Cop Behavior

[Summerfly413]

A few weeks ago I was sitting behind a cop at a light to go straight. He was first in line. There was also a straight lane next to us on the left.

The turning lane next to us, and the turning lane across the street had a green arrow. The arrow on our side of the road ended before the one across the street did.

I was just staring up at the light waiting for it to change. After a few seconds though, the cop in front of me jerked forward, like he was going to run the light. Gained maybe half a car length from it, though we still had the red light.

I remained perfectly still, my foot didn't even twitch and stayed on my break. The first car in the lane to the left however seemed like they started to go, but then realized the light hadn't changed and the cop stopped.

I wanted to know what you guys thought. If the cop was just impatient and inattentive, or if he was trying to do it to get someone to run the light. I've never heard of them doing that(sounds like it would be illegal anyway). But I was just curious. It was really weird.

[mikoyan29]

I think they have to turn on their lights to blow through the light. That at least has the pretense they are going somewhere.

[bhskittykatt]

Not sure about that case. Around here, the cops will tailgate people to try and make them speed up and them BAM! Speeding ticket. I don't see that so much anymore, but about five years ago it was a very common occurance.

[protege]

Around here, the cops will tailgate people to try and make them speed up and them BAM! Speeding ticket.

Many of the county cops (at least south of Pittsburgh) will do that.

I had one come out of nowhere, to attempt to goad me into speeding one night. Seems that even at the 25mph limit near the park, the MG's loud exhaust grabbed the attention of one of the county officers. He literally came out of nowhere, and followed me all the way out of the park. As soon as I hit the borough line, he made a U-turn, and went back to his doughnut shop

From what I've been told, the park is similar to a no man's land. Since it's owned by the county, the only police patrolling it are the county cops...who can't do a damn thing outside their borders. Good thing too, as I had no idea how fast I was going--my speedometer cable had snapped, so I had to use the tachometer as a rough indicator of my speed.