Okay. But you realize you are risking an accident. Now wouldn't it be better to just move out of the car pool lane (as I have seen people do multiple times) to allow the faster car pool lane driver get past you.

What I'm getting at here is a CHP officer will use judgment, and might possibly cite you for impeding traffic if you fail to yield to a faster car in the car pool lane.

If anything, causing a faster car to move around you will cause him to go into invariably slower traffic - and cause an accident.

I've tried that, and then I can't get back in until the double yellow changes again, and then the traffic has come to a real commute crush, you know near LAX, and then I am stuck.

So I need to accomodate a lawbreaker is what you are saying. Do you apply this in other areas as well?

That is the summation of the problem.

Here's hoping a 'peace officer' spots you soon.

In a sense, "yes." Better to break the law, then be part of a potentially horrendous traffic accident.

And "yes," it applies to other areas.

It's just common sense, Steve.

If Mull were bearing down on me at a 100+, I'm not going to block him like I'm Jeff Stewart, or cause him to swerve into traffic. I can take control of the situation and others effected by Mull's speed by pulling to the right the first chance I get. It's my responsibility to be aware of hazards as they come up, not be selfish by cloaking myself in the road's rules.

Jesus, who the fück cares about all this HOV lane this and yellow line that. All we want to know is how much $ did Jason have to fork over, how many hours of community service for contempt of court and any additional emotional scars from the incourt mitsu-bashing... "Young man, you were doing how fast in what?"

Well Sing. 40 years of driving and no ticket for impeding traffic. two for speeding.

Again, I leave the left lane for the speeders. That's the one you get, not the ones with the rest of us law abiding citizens.

I would never come flying up on somebody like that...I open it up when it is safe to do so and take great measures not to startle the low of intellect.

In this particular case the officer never said anything about me approximating 100+, not one mention. Granted, his memory was fuzzy and his story inaccurate...He contended that I kept an even 90 mph, based on his expert OPINION of adding 2 mph to his speedo reading...He actually said I stayed in the #1 lane the whole way through from the 5 to the 101 (I absolutely switched lanes several times avoiding the people doing 70-85 mph)...He either misstated or lied.

...and...and...

And this is an example of you taking responsibility how?

Don't you have a Mumia rally or a Tookie memorial to attend?...Wear your dolphin short shorts and you will surely be a hit!

Steve;

I was wondering if maybe that was what was going on.

Everyone, after they get a ticket for speeding, gets on the freeway and will not, no matter what, exceed the posted limit. No matter what. That's what getting that citation and fine taught them.

Bravo for you. Glad to hear it. You are proud of not ever speeding again. Or getting caught doing it. OK, I can buy that.

Now back to the real world. The real world is what most people see (including the rear view mirror) going on around them. Including the CHP bike last week. Fact is, the rules of the road (yes, the California Vehicle Code in this case) allow for the real world. As does the CHP biker. Several major vehicle code sections reguarding speed have no mention of any numeric value whatsoever. For a reason (The real world again).

All I was saying is impeding the flow of traffic (by, in some cases doing the posted speed limit) is illegal. I don't need to say it again. The Vehicle Code says it very clearly. That law shows up on the road by a posted sign. More of them printed than any other sign, except two (STOP and YIELD).

"Slower Traffic Keep Right".

Applies to the carpool lane as well. I saw that law enforced last week, in the carpool lane. That guy is in court telling it to the judge.

The only difference between him and the guy that caused the accident by not yielding to the faster traffic (and, being at the front of the pack that was involved in the collision, he never saw or was hit) is that he is still out there 'doing his thing'. He is absolutely convinced that he will never, ever have to deal with a speeding citation ever again. No matter what is happening behind him.

He is, after all, firm in his belief that he a law abiding citizen.

Did you vote for Ted Kennedy?...Howz about the self-admitted war criminal, John Kerry?

Exceeding the speed limit?..."I am shocked, shocked!!"

Well, I called the CHP and they said there is nothing that a person doing 65 in a car pool lane can cited for, per your described situation. Perhaps the officer pulled them over for a safety check. I doubt if there was a citation.

Call the CHP. Maybe you will get a different answer.

LOL! You're a riot, Mull! :D

Since we're on the subject of the double-yellow line and the car pool lane, WTF is with the f*cking idiots that feel the need to cross it at will. It's double yellow for a reason, not dashed. Here's a very real scenario I was confronted with not that long ago:

I was on my motorcycle in the car pool lane (I suppose Mul will claim that's the result of some liberal conspiracy too and should be illegal, 'cept for Harley guys 'cause they usually vote republican). Yes, it's legal. Deal with it.

As luck would have it, we came upon rather bad traffic - this was on the 110 just south of downtown going north before it "double decks". The car pool lane was cruising along nicely at about 70, the traffic in the "normal" lemming lanes was dead stopped. I was just cruising, about 10 car lengths (or more) behind the guy in front of me. I don't tailgate on a bike - too much chance for the guy in front of you to span over some road debris (or maybe it's his muffler coming off!) Point is if you hit anything like that on a bike and you're a red smear on the road, so I don't tailgate - I want to see what I'm coming up on. . .

So I'm merrily motoring along in the car pool lane (one of the great reasons to own/ride a bike in this *****hole of a city), enjoying the satisfaction of not sitting in the gridlocked hell 10 feet to my right.

