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I was rear-ended in Colorado when I didn't do a rolling stop. Had a road-rage incident when the other driving was livid that I would stop under thoose circumsta

• LastMuel 5y ago
  > My dad (when gowing up) was pulled over for a cop for doing a california stop in Colorado. The police officer let us off, because we had california plates. I'm confused. A "California Stop" isn't even legal in California.
  • deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  • tshaddox 5y ago
    Also I'm pretty sure lots of places say "{somePlace} Stop" where somePlace is some nearby place known for supposedly having bad drivers.
    • FeteCommuniste 5y ago
      We say "California stop" or "California roll" even way out here in Texas.
    • LastMuel 5y ago
      I don't disagree. It was the comment about the California plate - almost like it was supposed to validate the practice - that I don't understand. I commented as I have a concern that an uneducated reader may walk away with the idea that it's legal in that state. It most certainly is not. Apparently, though, Idaho does have some provision for bicyclists and rolling through stop signs. So, there you go - an "Idaho Stop" is a thing for any potential bicyclists in Idaho.
      • rootusrootus 5y ago
        > Idaho does have some provision for bicyclists and rolling through stop signs. As does Oregon. I would guess there are others, too.
    • CGamesPlay 5y ago
      I am also more familiar with the term "california stop" than "rolling stop", and I was taught it by my parents who have never lived west of Texas. Looks like this admonition did a California stop all the way to the east coast.
    • jMyles 5y ago
      Idaho stop? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_stop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_stop
  • bryanlarsen 5y ago
    "California Stop" is an insult, implying that people drive badly in California.
    • alanh 5y ago
      OK? It’s also a common term for it.
    • dymk 5y ago
      A good example of a “California Comment” right here
  • actually_a_dog 5y ago
    It's not, but approximately everybody does it. I've even seen cops do it. Once, I sat at a stop sign for a while, just to see if I could observe anybody actually stop. Nobody did.
    • saila 5y ago
      I've done this a few times. Almost no one stops, unless they're looking at their phone.
  • mullingitover 5y ago
    > A "California Stop" isn't even legal in California. I'm informed that these are actually legal as long as you don't disrespect the police by doing it in front of them. It's the same way that going slightly over the speed limit on freeways is legal as long as you don't insult the police by passing them.
    • bdamm 5y ago
      There's a difference between legal and enforced. Going over the speed limit is not legal, but no officer will pull you over at +1, unless you piss them off for some other reason, like by being black in a white community, for example. Racial biases aside, this is actually a really good thing. If every law was enforced perfectly today, everyone would be arrested, fined, or jailed tomorrow.
      • kelnos 5y ago
        > There's a difference between legal and enforced. I think the parent knows that, and was being a bit tongue-in-cheek ;)
      • walrus01 5y ago
        realistically everywhere on I-5 between Seattle and the border, people do +5 over, and often 10 over. I'd wager it's near impossible to get pulled over for doing 65 in the 60 zone north of Seattle, and when the speed limit changes to 70, for doing 75 in the 70 zone on cruise control. Usually when I have cruise control set to exactly 75 and I'm in the right lane, I'm very often passed by people who are probably doing 80 to 82 mph.
        • gen220 5y ago
          In New York, the highway norm is 13-15 over for the "I want to go fast but not get a ticket" crowd. (i.e. 80 in a 65). AFAICT, the reason is that there's a big jump in the median fine if you're going >15mph over the speed limit vs <= 15mph over. Economically-speaking, it's not worth the police officer's time to pull somebody over who's "merely" 10 over, because somebody going 16+ over will appear in a few more minutes of waiting. Interestingly, the state website says the official "maximum" fine bump occurs at 11+ mph over. I suspect they wait for 15mph to rule out the plausible cover stories "I was only going that fast to overtake the other car" or "new here, I didn't realize the incline was so sharply downhill with nobody in front of me". You probably wouldn't get pulled over for going 80-82 in Washington (i.e. they people passing you probably have their cruise controls set for 80), but it might be less enjoyable of a drive. You have to pay more frequent, closer attention, because you're overtaking people more frequently. Ironically, California dives deep into "low fines for speeds under 15 over". the under-15-over fine base is a meager $35! For 16-25, it jumps to $70, which is still paltry.
  • d0gsg0w00f 5y ago
    Who knows where these things come from. Here in Georgia I've heard people call it a "Texas Turn Off" when someone dives for the exit from the center lane of the highway.
    • jcranberry 5y ago
      At least in Houston there are some insane highway intersections where that happens very often.
    • parkingrift 5y ago
      Probably commentary on the road designs with absurd and massive interchanges.
    • deleted 5y ago
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  • kelnos 5y ago
    Yeah; 15 years ago got a ticket for (allegedly; I still maintain that I came to a full stop) doing a California Stop in California.
  • lowbloodsugar 5y ago
    Many years ago had to do traffic school in california. Instructor took us out of class to go watch people at a four-way stop sign. Nobody stopped. We even got to watch a cop not stop.
• matsemann 5y ago
  One thing I'd like modern cars to implement, given that they're supposedly close to self-driving, is to cap your speed at some percentage above the speed limit. There is no reason why a driver should be capable of driving the car 130 km/h in an 80 km/h zone.
  • kllrnohj 5y ago
    Both emergency situations exist & also cars aren't that infallible, so there would need to be a way to override such a system or disable it. Otherwise imagine the chaos of a track day or autocross when someone's car suddenly thinks they are on the road next to the track and slams on the brakes...
