Ticketed $150 for following too close on the harbour bridge

[Max Preload]

So, lets assume for a minute I'm ignorant (unlikely I know, but remotely possible I guess). Is there a requirement somewhere at law to be 28m or more behind a vehicle at 70kph?
Because being aware of this ticket today whilst traversing the section of road in question I took particular note.
At 70kph and counting out loud one thousand and one, one thousand and two I found this equated to aproximately 4 subaru stationwagons. Now lets take a semi-educated guess at say 4.2m per subaru I was more like 17m behind the car in front. No way in hell is 28m equivilent of 2 seconds at that speed.

2 seconds at 70km/h is 39m. This is considerably more than the required 4m per 10km/h required by the regulations, which would be only 28m.

[Ender EnZed]

I tried counting in my head to work out using lamp post as reference and coud not see how it equated to 28m when it seemed I was much closer than that.

i would fight this one.. what a cock of a cop....
and i am GLAD you left him with something to think about next time he pulls a quoter filling thing like that,

No way in hell is 28m equivilent of 2 seconds at that speed.

You're right. It's much less.

At 70km/h 28 meters is equivalent to 1.44 seconds.
At 74km/h it's equivalent to 1.36 seconds.
At 79km/h it's equivalent to 1.28 seconds.

15 year olds are taught that 2 seconds is a safe following distance.

Whenever speeding tickets are mentioned on KB there are cries that cops ought to be ticketing things like unsafe following distances instead. Might that be what's happened here?

[chasio]

TBH, I'd pay it and move on having been ticketed in the circumstances you describe.

But... if filtering legally (indicating, overtaking wholly in same lane, passing on RHS, etc.), there are times that I would be in the same lane as the car in front but obviously much less than the prescribed distance behind, given that I close the gap and then pass.

Is there a potential defence in saying that you were lined up and closing to overtake (legally, as above) at the time you were less than the required distance behind? It's probably not going to get you off at 70km/h plus (or if so they'll charge you with something more serious instead) but a bike going under 50km/h maybe it would...? If not, all filtering seems to be even more ping-prone than I had understood it previously.

[danchop]

probably will just pay it but its bullshit,he only pulled me over about 3km later when i overtook him,breathtested me as well at 12.09pm on a thurs arvo when he knew i was working as a courier at the time,twat
they advertise that you merge onto motorways like a zip,which totally blows following distances out the window i reckon

[CookMySock]

Stand yer ground and tell him to get fucked.

[imdying]

With the quotes of the law in mind, I have now started rigidly following those following distances on the way to work in the wifes car. I can tell you something for free, it's not going down very well here in the congested Christchurch roads. I'm just waiting for when some officious prick pulls me up for obstructing traffic flow... I'm merely following the law. If everybody followed that (instead of crawling at 20km/hr with less than car length in between), the economy would stop.

[YellowDog]

Stand yer ground and tell him to get fucked.

Yep, that'll be a sure fire winner

I do agree that the 'moving closer to overtake' defence is quite reasonable (if that is what was happening) and would be interested to see what the non-motorcyclist 'unqualified to answer' cop reply would be.

Going to court and getting a Motorcyclist judge would make it more interesting

[Bender]

Plead not guilty.

By the time you get to court he will have forgotten how he measured the distance and they'll throw the case out. He won't be able to provide concrete proof on that one.

I'll bet you he doesn't even contest it.

[Voltaire]

+ 1 on going to court.
I'd write in and say you were keeping your 28 metre distance and the car cut in front of you and because the car behind was following too close you were unable to regain your safe following distance....this could take a couple of minutes...
Unfortunately thats when the nice policeman saw me.
And I would take it to court as they have to turn up, once I got off when it doubtful as they were too busy and I was let off as it was pretty minor.

or as the pervayor of full cream confectionery suggested you could them where to go....

[Conquiztador]

Happens. Was pinged for not having 100m free sight at all time when overtaking mufty car. (Came up to two cars sitting behing a cattle truck doing 70 on a 100k/h road. Passed the cars one at the time then the truck on same straight. No cars came in other direction while I passed. Apperently I was OK passing the truck but not him???)

He then wanted to talk bikes with me as he had been riding in the past. Right...

I do sympatise with the comment re these ones damaging the respect for the police. I was actually wondering if this was not part of the reason for the more violence towards them?

Took it on the chin and life went on.

[YellowDog]

Some Police officers have a very bad attitude that harms the reputaion of the entire Police force.

If you get caught doing something wrong, then fair enough. If the cop treats you like a kid and gives you his unqualified opinion and perception of what you have done wrong, then maybe they should be doing something more constructive rather than harrassing you.

There are a lot of very good cops doing a very good job.

We don't have cause to mention them very often. This may not be their fault!

[Mystic13]

If he's stopped you 3k's on then I'd argue it. I don't think your passing shot at him was useful. It just escalates and hardens attitudes.

I note we only get the miserable cop stories on here. I came around a bend down country and found a cop parked down a bank behind some grass and didn't see him till it was too late. A bit of quick deceleration and a glance at the speedo and I knew I was in for a serious ticket I was just hoping it wasn't loss of bike.

He just made a hand signal to slow down and we both knew I'd been pinged. I gave him a thumbs up and he nodded back. That was probably the most surreal experience I've had with a cop after facing the speed gun.

I've also been pinged by arrogant arseholes who have very clearly had it in for bikers. The cop was going off his tree at me for pinging me at 111kmph while passing in a passing lane. He had a serious anger issue and was unbalanced in his approach.

[oneofsix]

If he's stopped you 3k's on then I'd argue it. I don't think your passing shot at him was useful. It just escalates and hardens attitudes.

I note we only get the miserable cop stories on here. I came around a bend down country and found a cop parked down a bank behind some grass and didn't see him till it was too late. A bit of quick deceleration and a glance at the speedo and I knew I was in for a serious ticket I was just hoping it wasn't loss of bike.

He just made a hand signal to slow down and we both knew I'd been pinged. I gave him a thumbs up and he nodded back. That was probably the most surreal experience I've had with a cop after facing the speed gun.

I've also been pinged by arrogant arseholes who have very clearly had it in for bikers. The cop was going off his tree at me for pinging me at 111kmph while passing in a passing lane. He had a serious anger issue and was unbalanced in his approach.

A good cop story is the one you don't have cause they didn't stop you Agreed that be nice is the best option, sometimes they aren't in a nice mood but often the surprise of finding a rider being nice to them can change their attitude. Now if only I could remember to be nice