Passing a Police Cruiser

[no_tech]

My old man seems to think it is illegal to overpass a Police car going slower than the posted speed limit. I mentioned in certain circumstances I am sure it is ; Light bar on & car is making a zig zag motion , 2 cruisers parked at a 45 degree angle together, etc,etc....
My wife even seems wary of doing it as well. Most times here in this country setting I live in, the cruiser will yield to the right shoulder allowing traffic to pass.

Question though, If tere IS no shoulder the cruiser is going 45 in a 55 & there is the yellow separated lines to allow passing, is it ok to pass then ?

[mcsap]

Unless the cruiser has it's lights on or is in some manner purposely trying to slow traffic down by perhaps taking up 2 lanes ( but I owuld have my overheads on) , than we are just another car going under the speed limit and you can pass me.

I also may be looking for a car heading my way and am going slower hoping that the car in question catches up to me.

[Lawson]

There is no law here that says you cannot pass a marked patrol vehicle who is not exceeding the limit. The signs are the posted speed limit, not police cars.

[txinvestigator1]

Unless I was specifically going somewhere I was always under the limit. It is difficult to be observent going the speed limit. However, I always moved over when traffic could not otherwise pass.

[scott715us]

Better make sure the officer is actually going over the posted limit. Our speedometers are calibrated (which is required by law). So if there is only a few mph difference, then we may actually be going the posted limit, and you may exceed such if your car's speedometer advises different.

[chewy]

I do it all the time... The only time I've ever regreted passing a crusier is when they were doing 12 over and I passed them like they were parked! It wasn't intentional, I didn't see them until it was to late. Other than that I've never had a problem passing them.

[Darin]

Obviously none of yall have passed a Virginia State Trooper....


And that's all I'm gonna say about that..... ;)

[wcso234]

Obviously none of yall have passed a Virginia State Trooper....


And that's all I'm gonna say about that..... ;)

I have several times :D

[cntryboy0531]

I prefer to past them as fast as possible. Get's their blood pumping. :D

j/k.

As long as they are not going past the speed limit, have their lights on, or are otherwise trying to slow traffic... Then you are fine. If your speedometer show's him only going 5mph or less under, I'd say stay behind him. Your speedometer could be out of whack. Better safe than sorry.

[Creeker]

I just last week came up on a SC Trooper doing 3 mph over in the fast lane. I decided to wait a little and sure enough the first car to pass him got pulled over. :rolleyes:

[Legoate]

I had one honest person in traffic court.

Lady passed me about 15 over on a city street. I pulled her over and cited her. She insisted that she wasn't speeding. I, of course, advised her that I was driving and she had passed me, so that should indicate to her that she WAS speeding.

She took me to court...when it was her turn to testify she surprised me by apologizing and stating she had done some tests with her other car and had figured out that her speedometer was off by almost exactly 15 mph, the amount I had cited her for.

I was so stunned that someone actually told the truth in traffic court that I forgot to ask the judge to lower the fine.

We have tons of ghetto sleds rolling around here...for some reason folks think that every Buick on the road needs 22" DUBs on it. Then they can't figure out why they keep getting pulled over for speeding.

[nypd7748]

There was a NYSP radio car going 55MPH on the NYS Thruway and I passed him doing about 60 MPH...got stopped, but he did the right thing of course...I wouldn't recommend passing one unless you are 100% sure they are going under the speed limit.