I followed a lane splitting cop car on the motorway - interesting!

[MarkH]

So yesterday I jumped on the Southern parking lot from the Mt Wellington on-ramp and I heard a siren, there was a cop car with lights & siren going trying to move through Friday afternoon traffic by splitting between the rightmost and middle lanes. I split between a few cars and came up behind him, it was interesting to see how he did it (but annoying because he was holding me up). Even with cars moving to the side to let him through it was rather pitifully slow going. I was going to exit at Ellerslie so I moved to the left and started splitting between the middle & left lane when he managed to get to duck to the right and drive along the bit of road to the right of the right lane, at that point he got ahead of me by a good 20 car lengths. But that extra 'lane' soon finished and he had to go back to splitting and within a few hundred metres I had gotten ahead of him.

Good luck to any cop that decides he wants to pull over a bike that lane-splits past him when the traffic is heavy & slow. I would have been going over twice as fast as the cop car while taking it easy with plenty of caution.

[discotex]

Um that'd be why the cage cops don't pull you over for splitting - I must have split past at least 25 in the last 12 months without problem.

Bike cops are a whole other matter.

[Mully]

I split past cop bikes all the time - if you're not being a lunatic, they don't care. In fact, got a police escort splitting down the Northwestern one morning.

Had a good chat with a motorbike cop on the morning of round the bays - the unofficial line is that as long as you aren't a dropkick, you're fine.

All a cop cage would need to do would be to get the number plate and come for a visit later anyway, if they wanted to.

[discotex]

the unofficial line is that as long as you aren't a dropkick, you're fine.

The unofficial line I was given when I got pulled over (and warned) was:

- we'll ticket you or warn you if you're going faster than considered safe by the officer or are using the verge etc.

- whether you get a ticket or a warning would largely be dictated by how fast you were going or how much of a dick you were when you took off your helmet.

[Mully]

Yeah, sorry, that's sort of what I meant.

I meant how much of a dropkick the cop decides you are.

[MarkH]

The interesting thing is that this cop car I was following was obviously in a hurry to get to somewhere (one hour super special at the best donut shop in Auckland?) but he would have been lucky to average 20kph. It must be a bit frustrating in that situation, trying to rush to an emergency and the traffic is so thick on the motorway that your progress is slow & laborious! When I used to commute by car I would have avoided the motorway on a Friday afternoon, but the cop may have been travelling to whatever made the motorway so slow (it was before 2:30pm) at that time.

Travelling around Auckland by car during weekdays is torture! That might explain why the car has managed about 400kms in 7 months while the scooter has clocked up 17,000kms.

[Mikkel]

All a cop cage would need to do would be to get the number plate and come for a visit later anyway, if they wanted to.

And do what?

Unless they estabish the identity of the driver, right then and there, there isn't a whole lot they can do regarding a meagre traffic offense. Remember the situation with the senior officer who rejected a breath test at his home when his colleagues showed up?
AFAIK you do not have to cooperate and you have the right not to implicate yourself.

[CookMySock]

It must be a bit frustrating in that situation, trying to rush to an emergency and the traffic is so thick on the motorway that your progress is slow & laborious!

Naw its just a job bro. I bet it DID irritate the cop to see you get ahead of him though. hee hee..

It's completely impossible to get anywhere quickly in a car, and so utterly trivial on a bike - without even trying. I just don't go fast in the car any more - its just too hard and pays no dividends at all. If you're bored in the car just fiddle with the stereo, pick ur nose, or put yer hand in yer pants - always a good time to be had!

edit:

And do what? [....]AFAIK you do not have to cooperate and you have the right not to implicate yourself.

That is my understanding also. You don't have to do their job for them.

Steve

[scumdog]

And do what?

Unless they estabish the identity of the driver, right then and there, there isn't a whole lot they can do regarding a meagre traffic offense. Remember the situation with the senior officer who rejected a breath test at his home when his colleagues showed up?
AFAIK you do not have to cooperate and you have the right not to implicate yourself.

But somewhere a little...oops, wrong scenario...the registered owner of the car gets a special notice requiring them to identify who was driving their car at that time.

Fine limit is only $10,000 for failing to do so.

Of course ya might get lucky and the matter is dropped or something.

"Do ya feel lucky punk, do ya?"

[MarkH]

Naw its just a job bro. I bet it DID irritate the cop to see you get ahead of him though. hee hee..

I'm not to sure if he noticed me ahead of him, I was one lane over and he had to watch the cars in front of him as he tried to split.

I guess they are on salary and get paid the same whether held up in traffic or at the scene of whatever. I do recall that I use to care less about traffic when I was on salary, it was when I became self employed and the time wasted in traffic was unpaid that I started to become frustrated and dreamt of getting back into riding.

One obvious concern for the rest of us though is the time it would take an ambulance or fire engine to get through traffic. I wouldn't want to get hit by a car and be lying on the road dying while an ambulance slowly makes its way through traffic averaging less than 20kph. It's a scary thought. With my dying breath I'll be gasping: "for fuck's sake, the traffic is terrible this time of day - get the air ambulance out here!".

[R6_kid:Me]

Good luck to any cop that decides he wants to pull over a bike that lane-splits past him when the traffic is heavy & slow. I would have been going over twice as fast as the cop car while taking it easy with plenty of caution.

You living in the past or something? They have these things in cop cars called radios, great for communication and organising team work to take down the ego of an ambitious lane splitter.

[munterk6]

Re overtaking emergency vehicles, I was at Arthurs Pass village having a coffee on the way to the Coast, and the fire truck took off westward with lights and siren going. My mate and myself took off 5 mins later and came across the firetruck on an uphill incline just before the viaduct area. He was going so slow(approx 30kmh) there was no way we were gonna sit behind him. We passed and further up the road there was the reason for the firetruck being called out....on a onelane bridge a couple on a full dresser HD had fucked up and crashed head on into a car ON the bridge, obviously the HD riders fault.
My question is..do ya sit and wait behind the firetruck at such a slow pace, or...just pass it and carry on?

[Blackshear]

Re overtaking emergency vehicles, I was at Arthurs Pass village having a coffee on the way to the Coast, and the fire truck took off westward with lights and siren going. My mate and myself took off 5 mins later and came across the firetruck on an uphill incline just before the viaduct area. He was going so slow(approx 30kmh) there was no way we were gonna sit behind him. We passed and further up the road there was the reason for the firetruck being called out....on a onelane bridge a couple on a full dresser HD had fucked up and crashed head on into a car ON the bridge, obviously the HD riders fault.
My question is..do ya sit and wait behind the firetruck at such a slow pace, or...just pass it and carry on?

I'd feel like a twat overtaking an Ambo, firetruck etc if they were going half the limit.

But then again, I'm probably not going to sit behind them forever.

So... Rather tentatively overtake and carry on... Still tentatively

[quickbuck]

So... Rather tentatively overtake and carry on... Still tentatively

Agreed.
Don't want to become another reason for them to stop.....

[wbks]

You living in the past or something? They have these things in cop cars called radios, great for communication and organising team work to take down the ego of an ambitious lane splitter.

I don't know man... Those burgers can put up a good fight, would have to be a few nearby cars to have a shot at a takedown...