitely from being a smartguy trying to drive past a cop thats trying to stop the freeway

Victim64

smokedford

iTrader: (1)

cvc 21706 : No motor vehicle shall follow within 300 feet of any authorized emergency vehicle being operated under the provisions of setion 21055.

You're basically screwed. There a couple points you can try...
1. Since the CHP officer lit you up with his spot light, you can argue that you could not clear identify his vehicle as a CHP car. But this goes out the window if he passed you afterwards and started his traffic break. If you passed him or did not yeild after he was in front of you, then you're screwed. Even if he rammed you off the road. You shouldn't have been any were near him.
Bascially, he was p!$$ed off about something. Either we're not getting the whole story, or he was a real jerk.

2. Read CVC 21055. It can be argued that the CHP car did not fully identify its self if he did not sound his siren. An emergency vehicle consists of a solid red light and a sounding siren. Also, in 21055, it clearly states that yeilding to an emergency vehicle applies during emergency stituations. If he was slowing down the freeway because of Caltrans, is that an emergency? Was there life in serious and immediate danager or a crime in progress?

This can be argued with the traffic judge. Depending on how you present your case and or how the office presents his/her case, you have a 50/50 chance. Remember, on the back of the officer's citation, he/she writes down everything you said...if you were an a-hole..etc. It won't look good in court if the officer quotes you and you come off as a jerk. If you were anything other than pleasant or nice to the officer, I'd take the ticket and go to traffic school. The worst feeling in the world is getting clowned by the judge in front of a full court room...

VeeQueue

iTrader: (1)

Yes, this point is already out the window since DOM said:
The cop used the spotlight on him after seeing the patrol car drive past him with the lights on. You have to be from a third world country where rickshaws are the mode of transportation or living under a rock since you were born to not be able to identify a vehicle with red/blue/yellow flashing lights as an emergency vehicle, especially since it came in front of him.

I agree with you on this.
Well I don't the cop was a jerk; he is putting his life on the line trying to stop the freeway. I'm sure the last thing the cop wants is to be rammed by clueless person. Think about it; the cop had his lights on. The cop was slaloming to stop traffic. Then this guy continues to drive off. The cop didn't try to ram into him as DOM put it... DOM GOT IN THE COP's WAY, risking injury/death to himself, the Officer, and possibly people behind them. The spotlight was used to get DOMs attention and have him get the F out of the way.

A siren is NOT required at all times to fully identify the Officer's car as an emergency vehicle.
CVC 21055 ss (b) When they are in pursuit of a suspect their sirens must be on. In other situations it is under the discretion of the Officer. If you read the provisions set forth for the CHP and any associated provisions, they are allowed a wide latitude of restrictions. They can use their lights and/or sirens to warn and prevent emergencies such as a potentional accident. A couch lying on the middle of a road is an emergency, because it can cause serious injury and/or death. Large, cumbersome Caltrans vehicles trying to enter the freeway traffic can be considered a traffic hazard. Letting the Caltrans vehicles merge can cause accidents due to their acceleration, other commuter's reactions to them merging in, etc. This is no different than stopping a drunk driver swerving on the road. Each case are considered emergencies because all can cause great harm to individuals.

Yes you can argue with the judge but I'm sure DOM will get clowned.

Wizeguy

We certainly aren't getting the full story. Here...
Sounds very dangerous indeed. But why would they for no reason put the spot light in your eyes? Sounds like we are missing something.
Ok so you pull off the freeway. Don't you have to slow down to do that? Then the cop sped away. So you are a ways behind him now right?
W oh... What are you doing here? I thought you were pulled off the freeway. What did you hit Mach 1?
I 'think' he wanted you slow down? Not hit mach 1...
Yes it sounds that way. Now the question is why was the officer doing the slow down? Odds are it was for your saftey. Now that you've gotten the ticket. You've got the option of going to court and fighting it. Or... just accept it. I believe that if you were indeed wronged go fight it, heck its your time. If you were wrong (which I believe) pay it.

DOM

Okay, let me try to refine my post. I did not pull off the freeway because I couldn't see from the spotlight and I did slow down on the freeway to about 25mph but I was really worried about someone crashing into the back of me. The cop would speed up and go all the way to the furthest lane and it looked like it was going to park. I sped up from 25, just the same as the other people to about forty before he swerved over and it looked like he was going to hit me. More spotlight in my face and I pulled over. I got back on the freeway, he looked like he was going to ram more cars, we stopped on the freeway, later I got the ticket.

I don't ever remember anything about cop cars swerving around and using spotlights in driver's faces to slow people down when I took my driver's test. I first thought that someone stole a cop car and was messing around. There weer not any sirens on, just the red and blue lights on. My radio was turned off and I could hear perfectly. There wasn't anyone on the speakers telling us to slow down. I am upset because I was not the only one on the road who knew what was going on. Everyone was confused. It was very busy on the freeway and I don't understand why they didn't get at least 2 CHP cars to stop the freeway instead of one trying to stop the busy 4 lane freeway. Or why not just close the last 4rth lane since that was the only one needed to let the guy on?
This is the full story basically. There wasn't much to it. I never sped up and tried to reach Mach 1. I was cautiosly going a little faster. I never went over 45 when this was going on.
I am being very upfront on this because I wanted a little help on this because I am guessing that the CHP officer used bad procedures. I do not believe that I deserve a ticket. If they were doing their job correctly, why so much confusion even with the other cars?