Until some a-hole decides to pull one of those "warp speed" lane changes across the double-yellow into the car pool lane. There was one occupant that I could see in the vehicle - a large-ish SUV (think it was an Acura one or something like it). BIGTIME "holy*****" moment. For a bike doing 70 behind another vehicle doing 70, my following distance was PLENTY safe. It ain't so safe when all of a sudden you've got a pretty-much dead-stopped wall-o-metal in its place. Even with it floored, those things don't accelerate that quickly. I had two options - (1) do a panic stop, risk either endo-ing the bike and launching myself at god-knows-how-fast-a-speed into the concrete divider or oncoming traffic after sailing over the handlebars or laying it down in a skid (2) brake "in control" realizing that I'm going to have to go around the guy to avoid going through (into) him since I ain't going to stop THAT quickly.

I opted to brake "in control" while drifting into the breakdown lane left of him, hoping like hell there weren't any old tires, remnants of shredded semi-truck tires, trash or car parts there to hit in which case I'd probably not be here right now. Fortunately there weren't and I passed the guy (still under braking) at a good 20-25 mph overtake. Mind you I was braking fairly hard and he was accelerating - that's how reckless this asshat's move was. As I went by, I kicked his door - HARD with my right foot. I think I buckled the sheet metal and hope I did. As I ended up ahead of him I gave him the "one finger" salute and resumed normal speed. I contemplated stopping in the car pool lane (forcing him to stop), getting off and dragging his ass out of the car and beating his ass right there on the freeway, but figured it wasn't worth it (not an easy/coherent thought to have, given the circumstances). He got off easy, IMO.

Point is - idiots like this can EASILY kill someone. I've often said about driving "everyone is someone else's idiot". Just please be careful that your particular verision of "idiot" (we're all guilty to some extent) doesn't endanger someone's mortal life like that guy did.

I haven't seen him again, and I'm a "regular" on that stretch of road. I hope he had a friggin' heart attack and died on the way home, personally.

All I'm saying is that idiot motoring, particularly when it comes to COMPLETELY idiotic moves like crossing the double-yellow is NOT victimless. I came very close to dying that day. . .

P-O-P...

I too, am a frequent Carpool lane resident on a bike. Well said.

In some states, access in and out of the carpool lane is allowed at any point. It all comes back to ignorance of the law. Is my point here. How many times have you run across people in California who think lane-splitting on a bike is illegal? Done legally, it is reasonably safe. There are lots of ignorant bikers that do it illegally. They give all bikers a bad name.

And I also agree with the fast carpool, stopped 'fast' lane situation you mentioned. That IS scary to me for just your reason. I will always slow, and even close up the gap ahead of me a little to prevent some ignoramus from thinking that there is a gap that he can judge by looking in his side mirror and get into.

For the record, I am sometimes in the carpool lane in my Prius, alone. Saving the planet one SUV at a time.


Sometimes a run in with a traffic cop, especially one on a bike, is exactly the 'education' these ignorant drivers need.

Oh my friend, this has nothing to do with my position on the speed limit and everything to do with your hypocrisy.

On my voting, ended up not voting for Kerry, the dumbfück, and instead going Libertarian. I don't think I've ever voted for ted either.

but that's not the point, which is you came on here asking for advice to weasel out of something you did wrong all the while wagging your finger at others for the same actions.

So, just how many hours of CS did they get you for?

OK.... so many posts here that we have all forgotten reality.

Those who do not usually commute on the freeways of California sit down.

Those who do. Given the time of day might make walking on a freeway faster than driving, those times aside. Free flowing speeds (often in the presence of marked CHP units) averages 75, and will normally be much higher (the oft quoted 80-85). My point is REAL WORLD, you are doing the posted speed limit in any of the three left lanes (Including the carpool lane) you are a hazard to yourself and others. You are the rolling roadblock that starts people passing on the right.

Sorry if that flies in the face of the 'law abiding citizens'. It's a real world out there.

Yep.

The basic speed limit in Ca is 65 mph. The law says you must yield the left lane to traffic faster than you. On such highways that does not mean you have to move to the right if someone is going over the basic speed limit, regardless of how fast. If they are going over the basic speed limit they are the cause of the accident, not someone complying with the basic speed limit.

Cal Veh Code § 22349 (a): Except as provided in Section 22356, no person may drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than 65 miles per hour.

Cal Veh Code § 21750; The driver of a vehicle overtaking another vehicle or a bicycle proceeding in the same direction shall pass to the left at a safe distance without interfering with the safe operation of the overtaken vehicle or bicycle, subject to the limitations and exceptions hereinafter stated.

If you are in an accident and traveling faster than 65 mph on a highway, or as is safe under the circumstances, you are negligent per se since the standard of care required by the driver of a motor vehicle is prescribed by the provisions of the vehicle code. See Alraid v. Vanier (1958) 50 Cal.2 d 617.

It simply is not law that permits traveling faster than the posted speed limit. Argue real world or not, it simply is not the law. So don't complain when you get a ticket.

And for Mul:
Cal Veh Code § 22348
(b) A person who drives a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than 100 miles per hour is guilty of an infraction punishable, as follows:

(1) Upon a first conviction of a violation of this subdivision, by a fine of not to exceed five hundred dollars ($ 500). The court may also suspend the privilege of the person to operate a motor vehicle for a period not to exceed 30 days pursuant to Section 13200.5.