Dangerous Driver

[dhandiman]

I travel the Hwy 97 corridor between Hwy 33 and the airport on a daily basis…. and over the years I have seen all kinds of stupidity on the road, so you learn to put up with those who think they’re going to gain ground darting in and out of traffic and trying to entice the person in front of them to move faster by tail gating. Such was the case today, (March 26, 2015), about 6:30 AM, when I was travelling north between Leathead and McCurdy, in the center lane, and I noticed in my rearview, a car travelling rather close behind the vehicle next to me…obviously in a hurry and impatient. At this point, there was a co-worker in his vehicle, travelling at most a couple of car lengths behind me, when the impatient driver decided to change lanes and squeeze in between us I'm amazed I didn't get clipped… he was close enough to myself that I couldn’t see his headlights… and close enough that my co-worker couldn’t see all of the rear bumper. We continued north, now past McCurdy and half way to Reid’s Corner when I was able to get ahead of the vehicle beside me… there was a vehicle in front of me this whole time so accelerating to make room wasn’t an option… I changed lanes at that point to let this driver past… and was very surprised to see a Police car go past me…accelerating at such a rate that he had to brake hard as he approached the vehicle I had been behind. As we proceeded north, the RCMP vehicle was no more than a few feet from the rear of the next vehicle and had to keep riding his brakes to avoid running into the back of the vehicle. The police cruiser finally found a spot to get around the ‘slower’ vehicle and sped off to the north. ( traffic was moving at a rate of 80 to 90 kph at this point). He ended up having to stop for the lights at Reid’s Corner and kept inching forward, then braking repeatedly, obviously impatient for the light. Now, if that had been myself driving like this and had been spotted by the RCMP, I fully expect that I would at the very least be looking at a hefty ticket for dangerous driving… maybe even a vehicle impoundment. If the RCMP in this instance needed to proceed quickly through the traffic I would assume that using his lights would have been advisable, (at least flash them for a couple of seconds) as the way he was carrying on, he was a danger to those around him as well as himself… just an accident waiting to happen…and just because you’re a member of law enforcement doesn’t give you license to abuse the rules of the road, you're supposed to be making our roads safer not create havoc. Maybe he should go back to driving a desk for a while. Just Saying ! (and I am just assuming through all of this, that it was a male driver…but not sure). I'm sorry I didn't get a car number but only saw the 'KL' prefix

[Swoop]

...oh yay!!! - another cop bashing thread... ... ...

[danmartin]

Good story! Hope someone that can make a change reads it. I had just about the opposite situation a few years back which only goes to show the inconsistency of how "some" officers act. I was on my way to work in Kelowna at 5:30 AM on a Sunday morning on a nearly empty highway 97. As I neared the airport going south I could see several cars ahead in my lane and gradually caught up to them. They were all following a RCMP cruiser doing exactly the speed limit and like them slowed by the 5 or 6 km/hr. that I was doing. Did I mention the highway was nearly empty, sun coming up, and no rain or snow. This parade of vehicles continued all the way into town gradually adding a few more vehicles until we neared Orchard Park where I was planning to turn left. I moved over to the left lane and over the distance of several blocks I gained about three car lengths and stated to pass the officer. I was checking my speed and at the most I was going 2kl faster then the posted speed. I had to keep braking to maintain this speed which seemed ridiculous but I was trying to do the right thing. As soon as I got a little ahead of the officer his lights came on and I was pulled over and told that in no uncertain terms that you ever pass an cop! I told him that according to my speedometer I had been doing the speed limit and had been behind him since the airport. He checked out my insurance, license and whatever else he could find on his computer before coming back with more attitude and intimidation. I played nice and treated him with courtesy even though he didn't deserve it. It got me off with a warning but in hind sight I would have liked to have seen the ticket he was threatening me with. Going to court for going one or two over might have been interesting and a waste of court time.

[Steve-O]

Sorry Dan. I don't buy it. I've been in similar circumstances several times and simply set the cruise control at the limit and have passed the cop with zero issues. Myabe you shouldn't of flipped him off when you passed. LOL

[mexi cali]

Countless times while driving on highways North or South or even through town, I have pulled in behind a line of slow moving traffic and wondered what the hold up could be only to find that there is a cop at the front of the line holding steady at exactly whatever the posted limit is and no one willing to pass.

I do. Never been tagged. I am talking about blatant disregard for the limit but merely moving at a reasonable rate and doing my part to ease the congestion.

[Always Sunny]

Countless times while driving on highways North or South or even through town, I have pulled in behind a line of slow moving traffic and wondered what the hold up could be only to find that there is a cop at the front of the line holding steady at exactly whatever the posted limit is and no one willing to pass.

I do. Never been tagged. I am talking about blatant disregard for the limit but merely moving at a reasonable rate and doing my part to ease the congestion.

I encountered this one coming from Vernon to Kelowna.

I attempted to pass and this cop rolled down the window and wagged their finger at me. Like a *bleep* toddler, I got the finger wag. Of course now I'm stuck behind officer power-trip and they finger was at every single car who dares to pass them.

**Disclaimer** I'm far from a cop basher, a large number of my friends in the Okanagan are RCMP. Even they all thought this was ridiculous and tried to figure out which cop it was.

[mexi cali]

Well.........he sure told you! The finger wag is worse than a ticket. That'll scar you.

[danmartin]

[quote="Steve-O"]Sorry Dan. I don't buy it. I've been in similar circumstances several times and simply set the cruise control at the limit and have passed the cop with zero issues. Myabe you shouldn't of flipped him off when you passed. LOL[/quote]


Just read your post and basically you're saying I made this whole story up? I know many fine officers that wouldn't have done anything so this could have happened many times to you with no consequences but that doesn't mean that it didn't happen this time to me. I suppose you believe all police are good and never have a bad day or night in this case and might just feel like power tripping. I also suppose you can't think of any circumstances where an officer has made mistakes because they're 'all' good. At work that day I told the story to an ancillary officer I worked with and from my description he knew the officer and as such wasn't surprised. It was also him that suggested that I should have asked for the ticket as it would have been thrown out and the officer would have been reprimanded.

[mexi cali]

I think you mean "Auxiliary", not Ancillary.

[danmartin]

Thanks 'Mex'!!! I knew it didn't seem like the correct word but at the time it was all that came to mind.

[mexi cali]

I do it all the time.

[the truth]

...oh yay!!! - another cop bashing thread... ... ...

thats about it

[Dizzy1]

...oh yay!!! - another cop bashing thread... ... ...

thats about it

Where is this supposed "cop bashing"? The OP posted about some questionable driving etiquette by a fellow member of the travelling public ... in this case it just happened to be someone in a very distinct vehicle. Hard to believe, they're not the most disciplined drivers on the road either ... they are just as guilty of poor driving as any one of us.

[the truth]

lol lol lol ya right

[Dizzy1]

lol lol lol ya right

Well ...

Where is this supposed "cop bashing"?