DOM

Let me add toothat I never passed the police officer nor did I try to. She was in front of me the whole time. If there are any more questions, please ask me. I have never heard of this before.

VeeQueue

iTrader: (1)

This procedure may not be on the written test but it is a topic discussed in driver's ed for freeway driving. You live in the greater Los Angeles area; if this wasn't discussed then the driver school you attended failed to educate you; however its still your responsibility to find things out for yourself. The fact remains you were ignorant of how police stop traffic on the freeway. I too would think they were using "bad procedures" if I didn't know what was going on like you. Confusion is usually set by example. Just because the other people behind you were also ignorant of the procedures doesn't mean the police wasn't doing their jobs correctly. They had a responsibility to know the rules of the road like yourself. Just because they were also confused doesn't mean you were wronged. I see people make illegal lane changes or cross over the HOV lanes all the time. On surface streets I always see people drive past school buses with their red lights flashing and stop signs erected from the sides when they're suppose to stop. I'm pretty sure they weren't aware that they are breaking the law, and probably feel wronged if they received a citation for it.

Holding a Driver License implies that you KNOW the rules of the road. For example if you were approaching a red like trying to make a right-hand turn and you didn't do the additional stop at a 45 degree angle before entering the intersecting street and you get pulled over for running a red light, it doesn't make the ticket "unfair" because you didn't know the law existed.

In the past I used to log 28,000 miles per year. Every time the CHP halts the freeway, I've seen them use 1 patrol unit to slow down the freeway. It is your opinion that they need 2 but everytime I see them initiate a freeway halt with one car it gets the job done. Besides how do you know how many patrol cars it takes to stop freeway traffic? You never knew this procedure existed . Last week they did it on the 405 South right after lunch near the Wilshire exit. I got on Santa Monica onramp and saw them slow down the entire freeway in my rearview mirror. There weren't any people "confused" or trying to get past the cop . You and the other "confused" drivers should be off the road, back in traffic school. Not stopping completely prolongs their traffic shutdown and it causes even more delays. Guys like you deserve the tickets you get.

That is beside the point. YOU did not know what was going on. YOU should have stopped, period. If it didn't look like the cop was pulling another person over WTF do you think the cop was doing? Oops I forgot... you didnt know. You shouldn't been accelerating from 25 mph to 40-45mph like you put it. Again like I said in my last post, the spotlight was used on you because the cop was trying to signal you to stop. Because you were on the road with a license in your pocket, the cop has a valid expectation of you to know what he was doing. You were hit with the spotlight because you continuted to accelerate from 25 to 40mph when you were suppposed to stop. Also it doesn't matter if you have other ingornants behind you.

You need to reclarify things a bit more; here's a question for you: If she was in front of you the whole time, how could she or he (you keep switching from he to she. Is the cop a he she? ) look like she was going to "ram the side of [your] car"? If she was slaloming towards your way and you are behind her as you put it, then you would've ran into the patrol car's side.

Common sense should be able to tell you why they didn't just stop one lane... but if you really need someone to elaborate then I'll do it. Let me know.

VeeQueue

iTrader: (1)

Btw, stop being upset at the cop or the ticket because you didn't know what was going on. I like how you guys can't accept responsibility for your own ignorance. Think about it, who's fault is it for you not knowing? Glad to know there are guys like you on the road

thnikkamax

iTrader: (2)

Don't you watch the CA car chase channel (FOX). CHP and lights flashing and swerving from lane to lane = slow the ***** down til you get to a hault. It's kinda like a pace car in NASCAR. Flashing lights at the head of the pack desperately trying to slow everyone down.

I personally always slow down til the cop is way ahead of me or maybe gone because i do not want to be anywhere around the commotion. Pay attention to the comments about the cops trying to get you to look at them. Often times (when i've been racing on the freeway irresponsibly) i notice a patrol car and i slow the hell down only to see the other car get a huge beam of light into the cabin. My immediate analysis: "Slow the hell down pal"

The spotlight is annoying as i've gotten slight body damage on my car when i was a block from home going 10mph and a sherrif flashed his light at me. I guess he was trying to check if i was stoned or drunk or something, but i ended up folding my side view mirror against a truck that was parked to the side. Me being a retard honked and flashed my emergencies at the sherrif. Of course i got pulled over in front of my house as i was parking. The guy asked what my problem was, and i told him that that i'm pretty sure that the DMV requires an unobstructed vision to be able to safely operate a vehicle, therefore him flashing me is in direct violation of that basic principle. He flashlit my side view and just told me to fix it and go home.

Often times cops don't even know all the law. If they give you a ticket, you can either fight it and win, or pay the ticket either because you didn't know the law or just didn't want to deal with it. It really all comes down to the mood of the judge. If the cop was flashing his lights while swerving then you shouldve known better. If the chp was just swerving and no obvious signs of emergency then you might have a case as he was not making an attempt to warn anyone. If there were no lights flashing, how would traffic a few cars back know what was going on?