    • matsemann 5y ago
      For every suggestion to curb the car problems of society, there will always be someone bringing up edge cases to defend status quo. How many meters are done on a track each year, compared to public roads? I'd wager most people have never even set foot on a track. Cases like that should have absolutely no bearing on policy making. And emergency is always used as am excuse as well to not limit car use or rebuild streets. If anything, getting rid of traffic means that it's now easier for them to get to where they are going. Same for disabled people. It's always people shouting "you can't ban cars here, think of the disabled", when the truth is that getting rid of most of the cars and building better infrastructure would make their day easier.
      • darkwizard42 5y ago
        I think the issue of "always bringing up edge cases" is meant to illustrate that a LOT can go wrong with some of these hard and fast rules. It is why humans are simultaneously great and terrible at driving. One slightly bad driver can be accounted for by several slightly better drivers navigating around the bad one's behavior. This smooth "self-correction" on the roadway leads to lots of rule breaking but also probably saves a lot of time/lives by allowing individual humans to navigate a situation (especially since lots of people forget the exact rules of the road...ex. do you yield in a turning situation or not, what exceptions would you not yield?) However, I really do like your last point, the easiest way to solve is just remove the cars from as much of the equation and introduce transit that follows rules (trains, busses -higher compliance with road rules perhaps) and let humans navigate the last meter themselves
• llbeansandrice 5y ago
  Colorado highways seem to have a weird thing I haven't seen elsewhere. The right lane is consistently going ~10mph below the speed limit while the left lane goes ~10mph over. Any and all middle lanes are also a bit of a crapshoot.
  • d0gsg0w00f 5y ago
    Did you notice the same behavior before Marijuana was legalized?
  • Osiris 5y ago
    In my experience in Colorado, the right lane is usually empty and it's often easier to go faster than traffic in the right lane (at least on sections of freeway without exits close together). The left lane is usually traveling at least 20mph faster than the limit (on I-25 anyway). 85mph in a 65mph zone is the norm.
• mikysco 5y ago
  I think it’s reasonable to say “nobody” follows all the rules of the rules of the road. The ones you deem important enough to rigorously follow come down to local social dynamics/norms more than written law. I’m from Colorado and drivers there are much tamer than the Bay Area - and rightly so! Traffic conditions in SF/peninsula (where I live now) are way more hectic & dense than Colorado. It’s almost weird to expect uniformity across all regions
  • actually_a_dog 5y ago
    I don't think it's that weird to expect people who are licensed and tested on the rules of the road to actually follow them. Granted, if you do have that expectation, you'll be disappointed approximately 100% of the time, but I don't think the expectation itself is that weird.
• consp 5y ago
  > and human drivers don't follow the law. You need to design the road to the speed you want, not the other way around like it mostly happens in some countries. That solves quite a lot of problems.
  • moistly 5y ago
    I thought my city’s potholes were due to poor maintenance when it turns out they’re a traffic calming device!
• alanh 5y ago
  Thank you, this is one of the few insightful comments I see here.
• jMyles 5y ago
  The more insidious problem is that much of this is by design. Legislators know that people don't obey the speed limits. Police officers too. It just gives them license to stop and / or charge whomever they please. It is an obvious and vulgar workaround to undermine the principle of equal protection.
• jiveturkey 5y ago
  It's actually called a "California coast". Or if you're from the east coast, a "Philly roll".
• honkycat 5y ago
  > When I got my Tesla, it was immediately evident that _no one_ travels the speed limit. They travel 5-10mph over it on anything other then a local road. or they drive way under it. It is amazing to me how angry and insane people driving on the roads can be. I don't want to have a constant battle with every other driver on the road, I want to set cruise control, stay in my lane, and turn off on my exit when I need to. Doing this almost always triggers a tail-gaiting session and a driver becoming enraged at me ( I am not in the passing lane, for the record ). 99% of the pain in driving is other drivers deciding to just be assholes and not let me merge onto a highway for no apparent reason. Perception of "me in front me go fast" maybe? Driving today, it is pathetic. We are all locked into our little cages and make each other miserable for no benefit. I'm completely fed-up. There should be a system where I can send dash-cam footage for review and get a ticket mailed to their house. Don't defund the police: direct them at the asshole-fucking-drivers making everyone's life miserable while they play speed racer on the freeway.
  • bryceacc 5y ago
    >Doing this almost always triggers a tail-gaiting session and a driver becoming enraged at me ( I am not in the turning lane, for the record ). Or the fast/left most lane I hope. I cruise control in middle lanes and still have people tailgate like there isn't one or two open lanes to the left of me
    • rootusrootus 5y ago
      One of the most annoying behaviors on the section of I-5 nearest where I live are people cruise controlling in the middle lane. I try so hard to drive courteously and safely, but middle-lane cruisers force me to make exceptions to that philosophy, just so I can make it from the left side of the freeway to the right. It also causes other traffic to resort to high speed passing on the right and left simultaneously because they are aggravated with the moving blockade. So I have no sympathy for people who cruise control unnecessarily in the middle lane. I wish the cops would write them tickets mercilessly until they stop. Traffic on the freeway flows smoothest (and safest!) when there is a comfortable difference in speed between the lanes, predictably from slowest to fastest as you go farther left.
• caf 5y ago
  Is no-one else bothered that the term "rolling stop" is an obvious oxymoron?